The old, fat, out of shape buffoon NFL Refs

[Rookies]

Make one up in the dirt @ the Steelers- Dolphins game.

On 3rd. & Goal, they originally rule a TD with Roth crossing the line. Then, upon review, they rule he fumbled it BEFORE the goal line.

Except... except... like the Keystone Klowns that they are, they have NO CLUE who recovered the ball, NONE of them. :lol: :rolleyes: So, they make it up and give Pitt 4th and 1 on the half yard line. They kick the FG.

A multi billion dollar game run by part time, old, insurance salesmen.

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS S UP!

[PhantomOnTour]

Thought this thread was about the official in the Saints-Browns game that was knocked cold and appeared to suffer a serious head injury. He was the guy who holds the first down stick and got trucked & hit his head hard.

I've said it a bazillion times and I'll say it for bazillion and first:

PUT THE REFS IN A HELMET OR SOME SORT OF PROTECTIVE WEAR!!!

A lot of them are over 50, esp. the yard stick guys. Unreal that these men are on or near the field with no protection.

Now, about that call in Miami....it was terrible. How can you not follow up and see who recovered the ball? It looked like the Dolphins easily had it but a Steeler came crashing thru late in the pile up.....Pittsburgh always seems to get these kind of calls. What can I say?

[RaceTrackDaddy]

Football players are taught from grade school to "play to the whistle". Apparently the refs in Miami played some football in their time prior to being the football police.

The officials need a different slogan since they brought in instant replay. They should "play till the recovery". One way or another, one of the teams will leave the game feeling they were cheated. Even the cameramen (most important of all) should be following the recovery rule. Follow the ball.

rtd
Longtime Steeler fan since the day we had Ernie Stautner (# 70) though for me it was the last half of his career. Did you ever wonder why the Steelers have not had a number #70? Ernie is the only Steeler to have his number retired.

[cj's dad]

I heard about this call while driving home from my local and after watching the replay of Big Bens Fumble it is obvious that the Dolphins were hosed. Clearly a fumble by motorcycle boy- should have been a Fins ball at the 20 yd. line and in control of the game- but NOOOOOOO, the Steelers get another no brainer call.

[slew101]

Problem with this play is once the TD call is made, everyone stops, and it wasn't a clear recovery, there was a pig pile. Because the call was TD, they didn't unpile.

Only way Miami gets the ball is if Ben fumbled out of the end zone of the Fish had a clear recovery.

This is a problem with the replay rule they revised a few years back. Remember, prior to the change, the defense never would get the ball on a play ruled down by contact. They changed that to "clear recovery" goes to the defense. This wasn't a clear recovery.

[JustRalph]

wow....... I was too busy to watch football today....caught this thing in replay

what a clusterf$%@#

This crap is insane. With the awesome video available today, why do we put up with this stuff?

All professional sports should go to video reviews for the important stuff

There were lots of gambling dollars lost on this call in the Miami game

[Rookies]

wow....... I was too busy to watch football today....caught this thing in replay

what a clusterf$%@#

This crap is insane. With the awesome video available today, why do we put up with this stuff?

All professional sports should go to video reviews for the important stuff

There were lots of gambling dollars lost on this call in the Miami game

JR... YEARS ago I sent this to a WGR Sports guy:

NFL Standards for Officials

Of course, there isn't any ! These old, fat, blind septuagenarians simply can't cut it in a high speed game.
For the past decade, this is my solution.

1) Hire fulltime officials @ minimum $100k per annum.
2) EVERY new hire must be a recent Phyzz Ed Grad in great shape and
preferably played NCAA Divsion 1 Football.
3) Serious Knowledge AND conditioning testing before hiring.
4) Serious weekly/ Yearly evaluations of performance. Failures are FIRED !
5) Digital Cameras everywhere, including the sidelines and goal line.
6) Paid spotters to watch the cameras EVERY instant.

This would be a good start to having quality officiating in a billion
dollar game. A crew like "the one today" would never make it to the next weekend, if I was in charge.

[dav4463]

I think the referees do about as good of a job as can be expected. The game is incredibly tough to call. Nobody ever gives them credit for doing a good job. They only see the mistakes and then they are magnified.

