Zebra season 2014

[playlikeawhat]

A league-wide issue with officiating seems to be developing again.  I understand there's always an issue with wrong calls and no-calls pretty much every game but this has now generated a mainstream buzz within the media.  Some people wonder if the replacement refs were truly ousted while some lamented the return of well-known crews.  I personally have a deep-rooted hatred for Ron Winter after Baltimore's robbery against the Falcons in 2010.

 

Now in 2013, sideline shenanigans and a torpedo-butt to Flacco's knee has gone uncalled in addition to other anomalies around the league.  I don't want to hear about DeAndre Levy being "pushed" into hitting Flacco.  I've lost count how many times I saw flags thrown for accidental contact.

 

The following links are just a few of a growing number of articles centered around NFL officiating in 2013.  What are some of your thoughts?

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/nbc-sports-nework-shaun-king-nfl-officiating-worst-001308292--nfl.html

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/04/nfl-officiating-needs-a-complete-overhaul/

 

http://nesn.com/2013/12/report-nfl-officiating-crews-could-lose-playoff-assignments-extra-money-for-recent-errors/

[Ravenseconbeast]

Its been a little more off than usual. One thing i realize is a lot of new faces @ referee's staff. Maybe few prominamt ones left b/c they got too old/unsatisfied w/ the new deal.

[JoeyFlex5]

ive hated ron winter ever since our 2007 game vs the patriots when him and his crew not only handed the patriots that game to maintain their perfect season, but blatantly disrespected our players and belittled them to their face. i never realized he was officiating that falcons game but that makes it even worse. 

 

but yeah ive always said things like pass interference against the offense and defense, along with holding against the offense and defense, and especially things like "helmet hits" and what not should be reviewable, because SO often we give up a crucial first down because we break up a pass play with a big hit, but they throw a flag for the following reasons: 

 

the receiver ducked as he tried to tuck the ball and ducked right into a helmet hit 

 

our defender led with the shoulder but the receiver makes a slight cut and runs into our guys helmet 

 

our defender leads with his shoulder into the receivers chest, but the receivers head jerks down from the impact and the facemask makes a tiny little bit of contact with our defenders helmet. 

 

a qb slides long after our defender starts to initiate a tackle and he slides over or rolls over the qb(COUGH matt stafford) 

 

a finger brushing across a qb's helmet because the OL was pushing him and changed his arm direction 

 

just so many examples of HUGE deflating and momentum changing flags that are constantly thrown on so many teams, and these plays change games. hell, when we get one of those flags thrown on us, it results in 7 for the other team 9 times out of 10, its a trend ive noticed for years when we get a personal foul on a 3rd down stop. 

 

these are game changing "penalties" that are wrong more than half the time, and if it has the ability to make or break a teams entire season(not to mention other teams who are depending on another team to win or lose) it should be reviewable, especially when its all a snap decision, opinion based, judgement call. 

 

in the nfl, something like a blown call is a butterfly effect type of thing. late season game, the bad call leads to a TD, the victimized team loses, they miss out on the playoffs, while a team who is contending for a playoff spot and is the "hot team" everyone thinks can win it all, ends up not getting a shot at all, while another undeserving team backs into the playoffs because of a blown call made in another game. so many bad things can result from these kinds of calls, so how in gods name are they not reviewable? 

 

/rant

[T3hRaven]

Why don't they have an official monitor the game from the booth or at a central location?  The game is too fast for them to keep up with it on the field now, and some of these penalties are so blatantly obvious on the broadcast tape that it's ridiculous they're not called.  Shouldn't be too hard to implement that sort of system.

[RavensAllTheWay]

Officials will continue to make bad calls in the future.  It's just the speed and nature of the game.  But honestly, I'm tired of the comparisons being made to the replacement refs and people actually saying that these guys are no better.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPwntRqbMf8

 

^ The regular refs don't do stuff like this.  Everyone remembers the Fail Mary, but forgets about all of these things.  That's why the comparisons to the replacement refs are unfair.

[Cville-Raven]

As we all saw today. These clowns shouldnt even be employed.

[JO_75]

I know "Bad" or "Horrible" can sum up the officiating in 2013 but when the NFL admits something this big that changed the record books, you know the officiating has been bad.

 

 

Phillips asked the NFL for clarification on the ruling and said Friday that the team heard back from the league that it should have been ruled an incompletion.

 

“Poor Manning,” Phillips joked, via ESPN.com. “He thought he broke the record.”

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/27/wade-phillips-nfl-told-me-mannings-game-tying-td-shouldnt-have-counted/

 

Yeah so a ref ruled a record tying TD a TD when it should have been called an incompletion. So yeah...... about that record Mr. Manning.

[Mt. Crushmore]

I know "Bad" or "Horrible" can sum up the officiating in 2013 but when the NFL admits something this big that changed the record books, you know the officiating has been bad.

 

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/27/wade-phillips-nfl-told-me-mannings-game-tying-td-shouldnt-have-counted/

 

Yeah so a ref ruled a record tying TD a TD when it should have been called an incompletion. So yeah...... about that record Mr. Manning.

 

He'll get a few more this week anyways.

[playlikeawhat]

This year's officiating combined with the overall neutering of defensive execution within NFL games has pretty much killed my interest for the 2014 season.  Good thing there's a ton of classic games to watch that made the NFL great.

[mdrsharon]

Those guys make a LOT of money to ref games, especially considering they all have other full time jobs.

They need to get things right, no matter what.

 

I am always impressed when a quick call is made and is really correct, in football and mostly in baseball.

 

Many of the new rules are really ridiculous, as the makers are now afraid of future lawsuits, it is a corporate decision.

 

I do remember the olden days, when guys could be all over receivers and never get called. Now they touch them  lightly and it is a penalty. The secondary players all look for flags when their play is over, no matter what!

 

Where is the true game of  football?