The NFL may have something to investigate about game official Roy Ellison's history as it checks into Trent Williams' accusation that Ellison cursed out the Washington Redskins tackle during Sunday's game.
Mike Pereira, former NFL supervisor of officials and current Fox Sports analyst, says that Ellison "years ago allegedly shouted and swore at players.'' Pereira made his claim Monday night on Fox Sports 1's Fox Football Daily.
According to an excerpt published by ProFootballTalk.com, Pereira said: “What concerns me about this is I sat in the same chair that Dean Blandino, the vice president of officiating, is sitting in right now, with the same official, Roy Ellison, who years ago allegedly shouted and swore at players, and it was a big issue that I had to deal with.
"I actually had to talk with him in the office to make sure that none of this was going on. So the fact that it has happened twice now with the same individual has to concern the league, and I know they are taking a strong look at this.”
Pereira, who supervised officials from 1999 to 2009, did not give details of when Ellison was accused of those actions previously. Ellison has been an NFL umpire since 2003.
“We had no audio, so it was nothing that we could actually confirm,” Pereira said on the show. “When I had to deal with it, there was no proof, so it was a 'he said, she said.' But something happened. And we did have a long conversation, Roy and I did, that we should never act like this as a football official on the field. And I said to him, ‘I don’t ever want to hear about this again.’”
After Washington's 24-16 loss in Philadelphia, Williams told CSN Washington that Ellison directed several profanities at him during the game. "I think it's very unprofessional and it sucks,'' he said.
Redskins coach Mike Shanahan told reporters Monday that he had not heard from the NFL, but believed he would speak with the league in the next few days. He said that he had heard that officials had spoken out of turn to players before but did not specify anything. "One other time,'' he said. "Nothing happened at that time, but we had a few players that were involved with this one so it’s a little bit unprecedented.
"I feel very strongly about the words that were used to our players because you have a number of players that said they heard it. So I’m disappointed in what had happened, but that’s probably all I can discuss at this point.”