Another Post About How Bad The NFL’s Officiating Crisis Is
Whelp
I had this comic roughly sketched out on Sunday afternoon, and originally featured different teams, but basically just this since the teams are barely relevant. I wanted to do a piece about the NFL’s Pass Interference problem. Then Monday Night Football happened and opened up a much larger can of worms regarding the entire officiating issue, well beyond the PI problem. But, let’s start there, because that feels like a good origin point.
I think pretty much everyone expected the new PI rule to be a disaster. It was an obvious short-sighted reaction to the NFCCG mishap. What came as a surprise to all of us is that it is a disaster for reasons I’m not sure anyone expected. The Refs have almost gone rogue and are simply…not overturning anything. We expected the long delays and tedious waits every time the flag is thrown. What’s been outrageous is that none of it has mattered. It is like the officials all banded together to revolt against the rule, like they are offended that the coaches now have the ability to tell them they got a penalty call wrong. So they are just refusing to overturn anything. No matter how bad the missed PI was, or how bad the called PI was, now we are waiting several minutes for them to just ignore the obvious evidence presented to them and stick with the original call. The more conspiracy minded fans have already begun speculating that it is an attempt to make coaches reluctant to use the challenges so that they can just quietly remove the rule at the end of the season, like they already knew it was a mistake.
But considering the level of garbage calls the refs have not only made or missed, then 100% stood by even when gifted replay to change, really seems to indicate that there is some sort of secret mandate they are following. We just can only speculate as to why. It’s obvious to everyone watching these games that this rule has become even more of a farce than it was when it was conceived. Now the question is…how much of it is the refs, and how much of it is the NFL? These replays go to NY too, and they are supposed to be more impartial. They have 100% sided with the calls on the field. Something’s up.
Part of this is due to the implementation of more safety-oriented changes generating more flags. Part of this is the NFL rulebook becoming more and more chaotic and complicated. Part of this is the refs, most of whom are still not full time employees. For fuck’s sake. The fact that we don’t have a league of full-time refs (at least full-timers for each team if it can’t be the whole team) is a joke. The NFL needs an officiating overhaul. We need an AAF-style skyjudge. We need less reactionary rules that make the refs job worse after they mess something up. We need less sheepish apologies every week by the NFL after they fuck up. We need the rulebook stripped down and clarified to reduce the complicated shit the refs have to analyze in split seconds. Honestly, maybe we need fewer refs on the field and more impartial skyjudges to more quickly look at a potential call. It’s not an easy to solve problem but the problem is getting worse and the league better do something or we are going to keep having games tainted like this.
As an aside, one of the worst things about these tainted games is that they generate a lot of hate around two sides that in actuality, are not opposed. When a game is heavily decided at the end by officiating, you get two camps: THE REFS FUCKED US camp and the IF (TEAM) PLAYED BETTER IT WOULDN’T HAVE MATTERED camp. I’m guilty of this myself. I still happily troll Saints fans by reminding them that they choked away a big lead and failed in the NFCCG. Because, you know, they did. But the other side is also true. The Refs fucked the Saints. The Refs fucked the Lions. The Refs have fucked countless teams, very frequently the Lions. The problem here is that these two sides aren’t really in opposition because both arguments are true. The Lions could have and should have played better, but they also shouldn’t have gotten screwed over and they should have won. The fact that the game was close enough to be decided by the refs isn’t the Lions problem. The problem is that the refs shouldn’t be a deciding factor in a game no matter what. The Lions shouldn’t be losing close games because a third party decided to trip them at the goal line. Games shouldn’t be decided by the Zebras. When one game was decided by the Zebras (The Fail Mary), we got swift and efficient retribution. We need that to happen again, but we don’t have the easy scapegoat this time.
The NFL has become a farce that does not care about getting the right call bet rather getting the right team the win. Rams vs the patriots in la was better financially. Enough said they don’t care
That is not true. Literally any of the other championship team permutations would have gotten better ratings.
So basically the NFL is going full Eric Cartman
“You Will Respect My Authoritah!”
As a side note, I like how Patricia goes from having 5 to 6 pencils on his ears between the 3rd and 4th frames.
I like the Charlie Brown sweater.
I think the refs have just realized that reform only happens if they suck. If the refs are doing a good job they don’t need full time employment, clearly the current system is working!
Garrett probably wishes he’d doinked his throw off the official’s nut now – he used to be a QB. Hell, if you’re gonna get flagged for a flag, in for a penny, in for a pound.
As a Saints fan who has had time to process things, losing is a team effort. Obviously, don’t put yourself in that position and it doesn’t happen. We played bad enough to lose (and did for our efforts). But a chance existed to win and the refs said “Nah”. We still had a chance to win after that but didn’t. The refs are a convenient scapegoat to blame because we didn’t play better overall. Still, the call was bad. Just like the call (non call) in the Packers-Lions game.
