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

[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

[APG]

It's been rough to say the least...there have been plenty of gaffs...especially penalty enforcements. But the NFL has not put these people in positions to succeed and even minor things are amplified by the public.

[MD Longhorn]

I hate to blast my fellow officials ... but these guys are awful. Not saying I'd do better ... but I would also not have taken the job --- and they did.

I can understand some speed-of-the-game issues. But these folks are screwing up basic penalty enforcements, forgetting to review scores, and making bad rulings on plays where the rules are the same as NCAA, so they should not be screwing them up.

Frankly, their performance is embarrassing.

[jchamp]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

I hate to blast my fellow officials ... but these guys are awful. Not saying I'd do better ... but I would also not have taken the job --- and they did.

I can understand some speed-of-the-game issues. But these folks are screwing up basic penalty enforcements, forgetting to review scores, and making bad rulings on plays where the rules are the same as NCAA, so they should not be screwing them up.

Frankly, their performance is embarrassing.

The NFL knew they were bringing people up to a level at which they had never worked. While I do find the gaffes painful to watch, I cannot imagine league executives NOT putting their heads together to find someone to conduct an intense fire-hose training session (12-16 hour days if necessary) to get the guys ready for the subsequent weeks. If the league doesn't take action after seeing the errors so far, they're complicit in the quality of work they are getting out of the guys.

[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.'"