National Football League

[ChewbaccaD]

Holy s**t. I wanted Seattle to win, but there is no way that was a touchdown. Horrific officiating...but strangely, it makes the games more exciting to have horrific officiating. Still, the NFL has to do something. Teams are getting robbed of wins.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Chewie, you got that right! What a bunch of crap officiating!!! Those who know me here know I could be a happy man right now. But there's no joy in this gift the refs gave Seattle. Instead of remembering a tough, physical, hard fought game what everyone is going to remember is one play to end the game. That final play is going to be played over, and over, and over this week. I feel bad for the Packers.

Without fistfights breaking out everywhere, this game is about the best example we could possibly have as incentive to get rid of the effing replacement refs and bring back the regular refs. If the owners and Goodell don't see that, then their heads are as far impacted as the replacement refs. Thank you Roger Goodell, Jerry Jones and all you other owners. WELL DONE !!!

 

[TheRossSeaParty]

I hardly ever watch football, but the game (Monday Night Football) was on at work and I caught the very end. How is this kind of officiating allowed to happen? Football is a multi-billion dollar sport and it looked like a bunch of pro athletes and little league refs. It's a joke. It makes cycling look like a professional, well-run sport. I live in Seattle and even here a lot of people felt GB had been robbed. People were happy, but most of the talk was about the embarrassing officiating. It is amazing that the NFL is allowing this to happen, it makes their sport like a complete joke. When are the teams going to go on strike? This season will need a big asterisk placed next to it. I can't believe this is making anyone in the sport happy.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

The carpetbagger wanted to protect the integrity of the game when he went on his suspension crap tastic bounties tirade .

Now the games are full of **** because he can't even protect the integrity of the game by insuring that the games are called in the correct manner.

WHAT A ****ING IDIOT! Hey here is a hint carpetbagger .......go **** yourself!

My rant would have been easier if the Saints could at the very least win 1 game!

 

[Amsterhammer]

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=14nk03l&s=6

Direct picture link doesn't work in here, huh? What an outrageous blunder. Truly shocking. The real refs must be p!ssing themselves watching these disasters unfold.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I hardly ever watch football, but the game (Monday Night Football) was on at work and I caught the very end. How is this kind of officiating allowed to happen? Football is a multi-billion dollar sport and it looked like a bunch of pro athletes and little league refs. It's a joke. It makes cycling look like a professional, well-run sport. I live in Seattle and even here a lot of people felt GB had been robbed. People were happy, but most of the talk was about the embarrassing officiating. It is amazing that the NFL is allowing this to happen, it makes their sport like a complete joke. When are the teams going to go on strike? This season will need a big asterisk placed next to it. I can't believe this is making anyone in the sport happy.

Glenn_Wilson said it correctly. There's a carpetbagger running things amuck. He (Roger "better be dodging" Goodell) is turning the NFL into a freak show. We might as well come up with a new name for the NFL, something similar to the rigged shows of the WWF (world wrestling federation). How about the WFF (world football federation)? No! That's too damning to the world, most of whom know football as futbol. How about the NFF (national football federation... or short of eNuFF)?

Teams are not going to strike. Teams are run by people paid by the owners who will not throw game revenues down the drain. However, the players might strike. Who would of thought that players may actually strike for something OTHER than money! If they strike it would not be to line their pockets. They would be doing it on principle to preserve the integrity of the game and lose salary in the process. So that's not likely. Nice thought though.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=14nk03l&s=6

Direct picture link doesn't work in here, huh? What an outrageous blunder. Truly shocking. The real refs must be p!ssing themselves watching these disasters unfold.

Yo, Amster. I know what you mean, and you are probably partly correct. Nobody involved in the game would want to see the integrity of the game going south like it is. But I think the real refs must also be glad this outrage has happened, since it really supports bringing them back to end the nightmare.

Cheers all. This should be an interesting week!

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

What a disaster. Worst call in memory. Completely blew the game. I woke up to seeing the replays and all the talk on ESPN. They must have shown it 100 times, easy. There is no talk about the game itself. No talk that both teams played very well on defense. No talk about Aaron Rogers trying to grit out the win. No talk about Russell Wilson. No talk about Bruce Irvin turing out to be a great draft pick. It's ALL about the blown call. That's what the NFL has become with this.

As to getting the real officials back, the sticking point in the bargaining is that the referees want to keep their pension program, which means an average retired official can earn $38k a year, and the league wants to eliminate the pension plan, and push them into a 401k. The annual salary is a much smaller issue, but the ballpark number is about a $2m difference. Are the officials being unreasonable? Is the league? I don't know, you tell me.

