When Sarah Thomas takes to the field as a down judge during the AFC divisional round game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the New England Patriots, she will be making history as the first woman to officiate in an NFL playoff game.
According to NBC Sports, Thomas has been an NFL official since 2015 and is currently in her fourth season in the league. She started out as a line judge and is now a down judge. Thomas is no stranger to making history. When she entered the league, she was the first full-time female
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Thomas has been a football official for a decade now, where she started calling high school football games, according to Complex. Her eventual climbing of the ranks really started though back in 2009 when she started participating in college games.
In an interview with the NFL Network, Thomas said "I set out to do this and get involved in officiating not having any idea that there were not any females officiating football. Being a former basketball player, you saw female officiating all the time. So, no, I don’t feel like a pioneer."
The Patriots and Chargers play on Sunday, January 13th at 1:05 P.M. EST.
