Comments on: NFL holding conference call with all officials on blown calls

By: Vikes-N-Favre

Vikes-N-Favre — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:07:41 +0000

Looks like those talks didn’t work. The officials were back to making some pathetic calls, mostly to which directly benefited the Green Bay Ass Packers. What a f’n surprise there (eyes rolling)
I would say that all the officials that made horrible calls in any of the games today should be fired, but that would require the higher ups to step in and they are just as retarded as all the officials, so would it really make any sense?
From Roger Goodell all the way down to the idiots that hold the first down markers, they are all useless, sad ass sacks of bones. In reality, you can’t fire the mentally challenged, so I guess that leaves Goodell and his band of retards off limits.

By: .TLR

.TLR — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 02:54:05 +0000

It was pathetic how the officials called these games. The Steelers lost, the Vikings won, etc etc etc.
ALL of these games determine playoffs and Super Bowls. If the officials blow the calls, then the game should be played over again. DO OVER! Everyone makes mistakes but those mistakes hold consequences. The game should be played again after the 16 games are played to determine a fair win-loss.

By: shaggytoodle

shaggytoodle — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:03:33 +0000

rarson says:
October 29, 2010 9:19 PM
I’m not a Packers fan, Shiancoe’s catch obviously wasn’t a touchdown. He used the ground to secure the ball.
_______________________________
Exactly as soon as the point hit the ground and he moved his hands hence a bobble or trap. If he would have came up with the ball in the same spot the Vikings could complain.

By: rarson

rarson — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 21:19:16 +0000

I’m not a Packers fan, Shiancoe’s catch obviously wasn’t a touchdown. He used the ground to secure the ball.

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:34:17 +0000

Hey rulz
Tried to say hey about seven hours ago but guess I’m persona non grata today. Not one of my posts made it onto the board.

By: footballrulz

footballrulz — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:24:34 +0000

@ Ragnar
Hey bud. I gotta tell you when the refs overturned that TD my mouth dropped open with disbelief and the spread into a huge grin. I knew the Pack had just been given one.
Doesn’t mean the rest of the game would have played out the same as it did though. Fortunately, Chilly just outstupided MM Sun night. MM will get his chance to return the favor in a few weeks.
Hey Deb

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:06:13 +0000

@RagnarTheBloodAxe ... Baby, just who do you think you're talking to?? Did someone steal your name, Jeff, or do you need a whack in the head?? I'm not some wide-eyed girl in a pink Steelers shirt believing whatever the boys say that sounds good for my team. I know the rules, and I know what I saw with my own eyes. Watching the film from the vantage point of the line judge, the ball isn't visible. It appears Ben crossed the plane with the ball in control. He signaled TD and blew the play dead. The only officiating mistake in that sequence was ending the play, which was supposed to continue until he had a good view of the ball. But it was an honest mistake. Roethlisberger had fumbled, and despite the whistle, everyone started scrambling for the ball. The END ZONE CAMERA FOOTAGE SHOWS Roethlisberger turn toward the ball, reach in, arc his arm around the ball, and pull it in just as the Dolphins players and everyone else piles on top of him. So the last visible possession before the pile up was PITTSBURGH. Then the ref told them it was a Pittsburgh TD. The Steelers started disengaging from the pile without continuing to fight for the ball. No one can know who would have had possession if that scrum had played out. NO ONE. It could have been a Dolphins touchback or a Steelers TD. For all ANYONE knows that whistle screwed us out of a TD. The mightly Dolphins got that ball back with 2:30+ to play needing only a field goal to win. And they couldn't manage to get into field-goal range. The rest of you can pity the poor babies if you want. But DO NOT talk to me like I didn't see what happened on that field and don't understand the rules of the game. You big boys may not know that play ends when the whistle blows, but any Pee Wee player gets that EVERYTHING from that point forward is irrelevant speculation.