The worst thing that happened to the NFL was going to instant replay. It makes the officials afraid to blow the whistle and make a decision.

Let the refs make the decision and live with it. They are human, they will make some mistakes just like the players. Live with it. The good teams will still win, the bad teams will still lose.

[Valuist]

Some bizarre officiating on display tonight in Green Bay. The Packer TE catches a ball and his hip hits the ground out of bounds before any feet come down and its ruled a TD (and amazingly wasn't challenged). Then later on, Shiancoe catches a TD pass, that while ruled a TD on the field, was incorrectly overturned. Childress has a right to be pissed about the officiating.

[slew101]

Maybe so, but Childress is a terrible coach. How about late 2nd, Vikings have the ball on their 37 with 3 timeouts and 50 seconds and he lets the clock run out? Did you see Favre and Moss' reaction? They couldn't believe it. He had GB on their heels (after McCarthy called a TO to set it up) and he doesn't try to score.

Some bizarre officiating on display tonight in Green Bay. The Packer TE catches a ball and his hip hits the ground out of bounds before any feet come down and its ruled a TD (and amazingly wasn't challenged). Then later on, Shiancoe catches a TD pass, that while ruled a TD on the field, was incorrectly overturned. Childress has a right to be pissed about the officiating.

[ldiatone]

the refs did blow the call, but MIA did get the ball back w/2:17 left 1 TO and went 4 and out. after the team moved the ball up and down the field all day.

[Rookies]

As I heard it, Roihlesberger recovered his own fumble in the end zone. So, it would have been a TD!

This buffoonery affected:

Steeler bettors, who would have covered;
Over bettors, who would have covered;

OR

Dolphin bettors straight up

In my Bills game, the Ravens were allowed to hold up the runnedr and rip the ball out going on many seconds after play should have been halted.

And, the Ravens kicker kicked a FG FIVE yards longer than required, because they couldn't spot the ball properly!!!

Sorry, Dave. I think you expressed concern about High School officials. I get that and the ridiculous and inane abuse they put up with. That is different and I have much sympathy for them and sanctions need to be taken against the fool fans.

The NFL however, is a multi billion dollar game. The calibre of officiating is simply so far behind the level of the players and needs to be straightened out as I suggested.

You simply can't have part time, out of shape crews who can't see whether somebody has come down in bounds from 2 feet away, when I can see it on regular ( not slow motion) replay from 1000 miles away!

[ldiatone]

As I heard it, Roihlesberger recovered his own fumble in the end zone. So, it would have been a TD!

This buffoonery affected:

Steeler bettors, who would have covered;
Over bettors, who would have covered;

OR

Dolphin bettors straight up

In my Bills game, the Ravens were allowed to hold up the runnedr and rip the ball out going on many seconds after play should have been halted.

And, the Ravens kicker kicked a FG FIVE yards longer than required, because they couldn't spot the ball properly!!!

Sorry, Dave. I think you expressed concern about High School officials. I get that and the ridiculous and inane abuse they put up with. That is different and I have much sympathy for them and sanctions need to be taken against the fool fans.

The NFL however, is a multi billion dollar game. The calibre of officiating is simply so far behind the level of the players and needs to be straightened out as I suggested.

You simply can't have part time, out of shape crews who can't see whether somebody has come down in bounds from 2 feet away, when I can see it on regular ( not slow motion) replay from 1000 miles away!
Sir, are you sure forward progress was stopped?.... :rolleyes:

[kingfin66]

For the past decade, this is my solution.

1) Hire fulltime officials @ minimum $100k per annum.
2) EVERY new hire must be a recent Phyzz Ed Grad in great shape and
preferably played NCAA Divsion 1 Football.
3) Serious Knowledge AND conditioning testing before hiring.
4) Serious weekly/ Yearly evaluations of performance. Failures are FIRED !
5) Digital Cameras everywhere, including the sidelines and goal line.
6) Paid spotters to watch the cameras EVERY instant.

This would be a good start to having quality officiating in a billion
dollar game. A crew like "the one today" would never make it to the next weekend, if I was in charge.

It all sounds so simple, but perhaps we should take a closer look at these solutions.

