NFL Ref Crews

OK. So like I have not posted in like many months or even a year. Anyway, used to post a lot, hardly at all now.

So, why post now? I'll post on any "ref" issue since I was one for 30 years. Well, not football but basketball. Also did a stint with softball for 7 years. Mindset is still the same though.

Item of interest or maybe not but Gene Steratore's father worked one of my HS games, way way back. BTW, his father was also "Gene". My dad knew him well. Both Gene and Vincent, his older brother were born in Uniontown, Pa. Gene now resides in Washington, Pa last I heard.

Anyway. The biggest issue I have with the officiating in the NFL is experience. Way back, you only became a NFL official when you were promoted or offered the job from D1 college days. You had to have a lot of game experience from the college game for them to approach you. There was no real developmental track.

So, what I have seen is a bunch of DEI type hires. There are now a bunch of female officials and the college game just started getting women involved over the last few years. So, if they did not come from the college game, where did they come from? It is just not these women either but I watch a lot of college football and don't really recognize a lot of these people. So, where are they coming from? You would expect the white hats from the upper D1 level to be approached and that used to be the case. Then they would work their way up to becoming a white hat in the NFL.

Believe me, experience is a key factor in officiating. After 30 years and over 6000 games, I have seen a lot of both good and bad. Politics absolutely plays a huge part and it is clear the NFL is promoting officials, mostly women with very little experience. A good NFL official should have around 15 years of D1 experience, minimum. I can guarantee that a lot of these men and women have no where near that experience level.

In their zeal to be "woke" and afford opportunity, or the appearance of, they have cut way to many corners, hence you see the problems this has and is causing. It is purely a lack of GAME experience at a very high level. I can see it. I have seen it over the years. People get promoted and moved up for all the wrong reasons yet no one is asking these questions. They never will. Meanwhile the NFL will just send out the apologists to explain these situations. Come Monday or Tuesday they usually come out and say, oops, sorry, we/they screwed up. Move along.

Meanwhile the game suffers as we get crap show after crap show every week. Inconsistent calls vary between games. No one knows what a legal catch is anymore etc., etc. Holding is just well again, explain it again. Be consistent. I can say that at least they got the OPI's correct and they got the Steeler's twice and then the Lion's twice. So, they were consistent in how they called those. You can then argue good or bad but at least they made the same type of contact call in the same situations.

Yesterday's abortion was a classic example of a decent game gone down the crapper in the last 30 seconds. We used to talk about this during timeouts with under a minute on the clock. Don't screw this up in the last 30. Don't call stuff that you have not called prior. Now is not the time to interject yourself in the game. Granted, the 2 OPI's were in my opinion correct but no way should that play be allowed to continue on once the player was effectively stopped. FYI, my wife says she heard a whistle. My hearing is now shot after all these years and I did not hear it, but clearly the players all relaxed except for the ball carrier, so I believe there was a whistle.

Again, in many of these crap situations, they involve the lack of experience of some crew members. Even though I did not officiate football, I can tell an under experienced official from one that has 10-15 years under his or her belt. It is all about, let it go and replay will fix it. Pure B.S.

rutan

 

not only were the opi's equal (metcalf and st brown) but called by 2 different officials
awesome (and rare ) to see consistency like that on opi
while I agree the play should have been called forward progress that worked out for us in the end because it let the clock expire
what I hate is all the talking heads "its a shame the officials took over the end of the game" when all they did was make the same calls they were making earlier in the game

 

It is funny everyone is saying this foul never gets called, am I am thinking did they even watch the game, or just the highlights? I thought this was the 3rd OPI in the game for a pick.

 

I still say its payback from the blown coin toss call vs the Lions.


And the refs gave us a gift on the play before in the end zone.

 

Yeah the OPI call on Teslaa on the next to last play was not interference but neither was the one called on Washington earlier. Not only wasn't it OPI but the Lions defender had DK's shirt half ripped off on the play.

 

Always enjoy your posts rutan, however rare!

 

DEI hires? Can you say marketing in the NFL ( roughly 40% of the TV watchers are female ) So....

And what billionaire sports league does not have full time officials?


PS : If you see Phil Luckett do a DK Metcalf on him for me.

