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J.P. Shadrick Podcast: NFL referee John Parry · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome in to the JP Shattered Podcast, a special edition
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: on a Friday. This week, we have a very special guest.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: That's why NFL referee John Perry is with us, an
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: official in the league since two thousand head referee since
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: two thousand seven, in the building this week and nice
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: enough to sit down with us. Good to see you, man.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: What's up. Everything's great, new season, new new time of year.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: So we're we're happy to be here. Thanks for having
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: It's exciting for the officials too, not just the players
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and coaches, but you guys are obviously a huge part
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of this game each and every week. But after a
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: long offseason, are you excited to get back in the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: ground here. Well, I don't know if we have a
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: long off season. I'm not sure there is an off
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: season anymore. You know, we wrap up with that Super
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Bowl first part of February and and most of us
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: do take some time off, roughly thirty five days. But
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: then the Competition Committee meeting gets going, reviewing all the data,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: reviewing all the plays from seasons past. And there's obviously
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: officials input prior to those meetings to implement changes for
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: our game to make it even better. So our off
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: seasons have become shorter and shorter. Uh. In May we
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: we do all types of physical testing in New York
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and along with a health assessment, and then in June
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: we do a bunch of testing, both video and written. July,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: we're heading to Dallas for four days review all these
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: new rules that you want to talk about. And then
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: we all leave Dallas and we had the thirty two
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: teams to make sure we get coaches, players and officials
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: all on the same page. So six, it's another season.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: It's great exciting. I guess I didn't misspeak a little
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: bit because it never does in well. I think it's
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: a misconception of maybe some of the fans out there
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: that one of these guys do other than show up
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: on a Sunday afternoon at one o'clock and our preparation
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to performance ratios pretty high. We'll get to some of
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: these rules changes coming up, but I'm interested now since
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: we started talking about the schedule of an NFL referee
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: on a regular game week, do you you have another
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: regular job? I did? I did you, donnymore? But I
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: was robbing Peter to pay Paul for time. Football is
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: more exciting. So in two thousand and five. Actually, I
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: was a corporate pilot for eighteen years, so managing both
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: with travel became more and more difficult. And back then
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: we had NFL Europe, so I was doing a regular
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: job two kids, NFL Europe and NFL. So in two
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: thousand and five we made a decision to put football first,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and so in theory, I have been a full time
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: official since two thousand and five. Normal week UH is
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: very busy. On Monday, we will spend most of Monday
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: as a crew reviewing the game that we work Sunday
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: all together. We're doing it individually at home, but through internet,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: through email, text, video conference, phone conference. We'll review our
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: performance individually and as a crew, what can we do
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: better as we move forward. UH New York is doing
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the same thing Monday's, Tuesdays and Wednesday Day's reviewing every
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: play from every angle that we have to basically evaluate
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the officials. Tuesday, we'll get some form of a general
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: report of how that game went, what we called that
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: was correct, what calls maybe we should have made, both
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: mechanically and or with flags. We're busy making travel arrangements
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: for maybe the next assignment. We've got a written test
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: that we do during the week, and then if I
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: am working Jacksonville Pittsburgh, for example, the following week, I
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: will take a day and watch the Jacksonville's previous game
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: pole plays for our pregame meeting on Saturday following day,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: look at Pittsburgh's previous game pole plays for our pregame
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: on Saturday, and then we travel Saturday morning, we get
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to wherever we're gonna be working. By noon, we'll have
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a crew lunch. We got to work one thirty two o'clock,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: we have a two and a half three hour meeting,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: reviewing and pretty basically preparing for the next day's assignment.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: And it's not so much tendencies for individual players, but
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: tenants these on formations and what their tendencies are, both
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: offensively and defensively. To ensure that we're prepared to work
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the game, we'll do a crew dinner, come back crash
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Saturday night one o'clock game, we're up at seven. We
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: do a thirty minute devotional followed by breakfast, followed by
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: departure to the to the stadium. We get here and
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: we're often running with meeting after meeting after meeting, and
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: finally the game kicks off at one o'clock, so it's