By: overkil2

overkil2 — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:19:15 +0000

“Steeler-lady says:
October 28, 2010 8:22 PM
I wish they did use the replay to fix shit then they could of went back and seen the illegal contact in the open field for Hines Wards would be TD! Then all this bs about the fumble recovery wouldnt be talked about…… (the whistle had blown so everyone stopped goin for the ball so really dont know who would of gotten it) Then if they had determined the Steelers got it ..it would of been a TD and the Fins would of been pissed and said Ben was down b4 the ball came out…. its a neverending fkn story……….blah blah blah
”
1st off, the whistle did not blow. Ben said that a referee tapped him on the back and told him that he scored a TD. 2nd, the issue was the official calling it a TD in the first place when he was out of position. Had he called it a fumble, this whole thing would have been avoided. After the replay, if it was a TD, then it would have been corrected, ho harm no foul.
Illegal contact on Ward? Those calls are not reviewable, but if you did, you’d be opening up a pandora’s box because then people would want to view the holding calls, etc.
We can all agree that the officiating has been pretty pathetic this year.

By: Gossamer

Gossamer — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:32:37 +0000

“After further review, the Vikings still suck!!! Sad to see that the Steelers have EARNED the new name of “Refereelers”.

By: RagnarTheBloodAxe

RagnarTheBloodAxe — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:11:44 +0000

To…
Packer fans claiming the Shianco’s obvious TD catch, wasn’t a TD catch.
Steeler fans claiming what was obviously a fumble with a Dolphins recovery, was either not a fumble or was recovered by the Steelers.
Bears fans claiming that Calvin Johnson’s obvious TD catch, wasn’t really a TD catch.
WAKE UP. You are the problem. As long as the NFL can get you to believe that crap, they can pretty much get you to believe anything. In fact, I’d say that with so many different responses and explainations as to why something is not what it obviously is, how can any of ever be certain of anything football related???

By: jusford

jusford — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:46:58 +0000

All the talk about how a call changes the game. Well what would’ve happened if the ref didn’t blow the qick wistle on the 4th and 1 during the Packer game? He clearly had a 1st down.

By: syge

syge — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:05:41 +0000

I love you idiots who seem to think the Steelers / Dolphins play occurred with 10 seconds left.
Miami had well over two minutes to move the ball probably 30-40 yards to win the game, and they managed 4 yards in 4 plays.
You think that that wasn’t enough time for the superior team to get into field goal range and win the game ?
Or how about this, even if the call had gone Miami’s way, Pittsburgh has 3 timeouts, they could get the ball back with ~2:00 left in the game and march down the field and kick the winner.
The bottom line is, Miami had 3 possessions that started inside Pittsburgh territory and didn’t score a single touchdown from them. The game could have been over within the first 10 minutes, but their offense blew it.
Now if I were a Dolphins fan I would certainly feel like I got screwed…so I’m not going to hold it against any of them.
But to say they didn’t have opportunities to win the game is laughable. They could have won in spite of the mistake but they laid an egg, and they could have never been in the situation in the first place but they missed easy chances.
I honestly don’t understand why people just seem to think the game ended 10 seconds after that play.

By: StiffArm37

StiffArm37 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:21:28 +0000

The Shiancoe play was NOT a catch. I don’t care what the VP of officiating says. He had the ball trapped between his wrists and when it hit the ground it came loose and bounced up into his chest. The only reason it didn’t pop out is because he smothered it with his body against the ground. And no, I’m not a Packers fan.
It doesn’t matter who you fire or who you replace them with, the refs are going to get calls wrong. Look at Jim Joyce. He’s widely regarded as one of the best Umpires in MLB but he blows a call that’s right in front of his face. People make mistakes, it’s unavoidable.
If the NFL wants more consistent officiating, they need to straighten out some of the language in the rule book and be more clear about some of the interpretations of those rules. I’m an unbiased observer and after the Shiancoe play I’m totally confused about the rule. I’m sure Scott Green is a little pissed about it.

By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:17:03 +0000

@RagnarTheBloodAxe …
et tu, Jeff? End zone camera showed Ben pulling in the ball just before the Dolphins piled on. If not for that early whistle, it might just as well have been a Steelers TD on that fumble. And the Dolphins got the ball back with 2:30 to play needed only a field goal. They couldn’t even manage to drive into field-goal range.
Aw, Jeff :”’

By: Blackn'Gold

Blackn'Gold — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:06:14 +0000

Incorrect, the teams that won should have won. When a coach starts counting on the officials to decide the win/loss record of his team then it’s time to get out of coaching. In essence he is saying that he nor his team have any control over the outcome of the game.
Actually, the Dolphins call was the correct call. The guy didn’t come out of the pile until well after the whistle blew. Why didn’t the Dolphins score touchdowns in the first quarter when the ball was handed to them deep in Steelers territory? That would have decided the game. The Dolphins lost because they were outplayed. Live with it.
Why doesn’t the league have a teleconference with itself about the direction they are taking this sport. And don’t tell me it’s for the greater good. It’s for the greater profit margin.
GO STEELERS!

