Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

The NFL Presents: "Ref-capades"

Imagine you have a beat-up old car, and it works for you, but the problem is you have a full-time job over an hour away from your house. The old powerless four-banger engine is ready to give up on you and every day when you pull into 60 mph traffic on the highway you don’t feel totally safe.There are no power windows either, oh, and the A/C doesn’t work.  On top of that there is a hint of funk starting to emanate from the broken down seats that you are just beginning to notice every day. But on the bright side you have had this same car for seven years now and it has never once left your stranded.  The CD player works and you blast the tunes all the way to work each day.

In the winter you are happy to have the heater, even if it takes 20 minutes to start working.  Basically the car sucks, but it gets the job done, and more importantly you know the car.  You wouldn’t give it rave reviews but as long as you don’t pull out in front of a semi you know you are going to be “okay”.

Then all of a sudden the engine breaks down and you can’t afford to fix it.  You have no choice but to borrow your younger brothers ’97 Jeep 4×4 with no roof or side doors.  It sounds cool, but driving an hour and a half on the highway with no doors is scarier than it seems.  Plus there is no stereo so the only sound you hear is your skin freezing in the wind as you barrel along at 65 mph.

Inside the first week the car broke down once and pulled a flat -and the monster truck-sized tires cost a pretty penny to replace.Your old car sucked, but now you realize that you miss it and would trade anything to have it back. Even if it had problems you knew what they were and had adjusted to them, heck you could even say you had gotten comfortable with them.

This is the problem with the replacement officials – they are the new Jeep.  They are totally unreliable, but more than anything else we are terrified because we have no idea what to expect next.  We can’t pretend that the old officials were good, because they weren’t always so, but we knew what they were and we were prepared for it.(1)

The replacement officials with their random acts of incompetence routine seems like a circus act.  Each call is more terrible than the last and with each new week comes a new brand of inconceivable screw-ups.  Like the Jeep, the replacement refs have done the unthinkable – make us long for the mediocrity we used to have.  Suddenly the old guard seems quite serviceable.

There is going to be a whole lot of piling on now that the Ref’s have turned one nationally broadcasted game sour (New England-Baltimore) and completely butchered another (Green Bay-Seattle).

What happened in the Monday Night game is inexcusable, but we can’t pretend like random game-altering bone-headed calls were never part of the league before(2).  What the real problem for the officials has been their total lack of control that deteriorates as the games continue, and worse, their commitment to inconsistency.

They lack control because they are afraid to assert themselves early in games.  I play men’s league hockey at a very shady local arena (hang on, don’t give up on the terrible analogy just yet).  The rough play begins as soon as the puck is dropped and you can instantly tell how the game is going to play out by the ref’s initial reaction.  Do they make a few calls early to let the teams know they won’t get away with anything?  Or do they turn the other way and let the game deteriorate into the inevitable near-brawl in the 3rd period?  All it takes is a few early calls to avoid a bad situation late in the game.  This is something the NFL replacement officials seem to lack an understanding of.  Early in games, even when there is shoving after the whistle, the refs are reluctant to throw a flag and punish one of the teams.  If they would do this, however, it would go a long way towards controlling the game in the later stages.

As bad as the refs seeming indifference is, it is the inconsistency that has to be what troubles the players the most.  In recent seasons much has been made by the game-day announced crews about how NFL teams scout each officiating crew and prepare their teams for which crews throw a lot of flags and which take it easy.  If teams are going this far to try to understand the officials, just imagine how frustrating it would be to have an entire crew of guys you have never seen before.

But, this point aside, it is the replacement officials doing it to themselves.  The Green Bay-Seattle Monday Nighter featured some classic bad reffing before the botched call at the end of the game(3).  The Ref’s were reluctant to throw any pass interference flags all game, even as the Seattle secondary was being very physical with the Green Bay receivers. Yet on the final Seahawks drive the Packers were flagged for pass interference for barely touching a player (when it looked like the offensive player should be the one flagged).

It didn’t seem like favoritism though.  Packers right tackle Bryan Buluga could have been called for at least eight holding flags in the game, but instead only got two, both in the first half.  The two flags did nothing to curb his propensity to hold later on.  Then on Seattle’s aforementioned final drive they were twice called for offensive holding even though neither play stood out as much as what Buluga got away with all night.

