NFL fires an official in midseason for the first time

[Gary Najman]

Down Judge (fomerly head linesman) Hugo Cruz, who wore no. 94 and was in his 4th NFL season, was fired after a poor performance in the Chargers-Browns game in week 6, where he missed a blatant false start penalty in a play that resulted in a TD pass for the Chargers. Cruz never worked a playoff game and it was said that he had been warned that he could be fired at season's end if he didn't made the grade. There have been some officials in the past that have been fired for poor performances, but this is the first time I recall that the firing occured during the season. Personally, it was very noticeable in past seasons in TV that Cruz spotted incorrectly the ball, and as each official is graded play-by-play, he obviously had poor grades. But it was shocking, at least to me, that it happened before the end of the regular season.

Some years ago, in the CFL, an official was fired for calling an inexistent defensive pass interference at the end of a Winnipeg-Montreal game that enabled the Blue Bombers an extra play to try to win the game.


https://bleacherreport.com/articles/280 ... erformance

[John Grasso]

Shouldn't one of the other officials have spotted the false start?

[JuggernautJ]

....There have been some officials in the past that have been fired for poor performances, but this is the first time I recall that the firing occured during the season....

The articles I read said this is the first time "in the super bowl era" an official had been dismissed during the season.

[JWL]

Interesting that it happened this year considering there is now legalized gambling in some places in the United States.

[BD Sullivan]

When the play happened, the Browns radio guy, Jim Donovan, was flipping out about how he could have missed the call.