So Let's Pretend the NFL referreing isn't Fixed, Fire Blandino

[CodeMonkey]

Yet, in a football game the same official is not consistent with their pass interference calls, holding calls, and so on. That's a problem and it's ruining the game, IMO. I think all people are asking for is being consistent and when a former ref(who even commented on it during the game) says they aren't being consistent, that says it all.

Players and coaches always want consistency. Part of the problem are the rules in place. Tackle football is long periods of inactivity followed by short bursts of a great deal of simultaneous activity (except when the Philly offense is on the field ). The refs can't be everywhere at once, and the rules being so anal it almost makes it impossible to be officiated accurately. Then you add in human error on the "obvious" calls or non-calls and you have the 2014 NFL.

 

Interestingly, I believe the call you are referring to where the ex official disagreed with the overturn because of consistency went in favor of the Bills if my memory is correct.

Edited October 13, 2014 by CodeMonkey

[Wayne Cubed]

Players and coaches always want consistency. Part of the problem are the rules in place. Tackle football is long periods of inactivity followed by short bursts of a great deal of simultaneous activity. The refs can't be everywhere at once, and the rules being so anal it almost makes it impossible to be officiated accurately. Then you add in human error on the "obvious" calls or non-calls and you have the 2014 NFL.

 

Interestingly, I believe the call you are referring to where the ex official disagreed with the overturn because of consistency went in favor of the Bills if my memory is correct.

 

It did go against the Bills. I have never used the excuse that the Bills lost because of the Zebras. And I thought it was a catch and a fumble.

[CodeMonkey]

It did go against the Bills. I have never used the excuse that the Bills lost because of the Zebras. And I thought it was a catch and a fumble.

I know and I was not implying otherwise. Some here seem to think differently though.

 

Another example is on the Bills 2 point conversion. If you watch it again, look at the official after the catch. He is positioned perfectly and is looking right down the line at the time of the catch. Yet he hesitates and you can tell he has no idea if the ball "broke the plane" or not, and probably calls it a score knowing that it will get reviewed that way.

 

The rules are the heart of the problem, and I'm not sure what the solution is.

Edited October 13, 2014 by CodeMonkey

[FireChan]

I watched Seattle get away with murder yesterday.

 

They said they were gonna call more defensive penalties because of how Seattle was gaming the system. They got their first defensive PI of the season last night. I refuse to believe they all cleaned up their games that well.

[Freddie's Dead]

I watched the Pats final drive again before I jackhammered my DVR. First, a phantom offsides call on Jarius Wynn, who flinched, but did not enter the neutral zone. Edelman caught the ball and took three steps before Leodis ripped the ball away and the Bills recovered. Called incomplete, no chance to challenge because of the phantom offsides. On a subsequent play, Edelman wraps his right hand around McKelvin's waist and throws him aside before making the catch, no OPI call. Lastly, on Gronk's 3rd and 16, he pushes Preston Brown to the ground, no OPI call. Moose Johnston even said it should be OPI. No call. If Woodys play was OPI, so were these plays by Gronk and Edelman.

[ko12010]

I watched Seattle get away with murder yesterday.

Me too. In reality, the way they played the WR's should be how you can play them. That's a bit closer to real football. But the big problem is that was completely different than what was going on in the Bills/Pats game. Sherman was ALL over Dez, and the officials basically just let them play. Which again, is what I'd like, but Gilmore gets his hand near a receiver and he's flagged. It's just like the NBA now, it's sickening. Star players and teams make the officials adjust to them not the other way around, and the Bills are just the losers that feel the full brunt of the rules changes and just grab their ankles and take it.

 

They said they were gonna call more defensive penalties because of how Seattle was gaming the system. They got their first defensive PI of the season last night. I refuse to believe they all cleaned up their games that well.

They haven't. I've been watching them. Tons of hand battling, hands around the WR's waists while reaching in the other hand, lots of bumping, contact well after 5 yards. Maybe Leodis and Stephon aren't the best CB's ever, but I feel bad for them because their jobs are infinitely harder by playing for Buffalo than if they were Patriots or Seahawks. Edited October 13, 2014 by ko12010

[truth on hold]

There are 22 players on the field every play making contact with each other for 5-10 seconds on every play, and multiple infractions could be called on every play. Not only can the officials not see every infraction, even if they could, it would be ridiculous to see penalty flags on every play. Questionable officiating in the NFL(the calls for full time officials etc...) have been around since I've been watching games(late 60's). It is revisionist history to make it seem like this is a new issue or that it is worst than in past years.

