Most of those who follow the NFL or are somehow involved with the league, knew there would be growing pains for the replacement officials. The evidence has been mounting for three weeks now that this is indeed the case. However the Packers/Seahawks Monday Night Football game showed something worse than growing pains, it showed that the current officials are hopelessly incompetent.
There have been countless examples throughout the first three weeks of regular season play that illustrate the fact that these officials are unable to control these games and lack the proper knowledge of NFL rules and proceedings.
First, let's look at the lack of control. Regardless of the experience or overall knowledge these referees have, they all know at any level that referees must maintain control and order during the game and all of its proceedings. Think of this like the Judge in the courtroom. It doesn't matter what level of football you officiate; referees know that they are the peacekeeper/mediator and must act accordingly. All seven officials must work as one organized group to control all the action in between and outside the whistles.
The Falcons/Broncos Monday Night Football game is a prime example of re-placement officials being unable to control teams and players. Play after play groups of players were congregated near the sidelines, the only problem being that they weren't exchanging pleasantries. Shoves and slaps on the helmet were exchanged between the players when disagreements arose. The officials were nowhere to be found as they were fumbling around with their penalty flags and rulebooks, pleading with the heavens to help them out. By the time this game hit the third quarter it looked more like hockey than football. All the while I am watching this game unravel thinking to myself, "Surely there will be an ejection here, things have gotten way out of hand." Much to my surprise no flags were thrown by the referees to regain control. Bad call after missed penalty after procedural error piled up on the referees, leaving the Broncos coaching staff irate. This happened in prime time for all the casual and die-hard football fans to see. Tuesday morning after Week 2 concluded, we were left thinking that it couldn't possibly get worse. The came the Packers/Seahawks game on Monday Night Football.
Before we get to that let's also look at how these replacement officials are simply unfamiliar with NFL rules. In the San Francisco 49ers/Minnesota Vikings game, the 49ers used all three of their timeouts in the second half. However, after using those timeouts the 49ers were allowed to challenge two close plays. Since the 49ers had no timeouts at the time of those challenges, by rule a challenge could not take place. Or should I say, should not take place. The referees in that game proceeded with both challenges, making a mockery of the game. The lone bright spot in this situation is that it did not effect the result of the game.
For those who are Bills' fans, you've experienced an injustice as well. NFL rules state that when under two minutes in the 4th quarter, the only player on offense who can advance the ball is the player who fumbles. Running back Shonn Greene fumbled into the end zone and linemen D'Brickashaw Ferguson recovered it. Since the fumble occurred outside of the end zone, Ferguson could not legally recover the fumble. By rule all scoring plays are reviewed, and yet these referees still arrived at the incorrect ruling.
During the Sunday Night Football game between the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots, the final scoring play was not reviewed, as the rules dictate. This led to Head Coach Bill Belichick making contact with an official to demand an explanation. We should never get to this point, and it is directly the fault of replacement referees not knowing the rulebook and losing control in nearly every tightly contested game in prime time.
Now we arrive at the Packers/Seahawks debacle. Let's ignore the amount of bad calls and blown penalties. Let's ignore the penalty that happened on the game's final play, which was the clearest form of Offensive Pass Interference (OPI) as described by NFL rules you could ever imagine. Hell, the NFL could use the play to teach future officials what OPI looks like! Let's ignore the terrible initial call of a touchdown on that Hail Mary too (If you have not seen the play click here). The fact of the matter is that all scoring plays are reviewed. This rule means that even if a touchdown happens via an atrocious decision by an official, that crew has a chance to fix their egregious error before making a terrible mistake that could decide the game. So the ref goes under the hood, with the game hanging in the balance. The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of a turnover and not the simultaneous possession rule. Yet the official upholds the call and awards the game to the Seahawks. This is THE nightmare that the NFL was praying would never happen: replacement referees making a terrible call that awards the game to the wrong team.
So what have we learned? The replacement referees are in over their head. The speed of professional football, especially the NFL is much too fast for these officials. Keep in my mind, most of these replacements are turned down by Division II college football, as well as Division I. This means we have Division III college or even high school officials struggling to keep up with the game. They have never worked a game in front of more than 20,000 fans. They also seem to have no idea how to control what happens during the process of an NFL game.
These referees are not fit for the NFL game and it shows. However, the NFL Owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell continue to operate with their head in the sand. They pretend these officials are getting better and improving each game. This insults our intelligence as fans and undermines Goodell's push to "maintain the integrity of the NFL". The ball is in the court of the NFL. The fans have been cheated for three weeks now, and they do not deserve it. Pay the regular officials their small percentage of the multi-billion dollar bottom line and stop dictating how the world should turn and what fans should think.
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