NFL Reassigns Referee Crew After Controversial Week 7 Performance

The NFL has reassigned referee Alex Moore's crew from their scheduled Week 8 "Sunday Night Football" game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders. The officiating team will instead work the New England Patriots versus Miami Dolphins game. This change comes after a series of controversial calls made by Moore's crew during the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions game in Week 7.

According to reports, the decision to reassign the crew was made for "optics rather than disciplinary action." The Week 7 contest featured two contentious roughing the passer penalties called against the Packers and an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Lions' Derrick Barnes. The latter penalty, called on Barnes after he hit Packers running back Marshawn Lloyd, drew significant criticism, including from Fox lead analyst Tom Brady.

During the broadcast, Brady questioned the validity of the Barnes penalty, stating, "Oh, come on, man. That’s allowed 99 out of 100... it’s a bang-bang play." He also voiced his disagreement with a late roughing-the-passer call on Packers defensive lineman Karl Brooks, remarking, "No, my goodness, what is that? There’s no way. Brooks on the tackle kind of makes a great play. It’s a bang-bang play. He rolls off his body; it’s a great throw by Goff, that’s definitely not roughing the passer."

The crew led by Shawn Hochuli has been assigned to officiate the Eagles-Commanders matchup. The report from Football Zebras suggests that moving Moore's crew to an earlier afternoon game helps to de-emphasize their previous performance, especially with the Broncos-Chiefs game scheduled for the same late afternoon window on another network. The Packers-Lions game in Week 7 attracted an audience of 24.67 million viewers.