NFL Referee Problem

[Buffalo Bob]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Bob

I would be willing to bet not many complained about the refs in 1969 then about the mid 70's it started climbing and it never stopped.

Originally Posted by MTK

What’s your logic there

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As an example:

In the mid to late 70's they outlawed the head slap and at the same time allowed offensive lineman a more liberal use of their hands while blocking. Prior to that an offensive lineman had to keep his hands closed, horizontally inside his own shoulder pads and not allowed extend his elbows in excess of a 90 degree angle.

Any violation of above and illegal use of hands could be called. It was one of those infractions that is very easy to spot even if you are standing on the sidelines and the play is ran from the opposite hash mark. Not much subjectivity was needed on whether or not a blocker illegally used his hands.

I was actually playing in High School when the head slap was outlawed and they started allowing offensive lineman to use their hands more. We were actually told the best way to avoid an illegal use of hands penalty while blocking was to grab your own jersey when engaged.

My point was under the old rules and their interpretation whether or not something deserved a penalty was black and white plus could be spotted 30 yards away. Now there are a lot of gray areas, especially with what offensive lineman can get away with. To accurately see if a lineman committed a foul under today's rules a referee has to be standing right on top of him.

In summation as the rules have evolved the game has become more difficult to accurately officiate by the book which will lead to more questionable calls and non calls. Everything used to be cut and dry, it isn't anymore. I could go on and on.