NFL's First Female Official - Chargers vs Pack, 9 Aug

[MD Longhorn]

I missed the game - how were the officials?

[APG]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

I missed the game - how were the officials?

I didn't really notice much in the Packers v. Chargers game.

The call people are going to be talking about is in the Bills v. Redskins game, which featured an official calling a touchback when the ball was downed on the 4 yard line. They put the ball on the 20 and it necessitated a challenge from the Bills to get the spot corrected.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by AllPurposeGamer

The call people are going to be talking about is in the Bills v. Redskins game, which featured an official calling a touchback when the ball was downed on the 4 yard line. They put the ball on the 20 and it necessitated a challenge from the Bills to get the spot corrected.

Wait, what happened to the ball (the entire flight)? You say the ball was downed at the 4, but did other things happen to confuse the crew? (Main reason I ask is that in most cases, this is the same rule at all levels from NFL to pee-wee.)

[APG]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Wait, what happened to the ball (the entire flight)? You say the ball was downed at the 4, but did other things happen to confuse the crew? (Main reason I ask is that in most cases, this is the same rule at all levels from NFL to pee-wee.)

I'm trying to find a clip of the play as I didn't see it...from what I've read, it sounds as if the ball was nowhere near the goal line. There was no penalty on the play (such as a kicking team player being the first to touch the ball after going OOB (illegal touching) with the touch occurring inside the 5...which in the NFL would mean a touchback would be awarded), and there was only one kicking team member in the end zone, but he was nowhere close to the ball.

[APG]

Here's the play:

NFL Videos: Referee gaffe in Buffalo

[MD Longhorn]

Wow, that's horrifying. Like I said - this would have been the same at ANY level of football. It's not like they implemented an NCAA rule on accident. Yuck. (And as badly as this was screwed up, it shouldn't have taken a challenge to get them to get the rule right, and it shouldn't have cost them a replay challenge once the referee went under the hood and saw what happened).

I'm REALLY curious to know what caused them to move it from the (almost) right spot up to the 20. Someone said something, the referee then talked with the HL, agreed, and left it at the 20. What caused them to move it?

PS - ball should be at the 5, not the 4.

[CT1]

Originally Posted by AllPurposeGamer

Here's the play:

NFL Videos: Referee gaffe in Buffalo

Ouch. I wish we could hear the R's initial explanation. Sounded like he said something about a "fumble"?

[JugglingReferee]

How Bad Were Replacement Refs Last Night? Let's Examine The Video Evidence.

[Texas Aggie]

And it is not illegal to suggest that if you do something it could hurt your career.

No, its not illegal. But that something that is done should be something society values as wrong -- a crime, moral wrong, etc. Being a replacement official, even if you're in the union, doesn't come close to rising to that level. As I've said from the start of this thing: behave in an unprofessional way at your own risk. It is unprofessional to treat people poorly simply due to the fact that they made decisions that were not in YOUR best interest. It is unprofessional to use your job in leadership or in an authority position in an organization (D-1 conference, in this case) to retaliate against those who made decisions that, again, were not in YOUR best interest.

Look -- I WANT the NFL officials to get as much salary and benefits as possible. The NFL makes a lot of money and the officials play a significant role in that. And I think virtually all replacement officials would agree that the game would be better officiated with the regular officials than it is with what amounts to as a crew of NFL rookies.

However, the NFL has made a firm offer that the union has refused. That's fine -- negotiations can be a *****. But unless the NFLPR can convince the players to not play (and they can't) the games are going to go on and they must be officiated. Its the officials in the NFLPR that have chosen not to accept (and possibly for good reason) the NFL's offer, so others will be needed to fill their place. I'm sorry, but they've had their chance and can't complain. Blackballing, ostracizing, threats, etc. are all examples of unprofessional behavior, and you can't separate professionalism in your life. In other words, you can't be unprofessional in one part of your life and be a professional on the football field. It doesn't work like that.

[grunewar]

Regular officials stew from couch over replacement mistakes ? USATODAY.com

[HLin NC]

Aggie- thanks for putting succinctly what I have tried to say the last couple of weeks. If I were in a union, I would probably look at the issue somewhat differently but I'm not. I do understand both sides of the issue.

The replacement officials, or as I have preferred to call them, substitutes, have the same right to persue their dreams and goals as did the existant officals. One may deem them unethical, immoral, scabs, what have you.
It is for their conscience to decide. If they are not up to the task, that is for the league to decide. Coersion, blackmail, extortion, undue influence- however one wants to put it, is wrong.

There is an officials code of conduct. I don't see anywhere that it says that an official has to reject employment because some other official is in a negotiating impasse with the assignor. We are not to publically speak ill of another official.

[grunewar]

"I'm even more concerned than I was before they started playing the games," Mike Pereira, the Fox analyst who is the NFL's former director of officiating, said by phone Sunday. "They're struggling, though it's no fault of their own. They're competent officials for the level they're on, like, in Division II."

NFL needs to blow whistle on replacements ? USATODAY.com

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Regular officials stew from couch over replacement mistakes ? USATODAY.com

REPLY: I love this quote from the article. Clearly, the coach knew what he was saying, but the reporter had no clue: "Colts coach Chuck Pagano said, 'They got a big play on us off a deep P.I. penalty that was questionable.'"