Peter King series on NFL officials

[QuantumMechanic]

Love or hate King or refs, this one is pretty damned interesting, as King is embedded with Steratore's crew. It's a three parter and the first two parts are up:

Peter King spends week embedded with NFL refs, Part 1 | The MMQB with Peter King
Peter King spends week embedded with NFL refs, Part 2 | The MMQB with Peter King

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Love or hate King or refs, this one is pretty damned interesting, as King is embedded with Steratore's crew. It's a three parter and the first two parts are up:

Peter King spends week embedded with NFL refs, Part 1 | The MMQB with Peter King
Peter King spends week embedded with NFL refs, Part 2 | The MMQB with Peter King

This is king's best piece yet...

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Solid reporting, King was spinning the woe is the official angle; and the article definitely reaffirmed the fact that the problem is more on the league than the officials. There's way too much interpretation of the rules going on, and demands that the officials make real time judgement calls. Oddly the quote "My belief is you go fishing for whales in this business. Don’t go fishing for minnows." is appropriate in a tongue in cheek way; as what the officials do is as close to officiating as whaling is to fishing.

 

[mosi]

What struck me from that piece is that in a multi-billion dollar business, we have janitors playing god….

 

[dales804]

What struck me from that piece is that in a multi-billion dollar business, we have janitors playing god….

I understand what you're saying. Seems like all refs have side jobs and yet they're putting in so many hours on officiating. The NFL should really hire full-time refs and compensate them accordingly so as to improve the league and it's product.

I don't need to see or hear VP of Officiating telling me about how a ref used the right mechanics to make a judgement call. We all just want to see games called fairly and correctly.

 

[SalemPats]

I understand what you're saying. Seems like all refs have side jobs and yet they're putting in so many hours on officiating. The NFL should really hire full-time refs and compensate them accordingly so as to improve the league and it's product.

I don't need to see or hear VP of Officiating telling me about how a ref used the right mechanics to make a judgement call. We all just want to see games called fairly and correctly.

Agreed, if they can pay Goodell 30 Million they can afford to pay the refs

 

[JMarr]

Not gonna read the article right now, but did King mention point fixing? Probably not. Let's talk about the Integrity Of The Game:

People like to point at the NBA as the place where there may be "isolated" incidents of refs being on the take, but anyone who thinks the NFL doesn't have the same [and probably a more widespread] problem than the NBA is deluding themselves.

You combine 1) a sport that basically generates and circulates as much money as the GDP of some third world countries, with 2) guys who also have to work regular jobs on top of reffing to make ends meet, and who 3) have the power (like "gods") to alter the outcomes of games, and you're going to have payoffs and cheating. Period. This is as much, if not more of a problem than any "poor officiating" due to differences in rule interpretation, etc.

If King is whining about how hard the referees' jobs are while ignoring the elephant in the room, then screw him, screw Goodell, and screw all the other media minions who never say word one about it.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

2) guys who also have to work regular jobs on top of reffing to make ends meet

Very few if any of the NFL refs have "regular jobs". Lots of them are current/retired corporate execs, lawyers, etc. and another good chunk of them own successful businesses. We're not talking about people who are scraping by.

 

[shmessy]

This is the ultimate point I learned from this excellent piece:
---------------
"What fans might not realize (and in fact I never understood before being embedded with this crew) is that what happened last week affects how an official officiates next week. NFL officiating is a continuing education class. The fact that Steratore has been downgraded twice for hits on the quarterback will carry into Game 150, and it will affect how Steratore views hits on quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Josh McCown in Chicago. Not just because of the two downgrades—because he and the 16 other NFL referees have their antennae raised on hits to the quarterback."
--------------

It makes so much sense! The experience and grading from the previous week's game for a particular ref crew can directly affect their frame of mind for the following week.

If he isn't already, I would be totally surprised if Belichick is not a mile ahead of every other NFL HC in scouting the previous week's game by the upcoming officials.

(.....that or him hacking into the Tuesday Ref 360 computer program! )

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Very few if any of the NFL refs have "regular jobs". Lots of them are current/retired corporate execs, lawyers, etc. and another good chunk of them own successful businesses. We're not talking about people who are scraping by.

No kidding, ed hochuli is reportedly worth 5 million

 

[PrairiePat]

It makes so much sense! The experience and grading from the previous week's game for a particular ref crew can directly affect their frame of mind for the following week.

