Comments on: NFLPA threatens “appropriate action” over replacement officials

By: rgrabber

rgrabber — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:37:01 +0000

It seems to me that the worst call of the day was the one that should have been made against the Packers on the punt return.
The ref called a block in the back and was over ruled by another ref (a “senior” ref or crew chief perhaps). The replays show a block in which the blocker barely got his head in front of the defender but was NOT A BLOCK in the back.

The replays also show an obvious block in the back that even the announcers thought was the original call. My guess is the “senior” offiical thought the first ref was refering to the one in which the block was legal. The other ref was either confused or chose not to argue, or felt he may have made an error on the illegal block.
The over ruling of call was the worst.

By: jmdwsmith

jmdwsmith — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:11:06 +0000

How was the to false start calls missed by the 49ers they was clear as day ?

By: castleanthrax

castleanthrax — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:31:46 +0000

The chaos theories on the NE-TEN game that blame the refs for Locker getting hurt are ridiculous.

Not one of you knew it was an incomplete pass in real time and the refs did the right thing by not calling it incomplete on a bang bang play. It may have been over ruled that it was not incomplete, but it was damn close and could’ve been left as ruling on the field stands as it was so close.

Locker put himself in the way of a tackle, not the refs.

The regular refs have let bang bang plays like that play out until a review as well, so to say definitively that the injury wouldn’t have happened if Hochuli was out there is just irrational.

Sorry your QB got hurt, but it’s part of the game.

Not to mention it didn’t decide the game as the Pats D was on it yesterday.

By: eagleswin

eagleswin — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 11:15:52 +0000

sreske93 says:
Sep 10, 2012 1:45 AM

But that’s still no excuse for not knowing how many timeouts a team has used

————————————

The Refs did apply the injury rule incorrectly but the team did only call 3 timeouts, they had lost one due to an injury in the last 2 minutes. The league will correct this going forward. The refs did not let 1 team call 4 timeouts even though that was the net effect.

Also, for anyone who is whining that the refs bad calls are upheld even after replay, remember, THE REPLAY OFFICIALS ARE THE REGULAR REPLAY OFFICIALS. That means the same calls would be upheld even without the lockout. That means you are just whining that your team lost and don’t really have a valid complaint.

Lastly, Al Michaels needs to go. It’s great that he can recite every catch that Collingsworth made in his career without hesitation but he acts like a grumpy old man and the replacement refs are the kids who won’t stay off his lawn.

He should’ve left when Madden did.

By: hitdog042

hitdog042 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:54:42 +0000

take the union down.

By: billinlouisiana

billinlouisiana — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:35:57 +0000

When the players show that they are concerned for their own and other players safety then maybe they can complain about the Refs.
1. They refuse to wear the Knee and thigh pads that the owners are trying to make mandatory.
2. Players demanding they be allowed to play even when they have an existing injury that if hit again could kill them. (Jason Witten for example)
3. A couple years ago Hines Ward actually criticized his own QB for reporting to trainers that he was still having concussion symptoms and ended up having to sit out the next game.

By: slowclyde86

slowclyde86 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:26:02 +0000

“yah, there was that play in that game that a ref missed a call and it hurt my team”.
—-signed every homer fan in every game ever played

The replacement officials are doing fine. The “real” officials have zero leverage at this point, and the weak nflpa’s lame postering will have no impact on that fact. Time to pack it in and get back to work, guys.

By: jhtobias

jhtobias — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:05:31 +0000

Wow here is a shock Lion fan crying about officiating again. You should be happy yhe officals gift wrapped the victory for you against the 4th ranked team in the bcs.

By: sreske93

sreske93 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 05:45:48 +0000

Call me a blind Packer fan, but I don’t see how a shove from the side = block in the back. Aside from missing blatant false starts, holding, and pass interference plays, these replacement refs are generally better than the usual refs.

But that’s still no excuse for not knowing how many timeouts a team has used

By: ch1ggs

ch1ggs — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 05:42:32 +0000

The officials were simply dreadful today; it was so bad that I was praying for obnoxious inconsistency of the old refs.

By: gator2006

gator2006 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 05:03:54 +0000

“It’s all a matter of probabilities and equations.”

Hm okay way to substantiate by trying to look smart but coming across as a dunce.

By: denverscott

denverscott — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 04:48:20 +0000

Seems to me the only fans crying are the ones that watched their team lose. Your team loses so blame the refs. Half those losing teams got blown out and would’ve got blown out regardless of a missed cal or two. Suck it up girls.

By: cowboyscanada

cowboyscanada — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 04:38:57 +0000

They did a decent job. Im pretty sure that the regular officials would have made some mistakes too.

