Fire every NFL official NOW! (1 Viewer)

[General Tso]

Even WITH the blanket of protection provided by instant replay, these inept officials are STILL somehow managing to to screw up just about every big game. They are taught to eat the whistle on the close "dead ball" plays - o let the play go on and THEN let instant replay decide what truly happen. So why do they still blow the plays dead???

Fire them all and hire true true full time professionals. What a disgrace. I'm so glad I don't gamble.

 

[trader jake]

The officials enforce the rulebook. That is where replay rules need to be adjusted.

Nice overreaction.

 

[Wadsworth]

I thought they got the call correct.

 

[JZilla]

I try to avoid hyperbole, and I try to give the refs a little slack, but it really does seem like it's worse than ever. How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

 

[morris4903]

The call was correct.

 

[trader jake]

PFT link

THE REFS GOT IT RIGHT ON THE KICKOFF CALL

Posted by Mike Florio on January 18, 2009, 4:15 p.m.

Look, we’re among the first to criticize the officials, when they screw up.

On Sunday, as to the controversial kickoff that apparently touched Eagles defensive end Victor Abiamiri while his foot was out of bounds, the officials made the right call.

Watch the replay — the ball changes direction as it appears to strike Abiamiri on the forearm.

So if the play had been subject to review, the right decision would have been that the replay lacked indisputable visual evidence that the ball didn’t strike him.

Of course, the Arizona fans are up in arms because the play wasn’t subject to replay review. And it wasn’t subject to replay review simply because the powers-that-be have drawn, perhaps arbitrarily, the lines as to what can and cannot be reviewed by replay.

So, as our pal Todd Wright of Sporting News Radio points out via text message from the game, this is another rule that the Competition Committee needs to change.

 

[General Tso]

The officials enforce the rulebook. That is where replay rules need to be adjusted.Nice overreaction.

Not an overreaction at all. I'm actually rooting for the Eagles. They can't change the dead ball rule. When the official blows the whistle the play is over. They'll never change that. You need officials to eat the whistle on the close plays and let replay make the definitive ruling. It's not that hard. I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

 

[General Tso]

PFT link

THE REFS GOT IT RIGHT ON THE KICKOFF CALL

Posted by Mike Florio on January 18, 2009, 4:15 p.m.

Look, we’re among the first to criticize the officials, when they screw up.

On Sunday, as to the controversial kickoff that apparently touched Eagles defensive end Victor Abiamiri while his foot was out of bounds, the officials made the right call.

Watch the replay — the ball changes direction as it appears to strike Abiamiri on the forearm.

So if the play had been subject to review, the right decision would have been that the replay lacked indisputable visual evidence that the ball didn’t strike him.

Of course, the Arizona fans are up in arms because the play wasn’t subject to replay review. And it wasn’t subject to replay review simply because the powers-that-be have drawn, perhaps arbitrarily, the lines as to what can and cannot be reviewed by replay.

So, as our pal Todd Wright of Sporting News Radio points out via text message from the game, this is another rule that the Competition Committee needs to change.

The officials got it wrong twice:1. The ball never went out of bounds.

2. Officials have been instructed by the League OVER AND OVER to not blow the whistle and to let close plays go in such a way that they can be reviewed.

End of story.

 

[trader jake]

How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

I'm guessing neither of you have refereed/umpired an athletic contest. If you have you wouldn't make these type of statements.Like a guy who can answer every Jeopardy! question in the living room but somehow wouldn't be able to do much in front of Trabek. Who are JZilla and General Tso?

 

[Nugget]

The Eaglesplayer was out of bounds and the ball touched his arms. THe Eagles should have got th eball at the 40, but the refs screwed up and gave it to him at the 26.

 

[General Tso]

How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

I'm guessing neither of you have refereed/umpired an athletic contest. If you have you wouldn't make these type of statements.Like a guy who can answer every Jeopardy! question in the living room but somehow wouldn't be able to do much in front of Trabek. Who are JZilla and General Tso?

Wrong again. I've umpired softball games. If you don't see there is a crisis of confidence right now in the NFL then I can't help you. Sorry.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Banning the topic starter, while not the appropriate action, would still be more defensible than what the topic starter is calling for. Geesh, take a deep breath fella.

 

[trader jake]

How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

I'm guessing neither of you have refereed/umpired an athletic contest. If you have you wouldn't make these type of statements.Like a guy who can answer every Jeopardy! question in the living room but somehow wouldn't be able to do much in front of Trabek. Who are JZilla and General Tso?