If he isn't already, I would be totally surprised if Belichick is not a mile ahead of every other NFL HC in scouting the previous week's game by the upcoming officials.

Good point, but I think the critical piece of info that BB (or any of us) doesn't have access to is exactly which calls were 'downgraded' by the league.

So BB might know that this crew had some controversial calls the previous week, but he can't know which ones they were reprimanded for and told to call differently going forward.

Maybe he can chat up the referee in their pre-game meeting .

Anyhow, I found the article fascinating. As to JMarr's point, after reading this, it really becomes clear how difficult it would be for any ref or even group of refs to run a point shaving scheme, or even display favoritism toward one team or another (despite how it seems sometimes). There's a lot of feedback for each call or non-call made by the refs.

 

[patfanken]

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.

 

[mosi]

I understand what you're saying. Seems like all refs have side jobs and yet they're putting in so many hours on officiating. The NFL should really hire full-time refs and compensate them accordingly so as to improve the league and it's product.

I don't need to see or hear VP of Officiating telling me about how a ref used the right mechanics to make a judgement call. We all just want to see games called fairly and correctly.

Agree 100%. Pay these guys as full time employees and make them true professionals. I also say, incorporate technology. Footballs that are linked to the field so that the spot is always 100% correct. Lines and shoes that will automatically tell us if a player is in or out of bounds. Things like that to improve the game.

 

[Lavictoire]

What struck me was how the anal exam grading of official's calls each week forces them to make calls according to what they think the graders will think rather than use their own judgement. The refs are afraid of getting five bad marks against them which disqualifies them from reffing super bowls and playoff.

The game referenced in the article the ref used his judgement that two incidents were not egregious enough to call a penalty. Man up and play the game he said. His philosophy was to look for the big violations, not the ticky tack ones. He ended up getting gigged twice for not calling the penalties. For sure the next week he will be calling them to cover his butt.

 

[Koma]

No kidding, ed hochuli is reportedly worth 5 million

In his other job, Ed gets paid by the word.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

In his other job, Ed gets paid by the word.

So did Blakeman but he was pretty succinct in the Carolina game....
BTW the Ravens-Bears game. Wasn't that the one that was delayed two hours by the tornadoes in the Chicago area?? Part three should be interesting....

 

[alvinnf]

What I get from this is that, the ref's get their walking orders or messaging from the league. The league can put the emphasis on how they want the game to be called, through their grading system. It's a bit unfortunate, I feel the game is digressing into some sort of wall less arena ball. I personally miss the lack of a five yard chuck rule. Less WR would be getting hurt if they weren't screaming into the secondary at full speed. That being said, very nice piece!

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Agree 100%. Pay these guys as full time employees and make them true professionals. I also say, incorporate technology. Footballs that are linked to the field so that the spot is always 100% correct. Lines and shoes that will automatically tell us if a player is in or out of bounds. Things like that to improve the game.

After reading part I I'm not sure I'm on that side anymore. He did say the officials in tier III are reviewed and possibly replaced. If they were full time and devoted all their time and needed that income they may want job security and it would probably be something they would bargain for in a labor agreement.
I think with the system in place if you want to keep working you have to put the time in the do the job well.

 

[Gumby]

Good to read something with a BRAND NEW perspective.

The first item that jumped out at me was:

“The crew concept is the crux of what we do,” Waggoner says at halftime. “You have to have confidence in everyone on the crew. That’s how things get done correctly. The building of the trust between all the men on the crew is so important, because you have to rely on them sometimes as an extra set of eyes. The only time I really like to throw my two cents in is when I have seen a play from beginning to end and I am sure of what I saw. If there’s a disagreement on what to call, I’ll say, ‘Did you see the play from beginning to end? Because I did.’

I guess this is just one guy's opinion; BUT IT SURE SLAMS IN THE FACE OF THE NFL'S POLICY OF USING AMALGAMATED REF TEAMS IN THE PLAYOFFs.

If ref team chemistry is so important, why break them up at the most critical and HIGHEST PROFILE point of the season.

 

[Gumby]

Another point of new information:

I knew about the K balls; but didnt realize there were TWO SETS of GAME BALLS (one for each team). Got to be tough to keep that straight -not intermingled.

When Mackie arrives at the stadium, he customarily is handed 12 balls from each team in a large ball bag. These are the balls the teams have conditioned during the week, and will be used when their team is on offense in the game.