By: phillyphannn83

phillyphannn83 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 03:26:56 +0000

Certainly missed a blatant 15 yard personal foul against CLE for slapping Vick clear across his face which forced a punt. Not to mention 12 penalties on PHI(8 for holding) and only what, 3 on CLE( not a single hold, which is absolutely impossible, everyone knows there’s holding on just about every play). Certainly wasn’t balanced officiating and they havent better in any other game either. Looks more and more obvious that they made the Wednesday game crew their best-of-the-worst crew at the expense of the rest of the games.

By: richndc

richndc — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:57:05 +0000

While I am not a Seahawks fan, I would remind anyone of the Super Bowl in 2006 in which the horrific officiating arguably helped the Steelers win and was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen. Super Bowl crews are chosen as the best of the best. Point is, you can cry about officiating forever, once its done, its done. These guys are no worse than the ‘real’ ones. I like that they are less likely to call pass interference.

By: thestrategyexpert

thestrategyexpert — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:47:50 +0000

The refs just missed that the Steelers’ RB had his knee down prior to breaking the plane. Their incompetence almost cost the chance for an extra goal line smash play and more potential injuries. Actually the game is safer from that mistake. Maybe not good for other financial reasons but it is a counter point to the safety point. They can use it to fight off that charge and then brush it under the rug some other way when it is analyzed as a penalty from some other perspective.

By: rickyck45

rickyck45 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:26:46 +0000

If the NFLPA is so concerned about how bad the replacements are why don’t they just use some of their association dues to get the officials some more money? Ha fat chance. Pretty easy to complain when its not coming out of your pocket.

By: thestrategyexpert

thestrategyexpert — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:22:32 +0000

The player safety angle is really strong. I can see ways they could calculate a hundred million dollars in additional wasted profits as a result of the increase in danger with these lesser competent referees. It’s all a matter of probabilities and equations. Look at Ben Roethlisberger that just took a hit because the false start penalty did not get a whistle to stop the play. The refs were confused in announcing the penalty so it’s quite clear they didn’t process that they made a mistake by not blowing the whistle at the time of the infraction, and what was the result, why it was a clean and unnecessary unabated hit to a big named quarterback. Ooopsy.

By: quirtevans

quirtevans — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:10:18 +0000

I saw a few bad calls today (the block in the back in the Green Bay game, for example). However, those bad calls happen every week with regular refs, too.

If the players were concerned about safety, they should have brought up that concern before the first pre-season game. If they were trying to show union solidarity, they could have done that a lot earlier, too. At this point, it’s just Shakespeare’s tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

By: rugdog100

rugdog100 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:50:44 +0000

They missed a few calls in the MN vs JAX game, but that’s no different from the regular refs. All in all, about the same. I have no problem with the replacements. Green Bay sure misses the old refs though – they’re used to getting every call at home. Didn’t happen that way today.

By: danphxariz

danphxariz — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:50:16 +0000

Two really obvious mistakes in the Cardinals/Seahawks game – a 5 yard spotting error follow a sack of Wilson, and a 4th timeout given to the Seahawks in the final minute.

The other really horrible call I saw today was when Devin McCourty was all over and practically was mugging a receiver (I think Nate Washington) in the end zone in the first quarter of the Tennessee / New England game, but no call was made.

On the other hand, this was the first game in a long time where the Lions got a fair shake from the refs…

By: redpoop

redpoop — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:45:10 +0000

The replacement officials have been terrible. Missed an obvious false start in one game, allowed four time outs and gave a timeout to a team that should have been called for delay of game. SF should have been called for PI at least four times where no penalty was called. I haven’t seen a single game that’s been well officiated. What games have you been watching?

By: andrewfbrowne

andrewfbrowne — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:28:09 +0000

You know what will happen when NFL settles with refs after just finishing with players last year, then it will be the stadium workers who want more money because the NFL is a nine billion dollar a year business…and so on and so forth.

By: deanok

deanok — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:23:51 +0000

fans dont be fooled these are the real refs !

By: wadinmypants

wadinmypants — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:21:31 +0000

Why not turn over all NFL operations to the NFLPA ?
And kick Goodell out the door. The NFLPA seems to have all the answers.

By: icdogg

icdogg — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:14:04 +0000

I’ve never seen more ticky tack calls in my life.

By: whodeytn

whodeytn — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:09:17 +0000

Hope you guys that are defending the replacement officials are watching Sunday night football.

By: taintedsaints2009

taintedsaints2009 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:08:12 +0000

You don’t blame the actual refs. They are new, and this is what happens when you have new employees. You blame the nfl and roger Goodell, a multi billion dollar business that is too cheap to pay their good officials. This is capitalism at its finest. If you don’t pay your best employees, you have to bring in new, unqualified people and go through a long, expensive learning curve.

By: kremis

kremis — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:58:07 +0000

I Say let the regular refs come back ….with a 5-10% pay cut over 7 years and no pension

By: ytownjoe

ytownjoe — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:56:57 +0000

The replacements kept the Browns in the game but could not get them a couple more points needed for a win.
But if you took the points, you’re cashing in, big time.