Whistleblowers

NFL Officials – You Make the Call!

I have listened ad nauseum to ESPN pundits and commentators speaking about the travesty that has befallen the NFL with the replacement officials who are now on the field.   Lighten up, guys (and gals). 

Saying that the NFL and the game of football is cheapened by the replacement refs is like saying that you don’t like the food at your favorite restaurant anymore because they changed the silverware.   Sure, the fork and spoon are the means to get the food from the plate to your mouth — and that’s critical, but that isn’t why we eat or why we go to that restaurant.   Similarly, the refereeing isn’t why we watch; it isn’t why we go to the games.

The referees, for better or worse, are the same for both teams in the same game.  For the MNF game between the Packers and Seahawks (9/24/12), I did not hear any of the Packers’ post-game comments about the phantom pass-interference call that kept the go-ahead drive for the Pack alive in the 4^th quarter.  Where was the outrage in the Twittersphere about the several (typical) non-calls or questionable judgment calls throughout the game? (More of these favored the Packers, in my opinion, than the Seahawks.)   The refs were the same quality for both teams.   Oh, and by the way, the replay officials that upheld the final TD call for the Seahawks are the regular replay officials, not replacements.  They saw nothing in the slow-motion, multiple-angle views that would be sufficient to change the call.  The NFL subsequently agreed with the replay officials.

Coaches, players, fans, and commentators have been harping on refs since the game’s inception.   There are always missed calls, questionable calls, and phantom calls.   Remember the “tuck rule” anyone?  The refs, however, don’t miss blocks, drop passes, fumble, throw interceptions, miss tackles, over-pursue, blow coverage, etc. – and it is those things that typically decide football games.   If the Packers players want to be outraged, they need to look no further than the first-half performance of the offensive line.   The Packers’ offense was underwhelming, at best, that night.

The one call we can make is to throw a flag on the ESPN crew for “piling on.”  The way that Steve Young was speaking of tragedy and of cultural collapse of the NFL, you’d think he was broadcasting from the sidelines of Pearl Harbor.   Jon Gruden looked like he was about to cry, and Mike Tirico prattled on as if this was the first time he had seen a controversial call in all of sports!  Then, ESPN paraded pundit after pundit to its broadcast set, each having just been in the Packers’ locker room, and let them speak of the outrage of the Packers; but they asked only one sideline reporter to talk for 1 minute to the Seahawks’ Golden Tate.   Meanwhile, (somewhat) respected and HOF journalists jumped into the camera’s light to speak of the travesty of justice that had befallen the proud Packers franchise — it was more over-the-top than an episode of Real Housewives.   Calm yourselves, ESPN.