Wrong again. I've umpired softball games. If you don't see there is a crisis of confidence right now in the NFL then I can't help you. Sorry.

That only makes your 8 year old comment that much worse. Maybe you should be an NFL of MLB official/umpire then.Explain this confidence crisis you speak of. I'm guessing it's more of a #####ing and moaning about every official's call you disagree with. Based on the responses in this thread alone there appears to be a vast difference of opinion on what the call should have been.

 

[General Tso]

Banning the topic starter, while not the appropriate action, would still be more defensible than what the topic starter is calling for. Geesh, take a deep breath fella.

Halftime show at Fox (who interviewed the head of officiating) just substantiated everything I said. Wrong call (ball was never out of bounds) but correct interpretation that since it was a dead ball it couldn't be reviewed. You biased Eagles fans can now go back to drinking heavily.

 

[JZilla]

How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

I'm guessing neither of you have refereed/umpired an athletic contest. If you have you wouldn't make these type of statements.Like a guy who can answer every Jeopardy! question in the living room but somehow wouldn't be able to do much in front of Trabek. Who are JZilla and General Tso?

It's gotten pretty bad overall, lately. I've given a lot of excuses for refs over the years, and I know it's stressful and thankless gig. And I have done some basketball refereeing myself, in the military. Really though, this year has been tough, and these guys are still way too quick with the whistle on iffy plays, even after the Hochuli debacle.I don't know what the right action is. I'm not really on board with FIRE EVERY OFFICIAL.

 

[TheRegulator]

To me it looked like it might have touched the player before he was stepping out of bounds, which would have kept the ball live. I don't have it TIVO'd though. Obviously early whistle makes it a moot point though.....

 

[Nugget]

Banning the topic starter, while not the appropriate action, would still be more defensible than what the topic starter is calling for. Geesh, take a deep breath fella.

Halftime show at Fox (who interviewed the head of officiating) just substantiated everything I said. Wrong call (ball was never out of bounds) but correct interpretation that since it was a dead ball it couldn't be reviewed. You biased Eagles fans can now go back to drinking heavily.

How can you say all officials be fired and then use the head of officiating agreeing with you to justify your position?

 

[General Tso]

How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

I'm guessing neither of you have refereed/umpired an athletic contest. If you have you wouldn't make these type of statements.Like a guy who can answer every Jeopardy! question in the living room but somehow wouldn't be able to do much in front of Trabek. Who are JZilla and General Tso?

Wrong again. I've umpired softball games. If you don't see there is a crisis of confidence right now in the NFL then I can't help you. Sorry.

That only makes your 8 year old comment that much worse. Maybe you should be an NFL of MLB official/umpire then.Explain this confidence crisis you speak of. I'm guessing it's more of a #####ing and moaning about every official's call you disagree with. Based on the responses in this thread alone there appears to be a vast difference of opinion on what the call should have been.

Lovely. This coming from a guy whose avatar says, "the truth can be adjusted". Dude, how about the blown call that actually caused havoc for Las Vegas betting facilities this season? And as far as the reaction to this, it's obvious that the only people in here right now are either completely ignorant or biased Philly fans.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Banning the topic starter, while not the appropriate action, would still be more defensible than what the topic starter is calling for. Geesh, take a deep breath fella.

Halftime show at Fox (who interviewed the head of officiating) just substantiated everything I said. Wrong call (ball was never out of bounds) but correct interpretation that since it was a dead ball it couldn't be reviewed. You biased Eagles fans can now go back to drinking heavily.

If I'm not mistaken, you were calling for all NFL officials to be fired. That's what I was commenting on. And calling me an Eagles fan is making me rethink the notion that you getting banned would be inappropriate.

 

[Duke1948]

How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

I'm guessing neither of you have refereed/umpired an athletic contest. If you have you wouldn't make these type of statements.Like a guy who can answer every Jeopardy! question in the living room but somehow wouldn't be able to do much in front of Trabek. Who are JZilla and General Tso?

Wrong again. I've umpired softball games. If you don't see there is a crisis of confidence right now in the NFL then I can't help you. Sorry.

you know some times it's better to let your finger rest.

 

[FantasyTrader]

To me it looked like it might have touched the player before he was stepping out of bounds, which would have kept the ball live. I don't have it TIVO'd though. Obviously early whistle makes it a moot point though.....

If the ball hit his forearm (I'm not saying it did) his foot landed out of bounds while it was touching him.

 

[Wadsworth]

The ball was in play and touched by an Eagle while he was out of bounds. That's what happened. Whatever the rule is in that situation is the proper call. I don't know off the top of my head if that's Eagle ball at the 26 or 40, but I'd bet those are the two options.

