NFL referee crew pulled from 'SNF' after awful performance

One NFL officiating crew was so bad in Week 7, it appears to have cost them a chance to officiate a nationally televised game.

The officiating crew headed by Alex Moore was originally assigned to referee Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders. However, according to Football Zebras, the crew was abruptly taken off the game Thursday and re-assigned to a Sunday afternoon game between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins.

Moore’s crew is the same one that was on duty for last Sunday’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. The crew’s performance drew widespread criticism as they threw a number of questionable flags that went against Green Bay in what proved to be a 20-17 Lions win.

A move like this is rare, but not unprecedented. It is, however, almost certainly not a coincidence. The league presumably did not want Moore and his crew to be a potential subject of discussion on one of its primetime broadcasts and quietly chose to shift them to a less visible game instead.

Shawn Hochuli’s crew will take charge of the Sunday night game instead after initially being assigned to the Patriots-Dolphins matchup.