NFL planning a top down review of officiating (1 Viewer)

[Bill]

To me "eye-in-the sky" is the tool that matters, an official upstairs that can call for a replay without the need of a coach to call for official review.

This^ is the answer! Just give the booth personnel the authority to override the field rulings and things will go well. Such a system will work because they will have the same advantage as the fans who are complaining about what is being plainly seen in the replays. Just help the officials that are on the field by letting them know what they missed during the live play.

 

[David Robbins]

They should do this. These Officials are the worse in any sports of today. They have become a joke.

 

[Bill]

They should do this. These Officials are the worse in any sports of today. They have become a joke.

I don't think they are as much of a 'joke' as it might appear. I think the complicated league rules have made it nearly impossible to do their job well. There has to be a booth review team that will ensure that what they miss on the field is corrected promptly.

 

[David Robbins]

I don't think they are as much of a 'joke' as it might appear. I think the complicated league rules have made it nearly impossible to do their job well. There has to be a booth review team that will ensure that what they miss on the field is corrected promptly.

But Bill, consider this. If they keep adding "review teams" to everything, the length of the game will continue to advance. They changed rules to shorten the game years ago, and adding more replay teams will begin to do away with that.

Might as well just go back to the old rules of the game, which I wish they would do anyway. We have lost something over the years. The NFL is no longer the game it once was to me. Guess it's because I grew up watching real men play the game.

 

[Bill]

But Bill, consider this. If they keep adding "review teams" to everything, the length of the game will continue to advance. They changed rules to shorten the game years ago, and adding more replay teams will begin to do away with that.

Might as well just go back to the old rules of the game, which I wish they would do anyway. We have lost something over the years. The NFL is no longer the game it once was to me. Guess it's because I grew up watching real men play the game.

I'm not talking about mass overturning of calls made by the field officials. Let's face it, there are very few of the coaches' challenges that have been overturned, and all it has done is created a few long delays in every game.

I'm saying that a booth team should be doing on EVERY play exactly what the fans at home are doing on every play... and that is watching the reviews between plays to see if a glaringly bad error has been made by the field officials. If it is not egregious, the game just continues with no stoppage from anyone. But the challenges should immediately become a thing of the past. That adjustment clearly isn't working.

Just let the booth guys stop the game ONLY when they see a significant flagged error (or omission) to show that the league is wanting to get the calls right without slowing the game down unnecessarily. This will work if implemented correctly.

 

[UFCSaint]

And all it took was the Patriots getting screwed last weekend. The previous years of horrific officiating? No big deal, but don't screw with Tom Brady.

NFL planning "top-down review" of officiating

The NFL has an officiating problem, and changes may be coming this offseason.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Just more lip service from the NFL. Just like they 'looked' into the concussion issue.

 

[dutar76]

I don't think they are as much of a 'joke' as it might appear. I think the complicated league rules have made it nearly impossible to do their job well. There has to be a booth review team that will ensure that what they miss on the field is corrected promptly.

The question is whether or not the rules are convoluted and foggy on purpose. I mean, dang... not every game is poorly officiated. It's almost like the games where the officiating is the worst are the relevant games.

And no amount of oversight or eye in the sky is going to prevent the refs from flagging games lopsided. Calling legit but ticky tack penalties on one team and letting the other team get away with all but the most flagrant fouls.

 

[MsMSSaintsFan]

Officiating is imperfect. Always has been, always will be. The rules have gotten much harder to enforce correctly, especially those applying to potential injuries. Everything is so open to interpretation now and the officials are forced to make calls in an instant of time, and from only one angle. In the meantime the rest of the world (who is watching the telecast) is getting to watch the play over & over again in ultra-slow motion replay from 15 different camera angles. No wonder it's so easy for us to question an errant call.

The league needs to do away with coaches' challenges. If the desire of the rules committee is to get the calls right, then they can see the correct call just as well as the fans who are sitting in front of a TV set at home. There needs to be 2 or 3 officials who are assigned to the booth during the games to watch the reviews we see at home (and even more if others are available) and see to it that the game is stopped and the error is corrected before moving on to the next play.

They should NOT reverse any ticky tack calls that were made on the field, nor should they enforce a ticky tack penalty the wasn't called on the field. Obviously if these things were to happen the games would last an eternity. Most fans do recognize that sometime very close calls (or non-calls) happen in every game and they accept these as being part of this high-speed game. trying to correct such judgment errors would be self-defeating to the floe & enjoyment of the game.