 

[Chachi]

I think the topic starter needs a few things:

1. An attitude adjustment

2. Anger management counseling

3. Read the rules on internet chat board rules of conduct

4. A grip

Let it go dude, seriously.

 

[Futeki]

The ball was in play and touched by an Eagle while he was out of bounds. That's what happened. Whatever the rule is in that situation is the proper call. I don't know off the top of my head if that's Eagle ball at the 26 or 40, but I'd bet those are the two options.

It was out on the player who touched it. The ball was on the 26. It was perfectly called by the refs.However, I don't like the lack of review.

 

[General Tso]

How hard is it, really, to use your eyeballs?

I actually think my 8 year old son could handle it.

I'm guessing neither of you have refereed/umpired an athletic contest. If you have you wouldn't make these type of statements.Like a guy who can answer every Jeopardy! question in the living room but somehow wouldn't be able to do much in front of Trabek. Who are JZilla and General Tso?

It's gotten pretty bad overall, lately. I've given a lot of excuses for refs over the years, and I know it's stressful and thankless gig. And I have done some basketball refereeing myself, in the military. Really though, this year has been tough, and these guys are still way too quick with the whistle on iffy plays, even after the Hochuli debacle.I don't know what the right action is. I'm not really on board with FIRE EVERY OFFICIAL.

It is indeed a thankless job, but now more than ever it seems like referees in all sports seem to get way too involved blowing the whistles. College basketball has basically become unwatchable.

 

[General Tso]

The ball was in play and touched by an Eagle while he was out of bounds. That's what happened. Whatever the rule is in that situation is the proper call. I don't know off the top of my head if that's Eagle ball at the 26 or 40, but I'd bet those are the two options.

It was out on the player who touched it. The ball was on the 26. It was perfectly called by the refs.However, I don't like the lack of review.

"The ruling on the field is the ball was out of bounds". That's exactly what the official said. He said nothing about the ball touching an Eagles player who was out of bounds. I've reviewed the play 4 times on HD and the ball definitely landed in bounds. It's inconclusive whether or not the ball bounced up and touched the Eagles player's arm while his foot was out of bounds.Far from perfectly called. The perfect call would have been to let the play run to conclusion and then review the play. That's what the refs are instructed to do on borderline calls like that.

 

[Futeki]

The ball was in play and touched by an Eagle while he was out of bounds. That's what happened. Whatever the rule is in that situation is the proper call. I don't know off the top of my head if that's Eagle ball at the 26 or 40, but I'd bet those are the two options.

It was out on the player who touched it. The ball was on the 26. It was perfectly called by the refs.However, I don't like the lack of review.

"The ruling on the field is the ball was out of bounds". That's exactly what the official said. He said nothing about the ball touching an Eagles player who was out of bounds. I've reviewed the play 4 times on HD and the ball definitely landed in bounds. It's inconclusive whether or not the ball bounced up and touched the Eagles player's arm while his foot was out of bounds.Far from perfectly called. The perfect call would have been to let the play run to conclusion and then review the play. That's what the refs are instructed to do on borderline calls like that.

I agree that the refs certainly could have been more verbose. However, the ball was dead due to being out of bounds. Not by touching out of bounds, but by an out of bounds player touching it.However, if the refs believed the ball was out of bounds withOUT touching a member of the return team, they would certainly be smart enough to know that the rules state the ball would be spotted at the 40. Therefore, you can infer that they believe the ball touched the player.

 

[General Tso]

Soooooo.... the Eagles are making a nice little comeback now. I think it's fair to say that if the Eagles dowin this game, my "hyperbole" and "attitude" to fire every NFL official and start over with full-time officials will not only be considered, but may in fact become a reality.

Long overdue in my opinion. The NFL makes way too much money to be so short-sighted with nickle and diming the officiating end of things.

 

[General Tso]

Eagles now IN THE LEAD in the 4th quarter. This officiaiting story is definitely going to be talked about for days. If I were a Cardinal fan right now, I'd be borderline homicidal. If the refs did their job I think it would have been game/set/match and the Cards would be coasting to the Superbowl right now.

 

[Chachi]

Calm down.

 

[General Tso]

Calm down.

Listen dude. That's the second time you've attempted to tell me what to do. You can quit wasting your breathe. I don't take orders from anyone on message boards, let alone guys named "Chachi". Now for a little unsolicited advise of my own. If you don't like the topic, or what I have to say, leave or put me on mute.

 

[Chachi]

Calm down.

