By now, if you’re a fan of Pewter Report and the Pewter Report Podcast you have heard Scott Reynolds and I share our thoughts on the NFL’s awful officiating. Most of this is highlighted over the mistakes that took back not one but two defensive touchdowns for safety Antoine Winfield Jr.

But what had not been heard yet is how former Bucs Super Bowl champion head coach Bruce Arians felt about the refereeing last weekend. It’s not just what happened to Winfield and the Bucs, but there were several other examples and moments that show that the officiating in the NFL is going downhill.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: USA Today

Arians has been widely known for his fiery personality towards referees, lobbying to get calls or just trying to get an explanation for why something went the way it did. Joining the Pewter Report Podcast on Wednesday, we spoke with Arians on several topics about his time coaching the Bucs and his thoughts on the current team. We also listened intently as he shared his opinion on what happened over the weekend.

Bruce Arians Shares His Frustration With Officiating

“It’s terrible this year,” Bruce Arians said. “I mean, not the controversial but the obvious calls. But you watch the Steelers and the Packers Sunday night. The left tackle pulls like he’s going in motion. There’s no flag. Green Bay jumps completely offsides. No flag. Those are obvious, and you’re seeing too much of that every week.

Next were his thoughts on the Winfield Jr. play.

“Then this inadvertent whistle bull. If you blow an individual whistle and you had nothing to do with that call, you should be suspended. If there was a whistle, which nobody can hear yet on any audio that I can find, it was the referee across the field who couldn’t even see it let alone call it. Three guys right there didn’t call it. And that’s huge when you start pulling back defensive touchdowns.”

Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

After then talking about a controversial moment in the Giants at Eagles game during the tush push play, Arians said something that everybody can agree with.

“How about we just get it right?”

Coming Up With A Solution For Accountability

A big, big point of contention is that the referees are part time. It makes no sense that they can’t be full time in a league and a business that makes billions of dollars a year. What they need is a better system and facility to train these refs and have them go full time moving ahead.

“I’m a proponent of full-time officials for a long time,” Arians said. “We had we had about 17 there for a while. The union is so strong but this contract coming up in 2026 with the official’s union. To me is one of the biggest things, biggest contracts the NFL has. And, Pat McAfee had a great idea.

“We have a boot camp for business. We have a boot camp for sports information. Boot camp for camp for all these former players. We need an academy for referees. For former players. The best back judge I ever knew was Steve Freeman. He played free safety for the Bills for 13 years. He knows what to look at. He knows what’s egregious. We need more of that. Right now, it’s the only multi-billion-dollar industry that allows part time employees.”

Bucs HC Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

And another issue is that players and coaches can’t publicly call out the refs in press conferences or else they will get fined. It takes money out of their pockets because the league oddly wants to protect the officials for their mistakes. If Bruce Arians was running it, the refs would be held accountable by having them get fined for egregious misses in games. There’s been too many, and this is a way to correct it.

“The officials get slapped on the hand,” Arians said. “‘Oh, you had a bad game, so we’re going to grade him down for the playoffs.’ Well bullshit, get him a fine. Get a fine system when you blow calls that are obvious.”

Check out the entire interview with Bruce Arians on the Pewter Report Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel – Pewter Report TV.