What do we know about the refs?

[Patters]

I did a search for back judge Gregory Steed (who made the PI call against Asante), but I can't find anything about him. What are his qualifications? Was he ever associated with a particular football team? The lack of info on refs is astonishing.

Seems to me, the NFL should post basic biographical sketches of the refs, and some kind of statistics should be posted as to the calls they make. Also, we should know how they are evaluated or who evaluates them.

I'm not saying that Steed made anything other than an honest mistake, but if the mistakes this weekend are to benefit football, the refs must be held accountable and we as fans must have access to more info about them.

 

[edzo44]

That when they ***k up they can actually lose a game for a team and the NFL will not usually admit they made a horrid call that is obvious to everyone watching the game. No visible accountability and very few "apologies" by the NFL for possibly costing people trips to the big show and if you have the stones to complain about it you freaking get fined!!
It really becomes apparent when you put together a bunch of incompetents like they did in most of the games this weekend. Seemed to have been the worst weekend of botched, blown calls I can remember. They sucked. I'm not speaking as a Pat's fan, I'm speaking as an NFL fan. The quality of refs last weekend was atrocious. What's wrong with the NFL, is not fessing up that the refs are human too, but when the freaking replay is looked at and they still don't get it right it's time to look more closely at the competence of the people hiring the referees

 

[JDSal45]

Steed is a former XFL official who was doing Arena games 3 years ago. He's only been in the NFL a couple years and this is already his second controversy.

"Steed is working his second ArenaBowl. The sixth year AFL veteran was a line judge in ArenaBowl XIII in Albany. His experience also includes college games for the Big East, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and Atlantic 10 Conference. In addition to several bowl games, Steed was also an XFL official and will be a rookie NFL Back Judge this fall."

http://www.tbsports.net/tbsnews/200..._veteran_officials_to_call_arenabowl_xvii.htm

Steed cost Seattle a division title in 2003, his first controversy. This was a major story at the time:

http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/12/17/17909683.cfm

What this clown was doing assigned to a divisional playoff game is beyond me.

J D Sal

 

[marty]

Didn't I hear Tripplet's name mentioned during the Steelers game? I can't believe that the same crew called both games, but it certainly would explain a lot! Can anyone confirm that his crew called both Denver and Colts games?

 

[JDSal45]

Didn't I hear Tripplet's name mentioned during the Steelers game? I can't believe that the same crew called both games, but it certainly would explain a lot! Can anyone confirm that his crew called both Denver and Colts games?

Triplette was the guy who hit Orlando Brown in the eye with the flag, getting the NFL sued. He is widely considered one of the worst referees in the league, along with Tom White.

Triplette's crew is the same crew who made that horrendous call earlier in the season where it appeared Corey Dillon stepped out of bounds well beyond a first down marker, but they marked it short. They then reviewed it and still said the ball was not beyond the marker (which was ridiculous to me).

But no, Triplette's crew did not do the Steelers game. That was Pete Morelli

J D Sal

 

[MoLewisrocks]

One part of the problem that BB discussed on WEEI is the NFL moved away from the policy they had for assembling playoff crews based on individual ratings and went back to assigning intact crews. I believe the rationale at the time was crews assembled for the playoffs lacked the cohesion and rapore built over the course of a season. The downside of going back to intact crews is the bad apples in even an above average crew are generally the ones who cause problems, and if they are on a crew whose referee appears to be more concerned with being perceived as decisive and cohesive than he is with being perceived as being thorough and getting it right...

Guys like Ed Hoculi and Bernie Kukar come to mind as referees able to mesh appearing decisive with getting it right. Tripplet is not in that league. Giving him a novice like Sneed to crew with is a mistake. At the very least, Hoculi and Kukar would have talked to their line judge and likely told an out of range Sneed to go pick up his late flag. In Bernie's distinctive voice he'd have had no problem appearing decisive while saying "There was no fol on the play".

 

[Digger44]

Please, for heaven sake, let is die. It is over. We cannot change it. Complaining will not help. We all hate what happened but for crying out loud get over it. Next we will see these refs phone numbers and personal info on this board so they can hazed. Like it has never happered b4?

 

[Willie55]

Walt Coleman rules!

 

[ilduce06410]

digger ya got a point, but...

