Comments on: League remains intent on exploring full-time officials

By: mayers59

mayers59 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:47:05 +0000

People need to understand something. The NFL officials call what the NFL wants called or they lose their jobs. Simple as that. My complaint is what the NFL is having the officials call or not call. Not as much the officials.

By: brunnegd

brunnegd — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:17:57 +0000

I read the headline, thought maybe the refs were going to start calling offensive pass interference. Apparently, I was wrong. Receivers will continue to push defenders away, and not be called for it.

By: mayers59

mayers59 — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:06:44 +0000

It is true that a bad call can cost a team a game. It is also true that a lost fumble, a thrown interception, a dropped interception or a dropped pass can also cost a game. Do we get rid of everyone that has done one of those things too? They get paid a hell of a lot more than the guys with the striped shirts do.

By: davej323

davej323 — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:24:26 +0000

If Ed Hochuli declines fulltime refereeing, the only one hurt by that decision is Ed Hochuli. Good riddance!

By: mayers59

mayers59 — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:58:13 +0000

If you don’t want mistakes, take the human factor out of it. I see where a people are saying if they have a blown call fire them. If you go by that, then fire all the players who make mistakes. Most people posting on here have never officiated. To be a Pro Ref, you have to have officiated High School Football and then NCAA Football. Then go to camps. The best of the best in the NFL will quit officiating if they have to choose between their lively hood and officiating. If you think it’s bad now, wait until that happens. I get upset too at times, but it’s part of the game. These guys were the top of their field in NCAA. I’ve seen fumbles that were missed and it took slow motion and stop frame showing the knee was maybe an inch above the ground when the ball came out. Those are not easy calls to make when you are on the field running up and down and trying to look in between all the players.

By: buzzbissinger

buzzbissinger — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:13:03 +0000

th56 says:
Feb 20, 2012 12:08 AM

buzzbissinger says:
Feb 19, 2012 10:48 PM
Good teams overcome bad calls, I honestly believe that. And I’m a Raiders fan.

Many will make light of this, but I just don’t see the upside in griping about bad calls.

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Sorry, but a bad call can cost you the game, and in the playoffs, it’s season over.

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And complaining gets you back in? What’s your point?

By: beeronthefridge

beeronthefridge — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:21:46 +0000

The nfl wants crooked referees to promote the teams that will generate the most interest and profits.

The proof is in the super bowl, where the refs gave the patriots every break in the book.

it was so outrageous that even wilkfor – bless his soul – told a referee he blew a call in his favor.

The only solution is to dock salaries for bad calls and tar feather and parade in the streets these referees.

By: ICDogg

ICDogg — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:05:11 +0000

They’re only discussing making 10 of the positions full time. This is not even close to talking about making them all full time, considering there are something like 170 of them.

They may just be looking for the ability to retain a few good officials by offering them health benefits, rather than risk losing them to other full time jobs that they hold.

By: cometkazie

cometkazie — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:24:12 +0000

It seems to me the officiating in Div I college games is much less intrusive to the flow of the game than in the NFL. This suggests to me the pro game is over officiated.

I have been a (volunteer) track and field official for 20y at a top Div I university as well as for a secondary school. The mark of a good T&F official is that she/he is not noticed.

As EdgarPoe2 pointed out, the officials on the field have no really sound idea of the current rules as they change so often. T&F rules are very simple.

NFL officiating to me has become over-complicated and it’s the league’s fault. Perhaps it is a mistake to have so much $$ riding on the games.

By: Topher

Topher — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:36:31 +0000

“exploring”

“Hey Joe, should we go full-time on officials?”
“I dunno, Tom, ask me again next happy hour.”

By: bignastygs

bignastygs — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:09:06 +0000

One thing people forget about bad play calling is that if a team like the Lions get eliminated,Think of how much that blown call cost the city of Detroit, the team,and possibility to play in the Super Bowl.A loss and you are done. Surely the NFL should hold these guys to a higher standard and the replay perhaps should be done in a better fashion. Maybe 3 people viewing it and deciding. My Giants not only were playing the Packers,but the terriblly calling Ref crew. I agree,good teams MUST get past it,but it shouldn’t have to come to that. I agree,there should be new blood in the ranks.

By: wtfpft

wtfpft — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:07:29 +0000

Wow only 40 years too late

By: rascalmanny

rascalmanny — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:25:58 +0000

First test: Can you see a fumble on replay?

