Mike Pereira is a broadcaster now for Fox Sports, analyzing the rules and the officials on each Sunday. He also grew up a 49ers fan.
Pereira said the 49ers-Bills were on one of his four TVs in the green room, but he could barely pay attention to it. The only time Terry Bradshaw and the crew talk about the 49ers is in the picks section at the end of the show.
“It doesn’t even merit paying attention to,” Pereira said. “The fall from grace has been so sudden. I mean to go as far down as they are. I mean, you go from a game away to the Super Bowl, it’s just disheartening to see. This is tough to watch. I was interested to see what they would look like with (Colin) Kaepernick, but to me they look the same crappy team.”
As is the consensus with most, Pereira said he blames GM Trent Baalke much more than he does Chip Kelly for the current downtrodden state of the organization.
“There was a great fall before Kelly got there,” Pereira said. “He just doesn’t have the horses. He doesn’t really have any horses. That’s basically the gist of their discussions.”
How about we switch to a relevant football team. The Seahawks beat the Falcons late on Sunday and Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn was livid about a non pass interference call on Richard Sherman, who blatantly grabbed Julio Jones on a deep pass. Seattle went on to win 26-24. A pass interference call would’ve led to a Falcons field goal attempt for the win.
“I have completely turned the corner on this: I think you have to make it reviewable,” Pereira said. “There’s too much risk involved in replay, because it’s such a huge chunk of yardage… This was clear enough that Atlanta saw it on the sidelines. To me, it should’ve been seen on the field. It does need to be reviewable. It’s the hardest call on the field to make.”
Pereira points out the CFL is now experimenting with reviewing pass interference and that Atlanta President Rich McKay is also chairman of the rules committee. The NFL has also never been a league scared to make a change.