Blandino: Microwave crashed NFL replay system on Thanksgiving 2016

Dean Blandino, former vice president of officiating for the NFL, revealed a microwaving mishap nearly caused a major issue for the league during a Thanksgiving Day game in 2016.

As Blandino explained on the latest episode of the "Mike Delivers" podcast, staff members and their families would receive food at GameDay Central - the NFL's officiating command center - on Thanksgiving. In 2016, someone pulled out a microwave during the early game but plugged it into the wrong outlet.

"We took the microwave, plugged it in, but they plugged it into the same outlet, the same circuit that the replay system was plugged into, and when they turned the microwave on, the whole thing went down," Blandino recalled. "So, we were down for maybe like two minutes while they fixed it. The game was going on, but thankfully we didn't have any replay reviews, but we kind of shut down the system because we wanted to heat up the stuffing for Thanksgiving in the microwave."

The Detroit Lions hosted the Minnesota Vikings in the early game and defeated their NFC North rivals 16-13.

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