PFWA Pool Reporter Nicki Jhabvala Interview with Senior Vice President of Officiating Perry Fewell
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Question: I just have one quick question on the hit by Antoine Winfield – the helmet-to-helmet hit. He was flagged for unnecessary roughness and not ejected. Can you explain a little bit about the thinking as to why he was not ejected versus keeping him in the game?
Fewell: “What we saw here in New York was that there was incidental helmet contact made by the defender. And it was clear that the defender was attempting to touch the quarterback down on the slide, so we didn’t feel like it rose to the level of a disqualification.”
Question: And just to be clear, because the quarterback took off running, did the fact that he was not a defenseless player in that regard, did that factor into it?
Fewell: “That did not factor into it.”