Officiating (Merged Threads)

[BigBob]

The block in the back was a bad call. Torrey was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I agree, the silence from the booth was deafening. After the silence they mumbled something like that did not look like much of a block in the back.

[goldenelite28]

You also have to remember that the NFL put their best replacement refs on the Primetime games, so we also had the best of the best replacement refs for our game. Overall for the weekend I thought they did an okay job (they weren't up to the standard of the regular referees), although if the timeout debacle in Arizona had altered the outcome there would have been some serious outrage.

What standard is that?

Do you not recall how many horrible mistakes were made every week last year? Every single week there was one big screw up after another.
Hell the regular refs once messed up a coin toss.

[NCRAVEN]

I think they were right in upholding the Boldin TD.

Remember, the standard is "irrefutable evidence" to overturn a call on the field. It was close, but I never saw an angle where the ball was touching the ground.

Again, I was at a bar with dozens of people so I certainly could have missed it.

No you're right.

He said the call stands, not the call was confirmed. So there was no evidence to the call on the field.

Overall I think they did a good job, some ticky tack stuff here and there but it did balance out.

I noticed the seem to let go a lot of the illegal contact, which I am happy about.

[goodandfast]

I feel like if we didn't all know that the refs were replacements, we wouldn't really notice that much of a difference. A blown call here or there, a make up call here or there...it's all part of the game.

[Mista T]

If I were a locked out ref, I'd be getting prepared for a long, dull Autumn of watching NFL games on TV. There has been no discernible drop in the quality of officiating regular season games. The NFL has no motivation to collapse. Just as they did with the NFL players, all the NFL $$$-machine needs to do is stick to their position and the union will ultimately heel.

[jefe96]

A couple of observations from not just last night, but other games on Sunday:

Spotting is really bad. Always seems to be inches to feet to yards behind where it should actually be marked. Someone mentioned the Rice catch. He rolls untouched 2 yards past the marker and the official who is standing right there marks it right on the 1st down line.

No illegal contact being called. Which is fine, but just wondering why not. Any call being made against the defense seems to always be PI. Did not see one illegal contact call made in any game that I watched. Everything was always just called as a PI spot foul.

Is taunting still a penalty? Saw a couple of times last night where #20 for the Bengals made a hit and then stood right over the Ravens player. Thought this was a penalty. They seem to be afraid to call it.

As others mentioned they're not any worse then the regular refs have been at times. The calls just seem to be very inconsistent or non-existent.

[phacts]

Spotting has been atrocious with the replacement refs, from preseason thru last night. This is a big deal. It might not show up to the casual fan, but the spot of the ball determines winners and losers in a game of inches. As a former ref (low-level), I've always been amazed at the ridiculously accurate spots I've seen NFL officials get. Of course they make mistakes, but these replacement refs leave a lot to be desired with respect to their ball placement.

Personally, I want the old refs back as quickly as possible.

[GOTA]

If I were a locked out ref, I'd be getting prepared for a long, dull Autumn of watching NFL games on TV. There has been no discernible drop in the quality of officiating regular season games. The NFL has no motivation to collapse. Just as they did with the NFL players, all the NFL $$$-machine needs to do is stick to their position and the union will ultimately heel.

The NFL is not going to budge and really doesn't need to.

[alienrace]

I kept looking at Boldin's TD. Clearly he lost control of the ball but I havent seen an angle that clearly shows the ball laying on the ground. It almost looks like he trapped it in his lap. The refs made the right call not to overturn that one. Whether it was a catch or not? Only Boldin knows.

That's what it looked like to me, the ball moves, but it seems his hand and arm are still under it. It may have very well touched the ground, but in no way could any of those replay angles confirm that.

[NCCRavensFan]

What standard is that?

Do you not recall how many horrible mistakes were made every week last year? Every single week there was one big screw up after another.
Hell the regular refs once messed up a coin toss.

Like others have said, ball spots were off in general, also they didn't seem to be as aware of the play clock, I saw a few play clocks wind to zero, the Roethlisberger timeout being the most egregious.

[Lee Van Cleef]

I think the expectation that one must remove one's head before making a tackle, so as to not connect with it, is perhaps going a bit far.

[Haloti92]

I think the expectation that one must remove one's head before making a tackle, so as to not connect with it, is perhaps going a bit far.

[perryw9202]

You also have to remember that the NFL put their best replacement refs on the Primetime games, so we also had the best of the best replacement refs for our game. Overall for the weekend I thought they did an okay job (they weren't up to the standard of the regular referees), although if the timeout debacle in Arizona had altered the outcome there would have been some serious outrage.

Yeah.. They did put the best officials in the prime time games. It was mentioned in the second game that the referee was the same one who called the Giants/Cowboys game last Wednesday. Don't remember an official ever working 2 games in the same week.

Not sure if it was the entire crew or just the head ref.

