Anyone else sick of hearing about this? I am tired of people whining about it everytime I try to watch a game or sportscenter. yeah they have blown a call here and there, but so do regular refs. I saw one guy complain he didnt know what pass interference was anymore. shut up and play.

/rant.

No, these guys are significantly worse compared to "regular refs."

I gave them their chance in the preseason and week 1, they were ok.

After this week they can fuck off. I saw some ridiculous calls (made and missed) and just overall taking a long ass time to decide on WTF they were supposed to do.

One guy referred to Atlanta last night as THE RED TEAM. C'mon man.

I definitely think people (media/players/coaches) are making a much bigger deal about this than there really is. The real refs weren't perfect either.

I think the main people complain is they miss looking at Ed Hochuli's arms.

Fly4Fun;1274723 wrote:I definitely think people (media/players/coaches) are making a much bigger deal about this than there really is. The real refs weren't perfect either.

I think the main people complain is they miss looking at Ed Hochuli's arms.

Completely disagree. A ref told mccoy "i need you in fantasy" this week. That's the most unprofessional thing I've ever heard. You are completely wrong on this one.

I just remember the footage of Denver's coach, John Fox, going livid on all the officials because they flagged his defense for too many men on the field...

It turns out they made the right call and Fox lost his 2nd challenge before halftime. They made the call two times and one coach (and many others) probably wanted to blame the "replacement refs." Maybe they aren't at the level of the "real" NFL officials...but they surely aren't doing THAT bad of a job. They know the rules of the game. Coaches, fans, players, commentators, they all want to push blame on someone, having replacement refs makes it that much easier.

Maybe if players and coaches would quit treating the refs like "substitute teachers" it would not get as out of control.
Just look at MNF. Coach going nuts for "12 men on the field" call by ref. Even show on the tv screen theirs obviously 12 men on the field and the coach still goes ape sh*t.

OSH;1274737 wrote:I just remember the footage of Denver's coach, John Fox, going livid on all the officials because they flagged his defense for too many men on the field...

There ya go. Couldn't remember what coach it was going nuts on MNF.

DeyDurkie5;1274734 wrote:Completely disagree. A ref told mccoy "i need you in fantasy" this week. That's the most unprofessional thing I've ever heard. You are completely wrong on this one.

It was a joke by the ref.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/lesean-mccoy-says-replacement-ref-joking-fantasy-football-224526241--nfl.html

Did hear about the goof ref who is a Saints fan and had it posted all over his Facebook.

Fly4Fun;1274723 wrote:I definitely think people (media/players/coaches) are making a much bigger deal about this than there really is. The real refs weren't perfect either.

I think the main people complain is they miss looking at Ed Hochuli's arms.

Serious question.....have you actually been watching the games?

There have been some glaring mistakes.

OSH;1274737 wrote:I just remember the footage of Denver's coach, John Fox, going livid on all the officials because they flagged his defense for too many men on the field...

It turns out they made the right call and Fox lost his 2nd challenge before halftime. They made the call two times and one coach (and many others) probably wanted to blame the "replacement refs." Maybe they aren't at the level of the "real" NFL officials...but they surely aren't doing THAT bad of a job. They know the rules of the game. Coaches, fans, players, commentators, they all want to push blame on someone, having replacement refs makes it that much easier.

This.

Automatik;1274772 wrote:Serious question.....have you actually been watching the games?

There have been some glaring mistakes.

Yes I have. I've watched 3 different Sunday time slot games and each Monday night game. Yes, the Falcons/Denver game was a bit rough but the coaches and players are as equally at fault.

These are guys new to the stage working with a different set of rules. Bumps along the road should have been expected. I think everyone is overreacting for the most part.

Fly4Fun;1274781 wrote:This.



Yes I have. I've watched 3 different Sunday time slot games and each Monday night game. Yes, the Falcons/Denver game was a bit rough but the coaches and players are as equally at fault.

