[RogerGoodellSucks]

http://www.cbssports...ll-of-fame-game

Quote

You didn't see much about this on television. Or hear about it. But players from the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals claim replacement officials working the Hall of Fame Game made so many errors, players from both sidelines began openly mocking them.The mistakes, players say, were numerous, despite not being discussed much or shown on the broadcast. For one, players say, not a single holding penalty was called. That is a remarkable thing for the first preseason game of the year.

Players gave numerous examples but said two were blatant. In one, officials forgot to move the marker after a 3-yard loss. The loss was followed by an incomplete pass. So it should have been third-and-13 but the marker showed third-and-10 because the official forgot to move it. One sideline erupted over the mistake and the officials corrected it.

On another play, it was explained by players, there was a holding call on a Saints punt return and it took the officials four attempts to correctly spot the football. (I could be wrong but I don't remember seeing any of this on the broadcast.)

"We were all laughing on the sidelines at how clueless they were," said one player.

It got so bad players began mocking the replacement officials. Players also say some of the officials began arguing amongst themselves vocally in front of the players.

Do regular officials make these kinds of mistakes? Quite possibly. But this is going to be interesting to watch if these mistakes continue. Especially if there is no settlement of the lockout and this continues into the regular season.

Because it will be impossible to hide them forever.

I didn't watch much of the game last night, but were the officials that bad? I'll have to keep my eye out on it when the Bucs play on Friday.

[Favre4Ever]

They are replacements, and they are doing the best they can. Can't exactly say I expected a whole lot. It doesn't matter anyway -- the league and the officials will reach an agreement on a new CBA before we play any meaningful games.


I hope.

[Eefluxx]

I remember the holding on the punt return and it did seem like it was forever before they finally figured out where to spot the ball.

There was a hold on Will Smith where Brown pretty much grabbed his jersey from behind and swung hi to the ground that would've been a safety on the play Kolb got hurt on and it didn't get called.

But like F4E said it was their first game and mistakes were expected. I will say on all the replays they did get it right.

The fumble by Tanner and the INT that didn't happen for the Cards player. Tho it was a beautiful layout by the Cards player. If he had gotten his hands underneath the ball it would have been the play of the game.

[blotsfan]

Wait, these new refs miss calls and don't seem to know whats going on?

Hows that different from the normal refs?

[oochymp]

in other words, the regular refs got exactly what they wanted

[dutchff7]

GoodellFTL, on 06 August 2012 - 04:00 PM, said:

I didn't watch much of the game last night, but were the officials that bad?

Yes. They were missing calls left and right and had trouble placing the spot of the ball. A clear safety on the cardinals when Levi Brown was holding in the endzone and it was a no call; holding during a punt play and a Saints running TD ruled short that was CLEARLY a TD. The ball went over the plane before he hit the ground. It was horrible. I'm very uncomfortable with these guys officiating the Nfl.

[BC]

There are a lot of good officials out there. Even the veterans of our high school football officials association get into the collegiate and NFL level once in awhile. There is plenty of competition and perfectly capable referees out there from what I've seen. I've worked with some officials that know the entire game inside in out, and have seen every situation and scenario played out in the many varisty football games they've worked. Even as a rookie official last year, I knew how to reset the markers. The things said in this article state that these officials definetely did not have the basics down. There are plenty other crews that could do the job of officiating the NFL well.

[BigBen07]

The refs are trying to the best they can. Let's wait and see what happens before we hit the panic button. It's only one game.

[Thanatos19]

Tonight's team looked a lot better. There were a few questionable calls, but even pro officials are gonna have questionable calls.

[Favre4Ever]

I concur. The officials in the Packers / Chargers game did a fine job, IMO. One blatantly obvious call they missed, but like Thanatos said... You get those types of calls EVERY week. Pro crew or not.

[BC]

I think the body language of "we don't know what the fuck we're doing" says enough about them. That and a free-kicked ball (punt) that is downed at the 6 yard line is not a touchback. Also, white hats need to refer to the correct cities, perhaps one of the teams actually playing in the football game.

[oochymp]

the refs for the Skins/Bills game were ridiculously slow to blow the whistle on deadballs (apparently to the point where Shanahan started complaining) that's the sort of thing that will get players hurt

[Bay]

I don't think these refs are so bad to the point where the games are being won and lost by the officials.

[RogerGoodellSucks]

They weren't bad at all in the Bucs game. They missed 1 or 2 minor calls (holding and offsides), but that was it. I'd be completely fine with the original refs continuing to hold out. They're not doing any better than these guys are.

[KiLaSix9]

I don't think they were bad per say but they were slow in making calls. They aren't as sharp as the usual refs are in making the calls but I mean as long as they get the call right, its not that bad.

[BLUE]

Quote

By Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter | ESPN

League executives said Monday they now foresee starting the 2012 regular season with replacement officials.

At a time when players are openly criticizing replacement officials and coaches are privately grumbling about them, the NFL and NFL Referees Association are not making any progress towards a new deal, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Economics play a part in the stalemate, but league brass said there are two other issues hanging over and hanging up negotiations.

For starters, the NFL wants to make a group of officials, who work only part time for the NFL, work full time. But more than 90 percent of those officials already have full-time jobs and they are unwilling to leave them and the revenue they provide.

The other issue is that the NFL wants to add three additional crews to give officials more rest and the league more officiating options, but the locked-out officials oppose this. In an ideal world, the NFL would like a bigger pool of officials to choose from, especially with some of the top officials aging. The league believes if it could bring in more officials now, it could groom more for the future.

The league also has discussed the option of rotating some of the proposed new officials into established crews if the league determines there is a substandard performance by an official that merits a change.

The NFL is completing its first full preseason weekend with Monday night's Cowboys-Raiders game. It has assigned crews to this upcoming weekend's second week of preseason games. Plus, the assignments for the third week were sent out Monday, further proving that the league is planning to have this last into and through the preseason.

The league also believes that now that the replacement officials, who have been training with the league for the past three months, will be better suited to handle the pressure of the NFL with experience this past weekend. As one league executive in the officiating department said, just as teams are forced to start rookies in the preseason, the league is being forced to do the same, and just as teams' rookies often perform better as the preseason goes on, so will the officials.

One source familiar with the stalled negotiations estimated that the two sides would not resolve their differences until the third week of the regular season. His feelings on the state of the talks provide a snapshot of how far apart the two sides are.

Source: ESPN.com

[Rain Man]

I was objective at first about these replacements. However, now that I have been watching these guys I can't help but notice how terrible they are. Most of us guys on these forums can probably do a better job than what they have done so far. It's pathetic. I understand that they are "replacements" and the NFL needed to find guys quickly to replace the guys who we all under-appreciate every week, but they couldn't find any better?

All that I need to say is Washington-Buffalo-Touchback. That terrible. It really is. And when they don't know what they are doing, they pretty much publicly announce it with their body language.

[BC]

lol @ Tony Romo spotting the ball for the officials on MNF a second ago there

[oochymp]

one of the most obnoxious moves IMO was in the Titans/Seahawks game we were going no huddle at the end of the first half and the refs stopped play to get the ball spot right after a completed pass, you can't kill the offense's advantage in the no huddle like that, they did stop the clock but it still slowed the momentum and could throw off the rhythm of the two minute drill

[Rain Man]

It's obvious the NFL needs their everyday guys.