1. Hire fulltime officials. Fulltime in what sense? Teams play one game per week. What would they do the rest of the time? As it is, NFL officials do have other careers and are very successful at them. They do a lot of game film study in preparation for their assignmetns.

2. EVERY new hire must be a phys ed grad and be in great shape. I have no argument that sports officials should be in good shape. Although there are always exceptions, many of the officials are actually in very good shape. Some may carry a few extra pounds, but in general, they are in better shape than they are being given credit for in this thread.

So NFL refs should be recent college grads and only phys ed. Are you saying that any 20 something can go out and work in the NFL? Hmm... Phys Ed? Is there evidence that this degree in particular results in better sports officials? I'm just not sure what your logic is, but it seems as though you believe that phys ed majors correlate with better physical specimens.

3. Serious knowledge and conditioning testing before hiring. Pro sports officials in all sports, not just football, have incredible knowledge of the game; both rules and how it is played. A better idea might be to actually have a formal training and hiring program. Honestly, I couldn't tell you how the NFL currently hires. In baseball, there is a hiring and development program and minor leagues for umpires to train in until they are ready for the major leagues.

4. Yearly reviews. NFL referees are evaluated and observed during every game and receive reviews. There is turnover in the ranks of officials. Part of the problem is that if you are going to fire officials, there has to actually be qualified replacements. Sure, there are some, but there aren't as many as you might think. Think next level below NFL - D1 college football. Many people don't like the performance of those officials either.

5. More cameras. With technology, there should never be an issue of not getting a good look at a play. Goal line technology in particular seems like it could be expended. I would also support changing the instant reply system to how it is in college football. It is faster, but better yet, it takes the field officials out of the replay decision.

6. Paid spotters to watch the cameras every instant. I'm confused about this one. Perhaps you could flesh it out a little bit more. As of now, teams have a challenge flag that they can throw to ask for a reply. Inside two minutes, it is a "booth review." I believe the plays are watched by teams coaches in the booth and by an official in the booth. Perhaps you meant something else.

No matter what happens, there will be missed calls. This is true in all sports. Technology can, and already has helped, but it is not infallible just as officials are not infallible. Even with reply and an official looking at the play over and over again from different angles and in slo mo, there can still be human judgment involved. Sorry, but that is just how it is.

As an aside, that was the wildest explanation of a call in the history of the NFL. It was almost as good as "he was at the bottom of the pile giving him the business."

[Valuist]

We've already seen the "Calvin Johnson catch" rule has to go. Same with the tuck rule.

I think the NFL should consider limiting defensive pass interference to a maximum of 20 yards. So many of the rules favor offense but I don't believe fans like seeing a 45 or 50 yard gain as a result of interference. On these deep throws, there's no guarantee they'd be caught anyways. I know they are supposed to take into account whether the ball was catchable, but it seems they rarely do. A 20 yard penalty is still severe but IMO, these long gains on incidental contact are not good for the game.

[cj]

We've already seen the "Calvin Johnson catch" rule has to go. Same with the tuck rule.

I think the NFL should consider limiting defensive pass interference to a maximum of 20 yards. So many of the rules favor offense but I don't believe fans like seeing a 45 or 50 yard gain as a result of interference. On these deep throws, there's no guarantee they'd be caught anyways. I know they are supposed to take into account whether the ball was catchable, but it seems they rarely do. A 20 yard penalty is still severe but IMO, these long gains on incidental contact are not good for the game.

I agree on that one for sure. I also think the challenge thing needs to be like tennis, if you are right you don't lose a challenge.

[kingfin66]

We've already seen the "Calvin Johnson catch" rule has to go. Same with the tuck rule.

I think the NFL should consider limiting defensive pass interference to a maximum of 20 yards. So many of the rules favor offense but I don't believe fans like seeing a 45 or 50 yard gain as a result of interference. On these deep throws, there's no guarantee they'd be caught anyways. I know they are supposed to take into account whether the ball was catchable, but it seems they rarely do. A 20 yard penalty is still severe but IMO, these long gains on incidental contact are not good for the game.

This could be tricky. The flip side is when you have a DB getting beat very badly far downfield, and all they need to do is commit a PI penalty because they know their max penalty is only 15 yds. I see it not frequently, but often enough in college games.