These are guys new to the stage working with a different set of rules. Bumps along the road should have been expected. I think everyone is overreacting for the most part.

These aren't "bumps" in the road, but blatant fuck ups. The errors in the Pittsburgh/NYJ game were inexcusable. The missed down Pitts runner AFTER BEING REVIEWED and the phantom PI call against them were some of the worst I've seen in a while...especially botching the call after being reviewed.

How are the coaches/players at fault? Their heads aren't under the hood.

The games take longer because the refs need to have a conference after every call - half the time they don't announce which player it was so you have no clue where the penalty even happened.

Fox was flipping out because they had already fucked up 2 TD calls, no reason to think they didn't fuck that one up to. Called Turner in when he wasn't and they called D. Thomas out of bounds when he wasn't. Both time the refs were right on top of those plays without any obstructions and both refs missed the calls and had to have them reversed.

Db's are getting away with murder on almost every play. The steelers/broncos game comes to mind. the steelers were holding a lot, but on the long pass play to D. Thomas he was sprung free by a blatant hold. They also called a phantom interference in the philly/balt game on asamonga during a critical drive to help baltimore.

The biggest ones on the MNF game was at the end of the 1st half DEN is driving on ATL and there is a defensive holding penalty on ATL. In the NFL that is 5 yards and automatic first down. In NCAA it is a 10 yard penalty.

Somehow on MNF it was about an 8 yard penalty (replay showed the previous play started at like the 41 and the next started at the 33).

The 2nd half saw a similar defensive holding botched yardage with ATL driving and inside the 10 yard line. They could have completely ruined the momentum of the drive (ATL was in a no huddle keeping the DEN defenders in the game) by spending 15 minutes conferencing with the extra sideline official with a direct like to an NFL rules guy in the stadium to try to figure out where the ball needs to go.

Lol at anyone trying to protect the replacement refs and say they aren't doing that bad of a job. Everyone has said give them time and they will get better... well from week 1 to week 2 it got significantly worse and I don't think it will get better.

Also since the game has been mentioned but I'm surprised this play has been talked about much.... Towards the end of the BAL/PHI game when Vick threw an incomplete pass that should have been grounding instead the officials called it a fumble(which it obviously wasn't) and it was overturned and PHI got the ball back and it became a 3rd and Goal at the 1 when instead it should have been 3rd and Goal at around 10. Philly scored the go ahead TD on the next play.

I think it is blown way out of proportion. I think people are watching much more closely and intently and every bad call is blamed on the substitute refs. NFL refs screw up EVERY week too, and some of them are big. But now we've got the subs under a microscope.

Also, most of these refs have YEARS of experience officiating at higher levels of football. It's not like they took your local high school's freshman football ref and stuck him in an NFL game.

Iliketurtles;1274846 wrote:Lol at anyone trying to protect the replacement refs and say they aren't doing that bad of a job. Everyone has said give them time and they will get better... well from week 1 to week 2 it got significantly worse and I don't think it will get better.

When the regular refs come back, let's track every single mistake or bad call and put in on ESPN.

WebFire;1274855 wrote:When the regular refs come back, let's track every single mistake or bad call and put in on ESPN.

Lol when the regular refs fuck shit up its gets talked about as well. Im not trying to say they don't mess stuff up. But they don't do it as much and to the proportions the replacement refs have.

hhhholding 78 red??...gtfo

Gblock;1274798 wrote:Db's are getting away with murder on almost every play. The steelers/broncos game comes to mind. the steelers were holding a lot, but on the long pass play to D. Thomas he was sprung free by a blatant hold. They also called a phantom interference in the philly/balt game on asamonga during a critical drive to help baltimore.

I'm not usually one to blame the refs for a loss but Philly received more calls on Sunday. I remember a call on Nnamdi but I don't remember if it was a good call or bad. I know there were multiple calls that could've been pass interference on Philly towards the end of the game that weren't called.
t

Iliketurtles;1274846 wrote:Lol at anyone trying to protect the replacement refs and say they aren't doing that bad of a job. Everyone has said give them time and they will get better... well from week 1 to week 2 it got significantly worse and I don't think it will get better.

