The Replacement NFL Refs

[AdminAssistant]

Not to mention that it may take the refs a week or so to "warm up" since they weren't around for the preseason. Refs need practice, too. That said, once that call was challenged, they should have reversed it. Even the commentators were like,

[TheHuckster]

Mike McCarthy does not just challenge any old call. He doesn't. He has a reputation for knowing when to call BS. Those refs are just fucking retarded as well.

The "real" refs make mistakes, too... sometimes really stupid ones. But not nearly at the frequency the replacements did. Every game in the first three weeks were fucked up royally in one way or another.

[blas87]

It appears the "real" refs don't care much for Green Bay either. Thank goodness they were able to pull out some luck and a few tricks before that game went too far south.

Mike McCarthy does not just challenge any old call. He doesn't. He has a reputation for knowing when to call BS. Those refs are just fucking retarded as well.

I swear the booing went on for five minutes.

[crashhelmet]

Which year are you talking about? I don't remember the Seahawks being good enough in recent times to be close to making it to the Super Bowl.

In 2010, they lost to Chicago in the divisional round by 11. They had three penalties while Chicago had eight so that can't be it as clearly the refs weren't siding with Seattle.

In 2007, they lost to Green Bay 42-20. Seattle had four penalties, GB has five. Seattle played like crap and lost.

It appears they made the Super Bowl in 2005. Hasselbeck barely completed half his passes. Take out Alexander's 21 yard rush and he only averaged 3.9 yards per rush which is okay but not great. The kicker missed two of his three field goals. The punter screwed the team over with a bunch of touchbacks. Just not a good performance by the team.

Yes, but Rapistburger's TD run for one of their touchdowns was a bad call. He was down before the ball crossed the plane. A Seahawk defender clearly hits him and the ball before it cross.

Earlier in the game was an offensive pass interference call that negated a Seattle touchdown. Honestly, the call could've gone either way, but the ball was thrown away from the defender and he had no chance of making a play on it. He was just as guilty of defensive interference by forcing the receiver to "shove off"

There was a holding call that was rightfully made against the Seahawks, but on the same play, a Steeler's Linebacker was lined up off sides that went uncalled. The penalties should've negated themselves, but they didn't.

There was also the BS low block penalty called on Hasselbeck while trying to make a tackle after throwing an interception.

This is what I was referring to when I said:

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.

[Cymberleah]

TBH, I have entirely no idea when it happened, but I'd put a stab at it being within the past four years?

I pay about .21% of my total lifetime attention to football. I know who my local team is, I can name three positions played (running back, quarter back, ... blind side guy. Oh wait, four! punter), and I sometimes vaguely recall wankery. Which is what I was referencing. I could be wrong! It would not be surprising! I recall grumbling about calls, I absolutely do not recall anything about the calls or the game in question, aside from post-season.

I think I know about as much about Canucks hockey as I do about local football. Come to think of it, I've seen more of their games in the past three years than football games in the past decade... and that's not intended to make it sound like I've watched a lot of hockey.

[Greenday]

My only take on the game last night was that the Seahawks a few years back had a real shot at the Super Bowl, then lost in the division playoffs due to some really, really, really bad calls. Calls that looked suspiciously like someone wanted a team with better market share to make it to the Super Bowl to increase ad revenue. So if we get bad (super bad) calls that throw a game our way? Karmic balancing. Sorry GB.

Which year are you talking about? I don't remember the Seahawks being good enough in recent times to be close to making it to the Super Bowl.

In 2010, they lost to Chicago in the divisional round by 11. They had three penalties while Chicago had eight so that can't be it as clearly the refs weren't siding with Seattle.

In 2007, they lost to Green Bay 42-20. Seattle had four penalties, GB has five. Seattle played like crap and lost.

It appears they made the Super Bowl in 2005. Hasselbeck barely completed half his passes. Take out Alexander's 21 yard rush and he only averaged 3.9 yards per rush which is okay but not great. The kicker missed two of his three field goals. The punter screwed the team over with a bunch of touchbacks. Just not a good performance by the team.

[AdminAssistant]

I don't think the Seahawks should have to apologize or even feel bad for the win. They had an amazing first half, and their defense was killer. Green Bay shouldn't have even put themselves in that position. But Golden Tate SERIOUSLY pissed me off when he tried to pretend that he didn't push that Green Bay player. "I don't what you're talking about." Bullshit "Golden", we can see it on the damned replay. Also, the coach trying to pretend like it was the right call. No, it wasn't. Don't mar the great job your team did by being a douche after the game.

