Pay them a lot???Full time refs will not happen because the refs union won’t allow it, and the fans and media stand with the Union
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Yup. I have held a grudge against Peter King ever since. He seemed to lead the bleating charge as a union man. Tons of articles slamming the NFL during the labor negotiations between the refs and league with lots of stuff saying the NFL was putting player health in jeopardy and fans ate it up.They tried to do something about it, but the fans and media just got angry at them.
I'm no expert but I have to believe if they give dedicated time and resources to making the refs the best they can be, this will be a major improvement to what is currently going on. Everyone else involved with the league is dedicated to the NFL, coaches, players, commentators, etc... The refs determine a major portion of the game outcome compared to anyone else other than players and coaches.The officiating is horrendous, feels like they are ruining the game.
HOWEVER - and forgive my ignorance if this has been debated before - how would having Full Time officials improve the quality? Really not seeing it.
ASIDE: My hometown (population 7K) has had two NFL referees. Stan Kenp was my father’s name insurance agent and worked a few SB IIRC. He was replaced by Ed Hochuli when he retired. 18 years later, his son Alex Kemp replaced Ed Hochuli when he retired.
Anyway, I just don’t see how those two (both outstanding Referees) would have benefited from being a FT employee. Educate me, please.
Didn't work during the Nuremberg trialsThe problem is they're just following orders. They're being told to call games this way.
Full time refs will not happen because the refs union won’t allow it, and the fans and media stand with the Union
/thread
The refs haven't been great but the 3rd and 18 play was the CBs fault for not turning his head. They will call that every time.This is becoming unwatchable. 3rd and 18….. hmmm let’s just heave it up and draw a phantom flag.
Glad you brought that up. Who gives a Sh!t if he didn’t turn his head around. Another horrible rule. If the defender isn’t grabbing or holding the WR why is this still a penalty?The refs haven't been great but the 3rd and 18 play was the CBs fault for not turning his head. They will call that every time.
That was not a mystery flag. The CB prevented the WR from being able to catch the ball. He has to make a play on the ball to avoid that. That is blatant pass interference.The PI/holding - The worst is when a defence is playing great, they have a team in 3rd and long and a mystery flag is thrown to help preserve a drive in which you know 100 percent the offence had no chance of doing by their own means.
Although I agree with the premise of the OP, that PI call was correct and reasonable IMO. You can’t have a DB just run with a WR and face guard them with their hands in the air every play. The CB needs to play the ball. This is taught in PeeWee football on up.
As for the overall premise, I absolutely agree. There are certain games where the flag throwing is inexplicable. Unseen holds, phantom roughing the passer, the head bob call on the center yesterday. It just kills the game flow.
I think OP was describing general categories of frustrating penalties.That was not a mystery flag. The CB prevented the WR from being able to catch the ball. He has to make a play on the ball to avoid that. That is blatant pass interference.
This is becoming unwatchable. 3rd and 18….. hmmm let’s just heave it up and draw a phantom flag.
That flag was correct. The DB ran into the WR and prevented him from making a play on the ball. There were two worse call.That was not a mystery flag. The CB prevented the WR from being able to catch the ball. He has to make a play on the ball to avoid that. That is blatant pass interference.
Although I agree with the premise of the OP, that PI call was correct and reasonable IMO. You can’t have a DB just run with a WR and face guard them with their hands in the air every play. The CB needs to play the ball. This is taught in PeeWee football on up.
As for the overall premise, I absolutely agree. There are certain games where the flag throwing is inexplicable. Unseen holds, phantom roughing the passer, the head bob call on the center yesterday. It just kills the game flow.
I have no skin in the game and did not think the DB ran into the receiver to warrant a PI call. The receiver made no effort to come back to the ball and it should have been a no call.That flag was correct. The DB ran into the WR and prevented him from making a play on the ball. There were two worse call.
The false start on the LV center when he lifted and lowered his head as most centers do on most plays.
The roughing the passer on the Cowboys for inadvertently bumping Carr’s helmet as he was falling down.
DPI spot of the foul. 15 yards would be equitable. NFL quarterbacks complete less than 40% of deep targets. Get the PI call and it’s assumed the ball was on target and the WR would catch it and the DB wouldn’t make a play. Come on.I said in another thread, most of this crap falls on the stupid rules they make.
There should be no automatic first downs. One thing that drives me nuts is defensive holding on 3rd and 20.
Agree with this rule change 100000%. The disproportionate impact that that particular penalty is very dumb.There should be no automatic first downs. One thing that drives me nuts is defensive holding on 3rd and 20.
Refs will still call things inconsistently and adjust how they call things based on how certain players actually play the game.Every NFL team should have a dedicated team of assistant coaches teaching players how to draw penalties. A QB can get a roughing flag on nearly every contact play if he knows how duck his helmet into the contact then flail to the ground. Pass rushers need to identify plays where they have leverage to draw a holding flag and know how to sell it. Throw your head back violently, flail your arms then flop hard backwards and a flag is all but certain. A good WR should be able to get an interference call on most underthrown passes. Most NFL players these days are woefully underprepared to exploit the current state of refereeing in the league.
Refs will still call things inconsistently and adjust how they call things based on how certain players actually play the game.
Case in point, Josh Allen is a running QB and thus doesn’t get the same calls other QBs get. How this isn’t an obvious roughing the passer call by definition is beyond me. Textbook diving low on a QB and taking him down right in front of the ref and the ref just kind of brushes Allen off. Rules are enforced differently depending on the player and no matter how much coaching us there is on it, refs are gonna do what they’re gonna do.
BigJim® said:Agree with this rule change 100000%. The disproportionate impact that that particular penalty is very dumb.
