The Officiating

[Tom [Giants fan]]

The problem with the call at the end of the game is that Triplett was holding up 3 fingers for 3rd down but his arm was in the form of a first down.  The ref by Shanahan probably saw that and motioned the chains to move.  I think this is all on the ref standing by the Redskins sideline.  Triplett should have held his arm straight up and down instead of angled as to give the appearance of a first down. That is what I saw anyway.  Either way, it was a bad call that prevented the Skins the opportunity to continue the drive and try to tie the game.  The game should have been stopped by Triplett and it made clear that it was 3rd and 1.

[mitchellvii]

(PERHAPS CRAZY) CONSPIRACY THEORY IDEA:

 

Is it possible that the lopsided officiating which seems to go against the Skins game after game could be related to the name change?

 

Couple Points:

 

1) Holding - I mean c'mon, you can barely see a replay where our charging offensive linemen are not being strangled in a choke hold with the ref looking right at it time and time again and no flag.  You want me to believe the Giants only held us once the entire game?  Really?  The only time we do get a holding flag it is convenientlly on a play where we will decline it.  On the other end of the ball, we get called for drive-killing holds usually on big plays were the replay shows no holding (or remarkably little) at all.

 

2) Late hits on RG3.  RG3 gets nailed helmet first by linemen taking 3 steps after the ball is thrown and no flag.  We get flagged for targeting on perfectly clean hits.

 

I'm not saying we are losing because of the ref's alone, but how many times has momentum changed and a drive died after one of these phantom calls? I can see why Santana went off on the ref for the holding call against him.  Perhaps it was an illegal block, but holding?  Not even close.

 

Last point, why the hell is Shanahan not raising HOLY HELL with the refs about these non-holding calls?  You think Harbough would just stand there and take that?  Shanny just sits there looking like he ate a mouse.

[Godfather151981]

Some of this has been addressed either directly or indirectly, but these are my thoughts:

 

• Mistakes happen, but some of the stuff that's gone against the Redskins over time is really suspect. Somebody above brought up the whistle-blowing thing from last year against Carolina, and of course some of the crap we've seen this year. Heck, remember the Mike Alstodt TD call in Tampa from years ago? 
• Trent Williams - I supported him in calling Ellison out, and I still have no problem with it. But some of the things that went against the Redskins last night look much more suspect than ever. NY Giants with one penalty the entire game? Really interesting. Now having said that, Triplette's one of the worst officials in professional sports and we know that going in. (I can't believe I'm using Triplette's ineptitude as a defense for him, but...)
• As was mentioned above, Shanahan did ask for a measurement which is his right. So if the down marker was incorrect, didn't Triplette owe it to the Redskins to go back and measure it since it was requested? Or would that have provided an "unfair advantage" for the Redskins. (It's awful funny to me that he used that specific term, which is the same term that the league used when levying the cap penalties.)
• Here's an interesting take that didn't hit me until this AM regarding the Giants. I was in the supermarket and I bumped into a NY fan and we started talking about last night's game. He felt the first down situation was as poorly handled as I did, but he was actually prepared to be as ticked off about it as we are now. His point was that the Giants were actively protesting to the ref that the spot wasn't a first down, Their play call on defense was for a short-yardage play, which might actually explain how Fred Davis was able to get free down the field. So his point was that for a split second he felt that bad call was going to hurt the Giants - until of course it was "corrected" so as not to give the Redskins an "unfair advantage." I had never considered that side of it but he's absolutely correct. 

Ultimately I don't buy into the whole "bad teams don't get good calls" thing. The players and coaches are paid to play the game, and the refs are paid to ref it. Goodell really needs to look at this closely and get some things fixed because some of the things we've seen are just atrocious.

[skins4eva]

It has always amazed me that Jeff Tripplette is still a head ref in this league after he basically blinded that offensive lineman from Cleveland a few yrs back.

[Godfather151981]

(PERHAPS CRAZY) CONSPIRACY THEORY IDEA:

 

Is it possible that the lopsided officiating which seems to go against the Skins game after game could be related to the name change?

 

Couple Points:

 

1) Holding - I mean c'mon, you can barely see a replay where our charging offensive linemen are not being strangled in a choke hold with the ref looking right at it time and time again and no flag.  You want me to believe the Giants only held us once the entire game?  Really?  The only time we do get a holding flag it is convenientlly on a play where we will decline it.  On the other end of the ball, we get called for drive-killing holds usually on big plays were the replay shows no holding (or remarkably little) at all.

 

2) Late hits on RG3.  RG3 gets nailed helmet first by linemen taking 3 steps after the ball is thrown and no flag.  We get flagged for targeting on perfectly clean hits.

