NFL Says Clown Car Refs Missed Call at End of MNF Game
Absolutely gutless response by the league over this controversy:
Instead of fully owning up to an inexcusable series of events, the league admitted one mistake and took an end-around to avoid the other. Its response comes nowhere close to suggesting the league has been chastened, humbled or deeply concerned by a game decided on two bad calls by substandard officials. Instead, it reads more like an explanation for any other run-of-the-mill controversy we’ve seen over the years.
We posted the entire statement in the previous post. It notes that Seahawks receiver Golden Tate “can be seen shoving Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields to the ground” while Russell Wilson’s Hail Mary pass was in the air. The NFL acknowledged “[t]his should have been a penalty for offensive pass interference, which would have ended the game.” Conveniently, however, “[i]t was not called and is not reviewable in instant replay.”
OK, that’s a fair admission. But on the more-discussed issue of whether Tate or Packers safety M.D. Jennings had earned possession of the ball, the NFL offered a blatantly passive response that never addressed the question. Instead, the NFL merely stated: “When the players hit the ground in the end zone, the officials determined that both Tate and Jennings had possession of the ball. Under the rule for simultaneous catch, the ball belongs to Tate, the offensive player. The result of the play was a touchdown.”
But were the officials correct in determining there was, in fact, simultaneous possession of the ball? As we noted earlier, one official near the play ruled a touchdown and the other touchback. The NFL weakly avoided that issue entirely. Instead, it merely supported the decision to uphold the original call via replay.
It’s time to bring the real refs back:
Goodell has been perpetrating a fraud on his customers. The commissioner had been advertising one product and selling another, promising something real and delivering something fake. Goodell set fire to his own brand by allowing games played and coached by the best of the best to be officiated by a propped-up group that included tailgating fans, fantasy league contestants and, of course, Lingerie League leftovers.
Bill Belichick suddenly became the ugly face of the farce by chasing one of these guys off the field Sunday night, but this has been Goodell’s game from start to finish. If he did his legacy a ton of favors by attacking the issues of player safety and concussions, he’s busy right now spraying graffiti all over that legacy.
“Awful,” Aaron Rodgers called the officiating that stole the Packers’ rightful victory.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years of football,” said his coach, Mike McCarthy.
I’m with you, coach. Never seen anything like it.
Meanwhile, back at the Goodell ranch, negotiations with the real refs continue. I love this bit of misdirection from the league office:
In light of Monday’s dispute, the NFL issued a statement on the labor dispute with the referees.
“There is broad agreement that the quality and consistency of officiating can and should be improved.”
Gee…ya think?
How to accomplish that is a critical issue separating the two sides in this negotiation,” the statement read. “While the officials’ union would like to turn this into purely an economic dispute, we have told the union and the federal mediator that we are prepared to make reasonable economic compromises and that we will invest more money in officiating as long as it assures long term improvement.
“We have made a number of specific proposals to accomplish that, including by developing a deeper, more diverse talent pool that is trained in NFL officiating earlier and more intensively.”
Yeah, right. But what about the integrity of the game in the interim? Goodell’s little labor ploy in locking out the real officials is making a laughingstock of the league — not to mention getting fans angry at the blown calls, disorganization, and failure of the fake zebras to take command of the game.
Something better happen soon or the damage done to the game will see the league a long time recovering.
Greetings:
I know that fans take these kinds of blunders much more seriously than I do. My father never allowed me to see sport as more than a game. In fact, the first time I mouthed off to a referee in a game, my father made it quite clear that future repetitions would result in a basketball-less future for me. The lack of the NFL’s first team officials leaves fans feeling shorted or at least with a diminished sense of the elite-ness of the game they are viewing. Fans and commentators seem committed to paying a deal of attention to this burr under their saddle, but they are not parties to the contract. I don’t see hear anyone suggesting that fans and commentators pass the plate and take up a collection for the lock-out officials so it can’t really be too serious a situation now, can it ???
And if I may insert a bit of my own agenda in regard to the “National” Football League, many players in the league have affected the wearing of some kind of close fitting head-wear under their helmets. It seems that the “National” Football League, which apparently has any number of rules about the appropriateness of head-wear, finds it acceptable that this couture be worn during the playing of our National Anthem, perhaps due to the complexity of removing it and replacing it so shortly before the beginning of the game, or maybe Just because, well, their “National” isn’t that kind of National.
(And, my regards to the Oakland Raiders who, this past Sunday, allowed a group to sing the National Anthem, one of whose members wore a baseball cap and another a beret.)
I can certainly understand that this is probably some branding complexity that remains beyond my intellectual grasp, but when you call yourself a “National” anything and put all those cute little flag stickers on every player’s helmet, why not go whole hog and require appropriate courtesy in regard to our National Anthem.
sorry bud, not obvious to me. i saw the play in real time and looked exactly like a simultaneous catch and control to me which always has gone to the offense. even looked simultaneous to me in slow mo (one hand control vs two for a split second) but there is no way in fast mo it could look like anything but a simultaneous catch.
if its “obvious” to you i’m sure glad you never ref’d any games i was in.
Sorry, read the rule book. It clearly states if one receiver has to make a move to get both hands on the ball after the other player aleready has both hands on the ball – it ISN’T simultaneous. It doesn’t matter if it’s split second, that’s what the replay is for. The Packer CLEARLY had both hands on the ball first, brought it in, and that wasn’t simultaneous. The refs missed the call.
Did you know this umpire group was forced out of Lingeree football because of incompetence?
Yeah, back them. I don’t think so. They blew the game.
Possession is not established until contact with the ground is made. Jennings touched the ball first, Tate established possession first. Tie goes to offense. Touchdown.
Now, I’ll agree that Tate should have been flagged for Offensive Pass Interference.
I’ll also agee that the refs blew PI calls all night long. (Including the penalty that led to GB scoring their touchdown.)
They also were pretty bad about penalties for Holding.
But let’s not pretend that the regular refs don’t blow calls on a regular basis. They do. There are always a few games in any season where a questionable judgement call from the refs decides the game. And some of them feature judgement calls that areblatantly wrong.
I have no reason to believe this play would’ve been called any differently if regular refs were there. Offensive pass interference is not treated the same on Hail Marys and are easy to miss in a scrum like that anyway. And it couldn’t be over turned since it was not the point of the replay call. Nothing in the replay call speaks to overturning an offensive touchdown.
People are missing the obvious: it was a close play and you can’t talk your way into it not being that. It reminds me of when people talk about all the things associated with Katrina. For some reason, Katrina comes in last – it was first; so was the split second weirdness of this play. That’s football. No one was at fault and there’s nothing obvious about anything about this play in real time.
After seeing the alternative, universally panned by coaches, players and fans, I say LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL on your NFL referee.
Disclaimer: I am a US Army veteran (E-5, Honorable). Your patriotism may vary.