How do we fix the officiating?

[SonnyCID]

11) For those who fear the game will take too long, take out a few of the commercial breaks.

Yeah, thats the LAST thing thats going to happen.

 

[SteveDallas]

11) For those who fear the game will take too long, take out a few of the commercial breaks.

HAAHAAHAAHAA please stop. You're killing me. Laughing so hard I can't catch my breath. Take one step back from the crack pipe dude.

 

[DutchBird]

HAAHAAHAAHAA please stop. You're killing me. Laughing so hard I can't catch my breath. Take one step back from the crack pipe dude.

Hey, I know it will never happen.

The question was what could be done to fix the game... one persistent argument against part of the obvious solutions is the length of the game as it is...

It is however painfully obvious the NFL has no interest (and neither have the broadcasters) in fixing the system.

 

[geezer]

Go back to the way the rules used to be.



That said....Geezer. Give it a fucking rest mainge. That call didn't cost Detroit Jack Shit. They shit the bed in the second half, after building a significant enough lead, that they should've been able to put them away, which would remove any doubt as to who deserved to win. But they didn't. They got conservative and self-imploded.

One call doesn't make a game, unless its the dumb Seattle/GB game

With all due respect sir, you are the very first poster to bring up a specific game or call. It was never the point of this thread. All we are doing is debating suggestions to make the league wide officiating better. There are suggestions being made by people above our pay grade and this is one small way to make our opinions known.

 

[flyerhawk]

A few ideas I have that are a little more grounded in reality.

1. Change the playoff officiating selection process. Best crews ref the playoffs. A good crew is better than a collection of really good refs. Each year you review who the best refs were and they get placed together. Best rated ref crews get the playoff games.

2. Allow for challenges on penalties called. If the refs call a penalty a coach may challenge the call.

3. Do NOT allow coaches to challenge plays where no penalty was called.

 

[geezer]

They automatically review scoring plays, I would like that expanded slightly to automatically reviewing plays in the endzone or on the endline that are also potentially scoring plays. If the ball crosses the end line but the ref doesn't see it and calls it down at the 1 foot line, there is no review, and a coach must challenge to get a review when he thinks his player crossed the line.

 

[gandydancer]

All good places to start.

The question is with all of the deep deep pockets of the league why has none of it been done? We didn't invent these ideas and yet year after year we end up bitching about the officiating and year after year the league stands pat and does nothing to address it. If they really wanted these controversies to go away they would and it really wouldn't be that hard to do. So clearly they don't want to fix it.

Asses in the seats = nothing to fix for them.

 

[R.J. MacReady]

With all due respect sir, you are the very first poster to bring up a specific game or call. It was never the point of this thread. All we are doing is debating suggestions to make the league wide officiating better. There are suggestions being made by people above our pay grade and this is one small way to make our opinions known.

Are you kidding me?

You are trying to legitimize that bad call that you have been going ballistic about by starting this thread implying that something is indeed broken.

State that you would have started this thread if the Cowboys/Lions game never happened.

I dare you.

 

[geezer]

Are you kidding me?

You are trying to legitimize that bad call that you have been going ballistic about by starting this thread implying that something is indeed broken.

State that you would have started this thread if the Cowboys/Lions game never happened.

I dare you.

Do you have any suggestions to make the officiating better?

 

[gandydancer]

1) Use a central centre for ALL reviews.

It does work in hockey.

IMO the college version works for them. The games are not extremely longer due to replay. New York is already watching every NFL game anyway. They take the power of challenging away after the 2 minute warning already. Why not have the guy in the booth look at every play.

For commercials...$ will dictate that and most likely be ready for more advertising in future.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Rodger knows that nothing is really "broken" and that your not really unhappy about anything.
If you were really unhappy with the "product" you would voted with your feet.

The numbers reported by Reuters below suggest a "fake" outrage by some fans. They yell but can't look away.

The NFL has heard most of these suggestions for improvement many times over yet nothing really changes...teams that get screwed will continue to get the obligatory we're sorry phone call or letter.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

I don't see them ever letting replay dictate penalty calls on the field. They will come out with replay for balls & strikes before they do that in my opinion.

 

[cdumler7]

So is this what the Boards are going to turn into is just cussing about the reffing in the game and not hardly talking about the game itself? I understand some of the calls this last weekend were suspect but with how involved fans are in the game nowadays (instant replay, slow motion, high definition, and so much more) it just seems like any team that loses is going to point to those few controversial calls as the reason they lost. I'm not saying the system is perfect as I am sure there are ways to fix it a bit but there is always going to be a human element to this game. It is part of what has made the game so great.

Now yes a few little tweaks can be made such as figuring out a way to make these guys full time employees. Going to cost a few bucks but should help a little with some of the calls. Although honestly every single play in the NFL can be flagged for something so these guys being made hyper sensitive to everything they are seeing might mean even more flags than what we are seeing right now.

