The Official NFL Thread: 2012-13 Season

[Ambulance Chaser]

Lisa Salter: Did you push off on the last play?
Golden Tate: I don't know what you're talking about.

 

[ama]

So epic

 

[Saul Silver]

SEAHAWKS WIN!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!OOOO!!!! GET SOME MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!!!







just kidding. those calls were horrendous

 

[Saul Silver]

I just like it how the terrible officiating had been fairly evenly distributed up until the final minutes of the game, when every single call started going Seattle's way, and the calls started more and more absurd until the finale (which is easily among the worst calls in recent sports history). Seattle's penultimate drive was kept alive by repeated horrendous calls (the so-called roughing the passer penalty that overruled the interception, the pass interference penalty, etc.).

The only call against Seattle that was particularly bad was the pass interference call against Kam Chancellor - and even that wasn't that bad of a call.

 

[jrd617]

As a Bears fan, I can get behind this call 100%. Refs got it right!

 

[NorCal]

Wow.

The sad thing is the Refs and owners are only a few million apart.... not per team, mind you, but TOTAL!
That's like 100 k each team needs to cough up. The players should strike.

 

[in stitches]

 

[HORNS]

 

[Connemara]

Dog would do a better job.

 

[in stitches]

that was awesome

 

[thinman]

Best line of the night: "Russell Wilson is the only quarterback in the history of the NFL to throw a game-winning interception."

I don't think this will speed the settlement. If a player were to suffer a major, career-ending injury that could be directly attributed to the lousy officiating, that might stir some action because the league would realize they have legal liability. The owners really don't care what this is doing to the NFL brand, which is what I think Steve Young was trying to say last night (it's amazing how inarticulate he became when he was off-script).

 

[Douglas]

That was an absolutely horrible call at the end of that game, and the confusion between the two referees is evidence that these guys are struggling. That said, 2 things:

- In all of these games, there have been terrible calls that have gone both ways. The Pack had at least one terrible botched call that sustained their only TD-producing drive. I was at the Ravens game and there were awful calls on both sides. Even with the "good" referees, there are terrible calls. (Seahawks got cheated out of a Super Bowl with those guys a few years ago, remember?) These refs stink, as well we might expect, and the product is suffering greatly. But to blame the refs solely for any loss, ever, is silly. You're the Green Bay ******* Packers, you're playing a rookie quarterback who completed, what, 10 passes? You have Aaron Rogers, you should have put a few points on the board.

- The referees' union is escaping far too much blame here. Sure, the NFL should have had this straightened out, but the refs are party to the negotiation, too. I'm not sure where the "few million" number comes from (I think it was NorCal that noted it?) but as I understand it the sticking point is that the part-time refs who make hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece for a part-time gig want a defined-benefit pension plan without having to contribute to it. That does sound like more than a few mil to me, though of course details are very, very thin. Frankly, to me, their position sounds pretty absurd. While at some level I can't blame them for pushing their leverage as hard as they can, they are not shouldering nearly enough blame in the public opinion. Remember, the reason we have D3 and LFL and AFL refs out there instead of D1-A guys who normally call LSU games is because the NFLRA (if that's the right acronym), which runs the scheduling for all the D1 leagues, told those guys that their careers were over if they crossed the lines. So they're holding a whole bunch of really good refs, the vast majority of whom will never ref an NFL game anyways, hostage in the jobs they have won. Sure, the NFL is the boss, and they ultimately have to take responsibility for the product on the field... but the NFLRA aren't saints either.

 

[HORNS]

Fine, I don't want the good refs from the D1 NCAA to leave anyway, because at least I still have quality college football to watch.

 

[Bhowie]

Food for thought: The booth review sided with the infield refs. These guys aren't associated with the refs, they are regular NFL employees. They blew the call just as bad.

 

[texas_jack]

I, for one, love the new refs. Every game is way more interesting. Bookies must be losing their minds though.