 

The ability to review all scoring plays, and the coaches challenges have actually helped a lot in terms of making sure that game changing plays are called correctly, and don't impact the outcome of the game.

 

The OL/DL & WR/DB contact will always be more difficult to call on the field at full speed. Of course for those of us at home watching on 50" TV's in HD and in slo-mo, it is easy to be critical.

 

To me this hullabaloo over officiating is old news and a non-issue.

If officials cant effect outcome of the game why do we have officials? Seriously I think playground rules with the old "one Mississippi, two Mississippi, ..." would have been better than yesterday anyway

[Forward Progress]

I know that many disagree with me, but I feel that more penalties need to be challengable. The pass interference penalties are such game-changing calls that they need to be called correctly. I don't want to increase the number of challenges because it would slow down the game, but if a coach wants to use a challenge to correct a bad pass interference call, he should have that option.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Forward Progress

[CountDorkula]

Me too. In reality, the way they played the WR's should be how you can play them. That's a bit closer to real football. But the big problem is that was completely different than what was going on in the Bills/Pats game. Sherman was ALL over Dez, and the officials basically just let them play. Which again, is what I'd like, but Gilmore gets his hand near a receiver and he's flagged. It's just like the NBA now, it's sickening. Star players and teams make the officials adjust to them not the other way around, and the Bills are just the losers that feel the full brunt of the rules changes and just grab their ankles and take it.

 

They haven't. I've been watching them. Tons of hand battling, hands around the WR's waists while reaching in the other hand, lots of bumping, contact well after 5 yards. Maybe Leodis and Stephon aren't the best CB's ever, but I feel bad for them because their jobs are infinitely harder by playing for Buffalo than if they were Patriots or Seahawks.

 

That blatant roughing the passer that was not called on the hit on Tony Romo was about as bad as they come. Romo through the ball took two steps and was blasted. No call.

[ko12010]

I know that many disagree with me, but I feel that more penalties need to be challengable. The pass interference penalties are such game-changing calls that they need to be called correctly. I don't want to increase the number of challenges because it would slow down the game, but if a coach wants to use a challenge to correct a bad pass interference call, he should have that option.

I don't disagree, but it will contribute to the slowing down of the game that we are already seeing. Goodell's rules changes are killing the game, but no big deal, he's still helping to draw in casual fans with 5 second attention spans and raking in cash for the owners so it's all good.

[firemedic]

F'ing incredible, ass and helmet slapping are a constant in football. Refs are a joke : /

[ko12010]

That blatant roughing the passer that was not called on the hit on Tony Romo was about as bad as they come. Romo through the ball took two steps and was blasted. No call.

Just unreal. I'm so mad bc I can see the game I grew up playing and loving to watch fall apart before my very eyes and devolve into something I hate. People will say, "well then why are you here, why do you watch". It's hard to change something that's been a huge part of your life, to just turn that off.

[Wayne Cubed]

I know and I was not implying otherwise. Some here seem to think differently though.

 

Another example is on the Bills 2 point conversion. If you watch it again, look at the official after the catch. He is positioned perfectly and is looking right down the line at the time of the catch. Yet he hesitates and you can tell he has no idea if the ball "broke the plane" or not, and probably calls it a score knowing that it will get reviewed that way.

 

The rules are the heart of the problem, and I'm not sure what the solution is.

 

I have no idea what a solution would be but maybe thats what it is too many rules, too many situations.

[cd1]

saw this on facebook

[Utah John]

Many of us will remember a Bills-Pats game when Bledsoe was still their QB. Close game, the Bills had the Pats stopped and were in position to win, the Pats complete a pass that's far from a first down, and one of the Bills players reports hearing one ref tell another one, "just give it to them." First down, Pats. Pats win. What's the relationship? That was Walt Coleman's crew too. Ralph was so mad about this he tried to get the league to stop assigning Coleman to Bills games.

