Referee Lockout (Merged)

[Ravens75]

The hits on Flacco constitutes an immediate 15 yard penalty because when a QB slides you can only 'touch' him but in essence he's already down when he begins his slide.

'To protect himself from violent hits by opponents attempting to tackle him, the quarterback may choose to slide to the ground feet-first. This slide is interpreted as intentionally downing the ball, and opponents may then be penalized for hitting him.'

Drew Brees almost got his knee blown out on a low hit where the defender fell to the ground, looked up and then dove at Brees knees. The hit against Lefty was the worse one to date.

Players are taking liberties to see what they can get away with. With the Ravens playing Detroit they need to double, cut or even hold Suh because I can see that bastard pile driving Flacco into the turf and then claiming he thought he had him around the waist.

There are some posters (who never played the game BTW) that have said in the past 'Its football not badminton so grow a pair!' but what they fail to realize is if you don't police the game players will take 'kill' shots and potentially end careers.

The replacement refs are not doing their jobs.

[Jess]

The hits on Flacco constitutes an immediate 15 yard penalty because when a QB slides you can only 'touch' him but in essence he's already down when he begins his slide.

'To protect himself from violent hits by opponents attempting to tackle him, the quarterback may choose to slide to the ground feet-first. This slide is interpreted as intentionally downing the ball, and opponents may then be penalized for hitting him.'

Drew Brees almost got his knee blown out on a low hit where the defender fell to the ground, looked up and then dove at Brees knees. The hit against Lefty was the worse one to date.

Players are taking liberties to see what they can get away with. With the Ravens playing Detroit they need to double, cut or even hold Suh because I can see that bastard pile driving Flacco into the turf and then claiming he thought he had him around the waist.

There are some posters (who never played the game BTW) that have said in the past 'Its football not badminton so grow a pair!' but what they fail to realize is if you don't police the game players will take 'kill' shots and potentially end careers.

Maybe it's irrational, but I'm having the same thoughts about Suh. Maybe we can stick Painter out there until Suh's out of the game. :D

[TheJoeFlaccoShow]

You know what worries me most after watching Thursday? The refs. This is an absolute disaster waiting to happen. A big part of it is getting calls wrong, which can impact game outcomes. But I'm also really concerned about players getting hurt. They were slow on whistles, and flat out don't seem to know the rules.

This whole thing really pisses me off. The Browns just sold for $1B, and the combined salary cap of the league hovers around $3.8B. They are arguing over literally $500k - $1MM. It's utterly ridiculous these two sides can't come to an agreement, and I'm firmly, 100% in the camp of the refs deserving more than what these cheap-ass owners are offering them, because the refs have one of the most important and most difficult jobs on the field.

- C -

Could you go into detail about what exactly the "cheap ass owners" are offering the refs?

Oh you don't know? How about that.

Is it a possibility that the REFS are the ones being unreasonable? Of course it is, so to place blame on one side or the other is pretty foolish.

The blame probably lies somewhere in the middle, but feel free to just speculate and place blame on one side when you have no clue what is going on in negotiations. For all we know the refs could want double their salary and benefits. Is that reasonable? Who is at fault then?

They will be back, cool your heels. Season doesn't start for another month.

[steelerhater]

Could you go into detail about what exactly the "cheap ass owners" are offering the refs?

Oh you don't know? How about that.

Is it a possibility that the REFS are the ones being unreasonable? Of course it is, so to place blame on one side or the other is pretty foolish.

The blame probably lies somewhere in the middle, but feel free to just speculate and place blame on one side when you have no clue what is going on in negotiations. For all we know the refs could want double their salary and benefits. Is that reasonable? Who is at fault then?

They will be back, cool your heels. Season doesn't start for another month.

If they asked for anything more than they were getting, they should be ashamed. There's only two jobs that I can think of where you never have to worry about being right - a weatherman and and NFL referee.

[HoustonRaven]

If everyone gets shitty refs, where's the unfairness?

[TheJoeFlaccoShow]

If everyone gets shitty refs, where's the unfairness?

Exactly. It is like the PGA I am watching right now, they are all playing the same course. It all evens out.

And hey, maybe we will get some impartial refs instead of the biased ones to certain teams with some new blood.

[TheJoeFlaccoShow]

If they asked for anything more than they were getting, they should be ashamed. There's only two jobs that I can think of where you never have to worry about being right - a weatherman and and NFL referee.

Um, you can rest assure the refs aren't looking for anything close to what they got before, or we wouldn't be in this situation.

THAT I can guarantee.

[ActualSpamBot]

If everyone gets shitty refs, where's the unfairness?

The unfairness comes from the fact that as much as people like to bitch about the regular refs, they are actually pretty consistent and have high degrees of accuracy in their calls. These jokers they've trotted out are wildly inconsistent and don't call the game with nearly the same reliability as the regulars.

[HoustonRaven]

The unfairness comes from the fact that as much as people like to bitch about the regular refs, they are actually pretty consistent and have high degrees of accuracy in their calls. These jokers they've trotted out are wildly inconsistent and don't call the game with nearly the same reliability as the regulars.

Perhaps. But the Arizona gaffes aside, I didn't see any huge drop off in terms of quality.

I'm waiting this one out to see if it's really that much of an impact. If this lock out means that 2-3 seasons down the road we have improved quality, I'm ok with a little growing pains.

[mfdoom42]

If they asked for anything more than they were getting, they should be ashamed. There's only two jobs that I can think of where you never have to worry about being right - a weatherman and and NFL referee.

You're kidding yourself if you honestly think the NFL refs aren't some of the best officials in any sport on the planet. Officiating is ridiculously difficult both because a) you have to watch for small details in a large area of responsibility and b) at least 50% of people are going to hate you at any given time, regardless of whether you were correct or not. I used to ref under-18 rec league sports and I stopped because of how insane the fans (i.e. parents) were. If anything, the NFL rule book is responsible for 50%+ of officiating issues in the league today, the regular refs are not the problem.

Also, it is ridiculous that the biggest sport in America is the only major sport without full-time, year-round referees.

[Beau Petard]

Houston-
I didn't get a chance to see the game due to the plethora of inneresting channel offerings that excluded the Ravens down here in the Greater Hickory Metropolitan Area, but I see a few posts talking about how Flacco got nailed when he was on the ground. To provide one answer to your question, it's possible that we could see some very untimely injuries around the league to their "star" products if some of the officials are not up to the task. That being said, however, any thoughts on my response below to mf-42?

mf-42--
I agree completely. Why does a nearly $10 BILLION per year business tighten their sphincter(s) on such a critical element of their product? And by one report, it's a difference of about $16 million over a 5 year span. Something just doesn't smell right...

[wickedsolo]

i watched the game on NFL Network last night and almost fell out of my chair when this was not a penalty

Me too.


PSU - totally agree. These refs are going to get someone hurt.