 

I'm not saying we are losing because of the ref's alone, but how many times has momentum changed and a drive died after one of these phantom calls? I can see why Santana went off on the ref for the holding call against him.  Perhaps it was an illegal block, but holding?  Not even close.

 

Last point, why the hell is Shanahan not raising HOLY HELL with the refs about these non-holding calls?  You think Harbough would just stand there and take that?  Shanny just sits there looking like he ate a mouse.

The NFL's position on the Redskins name change has been made pretty clear, and it appears to be somewhat in unison with Snyder. So unless the refs themselves are trying to send a message, I seriously doubt that has anything to do with it. (But if it does, then we have a whole other problem.) But I do agree about Shanahan going after the officials. He was pretty animated last night but ultimately he kind of let the game progress as it did. In a case like that I would have liked to have seen him basically FORCE them to stop the game.

[Commander PK]

Last point, why the hell is Shanahan not raising HOLY HELL with the refs about these non-holding calls?  You think Harbough would just stand there and take that?  Shanny just sits there looking like he ate a mouse.

 

because if you criticize the refs you get fined or penalized?  :whoknows:  Every day there is another reason to tune out the NFL.  I really don't understand why I keep coming back.  

 

It's like battered spouse syndrome.  Game day is the beat down, then 48 hours later you have the honeymoon.  The following Sunday you get another beat down.  

[dsciambi]

Me, I'm a fan for DECADES, and i am truly to the point now where i expect the refs to screw it up and affect the outcome by their incompetence.  And i hate to say it,, it affects my interest level.

they don't care, so long as my TV is tuned in, i could be asleep. And I likely will never get to the point where i turn off the NFL.

But the fact that it is even in my HEAD is a problem. And it's not due to my team bing bad or good..   the officiating is affecting the competitive balance of the game.

And that kills everything. 

big play? Flag.

Big Hit? flag. 

first down? maybe. 

Completion? Who the hell knows anymore.

 

the minutia to which they have inserted rules makes it too difficult for the officials on the field to accurately keep track of everything else.

it's clear, it's apparent, it's not NEW, and it's high time the NFL take a look at it with the expectation to FIX it.

 

When Al Michaels is having a conniption over the screw up, it's time to notice.

 

~Bang 

 

I think you nailed it here with this, Bang. Not even considering the epic screw up last night, this is what concerns me lately. During the early games yesterday, I get frustrated when I see a big play happen and my first reaction is "Where's the flag?" Literally every time there's a big play, my first reaction is to search for a flag before deciding that the play actually took place.

 

The NFL product is becoming less interesting because of the refs. I hate to sound reactionary, but I'm getting to the point where I don't want to watch it anymore. I mostly turn the non-Redskins games on out of habit and for fantasy football. I'm not sure it will take much for me to do something else on Sundays.

[s0crates]

Well you've convinced me. It's a conspiracy to screw the Redskins.

With the game clock ticking away, the refs decided to fool the Redskins on the down. They very cleverly made it look like confusion and lack of communication between the side judge, the line judge, and the refereee. To us sheeple, it looked like an ordinary officiating ****up. But you, among the enlightened, saw that it was a masterful acting job by those co-conspirators. You saw right trough their clever plan. Congratulations.

Convinced you? I just answered your rhetorical question with one of my own, which you didn't answer.

The rest is a red herring. It just distracts from the question at issue.

The agenda is not to screw the Redskins. The agenda is money.

I won't go through all the reasons to think pro sports are fixed here, but you should check out this website if you would like to hear the argument before rejecting it out of hand: www.thefixisin.net

[Bang]

I don't think you can fix pro football,, too many people would have to be in on it, anc they would have had to keep silent for too long.. practically impossible.

 

I just think they've monkeyed tghe rulebook to the point where it gets in it's own way, and I think the fact they protect part time refs who are wrecking their games is the real problem.

Tripplette shouldn't be a ref. Plain and simple. Seemingly no level of screw up will allow the NFL to considr changes, unless they are replacement refs.. and frankly, the difference between that debacle and the current level of officiating isn't that much.

 

~Bang

[Chachie]

Teams like the Patriots have the right to complain about bad officiating (end of game vs. Panthers) because they actually drove down field and put themselves in position to win.

 

Teams like the Redskins can't blame anyone but themselves. They suck.

[TouchdownSkin]

In my 30 years following the Redskins, I don't believe, or remember, if I ever saw a coach refused a measurement---no matter how much time was left in the game. Baffling at best.

The call on Moss was ridiculous!

Sure, the officials weren't the reason we lost, but in the future, imagine a better team on the field still competing for the playoffs, and this crap continues. That's why it needs to be addressed, no matter the team's win/loss record.

