Thread: NFLPA Writes Letter of Protest About Replacement Refs to NFL....

My opinions on the caliber of officiating aren't always in agreement with others so I'll ask those who disagree to watch this video and listen to what some very respected former players have to say which only adds to what current players and coaches are saying. Don't believe me if you don't want to but you should at least believe them. They played and coached the game I didn't.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8416571

Just a couple of things that really need to be highlighted here.

Listen to Tom Jackson's comments about their lack of an understanding of the rules and making calls that don't even exist. I saw at least one of those today. How can you flag and DB for defensive holding on a running play? Their inability to even place the ball correctly and games being on the verge of getting out of control. We saw a little of that today in the Bears game and I saw it in two other games I watched as well.

Another key comment comes from Cris Carter. The "replacements" are doing such a poor job that the players have lost all respect for them and that in itself is affecting the overall caliber of play. Players aren't being properly protected when after the whistle hits are rampant. Carimi gets thrown to the ground well after the play was whistled dead yet there's no flag but when the Rams runner gets up running after he's been downed and whistled down Pep gets a flag for shoving him.

You let one team go but penalize the other and Pep didn't even take the guy down. That was a hot dog "college boy" move on the part of the RB and he ran directly into Pep. The throw down on Carimi had the same motive. Try and draw a flag and maybe get the guy tossed. Those two plays would not have happened if the regular refs were officiating. The Rams DL would have been flagged for a PF for hitting after the whistle and they would have ignored the one on Pep. The RB asked for it when he got up again. They should have flagged him for delay of game. Those were both rules violations by the Rams that were ignored. Those were not simple judgement calls.

Michael Irvin makes a point that it's about money but I disagree and so did Ditka. This isn't a money issue. It's a control issue. The NFL Owners are riding high and mighty now feeling that they got the better of the players last year on that new CBA and now they're just flexing their muscles with the refs. At this point it's become little more than an experiment to see just how much the fans will take before it starts to hit them in their fat wallets and anyone who can't see that is just not looking hard enough. They care more about winning at the bargaining table than they do on the field.

Screw player safety whenever it isn't convenient to consider that factor. They're so used to talking out of both sides of their mouths now that they actually beginning to believe their own lies and they're also hoping we will. They are so out of touch with the game and the fans who support it that they don't really care. They have a monopoly and they're abusing it.

You want the real truth? Well here it is.

"As players, we see this game as more than the 'product' you reference at times," the letter said. "You cannot simply switch to a group of cheaper officials and fulfill your legal, moral, and duty obligations to us and our fans.

To the owners this is a product they sell. It's money tree. A license to profit. To them these games are no longer athletic contests they are simply part of a money making scheme in which the players and fans care far more about the outcome than the owners. Jerry Jones would like to win games but he'd like to make money even more. Ask him if he'd be willing to actually lose money in order to bring a SB trophy to Dallas.

Guys it's only a game to us and the players and even for some of them it isn't. To the owners it's about printing money and growing the paper value of their franchises. So how much longer to we need to watch our professional football teams being officiated by amateur officials?

While i agree that the replacement refs are making bad calls and it does impact the games, i think one thing that we are learning is that if they go back and refine some of the rules, the game might become more interesting as a result. Just look at all the upsets going on lately...definitely makes football more fun to watch knowing that ANY team can be defeated each week, and that there are no favorites each week.

Yes, i think the actual refs should be paid more and come back to ref. Im just suggesting that the NFL take a closer look at the rulebook and maybe ease up or eliminate some rules...specifically Pass Interference and Holding rules...i understand why they are there, but i thinks its time they take another look at em. If a rule doesnt specifically involve player safety (horsecollars, facemask, helmet to helmet, etc), then there is some room to let the players play and let them sort it out on the field.

Well I'm all for simplification but for now how 'bout the current guys just learn and use the ones that exist? Sometimes they're not even close with their interpretations and there is no doubt in my mind that they are losing the respect of players, coaches and fans alike. These games are getting out of control and players will get hurt.

I'm routinely seeing uncalled face mask tackle, hits after the whistle and chop blocks. They are too uncertain of themselves and afraid to make a call for fear of it being over turned. When a ref throws a flag for a face mask like he did in the Lions game then waves it off just after the play he's either unsure he made the right call or afraid of being criticized for it at a critical juncture. And of course naturally it was against a Lions player. The dirty teams are playing dirtier because they can.

