Pete Morelli

Peter "Pete" Morelli (born c. 1952) is the principal of Saint Mary's High School in Stockton, California and better known as an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1997 NFL season.

As an official in the NFL, Morelli is known for working Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 as a field judge and later as a referee for two controversial games - the 2005-06 NFL playoffs between the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers, and a 2007 regular season game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns. Beginning his ninth year as referee for the 2011 NFL season, Morelli's officiating crew consists of umpire Ruben Fowler, head linesman Mark Baltz, line judge John Hussey, field judge Jon Lucivansky, side judge Don Carlsen and back judge Rob Vernatchi.

Personal
Pete Morelli is married to Cindy and has two sons, Matt and Dan. Morelli currently lives in Stockton, California.

Early years
In 1971, aged 19, Morelli began officiating with his father and two uncles, Joe and Tony Morelli. He started with the California Interscholastic Federation, working high school football games. For his performance, he was assigned playoff and championship games. He later progressed to the college level, officiating in the Big West Conference and Western Athletic Conference. He was selected to work eleven playoff games, including the 1996 Liberty Bowl.

NFL career
Morelli was hired by the NFL in 1997 as a back judge, then switched to field judge after the league swapped position titles in 1998, and was promoted to referee with the start of the 2003 NFL season following the retirements of Dick Hantak and Bob McElwee. He wears uniform number 135.

Troy Polamalu interception
Morelli was involved in a controversial call during an AFC divisional playoff game on January 15, 2006 between the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. In the fourth quarter, Steelers safety Troy Polamalu appeared to intercept a Peyton Manning pass with 5:26 left in regulation. Polamalu made a diving catch and tumbled to the ground with the ball in his hands and got up to run. As he did, he fumbled the ball, then recovered. Colts head coach Tony Dungy challenged the call, and upon review on instant replay, Morelli overturned the ruling on the field of a completed catch and interception. After the reversal of the interception, Indianapolis drove down the field and scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion to reduce the eleven point deficit down to three, making the final score 21-18. This would end up being the final score of the game. Following the game, Morelli explained his ruling, saying, "I had the defender catching the ball. Before he got up, he hit it with his leg with his other leg still on the ground. He never had possession with his leg up off the ground, doing an act common to the game of football. He was losing it while his other leg was still on the ground. Therefore, he did not complete the catch. And then he lost the ball. It came out, and so we made the play an incomplete pass." Steelers linebacker Joey Porter claimed that the referees were conspiring against his team, hoping to give the Colts the victory. In an interview with The New York Times, Porter said, "I felt they were cheating us. When the interception happened, everybody in the world knew that was an interception. Don't cheat us that bad. When they did that, they really want Peyton Manning and these guys to win the Super Bowl. They are just going to straight take it for them. I felt that they were like 'We don't even care if you know we're cheating. We're cheating for them.'"

A day after the game, the NFL released a statement confirming that Polamalu made the interception, refuting the overturn call of Morelli. Mike Pereira, the league's vice president of officiating, said, "[Polamalu] maintained possession long enough to establish a catch. Therefore, the replay review should have upheld the call on the field that it was a catch and fumble." The NFL also opted not to fine Porter for his remarks towards the officials. No further explanation was given by the league on their decision not to punish Porter.

Phil Dawson field goal
On November 18, 2007 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Morelli was the referee of a game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Towards the end of regulation, Browns placekicker Phil Dawson attempted a 51-yard field goal to tie the game and force an overtime period. As Dawson kicked the ball, it ricocheted off the left upright, broke the vertical plane of the crossbar, and bounced off the stanchion, which holds the crossbar and supports the goalposts. Upon contacting the stanchion, the ball bounced back over the crossbar and onto the field. Initially, field judge Jim Saracino looked at back judge Keith Ferguson, then signaled the kick was no good as time expired.

As the Ravens headed for the locker room believing the game was over, officials began to discuss the call. After a five minute discussion among the officials, referee Pete Morelli announced over the public address system that he would "take a look at this play". However, by rule, field goals are not reviewable on instant replay. Upon arriving at the instant review booth, Morelli was informed by replay assistant Howard Slavin through headphones that field goals are not reviewable. While there is some controversy on whether Morelli used video review, Mike Pereira said, "[Morelli] was talking to Howard Slavin, and he was told it was not a reviewable play. He wanted to make sure." WMAR-TV in Baltimore filmed Morelli and Jim Saracino at the replay booth, but not "under the hood" reviewing video.

Morelli proceeded to further discuss the kick with his crew. In the discussion that ensued, Keith Ferguson "felt more strongly" that the ball had crossed through the goal posts. Based on Ferguson's opinion of the kick, Morelli declared that the field goal was good. Following the game, Morelli described the sequence of events to a pool reporter. "It was a ruling by one of the officials, not by me," Morelli said. "One of the officials signaled incomplete, no good. The other official informed me the ball hit the back of the extension of the goal post, which is the backside of it, which is an object beyond the goal post. And, in discussion with the three of us, we had to figure what the ruling was. Whether the ball hit the bar beyond the extension or not."

The correct call was made according to NFL rules as Rule No. 11, Section 5-c, states that the entire ball must pass through the goal in case wind or other forces cause it to return through the goal. It must have struck the ground or some object.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello stated that the league's Competition Committee would review siutations where a field goal try strikes an object as reviewable by instant replay during the offseason following the 2007 season. League executives have stated that there are not enough cameras to provide irrefutable video evidence for all field goal tries.

2009 NFC Championship Game
Morelli was the referee of the NFC Championship Game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on January 24, 2010. One questionable call was the Saints' Bobby McCray's low blindside hit on Vikings quarterback Brett Favre; it appeared to have violated the "Tom Brady Rule" in which defenders can't hit quarterbacks below the knees, but no penalty was called (which would have negated a New Orleans interception). Mike Pereira, the NFL's Supervisor of Officials, would later discuss the play on his weekly "Official Review" segment on NFL Network's NFL Total Access, and admit that it was in fact a missed call and a penalty flag should have been thrown.