Also, who were the original teams you penciled in?
It was going to be Giants/Pats since Shurmur basically had this happen at the end of that game.
A bunch of years ago I remember thinking the NFL should start a project for the 100th season, where the rulebook would be massively streamlined to make jobs easier to everyone instead of constantly writing on the margins and adding post-its because SOMETHING happened the previous season. This rulebook would be implemented over the years, and this season would have been the first to use the complete new set of rules, that would be more or less stable and any changes would have to be voted in by a majority over at least three years.
Good to see the NFL decided instead to glue handwritten napkins over the previous rules.
The last three consecutive drives in that game had the outcomes determined by the officials instead of the football teams. Could the Lions have won if they played better? I do not believe so.
Yeah, I’ve never been a fan of the “if you played better it wouldn’t have mattered” argument. “Mistake free football” only exists in boring blowouts where a top contender stomps a doormat. When two pretty good teams play each other both teams WILL make mistakes that we’ll retroactively point at as the reason why the loser lost.
Essentially, bad officiating is the biggest problem in what is otherwise a good game.
Sure, they could’ve blown the 4-1 Packers out. But how likely is that? Like, would the Patriots blow the Packers out? Would the 49ers? Would the Vegas line for either be the same 10 point swing those penalties caused? Why should the expectation be that you have to play above the officials when, in a “game of inches”, they move the ball hundreds of inches at a time?
I hate the people arguing that the Lions shouldn’t have settled for field goals. One, the Packers defense is quite good. Two, the Lions had a big lead. they were up by two possessions with ten minutes left to play. It took three bad calls on critical third downs for the Packers to win by one point.
This is just karma for robbing the Bucs of the playoffs in 2010.
Fun fact: if the refs don’t nullify the go ahead touchdown from Feeeman to Winslow, the Packers miss out on the playoffs and Rodgers doesn’t own a ring
I have read somewhere that the NFL renewed the ref CBA this offseason and that now their contracts aren’t in danger, the refs might feel entitled to call the game like they want without fearing any repercussion
Let me guess the original one: Browns-Seahawks?
> The more conspiracy minded fans have already begun speculating that it is an attempt to
> make coaches reluctant to use the challenges
There was a blatant non-call PI in the Eagles game. Doug Pederson didn’t even bother to challenge it. The radio announcers speculated that it was because he knew it wouldn’t be overturned anyway, so no reason to waste a TO.
What was the other team you originally mentioned? All officiating is terrible and it’s hard to tell.
The pencils, lol. All of the glorious pencils.
Fuck Alberto Riveron
so was he like holding leaves up his nose or what
The thing is, it’s not about the official*s*. They don’t have any say! The on-field officials have no power to confirm or overturn a call on review. It’s all by Riveron in NYC (and whatever other flunkies he uses in NYC if too many things come in at once). The only function of the on-field guy is to answer any questions Riveron has and implement Riveron’s ruling.
I’m still embracing the conspiracy theory that the NFL wants an old school team in the Superbowl for the 100th anniversary. The Packers were the only team decent enough that it wouldn’t be blatantly obvious.
Here’s hoping the XFL has some decent officiating!
Matt Patricia looks like If Kevin Smith coached football.
It was very winnable for the Lions if they hadn’t already made several screwups that were their fault or the refs gifting them with bad calls.
1. During their ONLY TD drive, first down at the Packer 11, Stafford ran the play clock down to zero and the refs did not throw delay of game flag. So instead of first and 16, it was second and 7.
2. The Pack next played great D and got the lions to 4th and goal at the 1. The ref who called the TD could not have possibly seen the ball cross the goal line. And replay showed it did not. NY let the TD stand.
3. When the Packers are -3 in turnovers, all with a short field, and all you get are nine points, maybe you aren’t the best team on the field.
4. The Lions handed the Packers a extra 4 points by having 12 men on the field when the Packers were trying for a field goal in the 2nd quarter, giving them a extra set of downs.
5. Lions blew a 13 point lead, letting the Packers come back and tie it and then built up a 9 point lead before choking it away again.
Amos only does heel lifts.
I really liked hearing the guys discuss their thought process in the booth in AAF and it kinda made me think that a lot of this would be a lot more bearable if we heard more from the refs. Like… explain HOW you came to the conclusion you did. What, exactly, about this play made you reach this decision? Maybe if something shows up often enough in the ref’s explanations it can give an idea of what needs to change in the wording of the rules so when/if there is a rulebook rewrite they have a better idea of how to handle it.