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a busy week and there's a football game in the end. Yeah,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: and we used to you know, you you'd hope that
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: if you were in Jacksonville for a one o'clock assignment,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: you would hope that on a Sunday night you can
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: get back home airline home for me is Ohio Acron area.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Travels become more and more difficult, so there's many many
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: weekends that I'm not home Sunday evening. I'm home Monday.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: And we do that, of course for twenty weeks. Labor
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: love NonStop. And you've been at your whole life. Really,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I mean your father was an official as well. Yeah,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and my family business it's in the jeans. I started
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: as a teenager baseball, basketball, football, doing pee wee, doing
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: t ball, worked my way through all the ranks, and
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: here I am nineteen years in the NFL. Greatest job
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: in the world. Pretty cool man. John Perry with us
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: NFL referee in town with what part of your crew
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: this week? You split up the crew, right, because you
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: gotta hit all the teams this week? How long has
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: he been doing this? The meeting with the players and
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: the coaches, on site. Has that been a constant thing
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: for a while. As I mentioned, nineteen seasons in the NFL,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and this is actually my twenty one training camp. Your
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: first year in the league, generally they'll send you to
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: two training camps, give you more reps. Uh. And if
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: you have a first year official like I do this year,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: you may have two camps as well. So as long
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: as I have been in this league, there have been
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: training camps. They have matured, uh, they've changed over the years.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: There was a period of time where you may come
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: in for three or four days and work three or
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: four hours. And I can tell you is, as everybody
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: in this building knows, we have put in thirteen and
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: fourteen hour days and we hit the ground running, which
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: is a camp lament really to the Jacksonville Jaguars. One
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: of the things that I would say that makes this
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: camp different from what I've seen over the last eighteen
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: nineteen years is how well prepared coach Maron Mr Coughlin,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: through their leadership with all of the position coaches they have,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: they were so prepared for us. They pulled plays from
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: last season, they pulled plays from practices. To get clarification,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: is this a foule. Are we teaching the right technique
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: based on what you're going to call? We have reviewed
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: my guests would be over three plays outside of the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: normal meetings. Uh. And as we know, I'm I'm heading
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: to a seven fifteen meeting with coach Moron and I
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: don't know how many plays he has this evening. I'm
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: hoping to get to bed by nine ten o'clock. But
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: appreciate the time and that busy schedule though, for sure.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: But it makes us better, so we're happy to do it.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: It makes the game better, makes a game better, no
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: doubt about that. So let's get to some of these
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: changes this year. We'll start with the The standard for
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the catch has changed again. Control two ft or a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: body part, and a football move. And that's it, right,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: they have to have all three of those things. Yes,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the football move is the trump card. If I've got
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: clear possession of that football two ft get down or
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: another body part, and I extend the ball to get
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: it through the goal line. If I extend that ball
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: to get a first down, that would be considered a
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: football move. I take a third or fourth step, that's
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: a football move. I brace for impact, that's a football move.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: So some of the things that we have seen in
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: the past and or the time element that would be
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: necessary to potentially make a football act, but the football
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: act is not performed. That's also a category. I don't
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: think we'll see that very often because every player that
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: gets a possession of that football is making a football moving.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: So that's our change for this year, I think is clear,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: very clear for you guys. Yeah, and I think it
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: was last year. I think on the field, based on
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the rule, the written rule, and the interpretation on the field,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: we were officiating those plays for the majority correct. Where
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: there are half a dozen plays that everybody might have
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: scratched their head and said, boy, based on history, that
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: just appears to us to be potentially that it should
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: be a completed catch. So as as we do every year,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: we tweak, we try to make things better. Where there's
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: areas that we needed to improve on, we did, and
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: we hope that coaches and players and officials and certainly
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the fans uh welcome that change and if it eliminates
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: or at least reduces plays that might cause confusion and
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: what it catches, that was their ultimate goal. John Perry,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: with us NFL referee in with the Jaguars this week
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: use of helmet that's the big change that a lot