[Cymberleah]

Seattle fans are noisy. Seattle fans are famously noisy. Seattle fans have been noisy enough to produce measurable tremors in the ground after certain plays. Seattle fans are distracting.

Seattle fans are not hostile.

There's cheering, hollering, yelling, people dressed up and looking silly, all the normal shenanigans associated with the sport. But there isn't a culture of hostility, of throwing things on the field, or general harassment of the other team/refs.

My only take on the game last night was that the Seahawks a few years back had a real shot at the Super Bowl, then lost in the division playoffs due to some really, really, really bad calls. Calls that looked suspiciously like someone wanted a team with better market share to make it to the Super Bowl to increase ad revenue. So if we get bad (super bad) calls that throw a game our way? Karmic balancing. Sorry GB.

[Greenday]

Well, once a game is over, I honestly don't expect them to change the results later. Just admit they got it wrong.

[TheHuckster]

NFL admits error in Seahawks-Packers game but upholds result

I would understand this decision if it happened any time before the end of the game, because it's impossible to tell how the course of the game would have proceeded had they ruled it differently, but this has to be infuriating to any Packers fan and disturbing to any NFL watcher who's really counting on fairness as much as possible.

[Greenday]

The refs are very easily persuaded by home crowds. Watch any game. Crowd calls for a penalty, the refs respond and throw the flag. Player claims he was fouled against and asks the refs to call a penalty, the refs do it. It's pathetic.

[AdminAssistant]

Yeah, it wasn't just the final interference/TD call. It was the blatant pass interference from Golden Tate seconds before. It was the offensive pass interference that was called on the defense a few plays prior. It was the blatant facemask grabbing.

Someone on Reddit theorized that the refs wanted to overturn the call, but were afraid of the home team. (Seattle is apparently known for having a hostile home field?) Pitiful.

[TheHuckster]

It's quite amazing how horrible it is virtually everywhere. I don't think there was a single NFL game this entire season so far that didn't have a very controversial call.

Controversial calls that affect games is nothing new in the NFL, but the officials who made them at least managed to maintain some level of respect, because they clearly do the best they can and it doesn't happen in every single game.

Now you've got teams being given extra timeouts, extra challenges, bogus TD calls, and absolutely horrendous interference and holding calls. You could grab a linebacker by the face mask, and slam him to the ground "Puny God Hulk Style" without a flinch by the officials in one play, and then in another play if you just happen to exchange static discharge with an opposing player you'll get flagged for it.

These officials are not commandeering respect. How could you if you can't even get the teams' names right and lose track of how many challenges each team is allowed?

I watched the Sunday Night game between the Pats and Ravens, and virtually every play in the second half had a flag against either team. You had one against the Ravens coach who wanted to call timeout, and another against a Patriots safety who barely touched the receiver, but gave the opposing team a new set of downs deep in Patriots territory.

The local (New England) sports talk was mentioning that it was hard to tell who the better team was between the Ravens and the Patriots because the officiating was so bad, the game was really decided on who happened to get worse calls against them, and it was really close. The Pats didn't play their best, for sure, and even without the poor ref calling, we might have still lost, but the game was so fucked up, who could tell? So many of the first downs in that game on both sides were given by the officials because of non-existent holding and interference penalties!

There have been close games in the past that got fucked up by a single bad call by the refs, whether it's a bad spot, a penalty that shouldn't have been called, or a fumble/recovery that should have been ruled dead that wasn't reviewable. But at least in the end you could tell, "Oh, TeamX should have won that game if it wasn't for that call!" In these cases, it's "Well, if they hadn't made those consecutive series of horrible calls in the beginning of the fourth quarter on that scoring drive, followed by the kickoff that went out of bounds but didn't get penalized, followed by the so-called 'fumble' that was recovered by the defense for a touchdown, we might have gotten away a winner, who who the fuck knows?"

[blas87]

Eh...I had been listening to the game in my car on the way to my boyfriend's house after shopping last night (it's a decent drive, so I listened for most of the second quarter), and my bf doesn't have regular TV, so I just used my app on my phone for play by plays. We went to bed before the game was over.

And I am so happy we did. That's just retarded.

[AdminAssistant]

This is ridiculous. One of my FB friends suggested that all the teams just play their practice squads until the real refs are back. We're big GB fans, so you can imagine how our night went.