Listen dude. That's the second time you've attempted to tell me what to do. You can quit wasting your breathe. I don't take orders from anyone on message boards, let alone guys named "Chachi". Now for a little unsolicited advise of my own. If you don't like the topic, or what I have to say, leave or put me on mute.

Sit on it, Tso.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

PFT link

THE REFS GOT IT RIGHT ON THE KICKOFF CALL

Posted by Mike Florio on January 18, 2009, 4:15 p.m.

Look, we’re among the first to criticize the officials, when they screw up.

On Sunday, as to the controversial kickoff that apparently touched Eagles defensive end Victor Abiamiri while his foot was out of bounds, the officials made the right call.

Watch the replay — the ball changes direction as it appears to strike Abiamiri on the forearm.

So if the play had been subject to review, the right decision would have been that the replay lacked indisputable visual evidence that the ball didn’t strike him.

Of course, the Arizona fans are up in arms because the play wasn’t subject to replay review. And it wasn’t subject to replay review simply because the powers-that-be have drawn, perhaps arbitrarily, the lines as to what can and cannot be reviewed by replay.

So, as our pal Todd Wright of Sporting News Radio points out via text message from the game, this is another rule that the Competition Committee needs to change.

Even though he's right about what happened, he's still wrong in saying that it was the same as what was ruled on the field.The ball bounced up and hit a Philly player in the forearm while he was standing out of bounds. Because of this, it should have been ruled a kick out of bounds and the ball placed at the 40 yard line. The officials ruled that it initially hit the player in the finger on the way down, and then landed out of bounds at the 25, and spotted the ball there.

I'm not sure why Zona fans are up in arms about this, had it been reviewed it would have only HURT them because Philly would've gotten the ball at the 40 instead of the 25.

 

[Chachi]

Soooooo.... the Eagles are making a nice little comeback now. I think it's fair to say that if the Eagles dowin this game, my "hyperbole" and "attitude" to fire every NFL official and start over with full-time officials will not only be considered, but may in fact become a reality.

Long overdue in my opinion. The NFL makes way too much money to be so short-sighted with nickle and diming the officiating end of things.

So if the Cardinals win can we chalk your attitude and hyperbole to plain old moaning and groaning?

 

[Chachi]

I think it's safe to say we've heard the last of General Tso on the subject, chalk it all up to whining.

 

[jwinston2]

I think it's safe to say we've heard the last of General Tso on the subject, chalk it all up to whining.

He still has a valid point. This game was just icing. I can not remember a year with this many bad calls starting with the Chargers/Denver game and probably ending with what will be some bad calls in the SB. Honestly though I think the NFL likes it. Controversy is profitable and I think they may like it when refs have questionable or blatantly obvious bad calls. I am not referencing to the call he is complaining about but rather some of the other calls during this game,

 

[The Ref]

I have said this many many times before, and the result is almost never a good one to the OP. And before I say it yet again, it's not my intention to upset anyone or call anyone out. So with that said..... You are 100% ignorant to how good these guys really are. In fact it is incredibly comical for people to spout off about the performance of an NFL official when I know for a fact that someone with zero experience beyond at least DIA football would be horrifically exposed in less than 10 minutes. And before anyone starts in with the "well there has to be someone better" talk, if there is he will be up in the NFL by the start of next year and any bad apples (that are still better than 90% of the rest) will be out by next year.

 

[Steve Tasker]

I doubt their replacements would do any better. Being a ref is ####### hard...

 

[JZilla]

I doubt their replacements would do any better. Being a ref is ####### hard...

I don't disagree with this at all. I have seen some ridiculous #### in college games, including a ref tacking a player this year.I do think the NFL could train their refs a little better maybe. They may have become complacent. Seriously, a lot of us have been watching football for a long time.. the refs are getting worse... that is indisputable.

 

[Steve Tasker]

I doubt their replacements would do any better. Being a ref is ####### hard...

I don't disagree with this at all. I have seen some ridiculous #### in college games, including a ref tacking a player this year.I do think the NFL could train their refs a little better maybe. They may have become complacent. Seriously, a lot of us have been watching football for a long time.. the refs are getting worse... that is indisputable.

I agree with you, I just don't know what the NFL could do other than trying to prepare/train the refs better. I'm assuming the OP was intentionally exaggerating, but firing the refs and bringing in college refs, for example, won't fix the problem...these guys are in the pros because they're the best...

 

[Synthesizer]

I doubt their replacements would do any better. Being a ref is ####### hard...

