Sep 28th 2008 12:15PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Saints, NFL Coaching, NFL Referees
Yesterday, I got up on the well-worn FanHouse pedestal and wondered why the league would fine Saints head coach Sean Payton for making vague comments about crappy officiating that directly affected the outcome of last week’s Saints-Broncos game, when Cowboys owner Jerry Jones frequently — and publicly — ripped Ed Hochuli after he gifted the Broncos a win against the Chargers two weeks ago.

From ’s Chris Mortensen: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent out a memo this week basically clarifying to all clubs that any criticism — public criticism — of officials is unwarranted. Sean Payton of the Saints was fined $15,000 — he was going to appeal because others had been critical and hadn’t been fined, but guess what? Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones fined $25,000 for his public criticism of Ed Hochuli from two weeks ago. So it sounds like Payton has decided to drop the appeal, even if he has a legitimate gripe. Like I wrote previously, rules are rules, and if the NFL stipulates that you can’t ridicule game officials, even if it’s OBVIOUS TO ANYBODY HALF-PAYING ATTENTION that Jamie Winborn was offsides.

Fine, whatever. But I’ll say it again: it’s one thing for Hochuli to inadvertently blow the whistle — that happens — but to not call a neutral zone infraction is much, much worse than pointing it out in a Monday press conference. At least for those of us not in the league office.