NFL might add an 8th zebra for the preseason

[Midnightangel]

He'd be positioned in the backfield with the idea of cutting down on holding.


NFL might add eighth official for 2014 preseason - NFL.com

 

[MrMoJoRisin63]

They need to IMO

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Midnightangel]

Only people our age will get that joke, Hammer.

 

[Midnightangel]

They need to IMO

I agree.

 

[RoboticDreams]

Now they have a better chance at penalizing a player for using the 'N' word.

 

[Wazmankg]

Good idea. The game gets faster all the time and now with HD super slo-mo replay, their mistakes are much more glaring. They could use an extra guy.

 

[MrMoJoRisin63]

Now they have a better chance at penalizing a player for using the 'N' word.

I can't believe they are gonna try this. It's dumb, for a lot or some players it's a cultural thing, it's been a part of their entire life, but once again Whitey's gonna tell the black man what he can and can't do.

 

[Midnightangel]

I can't believe they are gonna try this. It's dumb, for a lot or some players it's a cultural thing, it's been a part of their entire life, but once again Whitey's gonna tell the black man what he can and can't do.

Actually it's leveling the playing field.

If something is against the rules for one, it has to be against the rules for all.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Adding another incompetent referee to the mix of incompetent referees is supposed to help how?

 

[MrMoJoRisin63]

Actually it's leveling the playing field.

If something is against the rules for one, it has to be against the rules for all.

Fair enough. But are they going to penalize Brady for calling Welker White Trash?

 

[MrMoJoRisin63]

Adding another incompetent referee to the mix of incompetent referees is supposed to help how?

Well we all don't have the same cynicism as you.

 

[cdumler7]

If I were the NFL sticking another ref to help with holding isn't where I would go. Most of the questionable calls in the NFL seem to happen down field with questionable pass interference and helmet to helmet type hits. I think it would be better to have another set of eyes to help in that area more.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Well we all don't have the same cynicism as you.

Last season was about as bad as get as it gets in term of incompetence by NFL referees. The amount of simple or obvious blown calls was astounding. Add to that the amount of time that they wasted for referee huddles trying to figure out what each flag was for or what call to make. Now you want to add another referee to that mix?

 

[Davis_Mike]

If I were the NFL sticking another ref to help with holding isn't where I would go. Most of the questionable calls in the NFL seem to happen down field with questionable pass interference and helmet to helmet type hits. I think it would be better to have another set of eyes to help in that area more.

What I would do is refine instant replay & centralize it to "NFL HQ" to make all replay decisions. Make all referee calls for personal fouls instantly reviewed by HQ. Make all decisions/calls subject of NFL HQ oversight to make sure we don't get what happened in the Redskins or Patriots game happening again. Make the NFL referees accountable by requiring them to answer media questions after each game, just like the players & coaches.

This would be where I would start before adding another person to the field to make questionable calls.

 

[packerzrule]

HAHAHAHA

 

[ram29jackson]

as long as it isn't a woman

 

[cdumler7]

What I would do is refine instant replay & centralize it to "NFL HQ" to make all replay decisions. Make all referee calls for personal fouls instantly reviewed by HQ. Make all decisions/calls subject of NFL HQ oversight to make sure we don't get what happened in the Redskins or Patriots game happening again. Make the NFL referees accountable by requiring them to answer media questions after each game, just like the players & coaches.

This would be where I would start before adding another person to the field to make questionable calls.

Actually that is spot on with what I would do. Not sure I would make them have to talk to the press but there definitely needs to be a better accountability other than you just don't get to ref in the playoffs or get the lower games in the playoffs kind of thing. That is like saying well you didn't win the 10 day all inclusive vacation but you still won 2nd place of a 5 day all inclusive vacation.

I also think the NFL should just sack up and start paying the refs as full-time employees so they can fully focus on just football instead of having to have a 2nd job.

 

[darken65]

Great....one more idiot for the players to trip over and fuck up the game!

 

[Davis_Mike]

I also think the NFL should just sack up and start paying the refs as full-time employees so they can fully focus on just football instead of having to have a 2nd job.

That is on the NFLRA. They don't want to be full-time employees & was one of the main reasons for the lockout. I think that there are few full-time employees, like one per position at the moment.


Here is this story from PTF.

Ex-head of officiating thinks all 17 NFL refs should be full-time

Posted by Michael David Smith on December 31, 2013, 4:40 PM EST

AP
The NFL has slowly begun converting some of its officials from part-timers who also work weekday jobs to full-timers whose sole focus is studying the rules of the NFL. But as botched calls like the ending of Sunday’s Chiefs-Chargers game show, there are still plenty of times when properly enforcing all the league’s convoluted rules proves to be too much for the officials.

As a result, former NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira says, it’s time to turn the head referee on each of the 17 officiating crews into a full-time employee.

“My personal belief is the 17 referees all ought to be full time,” Pereira told the Associated Press. “They need to explore that notion because having only one full-time referee and umpire and line judge and the others makes no sense. It would not achieve to me what having all 17 full-time refs would, because they should be involved with everything. Be involved in proposals of rules changes and teaching their crews and working with the teams in the offseason.”

As long as the NFL’s rules are as complex as they are, part-timers are going to struggle to keep them all straight. Unless the NFL can figure out a way to streamline the rulebook, full-time referees may be a necessity.

And then there was this from MR. Bicepts:

Ed Hochuli sees no point in making referees full-time employees

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 5, 2013, 3:34 PM EST

AP
The NFL has discussed making referees full-time employees, rather than part-timers who work in the NFL while also having day jobs. One of the NFL’s most famous referees doesn’t see the point in that.

Longtime ref Ed Hochuli said in an interview with 60 Minutes Sports that he already works full-time hours as a referee, and he fits his other job, as an attorney, into his off time from officiating. He doesn’t think he would put in any more hours to refereeing even if it were his only job.

“I am a full-time official,” Hochuli said. “I’m as full-time as the coaches or the players or anybody could be. If they said, ‘Ed, you can’t be a lawyer anymore, you can only do this,’ there’s nothing else that I could do.”

When Hochuli calls himself “as full-time as the coaches,” that’s a little hard to swallow. NFL coaches work obscenely long hours, and it’s hard to believe that Hochuli would still be able to juggle a career as a lawyer if he were really working as much as coaches do.

But there is something to be said for the idea that changing the status of the referees from “part-time” to “full-time” wouldn’t really change much of anything. The NFL is already paying Hochuli $200,000 a year, and Hochuli and the other officials are already working long hours studying the rules and preparing for games. If making the refs full-time employees would make the calls on the field better, it would certainly be worth it, but Hochuli may be right that full-time referees wouldn’t be better referees.

Good luck with getting the NFLRA to agree to this.