I wish you would post a bit more. Basketball ref's have a lot of power. They can alter scoring plays, by taking points off or putting points on ANY play. The NBA ref who was busted betting on games winning something 70 % of the time. Sure -sure the game is not fixed. He was a lone wolf right? If you buy that, I have a bridge to sell you in NY city and the tolls are going way up.

 

DEI hires? Can you say marketing in the NFL ( roughly 40% of the TV watchers are female ) So....

And what billionaire sports league does not have full time officials?

So you make my point. It is marketing just like I said only I said DEI. Either way, they are hiring not based on "the best" but on marketing. Again, I see no feeder system that works into the NFL as it used to. Maybe I am blind, but I have yet to see a woman working a top level SEC College game either. So, again, where are they getting that game experience to work an NFL game no less?

Again, not to just pick on the women. In no way am I inferring that women are not capable to work an NFL game, but please could we get ones that have a high level of experience? That goes for all of them too. I've seen what I perceive to be issues with newer white and black officials. The NFL should not be the place to gain game experience. That should already be a given. What then gets worked on are factors of coverages, the increased speed of the game and so forth.

I can just give you anecdotal evidence as it pertains to me. About 10 years ago I was working a game with a black woman official. She was OK but scared to death to blow the whistle. It was only her second year officiating. She did just an OK job but she was scared like a deer in the headlights. At the end of the season I hear she was offered a position in Division II college ball. Mind you, she only had 2 years experience at the high school level, yet she was being offered a job working D2 college ball. I pity the other officials that had to work with her. No way was she ready but as you say, marketing is the driving force.

The women's D1 college schools are desperate for women officials and doubly desperate for black women officials. To hell with being capable, we just need that type of body out there. Now, you know what that does to the other officials that have to work with these people? You can imagine the problems that can and will occur. I've seen it first hand. Mind you, again, nothing wrong as long as they are qualified/experienced. Although I like the women's D1 games (sometimes), the officiating is just horrible.

As I said, this is the problem with the NFL from where I sit. There are just to many bad calls that have to be corrected every week by the league, but hey, at least their marketing is good, right? Now bring on that Bud Lite!

I wish you would post a bit more. Basketball ref's have a lot of power. They can alter scoring plays, by taking points off or putting points on ANY play. The NBA ref who was busted betting on games winning something 70 % of the time. Sure -sure the game is not fixed. He was a lone wolf right? If you buy that, I have a bridge to sell you in NY city and the tolls are going way up.

Well, thanks. I appreciate that. Unfortunately, I retired (from work) over 2 years ago. My days of testosterone filled replies are long gone. I don't even watch basketball anymore since it is just unwatchable due to the marketing of the game. It is really bad from an officiating perspective. The Steeler's? I have lost my mo-jo with them too. I enjoy the games but as I said in the Metcalf thread, they don't pay me so I really don't care. It doesn't help either that I live 9-10 hours from Pittsburgh and have for some 40 years so I am always late on the news. Don't get me wrong, I still have roots, enjoy Pittsburgh Dad and all that, but I dismantled my Steeler room and gave my kids all the stuff I had acquired over the years. Now I stare at a blank wall with just a big TV and actually like it.

We'll see though. If I feel like I can add something without starting a fire, I might post. I still read the forum pretty regular, I just don't want to get into a long distance peeing contest any longer, so best to just enjoy the posts.

rutan

 

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I am not against women refs either. But it takes a certain type of person to ref a game with a field full of alpha males. In my opinion refs should earn their bones at the high school level, then college and only the very best ones should make the NFL.


But DEI and markert hires say otherwise.




Although it is a bit off topic, something is a bit off with the NBA game. The best five players are not American. Say what?! If somebody told you the best five jazz musicians were not American, you would say nonsense. Yet the game has changed. Now big men can shoot as a group where they basically could not years ago. As I mentioned the NBA and college ball have a real problem with gambling, and refs. It is massively understated.



In the future I believe Eastern European players will make up 15 % of the NFL. They have thier share of big athletic men over 200 pounds and just like the NBA has benefitted non- USA players, so can the NFL. But they need a farm system in the right nations ( high school and college ) first. Not England or France!



Sad to see you change into being a casual Steeler fan as you have the makings of a smart football guy. As we age we give some things up / change. Personally, I am still a hard core Steeler fan, and over 50 . A wife and children did not change that. A still engage " in long distance pissing contests " for time to time.


- JB