These refs have got to go

[JawnyBlaze]

Yea, there was talk about that happening for this season, 1 guy on the field and all calls made by guys up in booths. But it was denied by the league and obviously didn't come to fruition. I'd honestly approve of that method. There'd be a few benefits, mainly:

-no more having to worry about intimidation by players or coaches or having to wonder if a ref was influenced by the fans, players or coaches

-no more refs being in the way of the plays. I can't count the number of times I've seen refs physically impact a play, whether it's players running into refs, players tripping on refs' hats (like what happened recently), refs throwing a flag into a player's eye and causing life long damage, and even just players having to adjust their running route to avoid hitting a ref (thereby causing them to have to take a less-than-optimal route, making it easier to get tackled).

I think having a "referee spokesperson" on the field to announce the calls, explain calls and options to coaches, and signal for challenges and the like while the actual decisions are made from guys upstairs is a great idea.

[JawnyBlaze]

And with that, I have to bow out of this discussion for now, it's past my bedtime. I have work in the morning.

[thatlookseasy]

Like I said before, if the league just completely gives in on a negotiation point, it sets a bad precedence for the future. Next time the refs, players or anyone are in a position of negotiation they will certainly look at the history and in that case they'll say "well we were able to get them to completely give in on the money last time, let's up the ante and see how far we can take this". You can't do that, it's not good business.

I would think its much worse business to piss off the fans of the most popular league in America over an insignificant amount of money. How would this affect negotiations with players? They just got done locking the players out, I'm pretty sure they arent scared to do it again.

Either way, the NFL handled this very badly by getting shitty replacements and/ or not training them well enough. And now everyone knows it

[pantherclaw]

Db gets his hands on the ball.

Tate gets his left arm between the ball and the dbs chest.

While still in the air, it is clear that tate is trying to rip the ball away from the db. So much so, that the dbs body rotates toward tate and the ground.

As they come to the ground, both players have possession of the ball.

The db then turns his body away from tate.

Simultaneous possession.

The call on the field was td.

Go to review, where there is not enough to overturn the call. Just as there wasn't enough to overturn it, had it been ruled a touchback.

They got it right in my book.

[theyhateme45]

It's not the first call they've fuged up by any stretch, but it's the first time a fuged up call has affected the outcome of a game. Regular refs and replacement refs alike fug up plenty of calls during the course of games. Teams have time and opportunity to adjust and compensate for it in most cases. In cases where they don't, that game would fall into the 2%.

That's why you haven't seen outcomes of games adjusted after the game is over. The SD-Broncos game a few years back, the infamous bad call by Hochuli. Everyone, including Hochuli, admitted it was the wrong call. But the Chargers had an opportunity to overcome it. It was an outrage, and a blatant bad call, but it wasn't reversed because it's part of the game. I'll say this. The call at the end of this Packers-Seahawks game wasn't any more egregious or ridiculous than the Tuck rule game, that SD-Denver game, calling back JStew's run against Jax last year, or 100 other calls I've seen. It was bad, but I've seen plenty others just as bad. Hell, awarding that team (I forget which at the moment) 4 time outs yesterday was at least as bad. But it didn't directly affect the outcome of the game because it didn't happen on a game deciding last play of the game.

This was pretty much my stance until taking a more objective point of view. It is very true that regular refs jack up calls and games on their own. But there are a few things in this situation that's a little different.

#1) The number of calls and bad ref games are becoming very noticable to me. Usually those badly ref games with the regular refs we can call them out by name and referee. Watching all the games the last 2 weeks there have been a lot of jacked up calls.... Arizona almost got the screw job at then end of week 1, The 49ers this week being given back a timeout and challenge before the two minute warning keepin them in the game when they had none, and there has been more.

#2) Confusion, The ref's at times has no idea what is going on and what should be going on. Just very lost. Even last night John Clayton who was right next to the refs was reporting just how lost about everything they were. Even with that call the side judege should not make that call, and there should have been a conference with the head ref to discuss what they saw before making the call... This is not the first time the refs had been confused.

#3) Lack of confidence. While this is very understandable, I have heard a lot of reputable players (Like Larry fitz), coaches, and others around the league stating how they are getting intimidated by players, coaches, and fans... I don't blame them when you have all these people yelling at you to get the call right, but the lack of confidence and control of the game is making things bad...

So you put all of this together... Not knowing and being confident on the rules, the lack of confidence and the confusion over the game just makes this a uglier situation than even I expected. I even had a rant on facebook about people being to hard on the NFL and the replacement refs, but after these last two weeks it is justified.

I don't know what the answer is though, as I do not believe the NFL should cave and give the ref's everything they want. I am not a knee jerk reactor. I almost feel as though we just need to accept a inferior product and deal with it until there can be a deal made.... short term sacrifice, long term benefit.

[DeeJay]

BoyCot NFL 2012

[g5jamz]

LOL @ boycott

Tell you what...owners/Goodell...meet them halfway. Remember...the union refs want a 401K AND pension plan for a part time position. Nuts. Give them some sort of pension...go for it, BUT all refs would have to be subjected to a 15 minute press conference after EVERY NFL game to speak to reporters on how the game was called.

[Montsta]

I know the refs are horrible, but just because the NFL is a money machine doesn't mean they should give in to outrageous demands by everyone that is associated with them.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

whelp time to go troll the packers board

[Sword]

http://profootballta...e-been-flagged/

“Replay Official Howard Slavin stopped the game for an instant replay review. The aspects of the play that were reviewable included if the ball hit the ground and who had possession of the ball. In the end zone, a ruling of a simultaneous catch is reviewable. That is not the case in the field of play, only in the end zone.

so yes you can review simultaneous catch in the endzone only.

[Montsta]

http://profootballta...e-been-flagged/

so yes you can review simultaneous catch in the endzone only.

So the guy that fuged up is a regular guy, not a replacement?

[Matthias]

I didn't say this last night, but in all reality, the right team won. The refs threw at least three bogus flags that extended the Packers final touchdown drive. (All three of them came on 3rd down) So that final call wasn't the only goof up by these refs. If you ask me, the right team won overall.

[Khaki Lackey]

I didn't say this last night, but in all reality, the right team won. The refs threw at least three bogus flags that extended the Packers final touchdown drive. (All three of them came on 3rd down) So that final call wasn't the only goof up by these refs. If you ask me, the right team won overall.

True. That PI call that should have been offensive PI was just awful.

[pantherclaw]

If were the Panthers at home, and Steve Smith had gone up and done the same thing, this entire board would be singing a completely different tune.