Yahoo:The NFL's officiating problem

patfanken said:

I think the real problem was that even though the refs called a TO, for some strange reason the clock start running as soon as the ball was set.
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This is such an obscure part of the rule that even BB was confused. So the ref looked Brady in the eye, told him there was a TO,and THEN let the clock run, I guess they forgot to mention that THIS kind of TO, doesn't come with a clock stoppage.

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Yeah, I don't get that frankly. I get that they apparently did what they're supposed to do, but I don't understand where the penalty is for the defensive team in this situation. If the offense does that in that situation, it's a 10 second runoff.

Nothing will be done until we can get an Attorney General (State or Federal) to look into the whole management process. This "look" will have to come from the actions of Fans, Kraft will have none of it. I can live with a loss but not the blatant subterfuge.

borg said:

Anyone watch yesterday's Arizona game. Multiple times I posted the only explanation for several pro-Arizona rulings.....The Fix was In.
Goodell and his henchmen have clearly manufactured a winners list and the Cardinals are on top of it

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AZ in the SB helps with the LA market.

The Gr8est said:

Did you all hear the rant that Bob Kraft went on after this game where he called out the NFL* for all the blatant crap the league is pulling on the Pats?




Me neither.

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Rog assured him during their intense post game spoon session that it was those dang lawyers again.

rochrist said:

Most people who aren't NE fans are mostly applauding.

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According to who?

Even if you are speaking for 20% of the causal fans, those people should not be watching anyway.

I think most legit NFL fans are flabbergasted by how awful the officiating was.

NFL officials directly impacted the outcome of an NFL game not once, or twice, not three but four times (Gronk OPI, Shaq hold, LaFell PI and Chung PI) last night.

It was nothing short of an epic fail.

rochrist said:

Yeah, I don't get that frankly. I get that they apparently did what they're supposed to do, but I don't understand where the penalty is for the defensive team in this situation. If the offense does that in that situation, it's a 10 second runoff.

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Quite simply, Ro, it's a bad rule that needs to be fixed. In the end this rule allows one side to legally fake an injury to get a time stoppage even if they have no TO's

patfanken said:

I think the real problem was that even though the refs called a TO, for some strange reason the clock start running as soon as the ball was set.

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It started running because this wasn't a real timeout. It was a stoppage to allow an injured player to get off the field. It makes perfect sense that once the player is off the field and the ball is made ready for play the clock should be in the same state it was before the stoppage. Why should a player injury change the clock mode when no real timeout was used. The intent of the rule is clearly (and IMHO rightly) to try to keep things as close to what they would have been if the player wasn't injured.

patfanken said:

This is such an obscure part of the rule that even BB was confused. So the ref looked Brady in the eye, told him there was a TO,and THEN let the clock run, I guess they forgot to mention that THIS kind of TO, doesn't come with a clock stoppage.

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Before the ball was set and the clock started the ref announced over the PA that this was an "excess timeout". Someone should have been in Brady and BB's ears immediately to remind them of the timing rules for "excess timeouts". Hell, as soon as the DEN player was injured and the clock stopped someone on the NE staff should have realized it was an "excess timeout" situation and reminded BB and McDaniels. If NE wasn't on top of that they are as at fault as BAL was for not knowing Vereen was ineligible after that was announced over the PA.

rochrist said:

Yeah, I don't get that frankly. I get that they apparently did what they're supposed to do, but I don't understand where the penalty is for the defensive team in this situation. If the offense does that in that situation, it's a 10 second runoff.

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Incorrect. The offense also gets one free "excess timeout".

Also, after the free excess timeout future injuries will incur a penalty (and a 10-sec runoff if it is the offensive team).

robertweathers said:

According to who?

Even if you are speaking for 20% of the causal fans, those people should not be watching anyway.

I think most legit NFL fans are flabbergasted by how awful the officiating was.

NFL officials directly impacted the outcome of an NFL game not once, or twice, not three but four times (Gronk OPI, Shaq hold, LaFell PI and Chung PI) last night.

It was nothing short of an epic fail.

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This is a post from a friend in a totally different forum:

printer said:

After a rainy Sunday afternoon nap, I watched the entire Pats-Broncos game.

Is there ever a possession where Brady isn't ragging on the refs ?

Damn, it gets old with his constant complaining

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I sent him the link from the OP.

Our best hope from the officials is unbiased incompetence.

I feel better reading all this.
a) At least it's not just me being a homer.
b) In a fairly officiated game, take away the Pats top four offensive weapons and top two tacklers, and they will still win.