This type of inconsistency, especially regarding pass interference, was prevalent is Sunday Night’s Baltimore-New England contest also.  If you want to know more about the reluctance of the officials to throw offensive holding flags feel free to ask any 49ers fan (against Minnesota) or Broncos fan (against Atlanta).

The officiating has been bad because none of the players know what to expect.  Week three’s string of sheer incompetence, directly impacting the outcome of games, should hopefully be enough to get the real professionals back on the job(4). Just remember that when the old officials return we can’t expect perfection, but we can hope for old familiar mediocrity.

Let this insanity end…

Tune in to Last Word Radio for “Saturday Morning Football Free-for-All” and on Sunday evenings at 7:30 for “NFL Sunday Blitz Package” to discuss all things football.

 

Footnotes:                                                                                                                              1- Plus they allowed us to blame their terrible calls on games being rigged instead of terrible incompetence, which frankly was a lot more fun.

2 – We can get outraged over the ending of the game all we want (and I am) but let’s not pretend this sort of thing doesn’t happen ever. Case in point: the lateral play at the end of the ’08 Pit-SD 11-10 finish game.  It didn’t impact the winner but it sure as hell impacted the spread.  Or Indy-Pit in the ’05 playoffs when Troy Polamalu clearly intercepted Manning and it was reversed, leading Joey Porter to chant “Cheat That” after the Steelers victory.  What about the Bert Emanuel catch against the Rams in the ’99 playoffs that led to a “rule change” after the season?  That play could have sent the Bucs to the Super Bowl. (Note that I did not have to look up any of the dates or opponents in these games, so I may or may not have had an interest on the team getting screwed in every case.)

3 – It featured some classic bad coaching too.  Pete Carroll in the first half took a timeout with about 2:40 left on the clock after his team had forced a GB drive to stall at midfield. Usually a great call to mount a half-ending drive.  The problem with this though was that the Pack had all three of their timeouts, and even worse Seattle had only picked up three first downs for themselves all night to that point.  What are the chances your offense will get going now especially if the Packers pin you against your own goal-line?  The Packers promptly pinned the Seahawks against their own goal-line, Carroll instantly recognized his mistake and went into clock killing mode and was lucky Marshawn Lynch was able to pick up a new set of downs on a 3rd down run.

Mike McCarthy responded with some equally boneheaded game management.  After going up 12-7 with just under 9 minutes to play McCarthy had his team try for a two-point conversion.  In 99% of all situations I would urge the coach to go for two.  However in this game where Seattle had not had any offense (literally zero) in the second half I think it is safer to be up by 6 than to risk only being up 5.  With a six point lead two field goals cannot defeat you, and there is enough time left on the clock for two field goals by the Seahawks, but Seattle driving for a TD is extremely unlikely.  .Plus with the way the Pack were moving the ball in the second half McCarthy had to figure his team would have a decent shot at a game winning FG drive even if they found themselves down one point.

The conversion missed and it made what would have been an easy call at the end of the game a very dicey one for Green Bay, but still one I would have made.  With just over a minute left the Packers had a five point lead and were punting out of the back of their own endzone.  Punting gives the Seahawks a minute to try to score a TD from about midfield.  But if you take a Safety here then you still have a three-point lead and Seattle is likely backed up in their own territory.  With a 6 point lead the call is a no-brainer – take the Safety and make Seattle drive the field for a the TD.  But up only five I still make that call.  When you are punting out of your own endzone disaster can strike and you could lose the game in an instant.  Plus giving a team the ball at midfield with plenty of chances to heave the ball to the endzone is risky and if the other team is successful you lose.  With Seattle having no timeouts backing them up is the right call because even if they are able to drive for the field goal the game is still going to OT and you have another chance to win. (By the way, as Michael Lombardi likes to say, I am not second guessing these calls, I am first guessing them. I was literally screaming at my TV when these idiotic decision’s were being made.)

Both calls showed the coach’s inability to adjust to the game situation.  Going into the game both seemed like the correct call, but under the game’s circumstances I think both coaches failed.

4 – Oh, what’s that? The real refs aren’t professionals? They are part-time employees?  That seems strange.  Isn’t the NFL the league that millions of dollars are gambled on each Sunday?  It is? OK then. Glad that is settled.  Atleast the league publishes such an iron clad rule book that nothing could slip through.  Oh, they don’t publish a rule book either?  So the Refs could basically just make it up as they go along and no one could ever prove they were wrong?  Interesting.  Let’s just move along.

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