NFL officiating...

it is the rules.

on Jarvis Landry.

In comment 14627084 EricJ said:

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it is the rules.

Wrong. It is inconsistent application of the rules. Huge discrepancy between crews that is totally unacceptable.

Hell the coaches actually study film on the upcoming game's refs and coach players on their penalty call tendencies, what not to do etc. because of what that particular officiating team calls or does not call.

That to me is beyond belief- they should be consistent across the board.

Kyler Murray ran out of bounds a half-yard short of a first down, and the refs inexplicably gave him the first down, then upheld it on replay. That first down ended the game. The league really needs to get its shit together with this officiating.

is glaring. Watch the way the Pats hit WR's early or the way the Rams and Niners did it today. On those bang-bang plays, they've seemingly let them play - but in the Jets game - nope. Shocking it was Dallas driving.

The final home game of the season last year, the Jets had 6 straight penalties in OT vs. the Packers and lost. It happened again today.

The inconsistent calls are game in and game out now

interference

NFL officials stink to high heaven. They don't call blatant fouls, call ticky-tacky stuff when they feel like it, and give the general impression that they are playing favorites with every game.

Considering that gambling on NFL games is now legal, this is a situation that is absolutely intolerable. Any zebra can be bought. It has happened in the NBA, it has happened in college sports, and players have been bought in pro baseball and college sports, too.

This officiating situation is going to kill the NFL if the owners don't wake up and do something about it.

In comment 14627114 NYerInMA said:

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Kyler Murray ran out of bounds a half-yard short of a first down, and the refs inexplicably gave him the first down, then upheld it on replay. That first down ended the game. The league really needs to get its shit together with this officiating.

What was even worse was the TV ref's explaination. He said, "it doesn't matter where his foot goes out of bounds, it matters where his momentum carries the ball out of bounds." Bullshit. On that play, the ball went out of bounds even further from the first down then where his foot went out. That call seriously makes me think that game was fixed. I mean there is no guarantee that Atlanta would come back and score, but they were denied the earned right to try.

Long story short, today’s game compared to games from 2009 or so, we’re seeing about 4-5-6 more penalties per game. That may not sound like much but it is. That also doesn’t factor in the stupid challenges and stoppages and reviews. Simply put, the game has gotten less and less enjoyable. The players are still amazing. The game itself is amazing. The increases legislation and choppy coverage has stopped the game in its tracks.

Was painful to watch.

(Caveat i had Atlanta in a survivor) but Murray clearly ran out half a year short, didn’t extend ball, and someone they let the play stand. If called correctly Atlanta gets ball back down 1 with 1:37 to go.

In comment 14627097 section125 said:

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In comment 14627084 EricJ said: Quote: it is the rules. Wrong. It is inconsistent application of the rules. Huge discrepancy between crews that is totally unacceptable.

I disagree...
We have so many more rules now versus 30 years ago. It is not even close. These additional rules are resulting in more penalties.

Now, it does not mean that officials cannot be bad but we always had bad officials. Jerry Markbreit (sp?) was a guy who thought he was the star of the game. My father used to complain that the guy was ruining the game just as you are suggesting today.

The reality is we added more rules to increase scoring and lots of rules to apparently protect players. Those are the two major categories where we are seeing many more flags today versus years ago.

overturned and the phantom fair catch interference from the Falcons and Cards game as well.

The NFL corporation needs to clean house. Then
Make rules 100% crystal clear.
Train and test the refs. Make them pass difficult tests. No pass = bye-bye.

Any rule confusion or poor judgement by the refs ruins this once great game.

Needs to go.

In comment 14627121 gtt350 said:

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interference

Another gem is when Latimer pushes off a weakling corner jamming him. Penalty, too strong.

When people start laughing at you, the end is near.

I changed the channel - and I hate the Jets. Not only was it a bang-bang play on slow-mo instant replay, but Adams is on the route faster than ancient Witten.

No way that should've been called, particularly considering some of the stuff we saw the Pats get away with Thursday. It's almost as if they are going to throw PI to entice the coaches to challenge... and then toss the challenge.

