Opinion: The NFL has a Reffing Problem
In what might be the classic photo from the NFL's use of replacement refs, one official signals TD and another signals timeout for possession change on the final play of the Packers-Seahawks game on Monday night. The TD call stood - and withstood a booth replay - despite clear evidence that the Packers' M.D. Jennings (43) possessed the ball before Seahawks' WR Golden Tate (81) Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
Roger Goodell watched one Will Smith movie and decided to change the entire sport and foster rules that the referees themselves can’t understand or call properly.
Week after week, I see incompetent calls made by the same referees on the gridiron, and it is somehow going in Tom Brady’s favor. The league in the past has tried to make amends for their incompetence by adding challenges on pass interference calls, but those challenges got abolished in 1 year. When every coach in the league realized the refs have an IQ of 70 when “under the hood.”
Like most leagues, the NFL is extraordinarily slow to change the rules or a particular rule. The NHL, for example, only started to call slashing more often because Sidney Crosby almost sliced off Mark Methot’s finger. VAR in soccer became more readily available for the top leagues when it was shown the Assistant referees were far too slow to keep up with the run of play and accurately make game-changing offsides calls. The MLB is potentially moving to “Robo umpires” as it’s clear that 80-year-old men’s eyesight isn’t what it used to be. Referring is an imperfect medium to judge. I can give you a laundry list of infractions a referee missed during the game, but one big, game-changing call is all it takes for these men to look foolish. The NFL has left these referees on an island, and they should take some of the heat.
I think the NFL has implemented primitive rules full of cowardice that have not allowed the referees to call these games and “let the boys play accurately.” Roger Goodell watched one Will Smith movie and decided to change the entire sport and foster rules that the referees themselves can’t understand or call properly. The Miami Dolphins had the right idea this year, and it’s clear the handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s injury was a protest against the league’s shitty refereeing and the league’s cowardice rules as a result. Who am I to tell Tua that he shouldn’t play in that incredibly meaningful Thursday Night Football Game? Was Tua concussed the week before? Probably, but if he says he can go, who am I to tell him what to do? If the player consented to bodily harm on a football field, I am comfortable and accept watching Tua’s body contract and make gang signs on the 50-yard line. The players in the NFL, much like every contact sport in the world, understand the risks associated with their sport. I bet half the league’s brains are already mashed potatoes from all the concussions they have already taken.
As someone who has never played a down of football in my life, as this game played every Sunday is terrifying, I am entirely willing to watch these elite athletes bang their heads together like bighorn sheep for our pleasure, betting purposes, and entertainment. At the same time, they make unimaginable amounts of money. This article is a formal complaint to the NFL to take away all fouls that start with the words “unnecessary,” “roughing,” or “running into.”