As to Goddell. It's not he who holds the purse strings, it's the owners. You can blame him for not being assertive enough like he was in getting the players lockout resolved, but he's not calling the shots here. It's the owners. And if you guys think Roger Goddell is bad, pretend Pat McQuaid is running the NFL.

Power Rankings out later today. I imagine Houston or Atlanta will be on top.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Here's the photo Amster posted of the "catch" and touchdown.

ESPN is reporting that the side judge who originally ruled it a touchdown, his only experience is on a high school level. He never even coached college before. But you know what, I can only blame this guy (or the head referee who didn't rule correctly) so much. These guys probably figured they'd never ref more than a few pre-season games, and would be lucky to officiate one real game to tell their grandkids about some day. Many of them are just as stuck in this as the rest of us. I blame the owners, and the league front office.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Here's the photo Amster posted of the "catch".

ESPN is reporting that the side judge who originally ruled it a touchdown, his only experience is on a high school level. He never even officiated college before. But you know what, I can only blame this guy (or the head referee who didn't rule correctly) so much. These guys probably figured they'd never ref more than a few pre-season games, and would be lucky to officiate one real game to tell their grandkids about some day. Many of them are just as stuck in this as the rest of us. I blame the owners, and the league front office.

 

[Oldman]

Here's the photo Amster posted of the "catch".

ESPN is reporting that the side judge who originally ruled it a touchdown, his only experience is on a high school level. He never even officiated college before. But you know what, I can only blame this guy (or the head referee who didn't rule correctly) so much. These guys probably figured they'd never ref more than a few pre-season games, and would be lucky to officiate one real game to tell their grandkids about some day. Many of them are just as stuck in this as the rest of us. I blame the owners, and the league front office.

Watching the game as a casual Seattle fan I had to cringe because this play is all anyone will remember. There were several other pass-interference calls that were questionable and led to Green Bay's last TD.
Watching the ref's approach to the tussle between players-he didn't even get a point of view for nearly four seconds and then made the call with the Line judge staring right at it. After those blunders the rules prohibited the reversal.
Now Pittsburgh fans know how we felt after they "won" the Superbowl...

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Interesting article on the MNF-Outcome

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8...ckers-disputed-mnf-call-shifted-150-250m-bets

I guess the mob, the gamblers and other shady guys like the replacement refs. Besides that those refs seem not to know what they do, of course they are easier to manipulate or even bribed than the real ones. I won´t return to this farce until the real refs come back. But let them strike as long as it takes to get their fair share, since they are the only top NFL personal that is underpaid ...

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Looking at the ESPN expert picks, several of them are 5-10. Hoge was 4-11. Accuscore was 4-11 as well. The "best" experts are 7-8 so far. But there's still hope, if Seattle beats GB, most of these picks will chalk up another loss! With the way this week has gone....

Meanwhile, talks last night between the NFL and officials broke off with little progress, and no plan to meet again. I can't believe the league is allowing this to happen for a total cost of what amounts to what Mark Sanchez earns in a month. It's just madness, and it's only a matter of time before a key game is blown, someone gets seriously hurt, an official gets physically attacked, or a bribery scandal breaks out. How can the league, after resolving the players lockout last year so well, botch this so badly?

Because they don´t care a §h.it about the integtity of the game or the fans other than milking money off them. Refs game shirts can´t be sold. Tickets aren´t sold b/c of them.
I wish those fans were as clever as the cycling ones, who could take only so much and then turned away. I truly hope this will happen to the NFL. They destroy deliberatley the beautiful game of football in the sake of printed papers (dollars). It´s disgusting.

See you sooner or later. I am on strike too.

Edit: I have only watched a half game this season so far, before getting lights out in week 1. Thank myself for not having returned since then. I had a strange feeling (of which i can´t describe) the whole summer about the NFL. The same feeling i had when i turned (rightfully in a hindsight) away from cycling for 7 years until Ulle hit the scene. Is it a omen for worse things to come out about the NFL? I very much think so...

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

What a disaster. Worst call in memory.

As to getting the real officials back, the sticking point in the bargaining is that the referees want to keep their pension program, which means an average retired official can earn $38k a year, and the league wants to eliminate the pension plan, and push them into a 401k. The annual salary is a much smaller issue, but the ballpark number is about a $2m difference. Are the officials being unreasonable? Is the league? I don't know, you tell me.

True, what a bummer of an officiating call. Even the Prez of the USA, who can't meet with foreign officials but can find time to meet Barbara Walters on "The View" talk show, said it was a bad call. And who am I to argue with him.

Seriously now, while the ref boned it, I agree the ones we need to be most angry with are the owners and league officials like Goodell for putting this product on the field in the first place. The poor former HS, NAIA, or JUCO official is only doing the best he can. Puny as it is.