By: Clock_Is_King

Clock_Is_King — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:55:26 +0000

Funny, we get a ton of entries regarding the James Harrison Rule over and over again for the last two weeks.
That’s beating a dead horse.
But this topic cannot get enough light.
Refs blow calls all the time, and that is more devastating to sanctity of the game than hard hitting defenses!

By: greenmeattruck

greenmeattruck — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:50:41 +0000

if officials are graded after every game, how the HELL does ed hochuli still have a job?

By: Mr$teve

Mr$teve — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:47:33 +0000

Scott Green is a douche

By: RagnarTheBloodAxe

RagnarTheBloodAxe — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:41:27 +0000

Just off of the top of my head, hear are some games that’s outcome was absolutely changed by bad officiating…
Lions / Bears – Lions should have won.
Vikings / Saints – Vikings should have won.
Bills / Ravens – Bills should have won.
Lions / Packers – Lions should have won.
Dolphins / Steelers – Dolphins should have won.
Lions / Eagles – Lions should have won.
Vikings / Packers – Vikings should have won.
I’m sure there are others but when the same few teams are constantly getting screw by the refs, and the same few teams are always getting help from the refs… it is disturbing to say the least.

By: LiveNBreatheFootball

LiveNBreatheFootball — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:40:29 +0000

Full time officials won’t solve the problem. Dr. Z pointed this out repeatedly in his column. There just is not enough for them to do. You can only watch so much game tape a week or simulate so many games (with whom? risking player injury, not gonna happen).
The only reason other sports have full time officials is because they play more times a week and have a longer season.
What will solve this problem is not having all this exceptions to what is a catch. If it is in the player’s hand when he stops moving and the player is in bounds, it’s a catch. Ground help, other’s player body part, whatever. As long as the player is holding the ball when the whistle blows, it’s a catch.

By: MVPnis

MVPnis — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:16:05 +0000

I dont understand why Holding isnt called on John Abraham EVERY SINGLE PLAY.
Ive never seem a player so screwed by the refs before. If they called JA correctly, the Falcons would be undefeated and have the best Defense since the 2000 ravens.
Seriously. Watch the games.

By: drewboyy

drewboyy — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:08:33 +0000

“And then there was referee Scott Green’s boneheaded reversal via replay review of Visanthe Shiancoe’s touchdown reception in the same game.”
Except it wasn’t a touchdown. The ball moved in his hands, it was a trap.
-actually it wasnt in his hands, it was between his wrists. it wasnt between his hands until it hit the ground. good call. the quarless TD however was not a TD, but was never challenged. bad calls have become more and more prevalent the last few years and more and more games are being determined by the whistle (or no whistle) rather than the players. the NFL must be recognizing that fans are catching on and this “conference call” is purely for show. the only difference between the NFL and the NBA is that the NBA admitted they were “entertainment” rather than a true “sport”. they cant even spin it, these calls are happening right in front of the officials. just watch geno’s demeanor when announcing the call…looks like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

By: bruce campbells chainsaw hand

bruce campbells chainsaw hand — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:57:34 +0000

MrHumble -
So by your logic, every team that was screwed out of a touchdown and lost the game obviously would’ve won otherwise? Every team has blown calls go for and against them, it’s a human part of the game. Don’t act like the Vikings are the only team to get screwed out of touchdowns, because they’re not. You lost the game, get over it.
The only thing that’s obvious is that you Viking fans whine louder than anyone else and feel justified in doing so. Your team is lousy, your coach is an idiot, and your QB is about to break apart. Hope you enjoyed last year, since the next few are gonna be rough.

