The Replacement NFL Refs

[Racket_Man]

with the bogus offensive pass interference call and that "touchdown" call we were literally screaming for blood at the TVs at work tonight.

replay after replay after replay showed a fair interception by the GB player

[Greenday]

Bump for "Holy fucking shit, I cannot watch the NFL anymore as long as the replacement refs are there"

The dissenters have been saying the refs bad calls haven't changed the results of any games. Well, tonight at the Seattle/Green Bay game, the Packers were winning 12-7. On the final drive of the game, one play a Seattle WR grabbed a Packers DB and held him. It should have been offensive pass interference but it was called defensive pass interference. Gave Seattle a ton of yards. On the final play of the game, the Seattle QB tosses it up into the end zone. A Seattle WR shoves a Packer's DB to the ground (offensive pass interference), him and four others jump up for it, and a Packers DB catches the ball. The refs incorrectly call it a catch for Seattle. They review it and still somehow call it a TD even though a blind person could have seen it wasn't a touchdown. Seattle wins the game 14-12.

I am done with the NFL until these refs are out. The replacement refs made bad call after bad call against the Jets this weekend and tried to give the win to Miami but the Jets still pulled it off in overtime. They threw flags on stuff that clearly didn't happen giving Miami chance after chance to win the game.

I'm boycotting the NFL.

Edit: blas, how pissed are you?

Edit #2: Got the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt7Cjexvy38

[crashhelmet]

What's confusing the hell out of me about all of these bad calls is that these refs are supposed to be refs from other leagues, like Arena, High School, College, UFL, etc. These calls they're getting wrong are fundamental across the board. I wonder if they're screwing up on purpose. Union pressure?

But the regular refs need to be held accountable for their horrible calls. People say they are, but there's no real evidence of it.

You have officials like Bill Leavy who butchered the officiating in SuperBowl XL, he botched it again in the playoffs the next year in the Colts vs Ravens game, and then again in the Giants vs Packers game in this past year's playoffs.

You also have Walt Coleman and his famous "Tuck Rule" call or his horrible officiating in the Packers vs Vikings game that same year, or the 49ers vs Colts game the next year.

Their crews are famous for bad calls in big games, yet they still get playoff games every year. Where's the accountability? All I see is Union Seniority.

I understand that there are penalties that go uncalled on every play, like holding. As long as they're not blatant, I can live with that. But when you have penalties called or plays stopped or scores awarded or disputed, with no apparent punishment greater than a slap on the wrist, people get fed up.

I think they should be made full time positions. Pay them a salary that justifies how important their position is to the game, and use that same justification to fine and or suspend them for bad calls.

[mikoyan29]

One of the coolest things about taking pictures at the Eastern Michigan spring game was getting the chance to see the Refs practice as well. The head ref there was telling them about positioning and watching the plays as they develop so that they knew where to go. So in order to be a ref, you have to know as much about the game as the players do.

[Hyena Dandy]

Yeah. Cam Newton slips and recovers himself, okay, hey, that's understandable. These guys don't have the training, but you know what, as long as they can get the calls right, I'll let them go through the preseason. They can have a pass on some of the tougher things. Like "A quarter can end on a foul, but a half can't."

Even "That was incomplete. Wait, no, he caught it" because, well, you're watching this really fast movement, and not from a very good angle either.

But I can't UNDERSTAND how you get that call wrong. The ball wasn't in the endzone. None of the players were in the endzone.. And I've seen professional football, highschool football, college football, and even women's touch football, and I can't think of ANY rule set that would say "Within the 5 = Touchback"

[Greenday]

I doubt it. All of these refs have experience refereeing football somewhere or another. One of the replacement refs in the Jets game tonight was a Division 2 ref (which doesn't thrill me).

But the rules aren't exactly the same as college football. The speed of the game is a lot faster in the NFL. These refs just can't seem to pick it up.

Speaking of replacement refs blowing big calls, Cam Newton slipped and hit the ground. No one touched him as he got up. Then once his knees were off the ground, a Jet punched the ball out of his hand and the Jets recovered. Refs ruled him down by contact and obviously the Jets challenged it.

[TheHuckster]

They're just guys doing their jobs. One of the things about good NFL refs is they tend not to call fouls that aren't egregious or majorly effecting play. There's holding damn near every play. But they only call it when it matters, or they can't pretend they dind't see it.

That said, unless the rules changed, come on...

This is a greivous and bizarre call, though. This isn't like the ball nearly crossed the plane of the endzone or even if the player himself caught it right on the end zone, it was clearly on the 4-yard-line. Mr. Magoo could have called this play correctly.

I really have no idea what was on this ref's mind. Is it possible that during the preseason refs are being considered for a regular season job as well and might get cut after 4 weeks of preseason?

[Hyena Dandy]

They're just guys doing their jobs. One of the things about good NFL refs is they tend not to call fouls that aren't egregious or majorly effecting play. There's holding damn near every play. But they only call it when it matters, or they can't pretend they dind't see it.

That said, unless the rules changed, come on...

[Greenday]

Each week, it becomes more apparent that these refs do not know what they are doing and that they are incapable of doing the job. The penalty flags seem to just fall out of their pockets every play. They make shit up. They don't know the rules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9OBoNtI3uI

Now, for those who don't follow American football, I'm going to explain to you what a touchback is. On a kickoff, if the ball goes in the end zone and the returner doesn't try to return it, it's a touchback and the ball starts on the 20 yard line. On a punt, same deal OR if the ball bounces untouched into the endzone it's a touchback. This punt bounces around the 10 and the punt team stops it at the four yard line. At NO point does it go near the endzone. Yet somehow, they called it a touchback.

Goodell needs to just give the refs what they want. It's such an insanely small chunk of money they are asking for and these replacement refs are ruining a season that hasn't even started.