THE OFFICIAL 2012 NFL SEASON thread

[RVR II]

I hate that I missed last nights game..

Seahawks stun Packers in controversial final play, putting replacement officials back in spotlight

Published September 25, 2012


The furor over the work of replacement officials reached a fevered pitch during Week 3 in the NFL, especially Monday night when Seattle beat Green Bay on a desperation pass that many thought was an interception.

Seahawks receiver Golden Tate was awarded a touchdown on the final play after a scrum on the ground in the end zone. Packers safety M.D. Jennings appeared to catch the ball against his body, with Tate getting his arm around the ball.

After a few seconds, one official indicated a stoppage of play, but another signaled touchdown for a conclusion former NFL coach Jon Gruden, working the game on TV, called "tragic" and "comical."

Tate clearly shoved cornerback Sam Shields to the ground on the play, but as Gruden noted, offensive pass interference almost never is called on desperation passes.

"Very hard to swallow," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I have never seen anything like that in my time in football."

One day after New England coach Bill Belichick was confused about a decisive field goal he thought was off-target and Detroit's Jim Schwartz couldn't understand a 27-yard penalty walk-off for unnecessary roughness, things had gotten even more chaotic.

"These games are a joke," Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman tweeted.

McCarthy was measured in his postgame remarks.

"Most unusual football game I have been a part of," he said. "I know it's been a wild weekend in the NFL and I guess we are part of it."

Packers guard T.J. Lang was even more emphatic, tweeting that the Packers were robbed "by the refs. Thanks NFL."

In Sunday night's Ravens-Patriots game, shoving matches followed even insignificant plays. One TV analyst called it the substitute-teacher syndrome: See how much you can get away with before the real thing returns.

"Nature says for us that we're going to go out there and push the limit regardless," Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway said. "If they're calling a game tight, if they're calling a game loose, it's going to be pushed to the limit. You are pushing it to the brink. If things are going to be called easier, and in some situations I feel like they've been less lenient, too, you've just got to play and see how (it's being called)."

If you can figure it out.

Broncos coach John Fox was fined $30,000 Monday and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $25,000 for verbal abuse of the officials during a Monday night game against Atlanta on Sept. 17.

More fines are likely for Belichick and Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, and perhaps for others.

Fox and Del Rio were hit for their sideline histrionics, particularly when Fox was told he couldn't challenge a call of 12 men on the field -- he was correct that he could challenge, although replays showed the Broncos were guilty.

Before grabbing the arm of an official, Belichick wanted to know why Justin Tucker's field goal was called good in Baltimore's 31-30 victory Sunday night. He couldn't tell from his angle on the sideline, he said.

"So when the game was over, I went out and I was really looking for an explanation from the officials as to whether the play was under review," he said, "and I did try to get the official's attention as he was coming off the field to ask that, but I really wasn't able to do that."

Most confusing was the mark-off for a Lions penalty in overtime at Tennessee. Officials wound up penalizing Detroit from its 44-yard line rather than from the original line of scrimmage, the Titans 44.

Soon after, Rob Bironas kicked a go-ahead field goal.

Schwartz noted that the alternate official who helps the replacements with administrating penalties was on the Detroit sideline.

"We said, `You're enforcing it from the wrong spot.' He was adamant that they weren't doing so," Schwartz said. "At that point, we just needed to play."

They didn't play well enough to avoid losing 44-41, and Titans coach Mike Munchak wasn't apologizing for how his team won.

"I don't feel any guilt," Munchak said. "For us, really the obvious answer is there's nothing we can do about who's officiating games. It's the same for everybody, so go out and don't get caught up in all that."

The league and the officials' union met Sunday without reaching any agreement on ending the lockout that began in June. The players' union also called on the 32 team owners to end the lockout because it is compromising the integrity of the game.

While most of the coaches are being careful what they say about the replacements, the players and broadcasters are less inhibited.

"Unfortunately, I feel like that it's like changing an intersection from a stop sign to a red light," Browns kicker Phil Dawson said. "You have to have so many car wrecks before they deem that intersection to be dangerous enough -- and we're heading that way. Someone's going to lose a game, if it hasn't already happened, to get both sides to a pressure point to get a deal done. It's sad."

Certainly not holding back on the criticism are some of the NFL's broadcast partners. Analyst Cris Collinsworth was forthright in his evaluation of the officiating problems Sunday night, as were Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden during last Monday night's flag-fest in Atlanta.

"We don't want to talk about the officials, trust us," ESPN's Tirico said. "But it's affecting the game. When we meet with teams and coordinators, frustration boils out into limited on-the-record statements. Off the record, what guys are saying -- it's a nightmare. It is impacting the game.

"It hasn't burned a team to cost them a playoff spot yet. But you should go back and watch the film. There are so many little things that players are getting away with that is absolutely impacting the game to the detriment of the product."

Yet some players aren't completely down on the performances of the replacements.

Patriots receiver Deion Branch noted all the controversy about officiating throughout the league.