If the national writers are pointing out that the Patriots were robbed by incompetent or biased officials, then this team can beat anyone any day anywhere.

Refs still aren't full time, right? They have other jobs in some cases?

I think making them full time and having them put in 8 hours a day of review and maybe even practice would help a lot. Amazing how a multi billion dollar industry has part time workers at one of the most important jobs.

TB_Helmet said:

Refs still aren't full time, right? They have other jobs in some cases?

I think making them full time and having them put in 8 hours a day of review and maybe even practice would help a lot. Amazing how a multi billion dollar industry has part time workers at one of the most important jobs.

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It wouldn't help. The problem isn't that they don't study the rules, it's that, at this point, the rule book is so convoluted and messed up, it can no longer be consistently and fairly enforced.

NFL would have to pay what may be significantly successful lawyers a ton of money to be full time. I'd probably rather be a lawyer than a ref, but I'd enjoy the extra $100k on the side.

fourhour said:

This is a post from a friend in a totally different forum:



I sent him the link from the OP.

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I do get it. I hate when I see opposing players always ***** to the refs about something.

Maybe it's my rose-colored glasses but I don't think TB *****es after every play.

Trying to be objective here....the calls that went down last night - he had a legitimate beef.

Make the officials full time and then do you know who will be officiating NFL games? People who actually want to do it and can be held accountable, not a bunch of old guys who are working a 2nd job for the Winter.

Jlaff said:

NFL would have to pay what may be significantly successful lawyers a ton of money to be full time. I'd probably rather be a lawyer than a ref, but I'd enjoy the extra $100k on the side.

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Well, they pay 46 VP's a ton of money and that doesn't seem to be helping maintain the competitiveness of the game. They can afford to reallocate some of those funds towards something that actually impacts the product on the field.

primetime said:

I just don't know how it gets better. Have a team of people watching up in the booth as well as down on the field?

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They can start by not allowing teams to submit points of emphasis notifications on their upcoming games. This was directly responsible for the Jets call on the replayed kick in 2013, Rex notified them to look for that in the upcoming game. The problem with this, is teams will just pick out the best player for the other team (Gronk) and tell the league, "please look out for 87 push off"

QuantumMechanic said:

It started running because this wasn't a real timeout. It was a stoppage to allow an injured player to get off the field. It makes perfect sense that once the player is off the field and the ball is made ready for play the clock should be in the same state it was before the stoppage. Why should a player injury change the clock mode when no real timeout was used. The intent of the rule is clearly (and IMHO rightly) to try to keep things as close to what they would have been if the player wasn't injured.



Before the ball was set and the clock started the ref announced over the PA that this was an "excess timeout". Someone should have been in Brady and BB's ears immediately to remind them of the timing rules for "excess timeouts". Hell, as soon as the DEN player was injured and the clock stopped someone on the NE staff should have realized it was an "excess timeout" situation and reminded BB and McDaniels. If NE wasn't on top of that they are as at fault as BAL was for not knowing Vereen was ineligible after that was announced over the PA.

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Except that the Ref did not do his job correctly. He is suppose to announce over PA system please reset play clock to 40 seconds and clock will start on ready to play. He didn't follow proper procedure. While the ruling was correct, he did not follow proper procedure. It wasn't the first time in the game Tony Corrente didn't follow proper procedure. He messed up the Cannon eligible player and didn't see him nor inform Denver.

Boomer said he’s also heard of some problems with referees and their boss at the league offices.

“There is a building resentment, I believe, that the referees have towards Dean Blandino, the head of officiating in the NFL offices. The reason is because he is way too open about some of the mistakes that have been made, and he’s trying to hold them accountable by suspending them and taking them off of major games,” said Boomer.

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Esiason Blasts NFL Officials For Letting Pats-Broncos 'Spiral Out Of Control'

Evidently the NFL head office:

• Is trying to control things in response to what the public perceives as a problem.
• Is doing a poor job of implementation, in part because ...
• ... the guy in charge lacks experience in the kind of thing he is controlling.

Am I talking about Goodell and discipline, or Blandino and refereeing?

Yes.

The Brandon Five said:

Well, they pay 46 VP's a ton of money and that doesn't seem to be helping maintain the competitiveness of the game. They can afford to reallocate some of those funds towards something that actually impacts the product on the field.

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But where else would incompetent ex-Jet executives ever find gainful employment? Think of the CHILDREN!

Wait... no... let those green beans & their snot-nosed kids starve!