Plus, it just seems absurd that a business that has billions left over of pure profit wouldn’t be willing to shell out a barely measurable percent to ensure its product is sound. I don’t like it that airline pilots aren’t paid more, and I don’t like it that we have replacement refs.

Is it too much to ask for the replacements to get the same kind of restrictions?

The league needs to find a way to settle this before next weekend’s games, or somebody is going to get seriously hurt on a cheap shot.

Fred Davis is lucky to still have his head attached after the Rams lit him up, and there was no call. RGIII got his head slammed hard to the ground after the play was over and there was no call. The hit on Alex Smith’s sliding stop that gave him the bloody forehead? No call.

It’s getting hard to watch.

First to those that say the Seahawks got a 4th timeout, think for 5 seconds about that. Would they have run the ball had they been out of timeouts? No. Moot point. Besides, it didn’t end up mattering in the end – get over it.

Second, nobody has acknowledged the other blown calls in the game that had an impact on the outcome. The one in particular that got me peeved was the backwards pass that was ruled on the field as forward. It was overturned and Arizona was given the ball. Fair because they recovered, right? Nope, the whistle clearly blew before an Arizona player covered the ball, ending the play. Very, very similar to the Ed Hochuli debacle a few years ago in a Chargers/Broncos game. Whistle blows, play over. Arizona should not have been given the ball.

Per those blaming the NFL for the ref situation, it goes both ways. Yes, the NFL should get these guys on the field ASAP, but the NFLRA has some fault too. The NFL offered them an extra million/year, but the NFLRA president then said that the NFLRA negotiator has no authority to broker a deal. Yes, you read that right – the negotiator had no authority. Do a quick google search and you’ll find several articles on this. Blame them both. But regardless of the blame, the right guys need to get onto the field, I’m frankly sick of seeing terrible calls (several PI in the PIT/NYJ game, unnecessary roughness pushing Wilson out of bounds in DAL/SEA game, as well as a few in the CLE/CIN game.

The fact that it took until week 2 to uncover a Facebook page for a replacement ref that was a Saints fan is just incompetance.

The real story is how the NFL apparently did zero research on the replacments.

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I’m not defending the “timeout thing” but the old refs were just as “incompetent”. The old refs did the “timeout thing” twice in the last nine years. The funny thing is that you never heard about it because the media didn’t have a stake in their failure.

I’m sure if you dig far enough into the files of the old refs you will find they are fans of a team, are a native of cities that have NFL teams, friends of NFL players, etc. If you dig far enough you can draw enough tenuous connections to implicated anyone in potential conflicts of interest.

The problem is that the media doesn’t have any interest in outting the old refs.

Wasn’t there an article, on this website, just a few days ago where the NFL was banning the new officials from refereeing team practices to avoid articles such as this?

Next thing you know ESPN will have a breaking story where one of the refs once attended an NFL game as a fan and should be banned forever from reffing either of the 2 teams that played that day. God forbid anyone’s siblings, parents, relatives, have season tickets for a team.

Honestly, I’m more sick of the media coverage than I am with the refs themselves. The media is rooting for failure. I’d go so far to say that the media has a vested interest in failure as it generates more headlines and eyeballs.

You do your best for whomever is paying you. The days of working your entire career for 1 employer are over.

But at least the replacement reffs suck for BOTH teams!!!

The calls are so bad that I’m not going to waste my time watching games decided by the zebras.

Yesterday, the Eagles neutralized the Ravens deep threat, by just pulling his shirt, no flag.

Called back a TD, which should have been a PI in the first place.

People wait 7 months to see NFL games. For 7 months to end without the NFL coming to agreement with the regulars, it’s a disgrace.

If the NFL does not find a way to address this issue, it might become a bigger problem as the league goes on.

Come on NFL, teams spend a lot of money to get better, why don’t you spend money yourselves?

Anyone who remembers the Seahawk-Steeler superbowl knows someone on that crew had a terrible towel on under the stripes

We’re making this a story to bash these replacement refs, but are you telling me none of the original refs had a favorite team? Give me a break. It’s just a game. Call the penalties when you see them. It’s simple.