This is a great article and should be a must read for EVERY NFL fan. I ***** about the refs as much as anyone I suppose, but I've always recognized how hard their job is. Imaging trying to make judgements in a game going at that speed, all the time knowing that your decisions are going to be dissected over and over at slow speeds with 20-20 hindsight.
Those guys have to make instant decisions and then have them judged from all angles and by others with the time and technology that wasn't available to them at the time. Its not the ones they miss, we should be shocked by the the massive majority of times they get it right.
The eye opener for me was the fact that the refs often have to "read the coverage" like receivers in who they are watching on a pass pattern.
The bottom line here is that this article has made me aware of something I SHOULD have been more aware of all along. The game is played by coaches and players who routinely make mistakes ALL the time. Why should we be so upset when the refs make a mistake, ESPECIALLY when they make mistakes much less often than the Players, coache, AND fans, who are constantly *****ing about them.
So I will bemoan all the missed calls that hurt the Pats like always, but I will temper that anger with the understanding that its simply a part of the game, like a fumble, pick, missed tackle, etc.......AND be glad it happens so much less often than the other mistakes the players and coaches make.