After Saturday’s debacle in Dallas, there may be no referee that NFL teams want less to officiate their games than Brad Allen and his crew. Nevertheless, his team will be working this weekend for the big Ravens-Steelers game.
It was ESPN’s Adam Schefter who (perhaps inadvertently) raised alarm bells a few days ago that Allen had been assigned to the game. At the time his comment “back on national television” angered NFL fans who thought that the league had hand-picked him for that particular assignment.
But as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk pointed out, the decision put Allen and his crew was not made this week, but over two months ago. Per the report, the decision was made not knowing whether or not the game would be on primetime.
“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the assignment was made in Week 6 or Week 7. At the time, Steelers-Ravens in Week 18 could have been meaningless to both teams, meaningless to one team, meaningful to both teams. It could have been selected for any of the five windows, including the prime-time spot on NBC.
Referee Brad Allen and his crew — who last worked Saturday night’s Lions-Cowboys game — have been assigned to Saturday’s Steelers-Ravens game on ESPN. So back on national television. pic.twitter.com/q5Uqo2j1tU
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 2, 2024
Brad Allen was at the center of a big controversy on Saturday when confusion over who was reporting for the Detroit Lions as eligible on a passing play on a two-point conversion against the Dallas Cowboys.
The conversion was a success, but the receiver – Taylor Decker – was ruled ineligible for not reporting even though he said he did.
Let’s hope there isn’t that same issue this weekend.