NFL Officials

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OK I really believe that there are some serious problems with the NFL officiating this year.

Last year I thought the same thing, and this year it's even worse. I've seen some horrible calls over the last few weeks, including the most blatant blow to the head of quarterback that I have ever seen. It wasn't just one person, but 2 people hitting Ben Roethlisberger in the head, one in the back of the head the other in the facemask, can it get any more obvious?

Also they seem to be missing a whole lot of clips special teams-wise, and pass interference, not to mention holding. I watched the Steelers-Falcons game today, and the Chargers-Cheifs, and in both games the calls seemed to be very very one sided. It has been this way in every game that I have watched this season. Has anyone else noticed this?

edit: fixed some typos

[ October 23, 2006, 01:18: Message edited by: LoS_DrIzZt4 ]

 

Yes, I agree that the hit on Big Ben was about an as obvious as you are going to get. He was knocked into the defender from behind, but the guy from the front blatantly lead with his head, which is supposed to be against the rules. However, as die-hard of a Steelers fan as I am, that play was not the reason they lost the game - Charlie Batch played well enough. Turnovers killed the Steelers once again - you can't expect to win when you allow 41 points.

 

I didn't say that it lost the game, just that the officiating was horrible. For most of those penalties i was refering to the chiefs game. The chargers just seemed to get hit with the most pathetic calls i've seen since Inianapolis in january last year. Even the announcers were saying something about it.

 

The problem isn't undercalling, or even over-calling, it's inconsistency. It almost seems like they flip a coin before the game over who they're going to call the most penalties on. The Packers-Dolphins game yesterday seemed fair to me, with the part I remember most being those two consecutive penalties at the end of the first half robbing us of a field goal that Raynor made from 55 yards out (not bad for a newbie). But both calls were fair, and in the end we won.

Much the same thing happens with traffic laws, though there it's a matter of being undermanned, and the luck comes in as to whether a cop spots you. The end result is people going 20 mph over the speed limit and never getting caught, while someone who goes 10 over gets caught. (And no, this isn't sour grapes. I only go 5 over in a place where they only go after 10+ and have never been stopped.)

One possible solution to this problem is letting them change the penalty calls after the play. If there was something they missed, let them fix it. If they called something they shouldn't, let them fix it. They're only human (at least until the point when we can play on a holodeck or something like that), and we shouldn't treat their penalty calls as if they're infallible. Of course, that leads to a gray area of "should coaches be able to challenge penalties?", but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

Completelt agree with you Felinoid.

Some of the calls I've been seeing are completely bone-headed, and in alot of cases one team gets called for it all game, while the other does it, but doesn't get called for it. Holding is a major one on this.

I don't know how many times I've seen a linebacker come free and a lineman hold to keep him from getting sacked and nothing happens. I remember watching the the Arizona-Chicago game the other night and it was like that, Chicago just couldn't seem to get away with anything, but Arizona seemed to be under the officials radar. Still put out that Arizona handed that game away

 

Well, this could happen, but it's only uni-directional. By that I mean that I have seen instances where a penalty flag has been thrown, but after a discussion the officials decide there was no foul, and no penalty is assessed. This happens when more than one official sees a play. If one had a better look than another, and believed no foul occurred, they pick up the flag.

However, the opposite never happens, and the reason for this is obvious - no one saw the foul. In order for an official to call a foul, he must see it. It's not like the situation of picking up a flag where there is a difference of opinion between two officials. With the 'no-calls' no one saw it in the first place.

And I agree that it would be very difficult to implement a system that allowed penalties to be reviewed. For starters, plays that are reviewable are also eligible to be challenged by the coach. A further aggrevating factor in the process is that some penalties are judgement calls. Certainly some holding and pass interference calls are obvious, but what do you do in a borderline case? When does a leveraged block turn into a hold? When does incidental contact turn into pass interference? Two different officials can review the same play, and give two different calls.

 

If such a thing would happen I think that it could only be for certain penalties....pass interference, personal fouls, and major clips/holds

 

Aye. Only changing the flagrant stuff would take a lot of heat off of the refs for missed/bad calls.

 

Take the NFL referees this year, give them a intellectual IQ of 30, and mix in there a desire to be the star of the show, and you get Hockey referees... be thankful..