 

Welcome to the big boy league, Mr Pegula. Deposit funds here, and bend over there.

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/bills-player-gets-15-yard-penalty-for-apparently-slapping-own-teammate-214916390.html

 

Bills player gets 15-yard penalty for apparently slapping own teammate

 

this crew of officials had thrown the LEAST amount of flags this season

 

 

until they did a Cheatriots game that is

[sodbuster]

The replacement refs would miss calls, but at least they were fairly consistent with the rules. I remember when the real refs came back, watching the standings in half of the divisions magically turn over in a hand full of weeks.

 

People point to one bad call from the past, and that seems to be all it is in that case. One bad call that changes a game. This is a series of bad calls that contributes to a lopsided game. I don't know if there is some sort of conspiracy or if they are just bad, but to say teams aren't being held to two different standards is ignoring the obvious.

Edited October 13, 2014 by sodbuster

[peterpan]

I watched the Pats final drive again before I jackhammered my DVR. First, a phantom offsides call on Jarius Wynn, who flinched, but did not enter the neutral zone. Edelman caught the ball and took three steps before Leodis ripped the ball away and the Bills recovered. Called incomplete, no chance to challenge because of the phantom offsides. On a subsequent play, Edelman wraps his right hand around McKelvin's waist and throws him aside before making the catch, no OPI call. Lastly, on Gronk's 3rd and 16, he pushes Preston Brown to the ground, no OPI call. Moose Johnston even said it should be OPI. No call. If Woodys play was OPI, so were these plays by Gronk and Edelman.

 

Please, if you can, put these clips together in a you tube video. Point out the players in the replays and show the double standard.

 

We as fans need to make this an issue.

 

The public outrage surrounding Ray Rice's suspension of two games led to him being suspended indefinitely. If we can draw attention to this then maybe there will be change.

 

PS: the replacement refs were better, because they were at least equally bad

[dubs]

 

 

Please, if you can, put these clips together in a you tube video. Point out the players in the replays and show the double standard.

 

We as fans need to make this an issue.

 

The public outrage surrounding Ray Rice's suspension of two games led to him being suspended indefinitely. If we can draw attention to this then maybe there will be change.

 

PS: the replacement refs were better, because they were at least equally bad

 

I second that motion. Please put clips together and post. I'd like to see them.

[All_Pro_Bills]

I'm sorry but this is a ridiculous post. Bad calls are just a part of football and fans should except that? I'd probably agree with you but even the bad calls aren't consistent. Consistency is the biggest problem Let me put it in other terms:

 

Each Umpire in a Baseball game has their own strike zone. They are fairly, if not very, consistent with where they call a ball and where they will call a strike, throughout the course of the game. They are asked to make a judgement call on something traveling 90+ mph in less then a second. It's a bang, bang type play.

 

Yet, in a football game the same official is not consistent with their pass interference calls, holding calls, and so on. That's a problem and it's ruining the game, IMO. I think all people are asking for is being consistent and when a former ref(who even commented on it during the game) says they aren't being consistent, that says it all.

This is the core of the problem. In baseball the umpires strike zone might not be 100% consistent from umpire to umpire but each umpire's strike zone is pretty close to 100% consistent from across games, innings, batters, and pitchers. If it was the same as football the strike zone would change depending on who is pitching or batting along with what inning it was and which teams were playing.

 

The Hughes unsportsmanlike call was riduculous. The offensive PI on Watkins and Woods on were 'soft' and killed the momentum the Bills had wrestled back. The game pretty much ended there. On similar plays the Pats got away with the same. Even the announcers saw it. You watch Richard Sherman in coverage. Tell me if he was wearing a Bills uniform and a different name on his back that he'd get away with it. You watch the other games. Its the same thing. Somebody mentioned Romo getting drilled 2-3 steps after he released the ball. No call. The Bills hit Brady that way you'll get a flag for sure and maybe an ejection. They protect certain guys and not others.

 

I have absolutely no doubt the officials favor certain teams and certain players. I don't see how anyone watching the games on Sunday can draw a different conclusion. Whether its a matter of league policy or just human nature is unclear. But its as obvious as it gets so far this season and the league needs to clean it up.