Criticizing NFL officials sometimes goes too far.
That's because when a person's favorite team is losing, the easiest thing to do is to blame the "questionable" officiating, regardless of whether the claim has any merit. But NFL fans' murky relationship with officials is very different from what players actually have to deal with while doing their jobs. Even though people tune in on Sundays to watch the players perform, sometimes it seems like the officials on hand believe they have more influence and power than they should, and they react with ego the moment they get any pushback from players.
Again, the emphasis is on sometimes.
We appeared to see a crystal-clear example of this during the Arizona Cardinals' matchup with the New York Giants in Week
4. When star Arizona tight end Trey McBride got caught in an argument with side judge Jeff Seeman, the camera captured Seeman sharing what sure seemed like an NSFW message with McBride. Yikes.
(Warning: NSFW language below.)
An NFL ref appears to say “Fuc* you” to #Cardinals TE Trey McBride 🤦🏻♂️
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 4, 2026
(📽️ @iliketofootball)
pic.twitter.com/t95fuKTFid https://t.co/XC8vdl2kQZ
Woof, this is never a good look for someone who is supposed to be impartial and largely emotionless while monitoring a game between elite athletes. An apparent outburst like this could be an indication of Seeman going on an unnecessary ego trip and being biased against a particular player or team, making it bad luck for him that this was caught on camera, with lots of folks doing some good old-fashioned lip-reading.
Everyone saw the same thing.
NFL official appears to yell "F*** YOU. F*** YOU." at Trey McBride 😭
— Football Forever (@fballforeverhq) October 4, 2026
McBride laughs as he realizes the interaction was caught on camera.
(via NFL) pic.twitter.com/E3nV4MxHZ4
Meanwhile, an official said F*** you to a player today (Trey McBride). https://t.co/O8EjyOHdSa
— Jeremy Marks-Peltz (@JMP1063) October 4, 2026
ICYMI: It appears an NFL official was caught saying "F*** you" to Cardinals TE Trey McBride 😐pic.twitter.com/YAfpGXrU71 https://t.co/IXzyVFuiGK
— Covers Football (@Covers_Football) October 4, 2026
We'll see if there are any disciplinary measures for Seeman in the coming week. This is certainly a situation the NFL could address given the video evidence.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Lip readers spotted NFL official's NSFW insult for the Cardinals’ Trey McBride
