Who is Jerome Boger? NFL referee not expected to work again this postseason
Jerome Boger has been officiating NFL games since 2004 and has been a referee since the 2006 season. He has been the head referee of his crew for 16 seasons, while receiving mixed grades for his performances over the years.
The highlight of his officiating career was getting the opportunity to be the referee for Super Bowl XLVII.
Jerome Boger has also had his fair share of negative moments in his offciating career. One of the biggest was in the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs for the 2021 season.
His crew made a major mistake in the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders.
What happened with NFL referee Jerome Boger?
There was an extremely controversial situation in the game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs for the 2021 season. A bizarre chain of events occurred during a play that resulted in a touchdown, but shouldn't have counted according to the rules.
With just under two minutes remaining in the first half, Bengals quarterback burrow-best-qb-afc-north" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">Joe Burrow rolled out to the far right and completed a touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd in the back of the endzone. Burrow closely approached the sideline before releasing the ball at the last moment.
He got the throw off in time, but the problem is that the official on the sideline thought he had stepped out of bounds before releasing the ball.
Jerome Boger and the crew are not expected to officiate another NFL postseason game this season👀
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The official blew his whistle when he believed Burrow was out of bounds. The football was still in the air when the whistle was blown and had not yet reached receiver Tyler Boyd in the endzone.
Despite the whistle being blown, the catch was still made for a touchdown.
Jerome Boger and the entire officiating crew huddled up and wrongly decided that the whistle was blown after the catch was already made. Unfortunately, an incorrect whistle is not a reviewable play according to league rules.
The touchdown counted, but it shouldn't have. If a whistle is blown before a play is completed, the teams are supposed to redo the play it occurred on.
The fact that they weren't allowed to review it is another issue, but the missed call had a major impact on the flow of the game. It extended the Bengals' lead, making it a 20-6 score, and they would eventually go on to win 26-19.
The NFL isn't commenting on the #Bengals' controversial touchdown, deferring to NBC's rules expert Terry McAulay, who noted the call can't be fixed in replay.
Said McAulay: "They can't have a touchdown on that play, by rule."
A huge mistake by Jerome Boger's crew.
The outcome could possibly have been different if the right call had been made. The whistle shouldn't have blown in the first place, but because it was, the play shouldn't have counted.
With a high-grade performance in the Wild Card round, Jerome Boger and his crew could have gained eligibility to possibly be selected to participate in the Super Bowl this year.
An extremely low grade is to be expected because of the crucial error, which pretty much means their season is over.