Sarah Thomas Comments on 1st Season as an NFL Official

Sarah Thomas was the NFL's first full-time female official last season, but she was only able to process and feel the weight of her pioneering occupation in retrospect. 

Thomas spoke to the Associated Press, via TheScore.com, in a report that ran Monday regarding her reflection on the 2015 campaign:

"

When I first started all this last year, I said I don't feel the pressure of it or anything like that, and I don't feel as if I did during the season. But once I reflected back, I knew that there was a lot of pressure...When I reflected back on it, I thought if something major had happened with being a first, not that I recognize myself as that, but just being a first, that it could have gone one of two ways. So I'm glad that it was a very smooth, under-the-radar, first year.

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There was almost no way for Thomas to avoid anonymity under the circumstances, unless she went through the entire season without any controversial calls. She was grateful for avoiding severe backlash over her work.

Thomas spoke in particular about a call she made on Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell's touchdown run in Week 5 that was close to the goal line.

"We just want to be officials, we want to go unseen," Thomas said. "You've heard it for years and years and years, and it is the truth. If you don't notice the officials then we've done a great job, and that's what [we] set out to do."

Despite her landmark accomplishment of getting through a full NFL season as a side judge without much controversy, Thomas downplayed her ambition to be the first female official to reach the professional level. She also was pleased to report how the NFL embraced her unprecedented situation.

"I never set out to be the first, but when I did speak or I was encouraged with women's groups, it's good to hear them ask questions how did you approach it, and for me to be able to say the National Football League had the utmost respect for me as they did any other official," Thomas said.

According to the AP report, Thomas began training in the NFL's official development program in 2013 and also participated in the program in 2014. Before then she had worked in college football for Conference USA, beginning in 2007.

Prior to Thomas' full-time placement in NFL regular-season games, she worked preseason games in addition to minicamps and training camps.

Thomas has opened the door for other women who are interested in NFL officiating. Even the most experienced and reputable officials do find themselves in tough situations to make potentially unpopular calls, though, so Thomas is bound to deal with that at some point.

This past year marked another landmark occasion for women in the NFL when the Arizona Cardinals hired Jen Welter as an assistant coaching intern for training camp and the preseason. Welter is thought to be the first woman to hold any kind of coaching position in NFL history.