If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The rules are written by owners and coaches, so we as officials can't change the rules. Our mechanics are pretty top notch but are changed yearly to put us in a position to see the action and to keep up with the evolving plays that teams use. A couple of years ago there was a group of rabid fans complaining that officials were blind. This was told to me by Walt Coleman. He said that the NFL decided to get some extensive eye exams to prove their officials could see just fine. The eye exam expert told them that the ball moves 5 yards with each blink to the time that you regain focus. Next time you watch a game note where ball is and then blink your eyes and you'll see that's true. If the ball had gone 5 yards with the blink of your eye imagine what else can be missed when you naturally blink your eyes. You could probably miss an offside, illegal contact, pass interference, and quite a number of other fouls all in the blink of an eye. Please don't suggest that we tape our eyes open.
I don't think there is much more improvement to expect from the NFL. I read somewhere that all the NFL officials combined have graded out at 97%. That's a good grade no matter what type of work you do. I think in order for the game to improve more attention needs to be given to the players and their gameplay. The past several seasons the performances by the players haven't been all that entertaining. The NFL lost a good player in Barry Sanders. Who is one player on any team where you just say "WOW" when you see them play? The discipline level of todays players is out of control and it shows in the quality of play.
Tue Feb 07, 2006, 10:44pm
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