"But I think the bigger picture is that we've all got to understand that, hey, they're making those calls on both sides of the ball," Branch said. "Us as players, we need to remove ourselves from what the refs are doing and just go out and play our game."

Rams defensive end Chris Long offered, apparently with no sarcasm, that the game "hasn't changed at all with the replacement officials because officials don't care about defensive linemen, replacement or first-tier officials."

Then he admitted taking the regular officials for granted.

"The NFL could really use them back," Long said.

It's like tuning into watch a circus show on Sundays now

[RVR II]

Here's one I made a few years back ..

[RVR II]

NFL upholds Seahawks' disputed win over Packers

Published September 25, 2012



NEW YORK –  The NFL has upheld the Seahawks' 14-12 win over the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football.

The league said in a statement Tuesday that Seattle's last-second touchdown pass should not have been overturned.

The NFL says Seahawks receiver Golden Tate should have been called for offensive pass interference before the catch, which would have clinched a Packers victory, but that cannot be reviewed by instant replay.

The replacement officials ruled on the field that Tate had simultaneous possession with Green Bay safety M.D. Jennings, which counts as a reception. The NFL says that once that happened, the referee was correct that no indisputable visual evidence existed on review to overturn the touchdown call.

On the final play, Russell Wilson heaved a 24-yard pass into a scrum in the end zone. Tate and Jennings both got their hands on the ball, though the Packers insisted Jennings had clear possession for a game-ending interception.

[Bob]

He did NOT have duplicate possesion of the ball!.   There are PICTURES of the Green Bay holding the ball with both arms covering it to his chest and one arm of the Seatle WR just starting to touch his arms.

Such pieces of shit..........

Come on lawsuits.

[RVR II]

[JimJ]

[JimJ]

Looks like good news:

NBC picked the right year to hire an officiating consultant.

Jim Daopoulos, a long-time official and supervisor of officials, joined NBC this season.  And he tells PFT that the NFL and NFL Referees Association have signed a new deal.

A crew is being assembled to work Thursday night's game between the Browns and Ravens.  Then, on Friday, the officials will travel to Dallas to retrieve their equipment and receive their game assignments for Sunday and Monday, with the same crews working together as last year.

Details are still not clear, but Daopoulos says that the much-debated pension issue was resolved with the current defined-benefit plan remaining in place for five years before switching to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan.

Also, it's believed that the deal will cover five more years before this one, which means that we'll potentially be doing this again in 2018.

UPDATE 10:56 p.m. ET:  Daopoulos has provided some more facts.  The officials will vote on the deal in Dallas on Friday, at which time it will become final.  They'll then participate in a clinic, and head on Saturday to the game sites.  Also, the officials will receive a pay raise of four percent, with 12 guaranteed game checks this year and 19 in subsequent years (including preseason).  As to the checks they've missed this year, the officials will divvy up $2.5 million.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/26/daopoulos-nfl-nflra-deal-is-done/

Confirmed!

The NFL reached an agreement with the NFL Referees Association late Wednesday to end the referee lockout and the two sides are working on the paperwork now, according to a league source.

The league later confirmed the agreement.

An NFLRA crew is expected to work Thursday night's game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, which can be seen on NFL Network at 8 p.m. ET.

A high-ranked referee told NFL.com and NFL Network's Jeff Darlington earlier that the officials are prepared to immediately begin work, noting he and many others have gotten access to all of the videos from the last three weeks of games that were distributed to the replacement officials.

While the referee said his colleagues would have liked to work a few preseason games, he says it isn't necessary to do their job.

Earlier Wednesday, the league and referees agreed to create a developmental program as a compromise to the NFL's demand for the addition of 21 officials to the current contingent of 121 NFLRA members, per an NFLRA source. The pool of money for the existing officials also will remain the same.

The developmental officials will be mentored by the existing crews and will be assigned to work with them during the week. The developmental officials will not be NFLRA members, will not work games and will not be eligible to be subbed in initially.

But eventually, as they improve and reach the standards to be NFL officials, they will be considered for NFLRA membership. As that happens, the financial pool for officials will be adjusted accordingly.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000066725/article/nfl-referees-union-agree-to-end-lockout?module=HP11_headline_stack

[RVR II]

Welp.. There go the ref shenanigans.. 

[Bob]

This agreement should have been months ago.   I am glad owners finally found out they screwed up and agreed to make a fair deal.

Now say you are sorry to us fans please.

[RVR II]

Week 4 and my Panthers play the 3-0 Falcons in Atlanta ... Chok up a capital 'L' for that one

But the 1-2 Patriots play my 2-1 Bills in Buffalo! I'm thinkin a 'W' there for my Bills OOOO

[RVR II]

Dammit! Steve Smith fumbles

[Bob]

Pour more beer, it will all get better

[RVR II]

Pour more beer, it will all get better

Now 24-21 Falcons lead by 3 and on beer #3.. You may be right

[Bob]

By game three tonight, the beer will REALLY pay off.

[Bob]

Seahawks have less successful games when they have refs doing their games.