Agree. I suspect that they're not adjusted to the speed of the game and resort to guessing when a pass is incomplete.

I think it has more to do with not properly watching their keys or holding them long enough.

I think you're both right. I've seen blatant examples of both. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a play end, and then look for the official, and waiting 3-5 seconds before he even gets into camera view, much less marks his spot.

Last night was a mess. Flabbergasted that the NFL continues this way.

The NFL will continue until enough of the stakeholders flinch.
As best as the general public is aware, the stakeholders are:

1) Officials -- getting paid to perform a service.
2) Team Owners -- paying officials out of their earnings in return for the service.
3) Players -- stats and other performance metrics potentially harmed by quality of officials' work.
4) League Administrators -- Quality of their product (and hence, earnings) directly impacted by quality of official's work.
5) TV contractors -- Product quality (and therefore, potential revenue) based on willingness of fans to see a poorer product of the NFL.
6) Fans -- consumers of the ultimate product, and providers of the revenue.
7) "Vegas" -- Revenue generated from willingness of fans to bet on games, but can only apply indirect pressure to the wound.

You could probably consider merchandisers a stakeholder as well, but I consider them lumped with the teams or the league.

Each of these has their own way of demonstrating that they are tired of it, but every one of them ultimately comes down to how much money they provide.

Fans are still attending games, Vegas is still getting bets, and TV advertisers are still buying commercials. Unless one of these sources of revenue declines enough to hurt, AND it can be attributed to quality of the replacement officials, there will be no change.

At the moment, people are content to whine and complain about the quality of officials. I wouldn't bet on a serious psychological change before Thanksgiving... maybe not until playoffs.

Steve Young got it right last night:

Steve Young On The NFL And Replacement Refs: 'The Bottom Line Is They Don't Care' - From Our Editors - SBNation.com

Our only option is to stop watching... how many people can you get to not watch?

As for the players' stake in this...it's not only about performance metrics, it's about safety. For example, not tossing a player who threw a punch in the 1st quarter scuffle in the MNF game. There was also a similar incident in the Philadelphia/Baltimore game Sunday (i.e. potential punches thrown, no player ejected, later scuffles).

I can't believe he used 'inelastic desire' on national TV. Who the hell does he think he is, Ben Bernanke? ;)

But yeah, the substance of his remarks (and his usage of 'inelastic desire') were on the money, so to speak.

Inelastic demand. And he did use it correctly. Young is an attorney, BTW. He went to law school during the winter semesters between football seasons while he was backing up Joe Montana.

First, I said he was "on the money," which means he used it correctly. I can't quite tell from your post whether you intended to correct me.

Second, Young's business finance undergraduate major is more likely than his law degree to be the source of his understanding of inelasticity.

And third, we're both wrong: properly used, 'inelastic demand' refers to stable demand in the face of price changes, not product quality changes.

Perhaps he's invented a new kind of inelasticity. :)

Correct ... but what about inelastic desire? :)

Aren't you supposed to call your physician after four hours?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VvEModFkTZI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You can see from B32's reaction that he was genuinely surprised by the flag — compared to the "shocked! shocked!" reaction that guilty parties often display.

IMO, the announcers are quite generous here.