NFL Referee Problem

[Buffalo Bob]

I will take the dissenting opinion and side with the referees. It isn't an easy job. They are on field level, not watching a TV on a couch. There are 7 guys watching 22 men, who often are obstructing their view and moving quickly. Almost every call is subjective, what is holding, what is illegal use of hands, what is pass interference?

As soon as the NFL decided in the mid 70's to make the game more friendly to the offense calling games was no longer cut and dry. Believe it or not holding used to be easy to call, so was pass interference. The rules and their interpretations are constantly changing now. Anyone notice the new onside kick rules? The chances of a successful onside kick recovery is close to nil.Try to put yourselves in the refs shoes. Every year they have to relearn their job top to bottom. That can't be easy. I blame the NFL for the poor officiating, not the zebras.

[FrenchSkin]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Bob

I will take the dissenting opinion and side with the referees. It isn't an easy job. They are on field level, not watching a TV on a couch. There are 7 guys watching 22 men, who often are obstructing their view and moving quickly. Almost every call is subjective, what is holding, what is illegal use of hands, what is pass interference?

As soon as the NFL decided in the mid 70's to make the game more friendly to the offense calling games was no longer cut and dry. Believe it or not holding used to be easy to call, so was pass interference. The rules and their interpretations are constantly changing now. Anyone notice the new onside kick rules? The chances of a successful onside kick recovery is close to nil.Try to put yourselves in the refs shoes. Every year they have to relearn their job top to bottom. That can't be easy. I blame the NFL for the poor officiating, not the zebras.

Being an amateur zebra I also tend to side with them but this year I feel like the volume of flags thrown is way up (I'd like to have the actual stats on that).

Yes it's partly subjective but not to the extent people usually think it is: the rules are so well written that it takes away a big part of that subjectivity. Well at least it should.

And again, you're supposed to not call 100% of what you see but see a 100% of what you call... on some of these defensive holding calls, you're like "man if you actually saw the whole contact there's absolutely no way you could actually think it impacted the play, don't throw your flag if you just saw a glimpse of the sequence"...

[Buffalo Bob]

Originally Posted by FrenchSkin

Being an amateur zebra I also tend to side with them but this year I feel like the volume of flags thrown is way up (I'd like to have the actual stats on that).

Yes it's partly subjective but not to the extent people usually think it is: the rules are so well written that it takes away a big part of that subjectivity. Well at least it should.

And again, you're supposed to not call 100% of what you see but see a 100% of what you call... on some of these defensive holding calls, you're like "man if you actually saw the whole contact there's absolutely no way you could actually think it impacted the play, don't throw your flag if you just saw a glimpse of the sequence"...

I did some amateur zebra work myself in High School games, but it was back in the day when the game was easier to call. Even if the rules are well written, subjectivity comes into play. I haven't seen a modern rule book I only know what the announcers tell me. If you have a link to NFL rules explained by the NFL I would love to read up.

[FrenchSkin]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Bob

I did some amateur zebra work myself in High School games, but it was back in the day when the game was easier to call. Even if the rules are well written, subjectivity comes into play. I haven't seen a modern rule book I only know what the announcers tell me. If you have a link to NFL rules explained by the NFL I would love to read up.

Actually I don't, all I can give you is NCAA rules translated in french, but I guess that's pointless ^^

[calia]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Bob

I will take the dissenting opinion and side with the referees. It isn't an easy job. They are on field level, not watching a TV on a couch. There are 7 guys watching 22 men, who often are obstructing their view and moving quickly. Almost every call is subjective, what is holding, what is illegal use of hands, what is pass interference?



As soon as the NFL decided in the mid 70's to make the game more friendly to the offense calling games was no longer cut and dry. Believe it or not holding used to be easy to call, so was pass interference. The rules and their interpretations are constantly changing now. Anyone notice the new onside kick rules? The chances of a successful onside kick recovery is close to nil.Try to put yourselves in the refs shoes. Every year they have to relearn their job top to bottom. That can't be easy. I blame the NFL for the poor officiating, not the zebras.

I would add that we are sitting watching close ups in slow motion and high def. We have a better vantage point than the refs.

Having said that, they’re not off the hook and there have been awful calls week in and week out and it does feel like it’s gotten worse. And the flags do not seem equitably distributed - whether intentional or not, it causes folks to question objectivity, which is a bad thing.


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