Courtesy: Rob Carr/Getty Images
There have been much heated debates between the players, coaches, fans and my personal Facebook page on these replacement refs. Baltimore fans gave them a piece of their mind on Sunday night versus the Patriots (also giving Al Michaels a chance to have the quote of the year; see the ‘Quote me on that’ box); Bill Belicheck almost gave one ref a piece of his fist at the end of that game as well. After the fact, Belicheck handle the questions in the post-game as a professional; no whining, no complaining, just no comment at all.
It is not that they are making bad calls; fans of every losing team make that assumption after every game. It is not that their calls are costing teams points (though some people would beg to differ) because you cannot say a defensive holding call on a 3rd down in the first quarter, allowing a team to score a TD on that very same drive (which actually happened in Patriots/Ravens game), is any different than taking away a touchdown late in fourth on an offensive pass interference (which happened a week before to the Ravens versus the Eagles). Both resulted in a difference in the scoreboard in very close games, but neither was the deciding factor in that game. These players know that; the Steelers cannot blame their loss this week on a no-call with a blatant chop block that took out Ziggy Hood, a 15 yard penalty that would’ve pushed the Raiders out of Field Goal range for their final second kick.
Now my stance has been the same all along; my stance will always be the same no matter who is refereeing and what their credentials entail. Do not blame the refs for a loss, EVER, PERIOD. In every game, there is thousands on instances where the team did not take advantage of an opportunity to change the result; there may be 5 calls by the refs that have the same affect. It is very simple, something that is taught in any Pee Wee sports; execute the game plan and the refs will not matter.
So what is the real issue with these refs (besides a sheer fondness for Ed Hochuli’s biceps)? They do not have control over the flow of the game; that is what refs are on the field for, flow. Without someone to administer the game, it would take about 3 weeks to finish up (which is pretty close to what we are getting now). It should not 6 minutes to figure out where to spot the ball after a holding penalty. It should not take almost four hours to complete 60 minutes of actual playing time. To quote Belicheck from the Ravens game (well what we could lip read from the broadcast), “What the hell are you doing?”
Now, no one besides the NFL Commissioner’s office and the Referee Union can divulge of what the hold-up is, but both are losing out as of now. The NFL has a subpar product on their hands, while the refs are simply costing themselves money in their pockets. Here’s hoping that they can figure it out, before a punch is landed on another player or even worse, one of these poor scabs.
Brett,
I respect your stance on this, but I differ in my opinion. I agree that teams need to do everything in their power to put the game out of the reach of poor officiating. However, every week we have games that come down to a last second play because NFL teams are so evenly matched that there simply isn’t any separation to be made. In these cases, when a call is blown, it directly impacts the winner/loser of the game. In last night’s Packers/Seahawks game, the victor was completely and entirely decided by an incorrect call, not a bad call, but an incorrect one. Simple as that.
My point is that last second play in no more important than the first play of the game. Aaron Rodgers stated in his post game interview “We shouldn’t have let them even get to that point,” realizing the Packers could have prevented all this. Also, they could have prevented it by not making their own mistakes on that play including, not knocking the ball down.