[IrepDC]

Cardinals got screwed even worse than us yesterday. I peeked and they're having the same conversation over on their message boards.

[Boss_Hogg]

[Boss_Hogg]

In my 30 years following the Redskins, I don't believe, or remember, if I ever saw a coach refused a measurement---no matter how much time was left in the game. Baffling at best.

The call on Moss was ridiculous!

Sure, the officials weren't the reason we lost, but in the future, imagine a better team on the field still competing for the playoffs, and this crap continues. That's why it needs to be addressed, no matter the team's win/loss record.

 

It's scary that the officials have that much power. Man I would be pissed if this crap happened in 2012 when our team won the division.

[Brother Redskin]

I just wish the real refs would come back, these replacement refs suck, so many bad calls.

[skins island connection]

 Not to be cynical, but if a ref happens to be in the way of a Redskin player and gets knocked down, it could be another drummed up story of Redskin players targeting/revenge on refs for calls like they made sunday night.

 

 I'm not totally sure of which one is the chief ref in a game; remember the Seattle replacement ref game, where both were standing next to the play, and one signaled touchdown and the other incomplete?  That was a play where the clock didn't matter, so they had the luxury of getting their stories straight; the lead ref should be the one making the calls on field, and thats who the coaches should be looking at.

Not that it really mattered, overall, it wasn't like the game was important or a playoff-type situation.

 

 

[Godfather151981]

In my 30 years following the Redskins, I don't believe, or remember, if I ever saw a coach refused a measurement---no matter how much time was left in the game. Baffling at best.

The call on Moss was ridiculous!

Sure, the officials weren't the reason we lost, but in the future, imagine a better team on the field still competing for the playoffs, and this crap continues. That's why it needs to be addressed, no matter the team's win/loss record.

 

We always throw in the moniker that the refs aren't the reason we lost. For the most part, I would probably tend to agree. PROBABLY. However if some of the truly bogus things we've seen as a fan base hadn't happened, are we really going to take the politically correct road and say that this team would still be 3-9? I'm not talking about phantom holding calls, pass interference, etc. I'm referring to the truly ridiculous things we've seen such as last night, or the punt/fumble thing in Dallas (things where one might question if the rule book wasn't being fudged around). Let's say the punt thing and the thing last night don't happen and the Redskins find a way to win both games - they're 5-7 right now. Granted that's not great shape either, but they'd be on the outer fringes of playoff contention. Added up, all of these "little things" are making a difference. At the very least they're frustrating guys like Moss and Hall to the point of drawing flags for unsportsmanlike.

 

Incidentally, the flag on Garcon for delay of game was WELL after the play. The ref didn't throw a flag at first, but only did so after several Giants and the Giants' sideline complained and called for a flag.

[AzSkinsFan63]

As far as the players,, ie; if Sleepy makes that catch, if Garcon holds that ball..  absolutely,, we have to execute properly and help our own cause.

To me, the problem with the down fiasco is not necessarily "It hurt our chance to win that game"..  it's yet another ina VERY long list of absolute head scratching incompetence by the officials in the largest most popular sport in America.

 

It is completely unfathomable that the NFL not only doesn't seem to notice, it has NEVER seemed to even consider the possibility that they have to make some sort of changes to how these guys do their job.

They concern themselves with keeping QBs safe (because they have a lot of money invested)..  but isn't their primary investment in the entire league?

 

Not only does this affect overall win loss records..   it seriously affects the enjoyment of the fans who pay for everything.

 

Me, I'm a fan for DECADES, and i am truly to the point now where i expect the refs to screw it up and affect the outcome by their incompetence.  And i hate to say it,, it affects my interest level.

they don't care, so long as my TV is tuned in, i could be asleep. And I likely will never get to the point where i turn off the NFL.

But the fact that it is even in my HEAD is a problem. And it's not due to my team bing bad or good..   the officiating is affecting the competitive balance of the game.

And that kills everything. 

big play? Flag.

Big Hit? flag. 

first down? maybe. 

Completion? Who the hell knows anymore.

 

the minutia to which they have inserted rules makes it too difficult for the officials on the field to accurately keep track of everything else.

it's clear, it's apparent, it's not NEW, and it's high time the NFL take a look at it with the expectation to FIX it.

 

When Al Michaels is having a conniption over the screw up, it's time to notice.

 

~Bang

 

 

I didn't even see the crap at the end it because for the second time in my life I quit watching a Redskins game..the other was this season also and I can't remember the game. This game I turned off and went to bed with about 4:00 minutes to go..

 

I positively know the games are NOT rigged just by seeing last nights game between 2 losers in Prime time....that was the last game the NFL wanted on Prime time..LOL

 

But their absolutely is BIASED one-sided officiating going on for select teams and the Skins have an uphill battle practically every single week.and it shows..you cannot tell me officiating has hurt the morale of the Skins players also.