Also since the game has been mentioned but I'm surprised this play has been talked about much.... Towards the end of the BAL/PHI game when Vick threw an incomplete pass that should have been grounding instead the officials called it a fumble(which it obviously wasn't) and it was overturned and PHI got the ball back and it became a 3rd and Goal at the 1 when instead it should have been 3rd and Goal at around 10. Philly scored the go ahead TD on the next play.

This is true.

Gblock;1274882 wrote:hhhholding 78 red??...gtfo

Eh, this doesn't really bother me that much. I agree it's not what we are used to hearing but I don't think it's that big of a deal.

I thought I heard on ESPN that the ratings for the first 2 weeks were pretty high. If they significantly drop this week I think the NFL will make a move with the regular refs. I don't think the refs will get what they want but I'm sure they will compromise.

Iliketurtles;1274875 wrote:Lol when the regular refs fuck shit up its gets talked about as well. Im not trying to say they don't mess stuff up. But they don't do it as much and to the proportions the replacement refs have.

Not like it is with the subs, because everyone is watching so closely and waiting for the mistakes. Then yell OMG! the replacements suck!

WebFire;1274852 wrote:I think it is blown way out of proportion. I think people are watching much more closely and intently and every bad call is blamed on the substitute refs. NFL refs screw up EVERY week too, and some of them are big. But now we've got the subs under a microscope.

Also, most of these refs have YEARS of experience officiating at higher levels of football. It's not like they took your local high school's freshman football ref and stuck him in an NFL game.

Incorrect, these are DIII, some DII, and high school refs. The FBS locked up their refs so that the NFL couldn't use them. The refs out there have not been reffing for years at "the highest level" like you say.

I wouldn't complain about missed holding or PI calls, the ones that are so obvious, and no the regular refs do not make these mistakes, are the ones like I mentioned above that happened in the DEN/ATL game. Who walks off an 8 yard penalty? I have never seen that at a HS game.

the players, coaches, and fantasy owners work too hard all year to be using fake refs...this is bs. you cant tell me that savvy veterans dont know how to work the system

jmog;1274943 wrote:Incorrect, these are DIII, some DII, and high school refs. The FBS locked up their refs so that the NFL couldn't use them. The refs out there have not been reffing for years at "the highest level" like you say.

I wouldn't complain about missed holding or PI calls, the ones that are so obvious, and no the regular refs do not make these mistakes, are the ones like I mentioned above that happened in the DEN/ATL game. Who walks off an 8 yard penalty? I have never seen that at a HS game.

I did not say "highest". I said higher, meaning not JH and JV level refs. Correct that many are college level (even if not FBS), which is higher level. The one I was watching the other day had 25 years experience reffing mostly college.

Also, I am not saying they are not making a higher number of bad calls over the nornmal NFL refs. But I think the amount and severity is way overstated.

The demands being made for a part-time job are beyond ridiculous. Go with these guys, replace the bottom 10% every year, in 5 years, perhaps less, there's almost no difference.

I don't know the answer to this, but these replacement referees have been together for a whole 6 games. That's not that many.

In many sports, it is important that the crew works together to know a lot about how each other operates. If they haven't had the opportunity to work together as a crew for long, then there's a lack of understanding within each other on what to look for, where to look for it, and how each moves about the field. Communication is different. It all is vastly different when you work with people you've never worked with before.

So, could some of these problems arise because the replacement ref crews just haven't worked together? But, I will say, this arguing about referees is not really THAT much different than we get from the usual referee complaints. Too many complain about referees. Coaches, coach your team to do the right things and don't rely on referees to call penalties for you. Players, play the game within the rules of the game -- which you should know. Fans, just support the coaches and players OR get upset with your coaches and players for not playing the game correctly.