APOn Sunday night, the NFL’s replacement officials were criticized for pushing their flags deep in their pockets. On Thursday night, referee Donovan Briggans started things off in San Diego with an itchy trigger finger.
Briggans threw a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct on Packers linebacker Nick Perry, who simply flexed his muscles briefly after a sack. He didn’t do it in the face of a Chargers player or with, say, the middle fingers of his hands extended.
For those of you who will be quick to point out that the locked-out officials make plenty of mistakes, too, the point is that with the NFL using third-tier officials (at best) during the work stoppage, it’s important to be shining a light on mistakes that could alter the outcome of games once the regular season begins.
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actually he was called for pushing rivers head into the ground…
Bs call. this isn’t high school anymore.
While Perry was getting up he pushed Rivers’ head and walked over him. I don’t think he did it on purpose, and I wouldn’t of called the penalty, but I’m pretty sure that’s why they flagged him and not because of the flexing.
A call that changes the outcome of a game is known as an Ed Hoculi.
If he would have incorporated a sign of the cross along with his flexing, everything would have been hunky dory.
So what’s Jared Allen gonna get when he does his first rodeo-calf thing after a sack? Year-long suspension?
This happens in nearly every game.
Get the real refs back in there!
For those of you who will be quick to point out that the locked-out officials make plenty of mistakes, too, the point is that with the NFL using third-tier officials (at best) during the work stoppage, it’s important to be shining a light on mistakes that could alter the outcome of games once the regular season begins.
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Call the press! Give the locked out officials whatever they want! A replacement official in his first game and first game of the preseason gave a player an over the top celebration penalty.
Seriously, I think it will be pointed out to him after the game or when the tape is reviewed of his performance. It’s game 1 of the preseason. If he’s still doing it in game 4 of the preseason, then write a post about it.
While I agree that Perry did not make any moves that appeared worthy of a penalty, what you and I don’t know is if something was said by Perry to warrant the flag.
Just sayin’…
I thought they threw it because he pushed off of Rivers’ head as he got up from the ground…
he pushed he down and walked over him too. good call
He pushed him down and stepped over him good call. Kind of a superstar call for phillip rivers
If the regular, “First Tier” officials ever come back to work, are you going to continue to point out all the bad or judgment calls they make every week that alter the outcome of games? I would seriously like to see that – kind of a regular feature like the “turd watch” used to be. This could be called the “ref watch” or something like that. You could even have a meter that registered the “number of games without a bad/judgment call that altered the outcome of a game.” I’ll bet the meter would rarely get beyond 2.
people say the refs hand us games, yet when we get flagged for “flexing” ….
“Oh, he was physical with river’s feelings!”
smh…
They didn’t throw the flag for pushing Rivers’ head. The flag was thrown for flexing, just like the article says. I have it DVR’d and just watched it. They don’t throw the flag until Perry flexed. Bad call…
spzzie says: Aug 9, 2012 9:14 PM
he pushed he down and walked over him too. good call
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And good grammar on your part there spzzie!
Just what was it you were trying yo say?
So you can’t push off of another player to get yourself off of the ground? Sweet, I guess flag football is becoming more and more likely.
Penalty was for excessive celebration not roughing the passer.
Get the professionals back in there. NO faster way to discredit the outcome of games than with poor/questionable officiating. We wouldn’t accept replacement players, don’t accept replacement officials.
These refs are brutal. They need to go back to pop Warner. In the Skins/Bills game, Ruvell Martin caught a punted ball out of the air at the 4 yd line and stopped, so naturally one would assume great play, right? The refs put the ball at the 20. Huh? Gailey had to use a challenge to right their wrong. Martin never got within 3yds of the end zone. That was one of many bad calls against both teams, but this stood out. Horrible! Get the real guys back quick.
I think it’s pretty clear that the NFL needs to work things with Hocholi and company before September.
It was a good call you can’t walk over top of a guy while you are flexing or stand over him flexing. That is going to get called 95% of the time, it is taunting. If he had taken 2 steps away, he could have flexed, Tebowed or done the Icky Shuffle and no one would have cared.
The penalty was for unsportsmanlike conduct. This guy sacked Rivers, then gave him a little shove as he was getting up, then stepped forward over him making sure to briefly rest his sack on Rivers helmet, forcing him to stay on the ground a little longer. Then he flexed and celebrated with his teammates and the ref threw the flag.
It wasn’t roughing and its really no big deal, at best it was just a guy really fired up to make his first play of the year on national television, at worst it was just another example of the ridiculous b.s. posturing that identifies the classless idiots on the field.
Unlike Florio, you will never hear a complaint from me when that crap gets flagged. But I guess you can squeeze a post out of it if you are looking for reasons to hate on the replacement officials.
These scabs need to go back to doing Pop Warner games on Saturday.
The referees are not only replacements, but they’re such wooses!!!
Can’t you tolerate a little bit of machismo???
Even Jon Gruden disagreed w/the flag against Perry. Minus the penalty if that’s how Perry is going to play this yr then bring on the season. Let’s go! The NFL needsto tell these refs it’s ok to celebrate some. Matthews w/his celebration & Jarod Allen w/his.
He may have been called for “Flexing” but he did actually push Rivers’ helmet into ground.
Call it what you will, but at least his “Karma” came back at him quick and not in the Regular Season.
For those talking about him pushing rivers head you need to watch again. 1. His hands were on Rivers shoulder. 2. The ref was standing next to perry when he flexed. The second his arms came up you can actually watch the ref’s facial expression. He couldn’t wait to grab the flag.
So while no one should push a qbs head in the ground, that is not what happened.
If it were for pushing Rivers head down, it would have been “unecessary roughness”, but the call was “unsportsmanlike conduct”. It was for the flexing, and it’s truly one of the most ridiculous calls I’ve ever seen.