In the face of growing criticism of NFL officiating, Mike Pereira continues to insist the league's officials do an excellent job. In his yearly presentation to the media, Pereira, who is retiring this year as the director of officiating, said during the 2008 season, officials graded out to 98.1 percent. That was down from 98.3 percent in 2007, which was a league record.

Said Pereira, "Do I think the officiating was bad? No. "But we had some train wrecks and train wrecks hurt you."

That was in reference to the errant call in the Week 2 San Diego-Denver game where a fumble should have been called instead of an incomplete pass. The other was at the end of the Week 11 Pittsburgh-San Diego game when a touchdown was scored and overturned, when it should have stood.

"They hurt perception," Pereira admitted. "It was hard getting through Week 2. That's what we have to avoid this year."

Pereira further noted that there were about 37,000 plays last season, which means approximately 740 plays, or close to three a game, had questionable calls.

He reiterated that points of emphasis for the officials for 2009 will be on horse-collar tackles and penalties for holding.

Last season, there were 24 flags for horse collars, which was an increase from 12 the year before. However, there were 47 fines for such tackles.

Pereira said, "That's just too high a number. We have not been effective in terms of stopping the tactic."

As for holding infractions, Pereira acknowledged there are problems with some crews calling more holding than others.

"It's one area we need to find consistency from crew to crew," Pereira said.

Asked about the perception that last season had poor officiating, Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, who is also co-chair of the competition committee, said, "Clearly, I'm close to it. I've seen nothing but improvement since Mike Pereira has taken over. He's working towards consistency. We're always going to have questions, debatable calls. That's the human element of the game. They're going to make mistakes. I make mistakes. That's the way it is. But we've seen nothing but more and more consistency year in and year out in that department."

No time to savor success

With all the talk about change in the NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin wishes something could be done about the bedlam that occurs following the Super Bowl. As a coach, he would like there to be some way for the winning team to have some time, however brief, to savor the moment together immediately after the game.

"It's a shame," Tomlin said. "I would want to go into the locker room and share the experience with the players and people that matter most. In the midst of it all, the great spectacle that it is, I think some of that is lost. By the time I got to the locker room the vast majority of the guys were out of the locker room, and that's a shame because ultimately at the end of the day it's about the sacrifices of the men in that room that get you to that point. There's got to be a way that you could be able to retain that element of it and at the same time give the fans of the game what they need.

"It's not necessarily what's required of you on the stage, it's what's required of you after that as you go from interview to interview and obligation to obligation. It was probably roughly an hour and a half after the game before I got to the locker room. When you have an opportunity to be a part of something like that, you appreciate the selflessness of the group and you would love an opportunity to bask in the collective achievement of the group and I think that's lost under the current setup."

Howard Balzer is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the National Football League for more than three decades and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He is a senior NFL writer for The Sports Xchange.