The Official Disaster

courtesy of SI.com
Two refs, two calls.

Barring a miracle it seems, replacement refs will again be on football fields all across America come Thursday night into Monday Night.  That is the reality staring NFL players in the face if they don’t do anything, but the question now becomes what?  What can anyone besides the regular refs and Roger Goodell do to solve this huge crisis that has erupted?  Yesterday I heard multiple people tell fans of the sport to write to their owner.  To threaten to not watch the games when they come on to show the NFL that they are serious about a solution.  I heard people say that the players should strike and threaten to not play as a show of solidarity for their zebra brethren.

But those two things won’t happen because the NFL in the end is king.  No matter how loud the voices get or the cries become, the NFL doesn’t have to budge and Monday Night’s game showed that neither do the refs.  And the stalemate continues.

According to sources in the know, the major dispute is over money.  Surprised?  That’s what all these things come down to.  The NFL wants the refs to take a 401k pension package equivalent to what most employers across America offer their employees.  The refs want to stay with their fixed pension plan.  The referees also want a pay raise but that is more a secondary concern to the pension plan.  The NFL’s thinking is that its foolish to offer part time employees like the refs, a better pension than full time employees, but the real concern becomes future negotiations.  If the NFL relents on this issue with the referee union, imagine the leg that the players union can stand on once they have to re-enter into negotiations down the road in 2020.  The NFL would rather avoid setting this precedent and have dug their heels in thinking that offering $2 million extra dollars will appease the referee union.  The refs in turn have rejected all proposals and have decided to be gung ho about getting what they want.  Remember, a majority of these refs have day jobs, some are even lawyers and so they understand fully what they are getting into and have banded together because this is supplemental income.  This is not something that will ruin their lives.  The NFL can’t hold that same kind of carrot over them like they did the players.  Every day the players held out, they knew that the players would feel the sting of losing another paycheck and so they atleast had that.  In this case, they don’t hold that leverage and worse, the replacement refs are NOT doing them any favors.

The first two weekends were not a complete disaster.  Then came week 3.  To count, the replacement refs gave the 49ers, an extra timeout they didn’t have.  One ref threw his hat on to the field which Kevin Ogletree subsequently slipped on preventing him from making an attempt at a catch that would’ve resulted in a touchdown in the Cowboys/Bucs game.  In Washington, anticipating a ten second run off that could’ve ended the game as a result of a false start penalty with :07 seconds left, the Bengals began walking on to the field and an incensed Redskins sideline erupted saying the game wasn’t over (which they were correct on), and were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct which resulted in another 10 yard penalty which pushed the Redskins back even further.  Kyle Shanahan, the son of Redskins coach Mike stalked the referee all the way to the locker room.  Then there’s the helmet to helmet hit that Darrius Heyward-Bey took in the Oakland/Pittsburgh game that was not called a penalty despite the fact that everyone in San Francisco heard that hit.  That hit resulted in Bey being taken off on a stretcher and suffering a neck injury and a concussion.  Oh and by the way, the Raiders were penalized only 3 times during that entire game while the Steelers were tagged for ten flags.  When have you ever seen the Raiders NOT get more yellow flags than the other team?  They gave the game to the Saints when Roman Harper looked like he recovered a fumble and ran it in during overtime but the replays showed that Kansas City RB Jamaal Charles clearly was down before the ball came out.  By the way, an estimated 80% of calls were overturned on replay this weekend.

But those pale in comparison to the legitimate gripes that came as a result of the two nationally televised games.  As in, everybody and their mother were watching these games.   During the Patriots/Ravens game, the Pats were whistled for 24 penalties and the Ravens got an equally disturbing 14.  Those penalties ruin the flow of the game and worse, if there isn’t any consistency, can be maddening for any team.  The final kick went way above the right side of the goal post, which the refs ruled as good.  Earlier in the week, the NFL had sent a memo to all 32 teams to “respect the shield” and warned players AND coaches to not try and intimidate the referees.  A lot that accomplished; Belichiek was last seen running down an official and even putting his hands on him to try and stop him from going into the locker room.  That will certainly warrant a hefty fine and given Roger Goodell’s recent abuse of power, could even result in a suspension depending on how hard a line he wants to take on this.  The Commissioner is stuck between a rock and a hard place here.  If he gives out a $25,000 fine despite warning everyone to not cross that line, he will be viewed as going soft.  If he suspends Belichiek it will seem too harsh.  One thing is for sure, the discussion will still be on the refs.

