How would you grade the refs in Pats games this year?

[PatsDeb]

Completely agree. Pretty obvious major holding on many plays. There was an absolute hold going on in the last Raiders drive for the useless TD wehn they threw the bomb out of the end zone. Should have been a safety. On another play, the guy has Wilfork's back jersey half-way up his back grabbing it and no call. Makes you wonder what the real deal is at this point.

Hmmm. I guess I revert to my original thought, which is, if we win, I tend to notice the bad officiating less. Richard Seymour was acting like he still played for us - getting us all those yards early on. Thanks Big Sey!!

 

[Buchanty]

The first word that jumps into my mind is inconsistency and it's league wide. Couldn't vote any of the others because none of them come close to the real problem and that is a lack of a consistent standard. Obviously that is hard when each ref has a subjective view and line of sight can be obscured., however that does not excuse the wide discrepancies on many plays, especially where the infraction or non-infraction is clearly visible.

The ones I hate most are the ticky tacky calls, which are technically correct but have little impact on the course of the play. A few examples
- illegal contact 6-7 yds beyond the line of scrimmage, especially on the far side of the field
- holding call where the opposing player has not been pulled or grabbed but has only been slightly turned.

and the not so ticky tacky:

- personal foul call where the tackling player hits anything other than the target's helmet (but not including intentional spearing).

These are often followed by the same infraction being committed by the opposing team and then not being called. That just makes them so much less acceptable.

I began to suspect that New York teams and media darling teams got the benefit of many of these misjudgments but then again I have seen similar calls go against the Giants and Jets so I was clearly mistaken.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Officiating has been lousy throughout the league this season.

Spot on.

The Jets were screwed by non-calls last night, not that they would have won. Sanchez would have simply had more chances to screw up.

What bothers me a lot is the inconsistency on calls like hands to the head of the QB.

PI has always been a subjectivity problem.

But the worst are non-calls that absolutely have to be seen if the ref is looking at his assigned area. Inexcusable.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I said "Meh," which I assume means something like "about as good as you can hope for." They got one big PI and a Welker goalline catch overturned in their favor yesterday, so I don't see how we can complain. I also think we got away with a couple of helmet first tackles as well. I thought there was one hit on Brady that should have been called, but it was borderline.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Spot on.

The Jets were screwed by non-calls last night, not that they would have won. Sanchez would have simply had more chances to screw up.

What bothers me a lot is the inconsistency on calls like hands to the head of the QB.

PI has always been a subjectivity problem.

But the worst are non-calls that absolutely have to be seen if the ref is looking at his assigned area. Inexcusable.

That first fumble looked an awful lot like the "Tuck Rule" play from 2002. The camera angle was behind him, so it was hard to tell.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

That first fumble looked an awful lot like the "Tuck Rule" play from 2002. The camera angle was behind him, so it was hard to tell.

I didn't see it that way.

What pisses me off to no end is the way professional announcers refer to the Tuck Rule as if the 1st time it was ever invoked was the Snow Game. The rule was utilized many times during the 2001 season. This is especially irksome because early in 2001 the Pats played the Jets just after 9/11 in game two. Testaverde is sacked, fumbles and the Pats recover deep in Jets territory in a close game. But wait! Refs get together and (correctly) invoke the Tuck Rule saying it was a "pass". This ironic piece of history which led to Pats 0-2 is never mentioned. These guys and their research assistants make 6+ figures but are not competent.