All you needed to hear was Cortland Finnegan's comment about liking the refs because the let him play. Of course he likes them. He has a rep as one of the dirtiest players in the game. He and Suh could be team captains of the "cheap shot all stars".

Well this ends my comments on this matter for this week. I won't say anything more I'll just keep posting every article I come across where they screwed the pooch again. Why? Because I don't want to see Cutler cheap shotted and end up losing our QB again this year and it will happen. The number of late hits I saw in various games today was incredible.

Jim Harbaugh cons replacement refs out of two extra challenges



By Doug Farrar | Shutdown Corner – 6 hours ago







"What the $#%^&* do you mean? We do so have 10 timeouts per game!" (AP)


It was the officiating crew "led" by Ken Roan that proved to be a complete disaster in last Monday night's game between the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos, and it was Roan's crew which made perhaps the most embarrassing series of mistakes in a day of football that was nearly overwhelmed by them.

Roan, who tried to corral a group of refs that seemingly would be under-qualified for junior high games, stood around while a series of meltdowns happened between the Broncos and Falcons, couldn't quite figure out what a spot foul was on two different occasions and frustrated coaches John Fox and Mike Smith to the point where the NFL felt that it had to step in and insist that coaches should stop hurting the feelings of the refs foisted upon us by the lockout of the real officials. (Oh nanny nanny boo boo. Then get them the hell off the field. They're adults and they're getting paid to do their job. When you do it poorly and it results in a loss that could cost a coach his job then he's gonna get pissed at you and he should)


San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, another one of the violators who was sternly advised, was incensed by Roan's crew early in Sunday's 24-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, when Roan called an illegal block ... on the kicking team. Unsure in retrospect how a kicking team could block in the first place, Roan tried to cover his backside by saying that "By rule, there is no flag on the play." (Must have been reading from the same page in the rule book that says you can call defensive holding against a WR by a DB on a running play. What? There is no page that says that?)


Technically, there's no blocking in this case, but we quibble.


Roan's crew really started to mess things up in the fourth quarter. With 3:33 left, according to the excellent recap provided by ESPN's Kevin Seifert, the 49ers had called a timeout after a 3-yard run by Vikings running back Toby Gerhart. However, Harbaugh threw a challenge flag after he noticed on replays that Gerhart may have fumbled, and 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis landed on the ball.


The problem was, the 49ers had just used their last timeout, and you need a timeout remaining to challenge a call. After the game, Roan detailed what happened next, when Harbaugh sidled over to him and mounted a pretty impressive con.

"Hey, this is something that I want to challenge, but I just used my last timeout, can I challenge and get my timeout back? How does that work?'


"He asked the guys on the side and they came over and got me," Roan added. "What I told him was, 'Well you challenged it not knowing what the result of the play was going to be.' So I granted him the challenge and we went and looked at it. That was wrong. I should not have. In order to do that, he has to have two timeouts left."

Uh ... no, Ken. You just need the one. Perhaps Roan thought the 49ers DID have two timeouts left, because Harbaugh got another free challenge a few plays later. Unbelievably, Roan let him do it.



Perhaps the worst part of this debacle -- it had no real impact on the game -- was the time it took. Between discussing it between themselves, discussing it between the Special Officiating Supervisor the replacements need even though the NFL tells us that they're perfectly fine, and explaining their ridiculous rulings to both coaches, this game could have easily gone until Tuesday but for the fact that even Roan eventually realized how many timeouts a team should have in a half.


According to Kevin Lynch of SFGate.com, it took about 25 minutes to execute a four-play series.



And that would be bad enough if the refs got the calls right. Sadly, the more time these discussions take, the further down the rabbit hole we go.


"Well, I think the fact that we have to talk about it after every game is something right there," Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway said about the officiating in general after the game. "I don't think in my seven-year career that I've had to do that ever. So that probably tells you the story right there."

(Anyone who thinks they're just missing a few calls now and then either isn't watching very closely or doesn't know the rules of NFL Football themselves)

LOL, they had a total of 6 second half TOs. Either way, IDGAF, let the replacements do their job and quit hounding them. I think they screwed us on a couple of plays, but we weren't gonna win the GB game, anyway. With that said, I say fine the hell out of Harbaugh to set an example, as they already warned coaches about berating them, anyway.

I agree that those refs are bad... and should be back. On the other side... you players don't want to take a paycut too, why should the owners want to give them more money?