The game is being ruined.

It’s so bad that it calls into question the integrity of the game. I don’t really enjoy the NBA for much of the reasons I’m starting to turn away from the NFL. You can’t watch an NBA game where the officials aren’t integral to the outcome of the game and it’s pretty much the same now with the NFL.

To me the problem is replay. The officials on the field think replay will bail them out while the officials reviewing replay seem to reluctant to overturn what’s called on the field. It’s every week in almost every game where we see inexplicable calls and even more baffling reviews. If replay isn’t going to work, then why not get of it altogether?

the officials are inconsistent on letting plays go on.

Take into account the fumble by Edelman Thursday. The refs are supposed to let those type of plays keep going. They blew the whistle, called the ball incomplete and then didn't overturn the call. Today, there were plays that looked dead that they let continue on.

In comment 14627115 FatMan in Charlotte said:

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is glaring. Watch the way the Pats hit WR's early or the way the Rams and Niners did it today. On those bang-bang plays, they've seemingly let them play - but in the Jets game - nope. Shocking it was Dallas driving. The final home game of the season last year, the Jets had 6 straight penalties in OT vs. the Packers and lost. It happened again today. The inconsistent calls are game in and game out now

The cowboys are the one team who I actually believe some conspiracy theories about when it comes to officiating. It’s insane some of the breaks and calls they get on a weekly basis that other teams don’t get nearly as often.

They should only be calling things that are obvious and affect the play. These ticky tacky fouls that may be are wrong in the extreme letter of the law, need to be let go. Its almost like on every big play the refs already have their hand in their pocket. The game is about the teams not about the refs.

In comment 14627353 PatersonPlank said:

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They should only be calling things that are obvious and affect the play. These ticky tacky fouls that may be are wrong in the extreme letter of the law, need to be let go. Its almost like on every big play the refs already have their hand in their pocket. The game is about the teams not about the refs.

I've been saying this for several years now and I originally was blasted for it, but as people see the shitshow that has happened, I think they see it more that way.

If you limited penalties to blatant infractions or those that directly impacted the play, you'd never see a slight brush of a player as two guys are running full speed side by side called. You'd never see phantom holds. You'd never see an illegal contact penalty on the far side of the field on 3rd and 18.

But better yet, you'd actually have a flow to the game and an even distribution of fairness to both the offense and defense.

Defensive holding might be the biggest horseshit call in any sport. It seemingly was put in place to artificially inflate scores, which is a terrible reason to ever do something.

And yet, they can throw a flag for tackling Sterling shepard and pick it up...... -

You can throw a flag on every play.

Alas, that's exactly what we saw at the end of that hideous Jets/Dallas game.

On one of the two last penalties on that Dallas TD drive, the penalty that should have been called, based on the idiocy of the QB roughing call, was when Dak got leveled on an out pass in the red zone.

In a very quite way, he's starting to take the baton from Cam Newton as a QB who doesn't get the benefit of some big hits...

And as I said on another thread, the team with the absolute biggest gripe about officiating this year is clearly Denver. If not for two outrageously bad roughing the QB calls that went against them late in the Bears and Jags games, they'd be on TOP of the AFC West. Those are calls that clearly impacted the outcomes of games at the most crucial moments of those games.

on the flipside, Seattle actually could be 2-4 right now if they didn't get preferential calls. Russell Wilson has drawn 6 personal fouls this year and one today was really perplexing. Looked like he was going to be called for intentional grounding which would have made it 3rd and really long, but instead, they huddled for a couple of minutes and called roughing.

Add the ridiculous call against Matthews in the Rams game and a terrible call on the Steelers and the Seahawks could easily have lost those games.

The officiating isn't just terrible, it is having a tangible impact on the season.

Wilson is clearly the darling of the NFL/FO; and has morphed into the Michael Jordan of the NFL with referees.

In comment 14627146 bhill410 said:

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(Caveat i had Atlanta in a survivor) but Murray clearly ran out half a year short, didn’t extend ball, and someone they let the play stand. If called correctly Atlanta gets ball back down 1 with 1:37 to go.