The problem with Sunday night’s game was that flags weren’t consistent.  Some plays got flagged and some were ignored.  During the final few minutes the referees tried to remove any of the aggressiveness the defense wanted to use by constantly throwing flags.  It was embarassing and did further damage to any kind of reputation these replacement refs were trying to build with the players.  But Monday night’s game may take the cake.  If you thought the home team got some calls on Sunday night, Monday night’s game was more of an all-in move by the replacement refs to completely sabotage the integrity of the game of football.  I do take this time to remind folks that I’m not blaming these refs.  To go from division 3 college games to the pros is a leap of extraordinary measure and to expect them to be completely caught up on everything would be asking too much.  We know this, they know the rule book but NOT completely.  Meaning they know the rules but they dont know when to enforce them which is like saying you know how to fly a plane in those simulators but have no confidence to fly a real plane.  The replacement refs are equal victims in this as are the fans and the players of this league.  They are being blamed despite the fact that these are honest, hard working men who are just doing what they are being told.*

*= that is until we find out that they were involved in a huge gambling scandal which would ultimately destroy the reputation of the NFL as a whole.  Watch last night’s game and especially that last drive by Seattle and tell me you didn’t feel something funny with those two calls that set up the final play.  

On Monday Night, in a tight game and the Packers leading 12-7, the Seahawks got the ball with :46 seconds left.  After completing a laser to Sidney Rice.  Two plays later, Russell Wilson spun away from pressure, looked up field and heaved a pass to the left corner of the end zone where MD Jennings leaped and instead of batting it down, attempted to make the interception but, as he was coming down with the ball, both hands on it, Golden Tate had one arm on the ball and slipped his second hand in there to make it seem as if there was simultaneous possession.  The rule book states that any simultaneous possession calls go to the offense.  However, the rule book also states that it can not be simultaneous possession if the defender establishes possession of the ball and another player sticks his hand in there to try and get possession at the last minute.

Every scoring play is held up for review so the referees had a chance to review the play and come to their own conclusion.  But the review had to be based on the call on the field which was what caused even more confusion.  One referee signaled INT and touchback, while a second referee signaled TD, resulting in the tie being broken by the head referee.  We all knew that the home team was going to get the call.  Now, in replay there has to be sufficient video evidence to overturn any call and after a plethora of replays I can’t see how you overturn the call regardless of how they called it.  It was such a 50/50 proposition that you were damned if you do damned if you dont, except that a majority of America thought it was an INT because of the replays clearly showing MD Jennings coming up with the interception.   After review the play was upheld and mass chaos and WTF bombs were dropped in Seattle and we wake up to the chaos of sports radios clamoring for an end to labor strife and await a statement by the NFL as it relates to last night’s game.

Most would agree that the Commissioner, outside of resolving this case, probably will NOT make a statement directly though Greg Aiello, the NFL spokesperson will surely send an email to all teams and to the media on behalf of the league.  Will it address JUST last night’s game or will it account for all the games directly affected by the questionable officiating throughout Week 3’s and even the previous weeks games remains to be seen but last night was a clear case that the regular officials are needed.  But I don’t even want to get into specific plays.  Its clear by the extra pushing and shoving by the players after almost every play that none of them respect the officials to restore order and so its almost an anything-goes type of atmosphere sometimes.  The refs are, to their credit, trying to dissuade that by calling a bunch of penalties but that’s only getting the teams more frustrated and when you have a sport in which players constantly get hit, they will lash out.

Initially I was on the replacement refs and the league’s side in this.  I felt as though the regular refs were asking for too much in this case despite the overwhelming profits that NFL teams and the league has as a result of television contracts and all the other revenue streams they can generate out of thin air.  I figured that regular refs make horrendous calls too that decide games and because its all human interpretation anyway, that maybe it isn’t right to be all up in arms.  But after 3 consecutive weeks of horrific calls I’ve turned and last night’s game was the turning point.  Games are going longer because the refs are inexperienced and are trying to get the call right.  Players are blatantly hitting each other with cheap shots and the like with no real fear of being reprimanded.  There are more in-game scuffles than I can previously remember.  But more than any of these reasons, I’m looking at it not from week 3’s perspective, I’m looking at down the road during week 14 when divisions become at stake.  What happens if this call were made in week 14, and it cost the Packers a division?  What happens then?  How does the NFL respond then?  How can they make the case that they want to hold on to a few more dollars while threatening the integrity of the game?

We’ve all heard the arguments that the integrity of the game is on the line, and that player safety is key here but more important than all of that, despite all that’s going on, because there is no resolution it seems as if the Commissioner and the owners don’t care.  This kind of attitude that’s clearly in the air will only result in one thing, something worse than Belichiek grabbing an official or Kyle Shanahan running an official into the tunnel or Brandon Spikes tweeting that they need to send these replacement refs back to foot locker where they belong.  A line will be crossed that the NFL can not expect to fully recover from and Roger Goodell will personally be held responsible for and that line will be too hard to see because they have already been blurred.