[festivus]

Yeah.. They did put the best officials in the prime time games.

Well, that is discouraging.

Apparently the best of the replacements is about as good as the bad regular officials.

[Corey]

I know there was one game this weekend, I can't remember which one. Either Saints- Redskins or Bronco's- Steelers, where the ref missed 12 men on the field. The ball was snapped and the 12th player wasn't fully off the field.

I was screaming at my TV for the coach to throw the challenge flag. In the Superbowl between the Giants and Pats (the first one), Belichick was allowed to challenge a play that went off when the Giants had twelve men on the field after the refs failed to blow the whistle.

It's stuff like that, that worries me with the replacement refs. Sure they know the basic rules but do they really know the down right intricate details of the rule book. If the tuck rule weren't so infamous, could any of them have pulled that one out of the rule book?

[callahan09]

The Webb penalty (unnecessary roughness) didn't bother me too much. I think it was a legal hit, but some of the replays show what appears to be his helmet hitting Dalton first, which is always going to draw a penalty, so since it was such a close call, I don't think there was anything unfair about the call, it was one of those 50/50 things that could have been called or not.

The block in the back penalties last night were ridiculous, however.

Both the one called, and the ones not called.

T. Smith most certainly should not have been called for it, and the Bengals SHOULD HAVE been called for it TWICE on far more egregious instances of the penalty, but got away with it (there was even a third borderline instance that was still worse than T. Smith's).

[rharris1986]

There were also a number of blatant Cinci blocks in the back (committed by Cinci on Ravens defenders - on the running plays) that WERE NOT called. Had even a couple of these been called the Bengals would have only gotten field goals. But I guess it is what it is.

[Haloti92]

The replacement refs are no worse than the regular refs overall, and I would argue they are a bit better. The number of mistakes is not the issue, it is the net effect on the outcome of the games that matters. And the old refs, in their inexplicable desire to call every little thing they could possibly justify, regardless of circumstance, would affect the outcome more than what I have seen so far this season.

I'll take 10 mistakes where the ref, on a stopped clock injury, forgets to charge the team a timeout in the last 2 minutes or where the ref doesn't notice that the 12th defender is one foot from the sideline when the ball is snapped, etc, for every single instance where the old refs would call a 48 yard PI on 3rd and 18 where the defender's arm and the receivers arm jostle each other minorly as the ball is 10 feet from either player or where they call a phantom roughing the passer in the 4th quarter on a 3rd down incompletion thereby extending the drive.

To me, not calling a borderline foul is preferable to calling a borderline foul and the replacement refs fall into the former category more often than the latter.

Same goes with the minutiae regardng what is considered a catch or fumble, etc. The old refs always looked for any tiny evidence to disallow something, which hurt the game. The old refs would have disallowed the Boldin catch, imo (Gerry Austin said he would have overruled it based on replay). The old refs would have disallowed Tamme's 1-yd TD reception against the Steelers, imo, because the ball flew out as he went to the ground (eventhough he took two steps on the way down and had the ball for like 3 seconds). These kinds of sketchy rulings on technicalities make the game worse, imo. Because they are still subjective, and they are made regarding huge game-changing plays.

Bottomline for me is that I have no problem with the replacement refs, and I think people's memories of the old refs are more favorable than deserved.

[bacchys]

No he said the Boldin catch was not a TD and there was one other that he said they got wrong.

Overall I agree with most here, they weren't perfect but neither are the regular officials, who are hoping for a huge blunder that they can use as leverage. Not getting it though

The Boldin catch was a touchdown, so the "real official" only proved that the regular officials aren't significantly better than the replacements.

The Webb call is one I think the regular guys would have screwed up, too, given the league's emphasis on QB protection.

Overall, they weren't any better and they weren't any worse. They missed a lot of blocks in the back (Reed was shoved in the back during one of the Hawkins bubble passes, for instance), and the one on Smith was ticky-tack, but I didn't see anything different, really, in how they screwed up or what they missed.

[iggyman555]

r-title--
When I was playing/managing soccer, I learned a valuable lesson from a wise and very good soccer player from across the Pond - whining about the officials is for losers. Not that your thread is doing that, and it should be noted that the Ravens WON! What bothered me the most were the (at least from my perspective) misplaced spots for both teams, at times appearing like they were off by two yards or so. One early 1st down by the Ravens looked pretty questionable, IMO.

OTOH, I tend to agree with both of your comments - there were some ??? calls, but overall not a "bad" performance from the refs, and it WAS funny listening to Jerry Mxyzptlk (or whatever his name was) in the booth telling us that Boldin defintiely didn't catch the TD pass and other myths.

misplaced spots for both teams, at times appearing like they were off by two yards or so.
yesssss, we were at the bar and were like how the heck did they get that spot...i remember one play the guy ran to mark the spot then took two steps to the right lol