September 27, 2012 4:49 AM

NFL Replacement Referees: A nationwide case of misplaced priorities

FULL DISCLOSURE: I should begin by stating for the record that I’m a Seattle Seahawks fan (except for when they play the Minnesota Vikings), and I HATE the evil, blood-sucking Green Bay Packers with a barely contained passion that exceeds any sense of proportion or human dignity. Any day the Packers lose, my day becomes just a little bit brighter, and I use the dismay and disappointment of Packers fans as fuel and inspiration. I know; I really am a horrible person….

So, the “Monday Nightmare” in Seattle was the catalyst for the NFL finally coming to an agreement with its officials and ending the lockout. Now all we have to do is wait for players and coaches to find other scapegoats for their poor performances….

I’m a fan, so I understand that fans are upset about the current state of officiating, which has been, to put it mildly, execrable. Games have turned into literal expressions of George Will’s description of football as “violence punctuated by committee meetings.” It can be hard to watch…except for when my Vikings beat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. THAT was fun.

Even with all that in mind, I have to ask one very simple question: Don’t we have better things to worry about and obsess over?

I wanted to wait for a couple days to allow the Sturm und Drang surrounding Monday night’s fiasco/debacle/miracle (depending your allegiance). While everyone with an opinion seems to be piling on the replacement officials, and Roger Goodell (for locking out the league’s regular officials), I think it’s a good time to step back and attempt to regain some perspective. With that in mind, I have a couple of observations to throw into the mix:

  1. Yes, the push-off by Seattle’s Golden Tate was missed. It was absolutely a textbook example of offensive interference, and it should have been called. The NFL has admitted as much. That said, can we all stop acting as if the NFL’s regular officials would have made the correct call? Perhaps they would have, but history is rife with examples of NFL officials blowing obvious and/or crucial calls at crucial moments. Penalties and other calls are missed frequently during every single NFL game; to single out the missed offensive pass interference call as something replacement officials should be blamed for is both unfair and historically inaccurate. The league’s regular officials also booger things up on occasion. They’re human; it’s what human beings do.

  2. As for the controversy over who had possession of the ball in the end zone on the game’s final play, the NFL rule book is clear: a tie goes to the offensive player. The play was called a touchdown by the closest official. By rule, the play is reviewable, but there must be clear and incontrovertible evidence that the call is incorrect for it to be overturned. Like every other fan, I’ve seen every angle several times, and I’ve listened to those angles being analyzed with a gravitas not seen or heard since the Zapruder film. No matter how I look at it, there’s NO indication that the possession call was incorrect. There’s no clear and incontrovertible visual evidence that Packers safety M.D. Jennings had sole possession of the ball.

As much as I hate to agree with Roger Goodell’s empire on anything of substance, I think the league’s statement, unsatisfying though it may be, is spot on. Yes, the offensive pass interference should have been called, but it wasn’t and it’s not reviewable. That’s not proof that replacement officials are inferior; there’s plenty of alternative evidence to support that contention.

The league’s statement seems to side with the call of a touchdown by pointing to a few rules, including:

— Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, in which the player catching the pass (whether offensive or defensive) maintains possession as he “touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands.”

— Item 1 of the same article, which states the player “must maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone.”

— And Item 5 of the same rule that states, “If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both players retain it, the ball belongs to the passers.”

However, Item 5 also includes a sentence that would seem damning to the argument it was a touchdown and support the case for an interception: “It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control.”

Replays clearly seem to show Jennings had the ball in both hands and Tate then gained simultaneous possession.

Except that I can’t see how anyone can say that the replay clearly shows that “Jennings had the ball in both hands and Tate then gained simultaneous possession.” If you’re looking for that, I suppose you’ll see it. My Packer-hating history aside (and trust me, putting it aside ain’t easy), I haven’t seen anything that clearly and conclusively indicates that Jennings had sole possession.

This debate will rage on, of course, and in a way it’s good for the NFL. It’s the old saw about any publicity being good publicity. People are talking about the play, and everyone has an opinion. That sort of exposure is a gold mine for the NFL. That said, the league needs to do something to demonstrate that it’s committed first and foremost to player safety, but also to maintaining the integrity of the game and keeping things under control on the field. Settling with its officials is a first step…but only a first step.

Here’s another point that seems to have been lost in the fury and Sturm und Drang: If the Packers had played better and not put themselves in a position where they could potentially lose on a “Hail Mary” pass into the end zone, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. With all the madness, vitriol, and outrage swirling around da Interwebs and on TV, radio, and in print, there’s one thing I keep wondering:

Wouldn’t it be great if we could harness all this energy into something that actually matters? We have real problems in this country- healthcare, education, infrastructure, unemployment, war, etc., ad nauseum and ad infinitum- and we’re obsessing over a(n) (alleged) touchdown pass and replacement referees? Really?

Welcome to the dawning of our new Idiocracy….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on September 27, 2012 4:49 AM.

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