Falcons fan starts petition calling for removal of NFL official

NFL referee Pete Morelli walks out of the tunnel before a game.

Credit: Justin Edmonds

Credit: Justin Edmonds

NFL referee Pete Morelli walks out of the tunnel before a game.

An Atlanta Falcons fan started a petition this week requesting the ban of NFL official Pete Morelli from calling any more NFL games.

Morelli was part of the crew that called the Falcons’ loss Sunday to the New Orleans Saints in which the Falcons received 10 penalties for 91 yards while the Saints totaled three penalties for 30 yards.

The petition creator intends to send the signatures to commissioner Roger Goodell and request the removal of Morelli and his crew.

The petition reads in part:

"As a Falcons fan, I have watched the NFL wrong our franchise for many years but more importantly as a fan of this league I believe that all of us could benefit from the immediate removal of Morelli and every one of his crew members to send a message to NFL officials that corruption within the officiating group will not be tolerated.

"Morelli has some sort of favoritism towards certain teams and has a personal vendetta against others. We have to do something about this to protect the game and to ultimately do away with corruption. If you feel compelled to sign this, I encourage you to do so. We must remove Pete Morelli."

The Change.org petition had more than 2,000 of the desired 2,500 signatures as of Friday morning.

The Falcons play the Carolina Panthers Sunday in a must-win matchup at 4:25 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.