Please, for heaven sake, let is die. It is over. We cannot change it. Complaining will not help. We all hate what happened but for crying out loud get over it. Next we will see these refs phone numbers and personal info on this board so they can hazed. Like it has never happered b4?

from reiss' blog, supposedly a BB statement on 1/15:

"There were certainly some very questionable decisions in that game that I'm surprised that was a playoff crew, but....
MoLewisRocks, your post is consistent with what i know about the officiating.
will start up in another post.
look at it: when the call was made an official was standing right there. in the right angle to see it. you can see him in the shot.
you can see an official in every game,, standing right there. even on deep pass plays. the ref had to haul ***** to get down there.
although they lose touch with reality once in a while, they are light-years better than ncaa peiple.
keep the tuck rule in mind, folks. the winds of fate blew in a different direction that night, but the significance of the call was pretty close.
iIMO the tuck rule call was an outrageous call to make deep into the 4th quarter of a playoff game. never seen it before, probably never will in the future. guess it was the right call. but oakland fans are rightly flipped out over it. i'm glad they are--let 'em suffer.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Before I start my posting, I want to make clear that if a team turns the ball over 5 times, they deserve to lose. However if those turnovers are the result of players heads being messed up by faulty horrible officials, then the NFL has a problem. We can beat Broncos anyday of the week, but we can't beat Broncos and Zebras at the same time.

Triplett and the rest of the gang of gouls that called that game are sickeningly HORRIBLE.

Case in point. 1.) Samuels interception, plain as day. Any competent referee would have called that an interception. Not the gang of ghouls, it took replay to get us the ball. 2.) The long catch by Davis. Bailey takes him down by the facemask. Should have been an extra 15 yards, but the gang of ghouls missed it. 3.) False start on the Denver 50 yard feild goal. How does the gang of ghouls miss that.

I could list 16 infractions that went against the Patriots (not counting the interception that got knocked out of bounds, because I couldn't tell anything from the camera angles.), as well as 7 calls that went against Denver. (In a normal game there are usually 2 or 3 on both sides.)

Bottom line is BB needs to put together a tape of these infractions and send it to the league with a note informing the league that Triplett and the rest of the gang of ghouls are not allowed to referee Patriot games anymore. Why Triplett wasn't banned for life from the NFL after the Orlando Brown incident, I'll never know. Triplett and the Gang of Ghouls should only be allowed to referee games involving teams either way below 500 or expected to finish way below 500. That crew is a joke and an embarrassment to the NFL.

 

[Snapper]

Case in point. 1.) Samuels interception, plain as day. Any competent referee would have called that an interception. Not the gang of ghouls, it took replay to get us the ball.

Good point. It should be noted that since this cost the Patriots a challenge, they couldn't challenge later on Troy Brown's muffed punt.

 

[flutie2phelan]

Steed cost Seattle a division title in 2003, his first controversy. This was a major story at the time:

http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/12/17/17909683.cfm

What this clown was doing assigned to a divisional playoff game is beyond me.

J D Sal

Pretty classy response by Hasselbeck ... right after he was knocked out of the playoffs - arguably on that play:



"I've seen Bobby make plays like that," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "I've seen guys drop that ball too. "Our game wasn't won or lost on that play. I'm not getting all hung up on that play. I'm not blaming anyone; I'm not blaming the official. We had opportunities earlier in that game to put it away, and we didn't. It's unfortunate, obviously, but that's football."

 

[flutie2phelan]

....
Triplett and the Gang of Ghouls should only be allowed to referee games involving teams either way below 500 or expected to finish way below 500. That crew is a joke and an embarrassment to the NFL.

Would you accept a friendly amendment to the motion?

I think this would be a very productive, feasible, and non-recriminatory reform:
The individual officials and crews already are graded. If the league merely made a subjective forecast each week ... of the "significance" of each game next week ... and then assigned only the highest-rated crews to the most significant games.

What would be wrong with that?

 

[ilduce06410]

if wrong assignments, it was a genuine mistake

Didn't I hear Tripplet's name mentioned during the Steelers game? I can't believe that the same crew called both games, but it certainly would explain a lot! Can anyone confirm that his crew called both Denver and Colts games?

i believe BB also thinks the wrong crew handled that game. IMO that crew should not have been working any playoff game AT ALL. BB's comments suggest that he and Shanahan both knew it.
in 1/15 conference call..."There were certainly some very questionable decisions in that game that I'm surprised that was a playoff crew, but...."
a point that takes a while.
according to the nfl rule book, this should not have gone the way it did. The Field Judge or The Line Judge, who have sideline duties, was the guy standing right there in the camera shot. He's the closest to the play, he makes the call. Also floating back there, in the middle of the field, are The Umpire and The Back Judge. these 4 guys have equal authority for calling pass interference. there must be a protocol worked out by the crews. who knows what it is, but one can be certain what it's NOT: the guy who's furthest from the play makes the call. but that's EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED.
the Field/Line Judge, standing right there, CALLED NOTHING. the flag ws thrown from the center of the field. you can see it on the footage. somebody in the center of the field overruled the guy standing right there, threw the flag, and changed the call.
heaven help us.