I almost feel sorry for the replacement refs. Here's why. In the beginning, the replacements prolly thought they were only going to have to fill in a few preseason games in front of much calmer fans. They prolly didn't think they'd have to face places like the Dawg Pound and the Black Hole in a regular season game. They prolly have nightmares of being chased around the field by the likes of the Evil Empire, the Fearsome Foursome, and the Monsters of Midway. Then getting pancaked by the Orange Crush, followed by coming down with a severe case of Gang Green.

I said earlier I felt sorry for the Pack. And I still do. But not too sorry. Look at it this way. The Packers only have themselves to be mad at because had the offensive line played better and not allowed Rogers to get sacked 8 times maybe they could have put up enough points such that the final play and score would not have mattered.

Regarding the league wanting to dump the pension plan in favor of a 401K plan, I have a compromise. If the refs don't mind taking control of their own money and investing as they see fit, instead of getting a pension, why not increase the pay of the officials $38K per year and let them invest it rather than let the league manage it? The $38K/year would not be fixed, but have to have an annual cost of living increase. Do you think that would go over like a Led Zeppelin?

 

[knewcleardaze]

I don't suppose the NFL Players Union will talk with the NFL Referees Union?
The Players Association needs to call a wildcat strike.
That may get the owners' attention.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

...these go on and on.

 

[Amsterhammer]

There's more.

Lingerie Football League commissioner mocks NFL for its low officiating standards



http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl---...ks-nfl-for-its-low-officiating-standards.html

And finally, let's not forget that cowboys.com is now a gay dating site.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I think what we are finding out is that how NFL fans feel about the games and how they feel about their experience attending an NFL game has something to do with how well the refs perform by today's standards. Forget 30 years ago before the replay booth when mistakes were common but infrequent. At least the officiating 30 years ago was a far better product than what we are seeing today.

Well, if the NFL and Roger Goodell refuse to bring back the regular refs, then fans should boycott the games all across the country. Every stadium empty for one week. Then see what happens. If the league and Goodell do nothing, then boycott all of the NFL games another week, and so on. Seriously, if I have to pay $100 a ticket to watch a game officiated by the replacement refs I won't do it.

 

[Amsterhammer]

I think what we are finding out is that how NFL fans feel about the games and how they feel about their experience attending an NFL game has something to do with how well the refs perform by today's standards. Forget 30 years ago before the replay booth when mistakes were common but infrequent. At least the officiating 30 years ago was a far better product than what we are seeing today.

Well, if the NFL and Roger Goodell refuse to bring back the regular refs, then fans should boycott the games all across the country. Every stadium empty for one week. Then see what happens. If the league and Goodell do nothing, then boycott all of the NFL games another week, and so on. Seriously, if I have to pay $100 a ticket to watch a game officiated by the replacement refs I won't do it.

This was posted on another site and probably would be very effective if every team did it:

I think it would be even more funny AND impactful if they just snapped the ball, and had the offensive player hold on to the ball for the entire quarter. Just one play for the whole quarter, with the quarterback maybe just walking up and down the field for 15 minutes. Repeat five times (once for OT) and bam, game over.

1 real time hour of play. The networks would be furious — they would have 2.5 hours to fill of leftover allotted game time, and they would lose out on so much commercial revenue.

If that happens…if the networks can’t get their commercial revenue, you best bet that THEY will talk to Goodell, and that Goodell will listen to them since that’s where so much money comes from.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Oooooo, that would make fans attending games even madder. Some traveling a long way, staying overnight, etc to see that? It could get ugly and I would not want to be at that game.

edit: seriously though. That would put coaches and players on the hot seat and directly in the line of fire by the owners. I would not want to jeopardize coaches/player's careers because they chose to ignore owner's orders to play the game.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

That's a crazy idea, and won't work. I think the owners are so obstinate and greedy we'd see replacement coaches if that happened.

I can definitely see fans boycotting games, like Foxxy is doing. Remember, this isn't just one play, one game. We've seen a few games now where the outcome was changed to one degree or another by the officials. Just none on the last play, until now (unless you think the Pats-Ravens game ended wrong, and maybe it did). The worst thing is that no one is talking about football anymore, we're talking about the officials.

A ref trainer who teaches officiating for college said he taught the ref in question, Lance Easley, and said Easley wasn't even ready for division 1 football, and never expressed any interest in ever officiating NFL games. So even the poor schmuck that blew the call doesn't want to be there.

Power rankings coming up.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Nice pics over here. They describe the situation perfectly.
And it´s funny when Alpe talks about replacement coaches. Sounds absurd and hilarious, but well... the greedy owners would do it. Disgusting.

Anyway, what players could do is to take at least a QB kneel down on their first set of plays to show their protest.

