Chris Simms Shares Wild Story About NFL Ref Tony Corrente Following Controversial Taunting Penalty

NFL official Tony Corrente is public enemy #1 in Chicago this week following his performance during Monday Night Football.

Corrente flagged the Bears much more than the Steelers throughout the game. But the most controversial move came when he called linebacker Cassius Marsh for a crucial taunting penalty late in the game.

Tony corrected would later stand by his call.

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On Wednesday, former NFL quarterback Chris Simms shared a story that proves Tony Corrente can let things get a little too personal when he’s calling a game.

According to Simms, Corrente refused to give Simms a warning when the game was starting back up from a commercial break because of something the quarterback said to him.

“Usually when you come back from commercial breaks and there’s stoppage time, the referee kind of gives the quarterback a warning like, ‘Hey, call your play, I’m about to blow the whistle.’ He’s not doing anything to me,” Simms recalled, as transcribed by Larry Brown Sports. “Now we’ve gone through three commercial breaks, a quarter break, and he’s just blowing the whistle and starting the clock while we’re all just standing around waiting for things.

“Finally, I go, ‘Are you gonna warn me before you start the clock again? Usually, that’s protocol.’ He goes, ‘Are you gonna apologize for what you said to me earlier?’ I wanted to lose my crap. After the game, I wanted to call him out. If we won, I probably would have. He just showed me he got personal and was gonna take the game into his own hands there.”

Chris Simms would also lament the fact that Tony Corrente decided to wait until Cassius Marsh was running by him, sending a “hip-check” while simultaneously throwing his flag.

“I got hip-checked by the ref and it’s pretty clear,” Marsh said after the game. “If I were to do that to a ref or even touch the ref, we’d get kicked out of the game and possibly suspended or fined… I just think that was incredibly inappropriate.”

It’s time for the NFL to hold refs like Tony Corrente accountable.


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