Posted on 09/25/2012 12:43:15 AM PDT by Zakeet
Monday's debacle only crystallizes what was already clear: NFL's substitute officials are a joke, and it's time for Commissioner Roger Goodell to end lockout.
Hail Mary. Holy hell.
On the final play of the final game of one of the most shameful weekends in NFL history, a last-gasp pass from the Seattle Seahawks fell from the sky into the arms of the Green Bay Packers on Monday night.
Touchdown, Seattle. Chaos, NFL.
Three weeks of gross incompetence by unqualified replacement officials crystallized in two moments Monday night that pushed the league's integrity to the brink.
In one moment, Packers safety M.D. Jennings clearly intercepted a final-play pass while falling upon Seahawks receiver Golden Tate in the end zone, preserving an apparent 12-7 Green Bay win.
In the next moment, the replacement officials ruled that Tate had made the catch, and upheld that ruling after replay review, giving the Seahawks a 14-12 victory.
Said Packers Coach Mike McCarthy: "I've never seen anything like that in all my years in football."
Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman tweeted: "These games are a joke."
It's finally happened. After three weeks of forgetting the rules, losing track of the ball, and haphazardly administering this country's national pastime as if they were salesmen on vacation from Foot Locker, the replacement officials have finally done serious, irrevocable damage. The arrogant NFL's middle-school and small-college substitutes for the locked-out regular officials have finally, actually, literally made one wrong call that decided the outcome of a game.
It was one of the worst calls in the history of the league, yet it might turn out to be one of the best calls if humiliated Commissioner Roger Goodell was listening to the message it sent.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Being a referee is more than just making the right calls, it’s about having control of a game, and when the coaches know more about the rules than the refs, that’s bad.
Sure judgement calls will always be with us, even with the regular refs. But these referees do not have the respect of the players and coaches, and when that happens, players needlessly will get hurt. That’s my biggest problem with the replacement referees.
Don't forget the Steelers. I thought I was the only one who noticed that notoriously dirty teams (ahem, Patriots) are now suddenly getting penalties that they would never have been called for under the regular refs. Personally, I think it's made the game more exciting.
The only thing different about the "quality" of the officiating this season is the fact that you have to listen to every sportscaster, talking head, lib journ-o-list, etc. whine on and on incessantly about it. That's the only reason anyone has noticed it and noted that it seems soooooo bad. Take that away, and you just have the normal NFL with botched calls all over the place.
It's the Lib Media supporting their union brethren.
That's kind of a self-sustaining loop, though, isn't it? The refs can't control the game because they get no respect, and they get no respect because they can't control the game.
Coaches and players have been trying to bully these guys for three (regular season) weeks now, and to express shock and dismay because the guys getting bullied are getting frazzled and making mistakes isn't helping the situation.
The person who really needs to get things under control is Goodell. He needs to state in flat-out terms that there will be no pensions for referees, and that until the refs are willing to accept that, there will be no deal. In the meantime, he himself will review tapes from every game each week, and any player or coach found to be harassing or bullying a referee will be fined and suspended.
Bud Grant advocated for this for years. It was a great idea then; it's a great idea now.
And, of course, the Steelers. Good catch.
What you have in the NFL now is genuine unpredictability. It may not necessarily be for the right reasons, but Roger Goodell is probably smiling. Everyone is talking about his league. For those who say that all publicity is good publicity, you're laughing all the way to the bank.
Call me jaded but I'd spend Sundays in past years wondering what the 'big' teams were going to do to get the big call they needed and would always seem to get. It's hard to dispute that this isn't happening at the present time.
I can see a possible playoff implication:
Suppose Chicago (11-5) and San Francisco (12-4) win their divisions outright.
The NY Giants and Dallas Cowboys both go 11-5.
Seattle and Green Bay go 10-6.
With the Giants and Cowboys getting a division title and one of the wild card spots, that leaves one wild card left.
The first tie-breaker for the wild card between two teams is head-to-head, if applicable.
Chaos and screaming ensues. Mwuahaha.
As a Lions fan...you should just be...appalled.
(says another unfortunate Lions fan ; )
Seriously, after watching the Lions for decades get flagged when their DB's farted within 5 yards of a receiver...I'm rather amused at the "darlings of the league" getting pwned.
Also, just think of how many more people are tuning in just to watch a potential clown show... Goodell may have accidentally created one of the greatest marketing gimmicks evah!
The guys in the booth aren’t replacement refs are they?
They reviewed this and did not overturn it.
From what I’ve heard about all morning on the sports shows(by rule)...that part of the call(judgement/possession)is not reviewable.
My understanding is that even if they wanted to, they could not overturn the call; all they could basically rule on is whether the pass was incomplete or not.
I guess the lesson learned is that on the last play of the game, instead of trying to intercept the ball, bat it down instead. Looked like Jennings had a chance to simply bat down the ball.
And therein lies the problem. Guys in the booth should be allowed to review more than possession. What made this incident worse was the failure to call offensive pass interference as one of Green Bay’s defenders was thrown to the ground before the jump ball. As a football fan without a team (abandoned the Redskins after Snyder took over), I just want to see a good game that involves the best matchup of the day, and I don’t want it decided by a referee. For now, looks like I’ll spend more time watching NASCAR instead of “WWF Football”.
It’s also pretty obvious that Tom Brady isn’t being protected by the officials like the precious flower he is. He’s playing like a guy who is suddenly remembering what it feels like to actually get hit week after week. I think any QB who doesn’t have this invisible band of official protection around him every weekend is probabaly laughing at these others whom no one is allowed to even breathe on or four yellow flags go flying through the air during a normal season. My grandmother could play QB in the NFL if she was allowed to stand back there like Brady or Manning with no touching allowed.
A business worth BILLIONS and they are well on their way toward destroying the INTEGRITY of the game because officials want a pension fund.
I always heard it was "better to give than receive"... especially when you possess a bountiful amount.
Obviously, my knowledge is out of tune with the times.
I tend to watch the Monday night rasslin show as I seem to know how the ref is going to rule.
Disputed possession isn’t reviewable. If you say player X has the ball the replay can only agree or say nobody had the ball, it CAN’T say player Y had it.
There were a large quantity of very bad calls in that game, the final one being the worst. No official was in the right position to make the call, one official signaled an INT, one a TD, they allowed players and coaches to crowd the field, didn’t huddle to consult, and then made an irreversible call. Which is really the problem with the replacements, they don’t know the corner case rules, and they don’t know how to err on the side of caution. Had the signal been incomplete that could have been reversed on review (nobody caught it can be reversed to somebody caught it, and that somebody could be X or Y), and the regular refs understand this and in complex situations tend to lean to calls that can be reversed.
The tuck rule is a bad example, that was a bad rule correctly officiated. These guys are incorrectly officiating good rules.
Pensions are not the only issue in the dispute. I know that libs want us all to believe that but they are not. An even bigger issue for the ref’s union is the scorecard and its new proposal. The NFL wants to hire 20 new refs to replace older ones when it is time and to have a few in reserve. The reason for the reserve? They want to bench those refs who miss a certain number of calls over a given period of time. So, in similar fashion to the teacher’s unions, the ref’s union wants no accountablility. That is the REAL main issue here.
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