NFL Refs

[nofishfisherman]

What is up with the refs this year.  It seems like on a weekly basis we are seeing refs making some really bad calls, missing calls, or simply mishandling games.  I don't remember officiating ever being this bad on a league wide basis.  There is always the human element so a blown call here or there or maybe one bad game is one thing but this seems to be a weekly issue that is directly impacting the outcome of games.

Its getting really hard to watch NFL games when its gets to the point where the 2 teams playing may not decide who wins and who loses.  I'm not normally one for conspiracy theories but you have to start wondering if penalties are being used to help control or influence the outcome of the games. 

[leechlake]

nofish

I'm with ya.   My teenage son is always grumbling about the Vikes getting hosed and I'm pretty good about seeing things with less bias, probably because I'm not too personally invested in the game really.  Yesterday at the Viking game it was so ridiculous that I was yapping and my son said, "what happened to Mr. Mellow?"

It's not only the Vikings and at first I thought it was just the technology and social media exposing what has always been there.  It's way beyond that and I thought "conspiracy" yesterday too.  I know there isn't one but  if I'm even thinking that it's time to do something.  How about refs reffing the refs?  (kidding)

Frankly I also thought of doing something either stupid, childish, or brilliant.  Have the coach just pull the team off of the field when it becomes factually silly.   Just some stunt to get some attention.  What has always been said is that unlike every other sport these guys are part time; insurance salesman by day, ref on Sunday.  The most successful sport in the United States uses temp workers?  Crazy. 

I also think the Vikings lost their ability to complain when they ended up getting destroyed.  I do think a few dumb calls led to the beginning of it getting there, including hitting a defenseless receiver, the Robison call, the two offensive pass interference phantom calls.

[reinhard1]

I'm a big Viking fan and have been since they started out.  Been through some good years and lot's of bad years but still a fan.  The ref's have blown calls here and there but yes, this year they are terrible.  I am mainly interested in the Viking games but have been watching other games as well.  It's not just the Vikings but other teams where the ref's have totally screwed up games.  So many examples.  Three straight calls on the Viking offense which made it 1st and nearly 40 yards?  Haven't seen that in years if at any time.  The Robison call was one of the worst calls ever.  Even the announcers said this.  Was it those calls that gave the game to the dirty birds?  No way, the VIkings stunk up the joint and deserved to loose and loose big.  Watched some of the Saints game against the Panthers and the Saints were given outrageous calls as well.   The face mask [great act by Rodgers] gave the game to the cheeseheads in my opinion.  So yes, those are just some of the calls, but this year is the worst year for calling penalties that I have seen for some time.  good luck.

[nofishfisherman]

I thought the same thing about the coaches doing something to make a point about the bad officiating.  But of course if they do that they'll get fined by the NFL because they are not allowed to do anything to criticize the refs.  Its all apart of the how the NFL protects the refs and proves they can do no wrong.

Normally I don't get too bothered by a bad call here or there.  A lot of people think their favored team gets all the bad calls, that seems to be true no matter what team you cheer for.  I've always though that the bad calls probably even out over time.  But we are getting to the point where its getting just plain silly and hard to watch. 

I will say there were some brutal calls in the game yesterday but I don't think it did anything to impact the outcome of the game.  When you are down 21-0 at the half its not the refs.  I was bothered more by the Packers/Lions game.  Yes the Lions blew it on the hail mary play but the refs blew the call on the 2 previous plays by calling a phantom face mask and missing an obvious offensive pass interference call on the play before the face mask.  If either of those plays are called correctly its game over, Lions win.

[Bobby Bass]

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You guys beat me to it.

There is a new team in the NFL this season and they call themselves the Zebras. I play fantasy football and this gives me an interest in just about all the games that are played on the NFL schedule. A good excuse to watch games as I or one of my opponents will have a player playing. It also lets me watch games that I normally would not and enjoy some good football games that I would miss. It also makes me talk out loud at blown calls and calls made by the refs that are changing the out come of games. Watching a lot of football games I get to see a lot of calls and listen to the explanation of the rules. I think I have a pretty good grasp of the rules but what I see and the refs see are two different things. Now I can understand calls against the home team as you are pulling for them but when you go watch other games where you are a neutral fan and see these same blown calls you have to think something is wrong. One game yesterday a player was flagged 15 yards for throwing a ball at the wall after scoring, why?