The rules give a ####. There were some terrible calls in that game, the DPI on 3rd & 18 wasn't one of them.The Show said:Glad you brought that up. Who gives a Sh!t if he didn’t turn his head around. Another horrible rule. If the defender isn’t grabbing or holding the WR why is this still a penalty?
Yeah, as I said I totally agree that defensive holding is disproportionate giving an auto 1st down. I'd go a step farther and be on board with PI being a 10 yard/yardage only rather than spot foul. Not sure I agree that a personal foul shouldn't get automatic 1st.If it is third and 6 and the defense jumps offsides it is now third and one corrrect? No first down?
The yards of a penalty should only get a first down if the yards to go for a first are less. Third and 14 and defense gets a 15 yards personal foul then it is a first down. Third and 16 with a PF and it should be third and one.
Year round training, film study, testing, grading etc.BobbyLayne said:HOWEVER - and forgive my ignorance if this has been debated before - how would having Full Time officials improve the quality? Really not seeing it.
The turning the head thing is an interesting one. In theory, the position of the defender's head shouldn't matter. If he doesn't make the amount and type of physical contact that warrants the penalty, who cares what his head was doing? But the position of his head does lend some form of evidence that he was playing it the right way and that whatever contact happened may have been incidental. I can see the case either way. Stupid analogy attempt follows:
"Who cares that I was going 56 mph in a 35? Did I hit anybody? No. Why should I be fined?"
Conversely, "Sure, I bumped the car in front of me when he hit the brakes a little harder than I was expecting, but I was going 34 in a 35, doesn't that give me some credibility that I was doing the right thing?"
If they did this, on every 3rd and long WRs would be getting held every other play.zed2283 said:There should be no automatic first downs. One thing that drives me nuts is defensive holding on 3rd and 20.
I'm sure that's why the rule is the way it is. But so what? Then call it, give the offense 5 yards, and run it again.If they did this, on every 3rd and long WRs would be getting held every other play.
Maybe. But if you think it will be abused, make it a 10 yard penalty like offensive holding, so a team doing it on 3rd and 15 risks giving the offense a 3rd and 5. I agree with the OP, there's very little argument for making what we see today (in most cases a tug of a jersey) an automatic 1st down. There's still going to be disincentive with a logical yardage penalty.If they did this, on every 3rd and long WRs would be getting held every other play.
Sounds like you should become a soccer fanCletiusMaximus said:Every NFL team should have a dedicated team of assistant coaches teaching players how to draw penalties. A QB can get a roughing flag on nearly every contact play if he knows how duck his helmet into the contact then flail to the ground. Pass rushers need to identify plays where they have leverage to draw a holding flag and know how to sell it. Throw your head back violently, flail your arms then flop hard backwards and a flag is all but certain. A good WR should be able to get an interference call on most underthrown passes. Most NFL players these days are woefully underprepared to exploit the current state of refereeing in the league.
Year round training, film study, testing, grading etc.
Repetition breeds competence.
Being a lawyer six days a week and then having to go out on Sundays tasked with making highly important decisions for a multi-billion dollar organization, decisions that have far reaching consequences for not only the players/teams/league but the sports betting public as well, should require a little more than 1/7th of your work focus.
And speaking of the sports betting public. Now that gambling is legal it would be easier to track financial discrepancies with well paid, full time refs rather than with people for whom being a ref is a side hustle.
It's still not the same level of prep as if you were a full time employee.I know people think this but it really is not totally accurate. In season they spend more time on the NFL job than their regular job. they are not putting in 50 hours a week at their regular job and leaving the office Friday at 6pm.
I know a former NFL official and one now working in the SEC as a replay official who used to be an on field official for decades.
These guys I know and what I have been told have very flexable jobs. They were not lawyers and their companies loved them being an official. They watch a bunch of film during the week and are constantly going over the rules in group conference calls.
The NFL guys usually arrive in town on a Friday before the Sunday games. Then Friday night and most of the day Saturday prepare for the game and going over rules and potential calls.
The NHL, MLB and NBA have to have full time officials because 2 leagues have 82 games and MLB 162. MLB guys are doing 5-6 games a week, the others sometimes 3-4 a week in different cities.
An NFL official is only doing one game a week.
Do you really think the only thing these guys do is roll out of bed Sunday morning and head to the stadium?Year round training, film study, testing, grading etc.
Repetition breeds competence.
Being a lawyer six days a week and then having to go out on Sundays tasked with making highly important decisions for a multi-billion dollar organization, decisions that have far reaching consequences for not only the players/teams/league but the sports betting public as well, should require a little more than 1/7th of your work focus.
And speaking of the sports betting public. Now that gambling is legal it would be easier to track financial discrepancies with well paid, full time refs rather than with people for whom being a ref is a side hustle.
Seems to me yesterdays game were officiated correct. The problem is with some of the rules.
RTP needs to have intent to it, or something like that. Where it is malicious. A hand hitting a helmet, or a QB being a live runner and getting hit, are part of the game. QB position has been sissified.
PI needs to change the rule so the defender does not need to turn his head. The CB is running one way and watching the WR. How is he supposed to turn his head at the exact moment. The WR knows when he is likely to be the target. A CB is basically waiting for a WR hands to go up, then has to turn, find the ball, and if they do that it is likely too late to make an adjustment. Face guarding and not turning back needs to be allowed.
Holding needs to be allowed for OL. Or at least some form of it. Just having your hands outside a players shoulder pads should not be holding IMO. How else are you supposed to stop him,
I think changing these rules may make running the ball more important. The game is all passing now because of RTP, PI, and holding on a significant number of run plays. They used to never call holding on run plays. Never. Now it's easier to pass block than run block.