 

Can you beat bad officiating? Yes..but you have to be a darn good team to do it and that's when you finally get the respect from the refs. Once the refs know they can't stop you they start giving you the calls...crazy!

 

From Dan Snyder......Redskins name...and now Trent Williams payback..whatever the reason.

 

If you want to know if there is biased officiating just talk with...Raiders  (worse than even the Redskins,,maybe because Al Davis sued the league?) Browns (payback for the move?), Skins (Dan Snyder and Norv?)..

 

The Skins cap hit at the start of free agency right after they draft RGIII...pretty apparent to me..

I also saw bad officiating in the Cardinals game...They were so robbed of a comeback yesterday..but their owners suck they always dismantle a playoff team..their insane.

 

Apparently NFL to me means a fan but "Not For Life" anymore.

[devil421]

I think you made a good point.

 

Is it possible the NFL officials have a fraternity? We're they sticking up for Roy Eillison? Who knows.

 

The difference is that the Skins have been getting screwed by the refs long before Trent said anything.  If anything, I think Trent's comment was in frustrated response to the season long vendetta/agenda the refs have against all things Redskin.

[brdawk20]

I thought the officials were bad in the Eagles game, but what happened to Shanny at the end defies logic. How could the officials get the damn downs wrong without giving an explanation? How could the officials communicate the proper down on the drive?

 

As for the Eagles game and all the help the refs "gave" them, a lot of people are forgetting the 37 yard Shady run called back because Avant literally touched someone in the back, and the DJax punt return called back because of something that happens on every damn punt return. As for one of the holding calls, if COllingworth had a brain, he would have seen that the player trying to break away from the line was held for a second. That's why his sleeve stretched out--it sure as hell didn't pull out by itself.

[Gallen5862]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/02/league-admits-triplette-should-have-stopped-to-clarify-down/related/

 

League admits Triplette should have stopped to clarify down

Posted by Darin Gantt on December 2, 2013, 1:33 PM EST

The league has admitted that referee Jeff Triplette should have stopped last night’s Redskins-Giants game to clear up confusion about what down it actually was.

The league issued a statement from vice president of officiating Dean Blandino explaining the mess, which Triplette failed to do last night.

 

The statement pointed out that the second-down pass to Pierre Garςon was “correctly spotted” short of a first down, but that the head linesman “incorrectly motioned for the chain crew to advance the chains, which caused the down boxes to read first down.”

After Washington’s incomplete pass to Fred Davis on third down (which they thought was first down), Garςon caught a fourth-down pass, but it was stripped away from him by Giants safety Will Hill.

“In this situation where there is obvious confusion as to the status of the down, play should have been stopped prior to third down and the correct down communicated to both clubs,” Blandino said. “This should have occurred regardless of the fact that Washington had no timeouts and it was inside two minutes.

“Only the referee can rule and signal a first down. The official nearest to the down markers and chain crew, the head linesman, must wait for the first down signal from the referee before moving the chains. Instant Replay did not become involved in this situation because the replay official determined that the ball on Garcon’s catch was correctly spotted short of the line to gain for a first down.”

[TonyH]

That strip by Will Hill was an amazing heads-up play. Not sure I've seen that before.

[Tarpon75]

That strip by Will Hill was an amazing heads-up play. Not sure I've seen that before.

Pretty common football play,one player holds the ball carrier up another one strips.Not really anything out of the ordinary except for the fact that his forward motion was probably stopped and his face mask was pulled.

[Dan T.]

One more comment regarding the "NFL is out to get us" conspiracy theorists.  I guarantee you that on every other message board of NFL teams that lose more than win, there are fans bemoaning how their team gets screwed by the officials.  And fans of winning teams cry about it too.

[Redskin4ever]

I get tired of seeing bad calls. Judgement calls are one thing, and while they bother me, I understand that in real time, it can be hard to make a call. But procedural issues like this really get on my nerves. The fact that Triplette applied his own set of rules to say it would be unfair to stop the clock is such a joke. It's not his job to decide when a team should or should stop the clock. You apply the rules as they should be applied and let the players and coaches decide the game. This call did not lose the game for the Redskins. Bad calls like this really take away the enjoyment of watching the game, whether it's the Redskins or some other team. Watching the Redskins get beat  is painful enough, but I don't need a kick in the nuts from the ref when the team is down.

 

As was mentioned earlier, that bad call could have negatively affected the Giants as well. Bad calls are bad calls and they make the game worse. Especially when it's a procedural error that can be corrected. A ref misses a holding call or is wrong on a pass interference call, there's nothing they can do. But this is something they should have corrected.