This. I 100% agree with you. Not sure how anyone watches this game and thinks officiating is in the up and up.

The philly/minny game was a joke. Doesn’t the league watch and rate theses referees performance? Then they know. Or the fix is in.

Where the Dallas QB “kneed” the defender in the helmet. No call. Why is a QB’s brain anymore important that a DB’s?

people are going to wake up to the fact that paying someone 30 million dollars because he can throw a football is insane.

Gladiatorial combat eventually faded. So, too, will the NFL.

In comment 14627888 Nomad Crow on the Madison said:

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people are going to wake up to the fact that paying someone 30 million dollars because he can throw a football is insane. Gladiatorial combat eventually faded. So, too, will the NFL.

right... until the UFC gained incredible popularity.

is so much inconsistency within games, week-to-week and across officiating crews, yet you believe certain teams/players get favoritism...

In comment 14627898 Jimmy Googs said:

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is so much inconsistency within games, week-to-week and across officiating crews, yet you believe certain teams/players get favoritism...

There is, even if subconsciously. The perceived better teams/player always get the benefit of calls. Always have. NE DBs grabbing and holding all night - no calls. Dallas yesterday - six penalties on last drive.

In comment 14627907 section125 said:

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In comment 14627898 Jimmy Googs said: Quote: is so much inconsistency within games, week-to-week and across officiating crews, yet you believe certain teams/players get favoritism... There is, even if subconsciously. The perceived better teams/player always get the benefit of calls. Always have. NE DBs grabbing and holding all night - no calls. Dallas yesterday - six penalties on last drive.

What are you talking about? Dallas got hurt on some big plays including the Witten td. And 2 of the 6 calls on the last drive were against them.

try again...

Jets had 8.

In comment 14627916 bw in dc said:

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Jets had 8.

Not how many, it is when. On that last drive they had one go against them, then kept on getting questionable illegal contacts or PIs(5, iirc)..one OPI for a pick called on them was questionable too on what would have been a TD.

But you don't think better teams get more calls for them?

there is some bias to the better teams based on reputation. "The Jordan Effect" of sorts.

But I believe more in the idea the refs are simply incompetent. However, when certain plays or calls are made that have a chance to be rectified that aren't - there's another agenda at play.

I'm still wondering how the Jennings fumble in GB was called and not overturned. Just fishy all around. I get why the PI wasn't reversed against NE - that's the refs snubbing their nose. But it is still an agenda.

The other thing that is unacceptable is that in late game situations, there's not enough oversight from NY to intervene. Take the Giants vs. Carolina last year. McCaffery clearly doesn't get a first down, but no replay is initiated and the Panthers are given a 1st down and a chance to kick a 63 yard FG. That type of situation happens often and it seems like somebody is asleep at the button. That's incompetence

where I can’t watch a game outside of the Giants. There are so many BLATANT fouls not being called and fouls being called for absolutely nothing. The NFL is like the 70’s Giants, their product is SHIT , but they don’t care because people are still buying their product, selling out stadiums.

flags where it seems like nothing happened are the biggest gripe, especially since they seem to come out frequently on 3rd down stops.

I'd like to get a reasoning from an official on how they would call no contact or minor contact on a play and then ask "How do you not throw a flag on every play then?"

that's why I'd advocate only penalizing blatant fouls or ones that impact the play - because you are dealing with a system where refs pick and choose which plays to flag anyway. A TE being impeded 3 yards from the LOS gets called in a crucial situation away from the play, but the other 8 times it happens - no call.

just showing the totals.

Do I think a team like New England gets the benefit of the doubt with calls? Probably. But they are exceedingly well coached, have Brady, and are still on this historic run. They have some equity there.

Like I said above, there have been enormous calls that have impacted standings this year, particularly in the AFCW. Denver has been absolutely hosed at the end of two games. Against Chicago and Jax, the Denver D was called for roughing the QB that extended game winning drives for those teams. Instead of being 2-4, they should be 4-2 and tied with the Chiefs.