Also along that same line it just cracks me up that so many got upset over them emphasizing defensive holding and pass interference this year but then when they pick one of them up and say it wasn't people just go berserk.

Also to those making suggestions of making flags reviewable be careful what you wish for. When the NFL allowed instant replay and then for every turnover to be reviewed it made the refs pretty much let anything close be considered a turnover. You are going to see the refs throw a ton of flags if this is the case for anything close as then it will be reviewable. You sure you want every single play to be reviewed like that?

 

[geezer]

Scoring plays most of the time take very little time to review. Almost every play is reviewed by those people watching tv. I want automatic review for anything in the endzone that isn't called a scoring play. Did the ball cross, did he have both feet in bounds. Same with sideline calls, did he have both feet in? I don't want the coaches to have a bucket full of challenge flags. But a lot could be just done on auto since the league is watching and reviewing anyway.

We can make it better, not perfect as we will always have judgement calls, but we can make it better.

 

[GNG]

Offensive holding and interference penalties are called much too often.

 

[cdumler7]

Scoring plays most of the time take very little time to review. Almost every play is reviewed by those people watching tv. I want automatic review for anything in the endzone that isn't called a scoring play. Did the ball cross, did he have both feet in bounds. Same with sideline calls, did he have both feet in? I don't want the coaches to have a bucket full of challenge flags. But a lot could be just done on auto since the league is watching and reviewing anyway.

We can make it better, not perfect as we will always have judgement calls, but we can make it better.

It doesn't slow it down a ton but it does add up. You start adding more plays that have to be reviewed and all of a sudden a 3 hour game starts turning into 3.5 hours until somebody complains about something else that needs to be changed making it that much longer. Throw in fans will be getting more frustrated with more tv breaks instead of actual football being played.

 

[Xponentialchaos]

Pass interference needs to be reviewable.

And I'm all for an officiating central location that monitors all the games. That's the best way to make the officiating consistent.

 

[geezer]

It doesn't slow it down a ton but it does add up. You start adding more plays that have to be reviewed and all of a sudden a 3 hour game starts turning into 3.5 hours until somebody complains about something else that needs to be changed making it that much longer. Throw in fans will be getting more frustrated with more tv breaks instead of actual football being played.

I don't pretend to have the answers, that's why it comes up every year because the NFL doesn't either of they just don't give a rats ass. The reviews on scoring plays most of the time do not extend the game. Most of the time its obvious.
I don't know if reviewing judgement calls like PI or holding both sides of the ball would gain anything. Those are judgement calls and the guy closest to the play usually has the best view. The only way to make those consistent from game to game is full time officials who watch a lot of film and they are all trained the same way.

 

[cdumler7]

I don't pretend to have the answers, that's why it comes up every year because the NFL doesn't either of they just don't give a rats ass. The reviews on scoring plays most of the time do not extend the game. Most of the time its obvious.
I don't know if reviewing judgement calls like PI or holding both sides of the ball would gain anything. Those are judgement calls and the guy closest to the play usually has the best view. The only way to make those consistent from game to game is full time officials who watch a lot of film and they are all trained the same way.

The plays you are asking to have reviewed though will be the judgment calls. So those ones will take more time. It won't be the wait 10 seconds while they review and then let them kick the extra point. Those will be the have to watch it 5-10 times take a minute or two. Essentially then almost every goal line run from the 2 yard line and in will need to be reviewed unless it is completely obvious.

See to me what you are looking for is a perfect system and there just is not going to be one. If you add more reviewable plays then you add more time to the game making especially the casual fan begin to want to check out (all the money the NFL makes is why we get to enjoy the game all year round like we do with such in depth coverage). You make the officials full-time as you and even I are suggesting you risk them being much more hypersensitive to seeing things that are going on and most likely more flags will be thrown. Every idea that has been thrown out here has some cons that go along with it that actually hurt the game maybe even more than it helps. While I am not always excited about all the calls on the field I am not one to get too riled up even if it possibly cost my team the game. It really is just part of the game. Now given I am coming at this with the fact that my grandfather was an official for 40 years. He didn't always get everything right but he like many of these guys in the NFL worked their butts off to try and get everything right. It just isn't always possible especially with so many rules nowadays being such judgment calls.

 

[R.J. MacReady]

Do you have any suggestions to make the officiating better?

Even though you ignored my question, and we both know why. I'll answer your question.

The NFL was rumored to have started the process of putting microchips in footballs. I think this would have the greatest impact on the game. The refs won't to spend anytime to see where to spot the ball, if it crosses the goal line, etc

The reports about this were back in 2010, not sure if the NFL has bailed on the idea.


NFL in discussions about using chip-in-ball technology | Sports | Reuters