The Replacement Referee Debacle

This past weekend's games were a nightmare in ineffectiveness. The replacement referees, who previously weren't making any worse calls than the regular referees, turned the games into long painful fiascos in bad calls, non-calls and ridiculous calls. The final straw was the Packers-Seahawks game last night which ended on the worst possible blantant missed call thus far. With the final seconds ticking away, Seahawks QB Russell Wilson threw up a hail Mary pass into the endzone. Several players went up for the catch but, Packers S M.D. Jenning came down cleanly with the ball solely in his possession. As he fell to the turf, WR Golden Tate reached his hands in to gain joint possession of the ball. 2 officials rushed in, with 1 calling a touchback for the Packers and 1 calling a TD. After review, the officials gave the TD to the Seahawks, robbing the Packers of the win. The outrage and outcry from the call was felt around the league and even outside of the NFL with even NBA players like LeBron James weighing in on it. While this was the worst call of the night, the game was filled with numerous missed calls.

The problem with the replacement officials is their lack of experience in calling NFL games. Many of these officials come from lower level college ranks and have never dealt with the speed of the NFL. Many times they are lost in the game, and miss many calls or make the wrong calls. There are a ridiculous amount of "phantom calls" where players did not in fact commit a penalty. You can hear the frustration in the players and coaches voices as they try to keep from getting fined for things they want to say but can't. The problem has gotten so bad that the NFL Players Association sent a letter to the league requesting that the league negotiate a new deal with the regular referees and bring them back to work immediately. the NFLPA is concerned that the poor play calling will result in an increase number of player injuries. Players and coaches fear that the poor play calling may cost teams potential playoff spots later in the season if they are within a game or 2 of making the playoffs and a missed call results in a loss in a must win game. Oddsmakers are concerned that missed or bad calls can change the outcome of games and effect betting and oddsmaking. Fans are concerned about how losses will effect their teams overall standings and how slow games are running due to the constant start and stop to review every call.

Without the necessary and proper training the replacement referees cannot possibly provide the proper refereeing necessary to keep games going at a regular steady pace and keeping players safe. Since there isnt time to get the replacements trained, it is in the best interest of the league to get their regular referees back as quickly as possible.