Further, as FMiC pointed out, the league has declared Russell Wilson the "chosen one". So he gets calls in his benefit that are outrageous. And now he seems to have the luxury of talking refs into changing their calls...

In comment 14627921 section125 said:

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In comment 14627916 bw in dc said: Quote: Jets had 8. Not how many, it is when. On that last drive they had one go against them, then kept on getting questionable illegal contacts or PIs(5, iirc)..one OPI for a pick called on them was questionable too on what would have been a TD. But you don't think better teams get more calls for them?

your use of the Dallas Jet game goes directly against your argument...

In comment 14627943 bw in dc said:

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just showing the totals. Do I think a team like New England gets the benefit of the doubt with calls? Probably. But they are exceedingly well coached, have Brady, and are still on this historic run. They have some equity there. Like I said above, there have been enormous calls that have impacted standings this year, particularly in the AFCW. Denver has been absolutely hosed at the end of two games. Against Chicago and Jax, the Denver D was called for roughing the QB that extended game winning drives for those teams. Instead of being 2-4, they should be 4-2 and tied with the Chiefs. Further, as FMiC pointed out, the league has declared Russell Wilson the "chosen one". So he gets calls in his benefit that are outrageous. And now he seems to have the luxury of talking refs into changing their calls...

I didn't see the Seattle game but, again, you all are taking this favoritism on calls for players/team too far in my view. It doesn't have any logical basis. I am happy to focus on Seahawk games and Wilson for the next few games and give you my take if the "fix" is in...

doesn't want to have officials looking over their shoulders on every play. It would be hard to be a game official that way. But, the agenda on the PI reversals or calls is mind numbing. When Pereira says that it is PI, but not really egregious, what does that mean? I thought he believed that PI the other night should have been called, but wouldn't be reversed because it wasn't outlandish enough.(Hell NE was doing that almost ever play anyway.) Not that that play was a ticky tack PI, but it was not only PI, but illegal contact. Maybe if the score was closer they reverse it.

Could also be that the league put it in with a wink and nod toward the officials union that the rule would stifle the New Orleans group's noise.

for some players definitely exists. The only question is the motivation for it:

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I didn't see the Seattle game but, again, you all are taking this favoritism on calls for players/team too far in my view. It doesn't have any logical basis. I am happy to focus on Seahawk games and Wilson for the next few games and give you my take if the "fix" is in...

Wilson has drawn 6 PF calls this year. If you've looked at them, maybe 1 of them was a legit penalty. In yesterday's game, even the announcers thought the refs were huddling to determine if there was grounding, and they came back with a PF call, on a play where he was taken down as he threw, with no blow to his head or leg area. The hit from clay Matthews the week prior was clean and not late.

Maybe they are protecting him because he's tiny, but again - that's an inconsistency at best.

In comment 14627958 Jimmy Googs said:

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I didn't see the Seattle game but, again, you all are taking this favoritism on calls for players/team too far in my view. It doesn't have any logical basis. I am happy to focus on Seahawk games and Wilson for the next few games and give you my take if the "fix" is in...

Like I suggested, I think New England has earned it. And that's not uncommon in team sports. Sort of comes with the territory of being a dynasty.

I'm not taking the pro-Wilson calls too far. The league is. And I don't look for the calls. I enjoy watching Wilson's unorthodox game. But then these calls pop-up and you can't help but wonder what the hell is going on...

That MNF game where Wilson essentially got pushed by Clay Matthews, and then went looking for the call, was patently absurd.

doing it...yes.

Do i think they do it to Wilson because he is shorter than other QBs or that they want him to have a good game and have Seattle win...no

I am fine agreeing to poor officiating, inconsistent officiating, and even egregious-type calls that decide the outcome of games. Believing that it is some pre-conceived, planned conspiracy to favor a player/team makes me chuckle (at some of my favorite chuckleheads) :-)

doesn't have to be pre-conceived or planned. They can see a small guy go flying and decide to throw a flag even if it isn't an illegal hit.

and stop talking both ways. Either you believe there is purposeful favoritism in some of these bad calls, or these are just some of the overall bad calls.

Take a side and let me know. Happy to discuss further...