http://www.usatoday.com/news/usaedit...ries=obnetwork
Chippy play. Cheap shots. Illegal hits. Non-calls. Apparently, NFL now stands for No Flag League, or (Almost) Nothing's Forbidden, Linemen.
Who is to blame for a Sunday slate of games marred by bad calls, after-the-whistle hits and rough (even for football) play? The replacement referees, according to many players, coaches and fans who know a thing or two about Monday morning quarterbacking.
For the second time in league history, the NFL opened its regular season with replacement officials, as the league and the union can't see eye-to-eye on a new contract. Even so, the verdict after Week 1 wasn't so bad. Many players had grudgingly said the subs did a fair job.
What a difference a week makes.
By Monday morning, the cascade of gaffes in Week 2 had blown up the twitterverse and become the topic of the day on sports talk radio.
Monday night's Denver Broncos-Atlanta Falcons game at the Georgia Dome seemed poised to boil over during a long, penalty-infested first half. It might have been a litmus test of the replacement officials' capability of maintaining control of the game.
The outrage after these chaotic games -- marred by blown calls and unpoliced cheap shots -- led many players and coaches to call for an immediate end to the three-month lockout. They want the NFL's regular officials to return to work, believing reasonable money should not be a stumbling block in a league with annual revenue of $9 billion.
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