Tuesday Morning Quarterback agrees: Refs are terrible

[Ron Burgundy]

Adventures in Officiating: After the multiple zebra miscues of the playoffs, we have a new officiating uniform, but do we have new results? The offensive pass interference call against Tim Carter of the Giants with four minutes remaining Sunday, negating a first down and leading to the game-deciding interception on the next snap, looked bogus -- and I speak as someone who believes offensive pass interference should be called more often. The Patriots were flagged for just one 5-yard infraction, although there were at least four plays on which a Patriots offensive lineman wrapped both arms around a Buffalo pass-rusher, and the Flying Elvii benefited from an extremely convenient inadvertent whistle that ended a play when a Buffalo runner had 50 yards of green grass between him and the end zone.
Meanwhile, the Bills were hit with seven penalties, including a ticky-tack nudge-in-the-back call that wiped out a fourth-quarter first down in New England territory and changed a scoring opportunity into a punt. Worst, it is outrageous that no flag flew when Cincinnati's Robert Geathers dove at Kansas City quarterback Trent Green while he was sliding. The feet-first-slide rule is unambiguous: "Whenever a runner declares himself down by sliding feet first on the ground, the ball is dead." Any contact constitutes unnecessary roughness. Geathers pile-drived into Green as he slide, and the pile-drive is itself illegal. Not only should flags have flown, Geathers should have been ejected. Instead, the officials were staring off into space.
Come on Mike Pereira, supervisor of NFL officials, your guys are messing up week in and week out. Maybe the league needs new blood in this department: Pereira is no Jerry Seeman, that's for sure. And maybe NFL officials -- who work part-time, unlike the full-time officials of other pro sports -- simply are not up to the task as weekend warriors. The National Football League is the richest sport. Wouldn't some funding for full-time officials be worth a try?



http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/060912



He also thinks we should have kicked the field goal.

[mybills]

And maybe NFL officials -- who work part-time, unlike the full-time officials of other pro sports -- simply are not up to the task as weekend warriors. The National Football League is the richest sport. Wouldn't some funding for full-time officials be worth a try?
I've been saying this for years! :mad:

Also, not only do they blow the whistle too soon on Whitners int, did you see how long it took them to blow it when Evans caught it on the 30 and the Pats were trying to rip it out of his hands? They were HOPING he'd lose his grip so they could give it to NE. :down:

[ublinkwescore]

I can't wait to see a disgruntled fan pick off a ref for making a BS call - I bet it's a raiders fan that does it - they get screwed almost as much as we do by the refs, and they're all wacko.

I bet that puts an end to these crooked refs - they'll be too affraid to make a bogus call.

I do truely mean that.

[SABURZFAN]

i read somewhere that the NFL thought the hit on green wasn't illegal.

[mybills]

it wasn't.

[M]

At least nobody can say it's just disgruntled fans that are complaining about the refs. Everyone can see, it's about damn time the NFL does something about it

[Gunzlingr]

i read somewhere that the NFL thought the hit on green wasn't illegal.

They reviewed the play and said he pulled up, but Eddie Kenninson was blocking and pushed him into Green.

[Night Train]

At least nobody can say it's just disgruntled fans that are complaining about the refs. Everyone can see, it's about damn time the NFL does something about it

I agree with Easterbrook but he's A bigger Bills fan than many of us here.

Born and raised in Buffalo.

[dplus47]

I can't wait to see a disgruntled fan pick off a ref for making a BS call - I bet it's a raiders fan that does it - they get screwed almost as much as we do by the refs, and they're all wacko.

I bet that puts an end to these crooked refs - they'll be too affraid to make a bogus call.

I do truely mean that.

wishing for people's deaths is always therapeutic, isn't it? i've heard this kind of talk somewhere else... perhaps on every other station on the AM dial? at least we're civilized, right?

[ublinkwescore]

But of course.

I personally wouldn't do it, but I would like to shake the hand of the guy that finally does it simply because he'd kinda be like a martyr for justice.

[Mitchy moo]

With any luck the refs will recognize the Bills are fast and miami's line will have penalties called multiple times.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I don't care who writes about it as long as people who write for major sports websites and publications do write about it. Because maybe it will get people talking about it to the point where the networks who are so beholden to the NFL will finally start talking about how the bad refereeing is ruining the product that their companies are paying so much to support.

The only way that the NFL is going to be brought around to acknowledging the problem is when so many people are talking about it as being a problem that they will have no choice but to address it or risk losing the credibility of their game and the dollars that being able to market their sporting events and its championships put in their pockets.

Right now, the NFL is concentrating on marketing their stars--much in the way that the NBA did--and they're not particularly concerned about whether some of their teams are getting screwed or not, so long as their stars look good and are marketable. But, they're forgetting that most fans' loyalties are to the team and not to the player and they are allowing a reservoir of resentment to build in their fan-base when the fans see the big stars and their teams benefitting from bad calls by the refs at the expense of their own teams.