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Originally posted by RamTime
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Originally posted by mikesears
I have a 2004 rulebook from an NFL official in my town and I haven't found any references to running 5 seconds off the clock during a field goal attempt.
Certainly NFL officials are guilty of missing calls. I don't think any of us here would dispute that.
You orignally came here asking if the plays were called correctly or not. I don't think any real NFL officials are here to positively answer the questions about how the NFL viewed those plays or if they are, they can't or won't comment.
I'm glad you got a rulebook, but bear in mind that rules are more than just the words written. While it is important to know the rules, game officials must know the spirit and intent of those rules and the philosphy of the person/people doing the assigning of those games. I am guessing the NFL makes its philosophy known through training, bulletins, phone calls and maybe other means. We don't have access to that information. The NFL Director of Officials also reviews each official after each game and grades their performance for each play. Again, we aren't privy to the grades an official gets. Frankly, most of us will never know if the plays you question were called correctly.
When a question is asked of non-NFL officials if the play was called correctly, we can only offer a semi-educated guess. Yes, some of us have the same rulebooks as the NFL uses because we officiate in leagues that use NFL rules, but owning and reading a rulebook doesn't make any of us experts of the rules. (Just because I buy and read a car repair manual won't make me a good mechanic).
Many of us have tried to answer your questions based upon our own understanding of an official's philosphy of calling the game and from our understanding of the NFL rules. The NFL may or may not share that same philosphy.
Personally, I believe the quality of NFL official is very good. There are a few officials I like better than others, but I am certain there is no conspiracy to cheat any teams.
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Good post.
You know when I said that about the 5 seconds I thought to myself maybe this is not true since i read it on a fan board at football.com however I didn't check it's legitimacy so my bad. Believe it or not I am beginning to understand what you guys are saying probably because the officials here that do respond all are pretty much saying the same thing. that is you can not speak for another officials judgement. You guys say that they are reviewed after their games and I have heard that other places as well. In 35 - 40 years of watching football at the LA Coliseum, Anaheim Candlestick/3com/monster and Oakland I have never felt the officiating was bad. In fact I have always been amazed at how many close calls they get right. It still amazes me that they are almost never wrong. Furthermore if officiating never got any better then it is right now then that doesn't bother me at all. It was just this one game and perhaps I'm looking through blue and gold goggles while typing my posts with blue and gold pom poms on my hands but it just seemed very different then any of the hundereds of games I have watched in the past. Someone said it is completely laughable to think the officiating was corrupt and using common sense alone should make this clear and while I don't believe it was corrupt officiating I can't help but wondering about some of those non calls and this is why I am researching. [/B]
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I honestly haven't had a chance to look at the video links because my workplace blocks them and I haven't been on my computer at home in a while. Anything we say is going to be pure speculation anyway. I can give you my opinions of what I would have done, but it is just an opinion in a sea of them.
I know watching things as a fan can skew our opinion. When I put on my own fan hat, I am far less likely to look at things objectively.