By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:26:53 +0000

Call and urge them to make better calls. Yeah, that’ll fix everything. Gee, why didn’t they think of that five years ago? My goodness, that Roger Goodell … oooo he is so smart.
As Little Tommy noted, the rules have become ridiculously complicated. The NFL, determined to slash payroll no matter what, wants to increase to 18 games with only the increase of a single player to the roster. And this multi-billion $ business refuses to consider hiring full-time officials that can spend hours watching film, doing physical training to enable them to keep up with the action, and training together as a cohesive unit working game simulations. Another option would be to have a booth-replay system similar to the NCAA’s, where we don’t … wait … endlessly while guys are under the hood.
You could write more about these important issues instead of continuing to beat dead horses. Prematurely blowing a whistle was hardly the biggest screw-up of the weekend. Despite your snarkiness about his claim, the endzone camera showed Roethlisberger getting an arm around the ball in the fumbled ball just as the gang piled on. If the whistle hadn’t blown and everyone had continued to fight it out, it could as easily have been a Steelers TD as a Dolphins touchback.
The ONE thing we know for certain is that Miami got the ball back with 2:30 on the clock and needed only to kick a field goal to win. They couldn’t even manage to drive into FG range … just like they couldn’t score six from the red zone all day. So spare us the constant whine about them getting screwed. Time to smoke the cigarette and call it a night.

By: zod

zod — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:18:58 +0000

Can anybody tell what a catch is?

By: MrHumble

MrHumble — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:18:48 +0000

Scott Green and Peter Morelli have both blown multiple games over the years, they have to rank as two of the worst referees in the NFL. The NFL is complicit in the problem, HOF headcoaches from 30 years ago claimed the problem was bad with officials and recommended that the NFL hire FULL TIME OFFICIALS. It is the ONLY major sport to not have full time officials but yet it is the biggest and richest sport in America! Full time officials would know to watch a play through completion as it regards the fumble in the Fins/Steelers game and they would also KNOW THE RULES when reviewing a play that was called correctly on the field with the Shiancoe TD catch.

By: Cerberus

Cerberus — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:14:47 +0000

This ought to cause all types of confusion amongst the officials. You have those like Mike Carey and Walt Coleman who throw games with bad calls with what appears to be the Leagues’ blessing. And now we have the League supposedly trying to coax their officials into being unbiased and honest?
I have a better idea. Why not hire 3rd party officials that have no connection to the League office other than being employed and overseen by the League’s front office. No more “you can’t criticize our officials” mentality. I say let the 3rd party officials be interviewed so they have to face-the-music when they screw-up or throw a game like Larry Nemers.

By: NFLGREEDLEAGUE

NFLGREEDLEAGUE — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:12:58 +0000

Has anyone watched that Roethlisberger fumble
live? It’s just really suspicious because the side judge didn’t run out nor signal TD until well after the fumble and most likely recovery. And the whistle didn’t blow until well into, if not at the end of the scrum. Shouldn’t the Head Ref determine the possession in each and every instance like this, just as a precaution?

By: MrHumble

MrHumble — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:08:35 +0000

Some of these comments are from some real idiots. As to the TD by the Packer TE that was an incomplete pass. It is immaterial if Childress challenged it or not…..the call by the official was wrong and that is part of what the NFL is having this conference call for. It is really asinine when officials use the replay to overturn a “corrent call on the field”….that speaks directly to the official (referee) NOT KNOWING THE RULES! As an aside, I find it hilarious that the NFL acknowledges the need for a conference call to clean up the officiating but yet they fine a coach bigtime for bringing the need to clean up officiating to their attention….Childress in this case. If the officials would’ve paid attention to who recovered the fumble in the steerlers/fins game we would know who would’ve won for sure; in the vikings/packers game it’s obvious that the vikings would’ve won as the two blown calls cost the vikings 14 pts.

By: Kisstherings

Kisstherings — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:58:49 +0000

@Unpopular Truth says:
October 28, 2010 8:02 PM
LOL! Florio’s still crying like a baby about the call that correctly disallowed Shiancoe’s trap of the football in the endzone? Anyone with a DVR and frame advance knows he clearly didn’t have both hands wrapped around the ball until after he landed on it and rolled over. Get over it! Just how much money did you lose on that game, Florio???
———————————————-
The NFL has admitted they got that call wrong dude. Give it up. It was a TD.