I know the NFL is multi billion dollar industry, but there are things that are not good for the game, officials, overseas football, Thursday night football. Season is to long, it is no longer about who the best team is it is what team can survive and stay healthy.

[nofishfisherman]

I keep hoping the NFL will realize that no matter how popular the sport is it still comes down to the quality of the product on the field.  If the officiating continues to impact the outcome of games the product suffers.  Sooner or later fans will lose interest in watching games that are not being decided by the 2 teams playing.

[pikestabber]

I hate to say it because I have been as bothered as anyone this year, but replacing the refs with other people will just lead to those other people blowing calls... It's not the person behind the whistle, it's what that person is asked to do, and what they are being asked to do is no longer feasible/possible due to a rules book that's too big to pick up off the table...

These refs, from what I understand, are generally lawyers, doctors, etc. In other words, intelligent people that can process a lot of information quickly. The problem is that we have created more rules than the human brain can possibly process and now even simple calls are getting missed. Player safety is now pushed so hard that calls are made just in case there was something that happened... Flag first, apologize later (or don't). It's maddening, and it's ruining the game. Until there can be clear and consistent rules that aren't open to interpretation, this problem will persist and (if you can believe it) get worse. Welcome to the new NFL. It's ugly.

[nofishfisherman]

pikestabber, I think you are correct in a lot of ways but I guess what I don't understand is what is so different between this year and last year.  Its the same refs, same rule book (with some tweaks here or there), the same players moving and the same speed, etc.  Why are we seeing so many more bad calls and why are we seeing so many games being directly decided by the refs?  

If the problem is the insane rule book and the speed of the game then you'd expect to see similar issues in the past few years as the rule book and speed of the game haven't changed that much in one year.

[fishersofmen]

Seems like they are throwing flags on dang near every play too. Are the number of penalties up this year?

Edited December 7, 2015 by fishersofmen

[nofishfisherman]

Seems like they are throwing flags on dang near every play too. Are the number of penalties up this year?

I just found those stats.  So far this season they have thrown the flag 3,177 times through 12 games of the season.  That puts them on pace for 4236 flags.  

in 2014 there were 4248 flags so we are right on pace as last year.  In 2013 and 2012 there were substantially less flags, 3636 (2013) 3809 (2012).

Not sure if player safety issues alone has caused the 15-20% jump since 2013.  Anyone know when the majority of the new safety rules were put into place.  I feel like most of the QB protection rules have been around awhile now.

[reinhard1]

I also think that pre-season games should be cut back to maybe 2 or 3.  We played 5 this year.  Play the players that are drafted or obtained in other ways instead of players that they know will make the team and you dont need 4 or 5 pre-season games to evaluate the new players.  good luck.

[hawgchaser]

I'm curious if you guys are watching the whole battery of games or, like me, you're watching the network games.  The reason I ask is I seem to see most of the bad calls the analysts are talking about on NFL or ESPN.  I'm sure there's a data base that compiles and compares data on missed/bad calls and will be able to determine if the number of such calls is up or down for each year.  There is the possibility that the games we see, by sheer coincidence, have an abundance of bad calls not characteristic of the league as a whole...like throwing craps a dozens times in a row.  Part of me wonders if the day is coming when calls will be made "upstairs" and referred down to the officials on the field.  The ref throwing the flag would but prompt the review team into action.  Thoughts?

[reinhard1]

Good post.  I've just started to watch other games more but every game I watch has some real obvious bad calls.  Do I think the NFL is going to do something about this? Maybe, they have already suspended a whole crew this year.  Time to suspend more.  Maybe that's the answer who knows.  I'll watch the game tonight and see what happens.  I know mistakes happen but it's getting bad.  good luck.

[LMITOUT]

LOL... Vikings get whipped and are exposed for the frauds they really are and low and behold a thread about the refs shows up.  Pure coincidence, I'm sure... 

Can't make it up.  SMH... 

 

[leechlake]

don't be a tool , we don't need that baloney here.  Clearly stated by more than a few respectable, fair minded, posters  that they said they'd have lost easily anyway.  Also, some of the same fair minded guys commented on games they had nothing to care about other than fantasy teams or just entertainment  and the unfortunate reffing seen.   Not to mention an intelligent inquiry on number of penalties called this year vs other years and someone answered it with an excellent and accurate answer.

[LMITOUT]

Like I said, pure coincidence I'm sure...

