Officials Deserve Scoreboard Credit, Too

According to the scoreboard at the Metrodome Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings were 21-17 winners over the San Diego Chargers.

That is the way the score will stand.

However, scoreboards are becoming woefully inadequate for properly reflecting what really happens on the football field. Since there are, in fact, three teams on the field, the scoreboard should be more thorough.

On Sunday afternoon, for example, the Metrodome scoreboard should have read:

San Diego 7 3 0 7--17

Minnesota 0 0 0 7-- 7

Officials 0 7 0 14--21

National Football League games are getting to be like triangular track meets, each team having an equal role in how it turns out. The only difference is that the NFL fails to credit that third team on the field for the points they either produce or deny.

In the aftermath of that last-second defeat on Sunday, Charger Coach Don Coryell was very distressed that the officials did not get the credit they had coming. At least, that’s what I think he said.

“When an official is at fault,” Coryell said, “he goes unnamed. Players get blamed, coaches get blamed and officials go unnamed . . . “

Coryell had much more to say, but there is no need to repeat the entire diatribe. It was obvious Coryell was in the midst of a moment of compassion, pleading that these poor fellows should not have to labor in anonymity while players and coaches are steeped in glory.

Pete Rozelle should pay attention to Coryell’s argument. How long is he going to be able to keep his part-time help happy if it continues to get absolutely no recognition? Doesn’t he realize that egos must also be fed?

Take Sunday afternoon’s game, for example. Here was a case in which the officials were responsible for almost as many points as the other teams combined, yet no one knew who should get the credit.

We always know who throws the big pass, yet we never know who throws the big flag. We know which runners can gain an extra yard, but we never know which official gives an extra yard.

Hardly fair, is it?

Chronologically, let’s look at the officials’ points Sunday:

--With the Chargers ahead 7-0-0 (Remember, there are three teams on the field) in the second quarter, the officials produced a touchdown when they called a 24-yard pass interference penalty on the Chargers’ Danny Walters. Minnesota got the ball on the 1 and scored from there, but an anonymous official had made it possible.

This was an interesting call because a couple of dancers at Diego’s make more contact than Walters made with the intended receiver. This was an official with an imagination, and he should have been given credit.

When the referee fingered his little black box to activate his microphone, he should have identified Walters as the culprit--and also identified the official who made the call, so the network could then put the fellow’s picture on the screen.

--In the fourth period, when the Chargers had a 10-7-7 lead, Dan Fouts entered the game and drilled a 45-yard scoring pass to Wes Chandler. Except it was not a scoring pass for the Chargers.

Credit this touchdown to the officials’ account. One of them detected Jim Lachey illegally using his hands, the penalty nullifying the play.

Lachey was identified as the villain of the piece, but no one in the stadium--or in front of the television--knew who had apprehended him.

Would Cagney or Lacey or Dirty Harry put up with making a collar and not getting any credit?

Once again, this fellow should have been identified. The network could have put a little graphic on the screen revealing, perhaps, that he is a member of the Jaywalking Task Force with the St. Paul police department.

--Later in the fourth period, the Chargers had produced 17 points to 14 for the officials and 7 for Minnesota. The Vikings were beaten, but the officials were still in the game.

With Minnesota in possession at its 33, Allen Rice tried to go off the left side of the line of scrimmage. He was hit and landed on the 32, but bounced out to the 33. The official marked the ball where he bounced rather than where he landed.

This would have been a perfect situation for the official to spot the ball, look in the direction of the camera and say, “Hi Mom!” The guys in the broadcast booth would explain that he was a trampoline salesman and, as such, encourages anything that bounces but checks.

Minnesota, still fourth and 1, had to get just outside the 34 for a first down. Rice appeared stopped about a foot short of the 34, but the officials marked the ball about a foot past for a Viking first down.

When Minnesota ultimately sustained the drive and scored a touchdown, the officials should have gathered for leaping high fives. They had accounted for only five feet out of 76 yards, but those five feet made possible all that transpired thereafter.

With only 19 seconds to play, the officials had taken a 21-17-7 lead.

This was a big victory for The Other Team on the Field. After all, they had to twice come from behind in the fourth period.

And Coryell is right. When the winning team is known only generically as The Officials, something is wrong. If a game is won by a Fouts or Tommy Kramer, the fans know who was responsible. If the game is won by an accountant or a salesman, the fans have a right to know that as well.

Obviously, Coryell was not perturbed that the Chargers lost. He just felt the guys who did win did not get the credit they deserved.