GatorEye Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Yeah I know it's crazy and will never happen, but I think it would help the officials. Most of you have probably seen the Skycam which is the camera that hovers over the field suspended on wires (I can't remember if it is ESPN or MNF that uses it). Anyway, I think the league should install one in every stadium. Then have the thing sit over the line of scrimmage on each play. The ref in the booth watching the video feed can watch all the line play for holding, hands to the face, etc. When he sees an infraction, he radios the head ref on the field to let him know there was a penalty. They could have something on the sideline that shoots a yellow flag onto the field when he sees a penalty. With today's technology there is no reason we can't have better coverage of what's going on. This idea gives another set of eyes, but doesn't need to have another person on the field getting in the way. It won't happen, but was a thought. I'm sure you guys could come up with other interesting ideas to help the refs who certainly need it, at least in my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 I like it, but instead of a thing to shoot the flag, how about they use those shock collars that they train dogs with. It's two fold kinda thing. We get better officiating overall, and the refs are reminded every they miss a call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchogs Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 in an article that was linked in another post (the one about the reffing team that did the skins/sf game), it said that there are penalties that the league does not want called and actually reprimands the refs for calling. these are not missed calls, but legitimate violations of the rules that the league does not want enforced. working in educational administration and being a parent, it's obvious to me that you don't make a rule that you are not going to enforce to the letter. having penalties that "shouldn't" be called creates a huge gray zone. the league needs to do a better job in clarifying their rules and consequences to players, coaches and refs so that everyone is playing by the same rules and not by some perceived intention of the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeSkin Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Bottom line is, the refs are fvcking idiots. Any fool can figure out when or not to make a call. They grew up Saints fans, Packers fans, 'Skins fans, etc. They are biased, and they're affected by that whether it's concious or not. There needs to be some serious action taken, but there won't be. Remember last preseason when the refs got pissed about their salaries and we had replacement refs for a little while? Talk about a debacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVskinsfan Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Something needs to encourage the refs to get it together. Too many blown calls on all games, and it does affect the players and the games outcomes. Refs should be fined for unexcusable blown calls and too too too many delays while they sort out thier clueless calls! :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codeorama Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Originally posted by dchogs in an article that was linked in another post (the one about the reffing team that did the skins/sf game), it said that there are penalties that the league does not want called and actually reprimands the refs for calling. these are not missed calls, but legitimate violations of the rules that the league does not want enforced. working in educational administration and being a parent, it's obvious to me that you don't make a rule that you are not going to enforce to the letter. having penalties that "shouldn't" be called creates a huge gray zone. the league needs to do a better job in clarifying their rules and consequences to players, coaches and refs so that everyone is playing by the same rules and not by some perceived intention of the league. Excellent point. I agree with OrangeSkin too. The refs should be full time officials like all the other sports. I am not complaining because I think the refs are at fault for the Skins record, I just think in general, the NFL refs are very inconsistant and as a whole, they would benefit from being full time employees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Diesel Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 I've got a better, simpler idea. Why don't they hire refs who are in the prime of their careers? Why do we have to watch a bunch of middle aged to flat out old men out there blowing calls because they can't keep up with the action the way they should? Is there a minimum age for these guys or something? I don't understand it. The players are in the prime of the careers at 25-30 years old. Why are referees generally in their 50's or 60's? Why not 25-35 year old refs? I think they would do a better job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzmuda Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Originally posted by The Diesel I've got a better, simpler idea. Why don't they hire refs who are in the prime of their careers? Why do we have to watch a bunch of middle aged to flat out old men out there blowing calls because they can't keep up with the action the way they should? Is there a minimum age for these guys or something? I don't understand it. The players are in the prime of the careers at 25-30 years old. Why are referees generally in their 50's or 60's? Why not 25-35 year old refs? I think they would do a better job. Why don't we have 25-35 year old CEO's of large corporations? Because you have to put in your time and play the political game. The progression of officiating goes something like this: Pee-Wee/Youth League Middle School Sub-Varsity Varsity Small college Mid college Arena Major college NFL Europe Now granted, some steps get skipped by some officials, and not all officials officiate at every level. But my point is that officials don't just get to jump to the NFL. You have to proove yourself at multiple levels before you get real consideration at the next level. Now, when you think about how disruptive officiating is to someone trying to work and raise a family (often having to take a lot of time off just to accomodate officiating), you'll see that the issue of full-time refs isn't just problematic at the professional level at the end of the pipeline, but it affects the quantity of officials at the start of the pipeline. And it only goes that the lesser the population, the less number of talented officials you'll have. As to dchogs point, I couldn't disagree more. If every rule was enforced 100% of the time we would get the 1st quarter of the Saints game amplified by a factor of 3 probably. It would kill the game. Ask any good official what gets a flag and they will tell you, "Safety Issues and Those Issues that Directly Affect the Play." Does a good official call holding on an OL when the ball is 10 yards downfield on the opposite side of the field? No. It had no bearing on the play. Does he call it when the exact some thing happens at the point of attack. You betcha. Football officiating, by its nature, is extremely subjective. And while the high-level knowledge of the rules seems to be consistent across the league, the way each crew handles subjective areas seems to be incongruous. And God help you if you have Triplette's crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@DCGoldPants Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 if they call a bad game, then they don't get to work in the playoffs, I think that's how it works. They always missed a lot of calls, just now we can see it from 100 different angles right away. Remember the Immaculate Reception? it touched the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rat_Boy Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 I think they should be given a certain amount of bad calls per year, and then after they hit that #, they start getting fined $500 for every bad call. That might help fix it. of course, the referees in our game this past weekend would have hit that # by halftime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeletor The Invincible Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Well guys, you can't call EVERY holding violation. There is probably holding on every single play. Usually the O-line is pretty good about disguising it. I mean, I'm sure some of you must play Football and I know that on a lot of plays, someone is "holding" the D-line. Most of the time, however, it doesn't get called. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OaktonSkins/BushFan Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Check out today's Washington Post Redskins Notebook piece. Spurrier is quoted as saying that after reviewing the tape, they couldn't find many of the penalty calls made. Spurrier termed them "phantom calls." I don't know if it's bias or not, but these refs are obviously incompetent and should be reprimanded and disiplined by the league. Coaches should also be allowed to challenge all types of penalities as a counter balance to these idiot zebras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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