However, if the league just gave the booth crew the authority to correct EVERY GLARINGLY EGREGIOUS ERROR by calling down to the head official to stop the game and make the correction, there would be a whole lot less controversy surrounding the officiating and it would stop the coaches themselves from trying to figure out how the rules are now being enforced. There should be one standard and the league should be bent of making that standard evident in every game that is being contested on the playing field.

Everyone is going to see the infractions during a game that would help their team. And many fans tend to overlook the ones that would benefit the opponent their team is facing. But when an infraction is undeniable by everyone who has an interest in the game, it must be enforced whether it creates a good or bad situation for your team. And it should be called by rules officials at the game who are able to view the action on the field both from the booth vantage point as well as the multiple review angles that we all get to critique after nearly every play.

No one should be more interested in getting the (major) mistakes corrected that the league itself. The effort to get it right should not belong to frenzied coaches or whiny fans who merely want what's best for their team in that moment. This is what integrity is all about. The NFL should want the fans who follow the game to trust that they can leave the role of getting the calls right to the officials who are assigned to the game. And that's only going to happen if they take the initiative to ensure the biggest errors are corrected when it counts the most... immediately when it happens.

^^^THIS! This is one of the best, succinct thoughts on this subject, Bill. Kudos and Bravo!

 

[Bill]

The question is whether or not the rules are convoluted and foggy on purpose. I mean, dang... not every game is poorly officiated. It's almost like the games where the officiating is the worst are the relevant games.

And no amount of oversight or eye in the sky is going to prevent the refs from flagging games lopsided. Calling legit but ticky tack penalties on one team and letting the other team get away with all but the most flagrant fouls.

I know that we have seen lots of games featuring lopsided penalty totals. But I can also remember times in the past when we were on the good end of such lopsided games. I'm just not buying into the idea that the officials are only looking to flag one team. I think it's more plausible that there are times our team is guilty of the greater number of clear infractions.

Like you I wish that the officials would see all the times that our opponents are guilty of a penalty. But they occasionally miss some of the ones that I see committed by our Saints. There's just no way of knowing at the time of a call or a missed call how much it will affect the final outcome unless it happens at the very end of the game and there's no time left to overcome the penalty.

As I've said many times before, I cannot automatically assume that the imbalance of penalties is a deliberate action by the officiating crews, or else I would HAVE to move on to another favorite pastime. And anyone who sincerely does believe that it is deliberate is the biggest fool for remaining a fan of the game.

 

[LonghornSaintsFan]

I'm convinced the NFL league office just sees the Saints as a fly at a BBQ bugging them. They are a small market team and have no real influence on their league. Last years officiating debacle was just too big for them to ignore because everyone and their mom knew it was probably the worst mistake in NFL officiating history.

 

[VPCajun]

And all it took was the Patriots getting screwed last weekend. The previous years of horrific officiating? No big deal, but don't screw with Tom Brady.

NFL planning "top-down review" of officiating

The NFL has an officiating problem, and changes may be coming this offseason.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Bingo!

It will be nothing but eyewash - except for how it affects The Chosen Ones!

And...

how they put it to the Saints even more.

 

[VPCajun]

“We’ve investigated ourselves and found no evidence of wrong doing”

But... "...retroactively Against The Saints, we have found..."

 

[SunshinePumper]

I know that we have seen lots of games featuring lopsided penalty totals. But I can also remember times in the past when we were on the good end of such lopsided games. I'm just not buying into the idea that the officials are only looking to flag one team. I think it's more plausible that there are times our team is guilty of the greater number of clear infractions.

Like you I wish that the officials would see all the times that our opponents are guilty of a penalty. But they occasionally miss some of the ones that I see committed by our Saints. There's just no way of knowing at the time of a call or a missed call how much it will affect the final outcome unless it happens at the very end of the game and there's no time left to overcome the penalty.

As I've said many times before, I cannot automatically assume that the imbalance of penalties is a deliberate action by the officiating crews, or else I would HAVE to move on to another favorite pastime. And anyone who sincerely does believe that it is deliberate is the biggest fool for remaining a fan of the game.

Well, unfortunately the Pelicans haven't yet proven themselves worthy of the extra attention.

 

[MJ in Calif]

 

[muddbug2]

I fully expect them to find no issues with the current NFL officiating process and organization.

If revenues and profits are up then there is no issue.

There is no other measuring stick.