Let me know if something like that will have been happening...

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

That is more plausible. Or an agreement between teams that the opening kickoff the players will do some sort of protest. One play, or one series of downs, that could send a message without causing players or coaches to be fired. There are very, very few coaches in the NFL who could take such a hard stand on this issue and not face the full wrath of the team's owner, or the league. Belicheck comes to mind. Tom Coughlin, Jeff Fisher or Mike Tomlin perhaps.

Here are the Power Rankings:

1. Houston
2. Atlanta
3. Baltimore
4. San Francisco
5. NY Giants
6. Arizona
7. Green Bay
8. New England
9. Seattle
10. Chicago

Seattle at 9? Above Chicago? Cincy? Philly? Pittsburgh? SD?

Looking at last week's expert picks are entertaining. Hoge and Accuscore (which was tops all last year) both 4-12. Ditka and Jaworski (best last year) both 5-11. Both Hoge and Ditka are 22-26 on the season. Mortenson was somehow 11-5 last week. I'll try to make my picks later today. With the referees, it's like roulette.

 

[JeffreyPerry]

True, what a bummer of an officiating call. Even the Prez of the USA, who can't meet with foreign officials but can find time to meet Barbara Walters on "The View" talk show, said it was a bad call. And who am I to argue with him.

Seriously now, while the ref boned it, I agree the ones we need to be most angry with are the owners and league officials like Goodell for putting this product on the field in the first place. The poor former HS, NAIA, or JUCO official is only doing the best he can. Puny as it is.

I almost feel sorry for the replacement refs. Here's why. In the beginning, the replacements prolly thought they were only going to have to fill in a few preseason games in front of much calmer fans. They prolly didn't think they'd have to face places like the Dawg Pound and the Black Hole in a regular season game. They prolly have nightmares of being chased around the field by the likes of the Evil Empire, the Fearsome Foursome, and the Monsters of Midway. Then getting pancaked by the Orange Crush, followed by coming down with a severe case of Gang Green.

I said earlier I felt sorry for the Pack. And I still do. But not too sorry. Look at it this way. The Packers only have themselves to be mad at because had the offensive line played better and not allowed Rogers to get sacked 8 times maybe they could have put up enough points such that the final play and score would not have mattered.

Regarding the league wanting to dump the pension plan in favor of a 401K plan, I have a compromise. If the refs don't mind taking control of their own money and investing as they see fit, instead of getting a pension, why not increase the pay of the officials $38K per year and let them invest it rather than let the league manage it? The $38K/year would not be fixed, but have to have an annual cost of living increase. Do you think that would go over like a Led Zeppelin?

Are you serious? The real ref's make about 150k a year for a PART TIME JOB that starts in September and goes to the beginning of February. One day a week of work for that period and they get 150k? Let them suffer. They should have invested some of that money by now. It's a PART TIME JOB for god's sake. It's bad enough the players make millions to play a freaking game. We don't need the refs making more than they do already. I say keep the temps in place. By the end of the season, they will be better. Besides, I don't watch Pro football (namely because its a GAME where the players make millions), but even I'm curious and might watch a game. This stuff brings attention to the game. Just for a moment, think...if the real refs had made that call, would the fans be boycotting the games? I think not. It would've went down as a bad call and it would've been done with (except for Packers fans). Consider this...on a cycling forum... me, not a fan of NFL football, has just probably written the longest blurb ever on this forum over a blown call. At work that is all that is talked about. That my friends, is the best thing that has happened to the NFL for years. I may start watching. I guess that Sunday ride will have to be earlier than expected.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Are you serious? The real ref's make about 150k a year for a PART TIME JOB that starts in September and goes to the beginning of February. One day a week of work for that period and they get 150k? Let them suffer....

Actually, yes. Just being creative. And I'm probably not that far off, since the league was offering to raise the average salary of the refs by $40,000 (from $149K to $189K) by 2018 (cnn.com Link). Don't care if it is part time either. Heck, my own doctor is part time.

Thankfully, all this ref talk can stop now because the NFL Refs Association and League have reached an agreement (nfl.com Link), and we can start talking about what we should be talking about, which is the game. The regular refs should be back on the field for this Thursday's game (Browns at Ravens).

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

So, you think the owners should just be able to keep all that money? The owners arent exactly doing a great amount of hard work, certainly no physical work, and they rake in tens of millions and that doesn't phase you?

The good news is that there is a settlement in place ending the lockout. Goddell said the real refs will be there tomorrow, but I don't know about that. The deal has to be ratified, plus the refs have to pass physicals. So if they are out on the field 19 hours from now, I'll be impressed. The great news is that it's almost over. Hooray.

Edit: posted at the same time, but not going to change anything. Just glad we can restore some sanity.