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: of players have questions about um And this this is
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: for every player on the field. If you initiate contact
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: with your helmet, then there could be a fifteen yard penalty.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: If it's bad enough, there could be an ejection. Where
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: do you start on this one and what's the biggest
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: question that's been asked this week from the Jaguars on
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: the use of helmet rule. Well, I think where you
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: start is to ensure that uh, certainly in our position
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: with what we're doing tonight for the fans is to
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: make sure that the fans recognize that annually when the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: season ends, there over forty thou plays that took place
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: in New York. Does a fabulous job with categorizing all
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: of those plays, reviewing those plays, and collecting data. That
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: data is reviewed by current players, retired players, current coaches,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: retired coaches, general managers, owners, presidents, doctors, and the data
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: is collected and we try to implement changes that a
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: will make the National Football League game better and also
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: trickle down because as we all know, the kids that
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: watched the game on Sunday attempt to implement that on
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: a Friday, So we are trying to once again, UH.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: It is our number one priority player safety and the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: use of the helmet by lowering the head and leading
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and initiating contact with the top of the helmet is
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: something that we are trying to remove from the game.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Will there be contact that is face mask to face
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: mask legal? Will there be contact that is initiated with
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: the top of the face mask and that area that's
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: just starting towards the top of the helmet. Yes, what
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: we're trying to eliminate is that player that lowers the
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: helmet and the eyes are facing the ground and initiates contact.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Most of the issues with players safety occurred with the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: player that was delivering that contact. So that is a
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: change interesting, and it is a change for two thousand
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and eighteen, of course, but we've actually had that rule
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: UH in place. I believe I could be wrong, but
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I believe it's in relationship to defenseless players. So I
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: go up to make a catch, I'm still defenseless. A
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: defender cannot lower the head, lead with the crown and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: hit a defenseless player, a quarterback upon our a kicker,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: punt returner. Those players that were so we've actually had
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: this rule. What we're doing is we're expanding it. We
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: are expanding it to all twenty two players at all
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: positions on the entire football field. Of course, folks want
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to know, how will you handle in tier your line?
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Right out of my mouth, because you can't see a
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: lot of things that happen some of some of the things, UH,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: certainly with based on our position and how the play develops.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Specifically in the interior line play, when helmets begin less
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: than two ft apart, that would be a difficult for us.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: But that's that's why we do what we do. At
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: what point do you determine is in a fifteen yard penalty?
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: And at what point is ejection or removal from the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: game come to play? I think if and when, and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: hopefully we don't have it, but if and when we
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: do have an ejection scenario, I believe once you see
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: that play developed, and you see where the player came
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: from and the distance that they travel, and did they
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: have another option other than lowering the head, leading with
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the crown and delivering a blow to a receiver running back,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. UM, can I give you
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a steadfast written rule of what will qualify. No, but
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I certainly hope that we'll when we know it, well,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: when we see it, will know it. But the distance
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: traveled and did he have another option, a clear option
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: based on the distance and speed that he traveled. And
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be a work in progress preseason for you guys,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: for the players, for everybody. Right. Yeah, And I would say,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: you know, last night we delivered the message. Obviously they've
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: done some some homework on their own, they've read some
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: media reports, they've done all those beautiful things us. Our
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: meeting went fantastic, great questions by the players. Uh, there's
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: no doubt that they're embracing player safety. They understand the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: rule and they're going to embrace it. And at this level,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the coaches are so good, the players are so good,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: they will adapt, and we hope that we can remove
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: that top of the helmet contact out of our game
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: and the courses as the lower levels go as well.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: He's been an official in the league since two thousand
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: ahead referee since two thousand seven. John Perry, NFL referee.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Good to see you, man. I know you guys don't
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: do a lot of interviews, so we're glad to have
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you and thanks for your time and insight, thanks for
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: the opportunity. We'll see you next time on the J P.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Shadrick Podcast.