[hawgchaser]

From what I gather, NFL headquarters has officiating/rules experts monitoring every game anyway.  I would not be surprised to have some of the review power shared by the headquarters staff.  Calls could be overruled from New York without a challenge on the field.  I also foresee a big expansion of the list of calls & plays that are considered "reviewable".  The other thing I've heard the "experts" talk about is the possibility of a couple review officials, in addition to the regular crew, who are in the booth throughout the game.  I see that as a very real possibility as early as next year. 

[nofishfisherman]

I think they will need to look at expanding replay but I'm not sure its the total answer.  You can't have everything on the field reviewable, it would make each game 5 hours long.

I'm not sure what the final answer is but changes do need to happen.  I'm just concerned that the NFL doesn't like admitting the refs aren't perfect as they go out of their way to protect them. I'm not even sure if they have options for suspending or getting rid of under preforming refs.  Are there a lot of qualified candidates they can hire to replace bad refs?  I'm not even sure its the refs themselves or if its more a matter of how they are taught to call specific penalties.

LMITOUT, I realize you're just playing your normal game and I really don't feel like playing.  However, I'll chime in briefly with where I'm coming from since I started the thread.  My comments really weren't about the Vikings game.  The truth is I've seen very little of the Vikings games this year.  I've only been able to watch one game all the way through and I've caught parts of 2-3 more including about 1/3 of the game this past Sunday.  My comments relate more to the other games (mostly prime time games) that I have been able to catch. This is very obviously a league wide issue.

[JBMasterAngler]

There's too much replay in football! As bad as it is in the NFL, it's far worse in college! Both the refs and the reviews. You could argue that being able to review pretty much every play as weakened the ability of the refs to make a call. No more automatic reviews! Each team gets 1 and that's it! I'm so sick of having a break in the game so they can review the spot of the ball on a 2nd down play in the 1st quarter 

[hawgchaser]

Like JB, I don't like all the long breaks for review.  What's at stake for the business of football, however, requires its use to reduce the incidence of bad/missed calls influencing the outcome.  The argument is made that the delays for "going to the booth" would be greatly reduced by the use of a review team of officials using instantaneous review.  It is also argued that there would be more consistency in the interpretation of judgment calls.  I'm not a Vikings fan...I could very loosely describe myself as a Packers fan, although I seriously doubt that my systolic blood pressure varies by 2 points whether they win or lose.  I have seen more of the game-influencing calls this year than I remember in past years.

[nofishfisherman]

I read an interesting article yesterday that proposed the elimination of replay all together.  The writers thought was that replay was being used as a crutch by the refs.  They know they don't have to be perfect now since replay can be used to correct some calls and that has led them to get sloppy. 

I don't mind replay in general I just don't think its used very well.  What doesn't make sense to me is that all scoring plays are automatically reviewed, but what about the play that wasn't called a touchdown but should have been.  That play isn't reviewed automatically but it has the same impact on the game.

The other issue with replay is that it can't be used on pass interference, roughing the passer, and other calls that can have a huge impact on the game.

I think the best way to start is to clean up the rule book and make it more straight forward.  I mean there must be 20 pages in the book just explaining what a catch is.  All of that and they still seem to screw up that call.

[Big Dave2]

I know I am in the minority on this opinion but I think replay should be eliminated completely. Like it or not, refs and imperfection are all part of the game. IMO, sports are being ruined by replay. 

[nofishfisherman]

I'd be fine with getting rid of reply all together if they can correct the officiating issues in other ways.  I'm in favor of whatever allows for the greatest amount of correct calls being made on the field of play.  From what I've seen lately most of the really bad calls were on plays that were not reviewable so replay was of no use anyways.

I agree that refs are never going to be perfect and bad or missed calls have always been apart of the game and will always be apart of the game with or without replay.  What we are seeing this year seems to be above and beyond the normal occasional imperfect officiating. 

[Big Dave2]

The fact that people WANT the officials and the calls to be perfect has been the problem all along. Imperfection has always been part of the game and it always will be until technology takes over and eliminates the referees. At that point I will quit watching those sports all together.

The reason you see more missed calls or bad calls is because of the technology. We are re watching these plays in super slo-mo, hi/def and picking out that the guys foot was out of bounds by 1/4 inch. In the good old days those plays would have been whatever the referees called them and we were for the most part fine with it. The picture is clearer and there are more camera angles catching everything that happens on the field. I prefer imperfection and letting the calls the referees make stand as is. 

[LMITOUT]

But then what/who would Minnesota fans have to blame for their perpetual mediocrity?