I don't disagree with this at all. I have seen some ridiculous #### in college games, including a ref tacking a player this year.I do think the NFL could train their refs a little better maybe. They may have become complacent. Seriously, a lot of us have been watching football for a long time.. the refs are getting worse... that is indisputable.

I disagree. Having dozens of high-definition replay angles makes it a lot easier to nit-pick whether or not the football grazed a blade of grass before it was caught or broke the plane of the goalline by 1/4 inch. The refs are doing the best they can given all the chaos going on around them.

 

[JZilla]

I doubt their replacements would do any better. Being a ref is ####### hard...

I don't disagree with this at all. I have seen some ridiculous #### in college games, including a ref tacking a player this year.I do think the NFL could train their refs a little better maybe. They may have become complacent. Seriously, a lot of us have been watching football for a long time.. the refs are getting worse... that is indisputable.

I disagree. Having dozens of high-definition replay angles makes it a lot easier to nit-pick whether or not the football grazed a blade of grass before it was caught or broke the plane of the goalline by 1/4 inch. The refs are doing the best they can given all the chaos going on around them.

I don't think high resolution has #### to do with it. There are a disturbing number of bad calls lately. I'm not talking about 1/4 inch stuff. But, hey, agree to disagree.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

Wow, the refs made up for it on that non-pass interference call one that 4th and 10 with 20 minutes left. Hood about tackled Curtis there before the ball was there.....

 

[Synthesizer]

I also wanted to add that players take advantage of the replay system and it places a lot of pressure on the refs to make the right call. For example when Fitzgerald caught his first pass today he's running up field and about to get tackled for a 16 yard gain. But he decides to stretch out and dive forward with the ball in one arm for that extra 2 yards..... and he fumbles about 1/2 second after his knee touches down. The refs got the call right but "in the old days" a player never would have tried that because the risk isn't worth that extra 2 yards. Not today with the replay system.

 

[Tyrion]

I also wanted to add that players take advantage of the replay system and it places a lot of pressure on the refs to make the right call. For example when Fitzgerald caught his first pass today he's running up field and about to get tackled for a 16 yard gain. But he decides to stretch out and dive forward with the ball in one arm for that extra 2 yards..... and he fumbles about 1/2 second after his knee touches down. The refs got the call right but "in the old days" a player never would have tried that because the risk isn't worth that extra 2 yards. Not today with the replay system.

Take advantage of what? That the ref will have a better chance at getting the right call?

On a side note. Anyone think that the Ravens will take solace when that steeler gets fined next week for that blatant helmet to helmet hit non-call that caused McGahee to fumble in the 4th quarter?

 

[renesauz]

I don't understand why there's so much confusion here. They made a HUGE deal of this on the NFLN earlier this year, with Perreria explainging it. We even had a thread in here on it.

ON a kickoff, if a player touches the ball while he's out of bounds, it's an illegal kickoff and the receiving team gets it at the 40. The officials made the wrong ruling no matter how you look at it.

If the kick was out like they initially ruled....the ball goes to the 40.

If the Eagles player touched it while his foot was out of bounds, the ball goes to the 40 UNLESS he first touched it while he was in bounds. It seemed pretty clear he hadn't.

The officials quickly blew it dead, and then stated it was unreviewable based on that fact, which was technically correct.

IN the end, this was a mistake by the crew, but not a huge one UNLESS he never touched it at all. Since it seemed he did touch it while out of bounds, the Eagles lost 12 yards of field position. Not worht hanging the refs over.

A much bigger problem was the PI non-calls on critical third and fourth down plays. Once in the first quarter, and another on the last drive.

 

[renesauz]

On a side note. Anyone think that the Ravens will take solace when that steeler gets fined next week for that blatant helmet to helmet hit non-call that caused McGahee to fumble in the 4th quarter?

No, because it was clean. He led with his shoulder and clearly wasn't headhunting (he was aiming well below head level). McGahee simply turned right into it.

 

[Adebisi]

These guys have a far more difficult job than most people realize. It's easy to criticize them when they screw up, but it is rare that anyone will give them credit when they don't.

 

[Devine Intervention]

These guys have a far more difficult job than most people realize. It's easy to criticize them when they screw up, but it is rare that anyone will give them credit when they don't.

Agreed, being a ref is extremely difficult. On the field the game is moving faster than you think and to be able to make the calls they make are beyond me. But doesnt seem like the NCAA has a better system? Whats stopping the NFL from going that route?

 

[Pip's Invitation]

They are way, way better than NHL refs, who have been monumentally incompetent for as long as I remember. And never get replaced due to poor performance -- which does happen in the NFL.