By: FinFan68

FinFan68 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:02:24 +0000

Being full time will not help the problem. These guys routinely make bad calls at critical points in the game. Not because they are part time, not because they are old or out of shape. The rules have been bastardized by lawyers and are now up for interpretation. Nobody knows what a catch, TD or fumble are anymore. Many of the bad calls are made by an official that is perfectly positioned and then reviewed by a ref that sees HD slo-mo video of what happened–and then gets the call wrong again. Inadvertent whistles screw teams over more than anything else.

By: rmc1995

rmc1995 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:58:12 +0000

Is everybody happy with full time officials in the MLB and NBA? Baseball umpires have delusions of grandeur. NBA refs bet on games and admit to “Jordan” rules. Both of these unions are quite strong and many believe they must be a part of the game not just officials. Most of the current part time NFL refs do it for the love of the game. They take their orders from the league and have little to say. When it becomes a profession that profession will be protected. So they may not agree to more common sense replay rules, or who gets picked to ref playoffs. Rather than being a partner with the league they will be at odds with the league. Give more access to refs and teams and players will immediately take advantage of a relationship to get those “Jordan” rules.

By: edgarpoe2

edgarpoe2 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:19:47 +0000

Anything to improve the quality of game officials should be encouraged. My hope would be that they’d at least have one full-time employee in every game that would be responsible for consistent rules interpretation.

I applaud the NFL for considering full-time refs. it’s a step in the right direction. For those who feel full-time refs aren’t necessary, you are dead wrong. The major problem with refs has not really been bad calls, but the inconsistency from game-to-game of those calls. Having full-time refs would help to improve that consistency.

By: purpledrank26

purpledrank26 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:17:01 +0000

drednot says:Feb 20, 2012 6:42 AM

MY QUESTION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS HEADLINE…

Does anyone know of a link/website where they name the espn employees who were fired for the J. Lin comments?

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Ever heard of Google??? look it up and stick with basketballtalk.

By: vahawker

vahawker — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:31:32 +0000

As long as Bill Leavey is nowhere on the list of potential candidates, I’m for it’

By: ampats

ampats — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:30:30 +0000

Mike,

An intertesting point which I did not see in the post is how much are officials paid per game/season? If they went to f/t officials what would they do in the off season? Players have ongoing strength and conditioning work in the off season. How much would be fair compensation?

By: blackqbwhiterb

blackqbwhiterb — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:07:56 +0000

The reason they’re are older is because they have over 20 years experience before the NFL hires them, normally. Also, to keep them clean, I’ve heard and read they’re all required to be financially secure, debt free relatively wealthy guys. This may be the most important factor to protect the integrity of the game… I think they’re probably as good as they’ve ever been, but replay shows the human errors we never saw before.

By: football2011

football2011 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:59:02 +0000

HOF Viking Coach Bud Grant Suggested this 40 years ago and the NFL is just now figuring it out?

By: derfshambeaux

derfshambeaux — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:47:26 +0000

How much do refs make?

By: drednot

drednot — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:42:12 +0000

MY QUESTION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS HEADLINE…

Does anyone know of a link/website where they name the espn employees who were fired for the J. Lin comments?

By: kevinfromphilly

kevinfromphilly — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:02:34 +0000

Maybe they could spend 20-30 hours a week actually reading the rule book?

By: joetoronto

joetoronto — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:35:35 +0000

dachozen1 says: Feb 19, 2012 11:08 PM

They get replay wrong so I dont know if this will make a difference.
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That’s a hell of a point.

When they look at a replay that clearly shows the call on the field to be wrong, and then uphold the call, it’s make you question the very integrity of the game.

That’s not a good thing for the league.

By: IainRWB

IainRWB — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:12:21 +0000

Being full time won’t make refs much better with decisions, if at all, but as noted in the article it does offer a host of other advantages that make it a no-brainer.

By: lilcuzzy

lilcuzzy — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:57:44 +0000

lets face it, most of these guys are turds … we need younger , full-tim refs. And I dont think they should be ” studying film ” of teams .. how about simply studying the rules , without going into the game with a mindset that a team already commits alot of penalties … these guys are absolute turds

By: rjov

rjov — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:17:18 +0000

I think including what they make now would be informative.

By: mikehockhurtz

mikehockhurtz — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:09:04 +0000

Election time folks….it’s all part of Obamas Jobs Plan…..

Don’t forget…vote Union

So what if they make a bad call here and there, right…

By: vikingdoode

vikingdoode — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:43:47 +0000

The amount of money generated by the NFL and not having professional refs…Kinda sad! This is not 1950 any more. Would like to see little more younger to that can keep up. Lotta pressure on the part-time refs no skin in the game. Full timers its you profession prolly gunna pay a bit more attention.