Harrison Hit Recap on ESPNews

refs have been super bad this year

 

The refs have been GOD AWFUL this season. I think they are being told that when in doubt, throw the flag and then pick it up if they decide nothing happened. I also think they are replying on instant replay too much.

 

You're absolutely right, and that's because Roger Goodell has instructed the refs that if they are unsure if something is a penalty, throw a flag, then consult with the other referees and try to figure it out. That's a terrible way to officiate. If they aren't sure if something is a penalty, it likely means it isn't and no flag should be thrown. If it was a penalty, it would be obvious.

 

Nope, it's not just you. Like I posted above I think the refs are throwing first and asking questions second.

 

They are because that's what they were told to do. It's such a dumb way to ref a game. I hate all the penalties these days.

 

Guys, it's NOT THE REFS! What do you think, they all of a sudden became stupid? It's what they're being told to do and what they're limited to by the rules. My god, wtf is with the rules around catching a ball these days? When I was a kid (The 1990s and early 2000s, not too long ago!) you needed to have control of the ball and two feet/one knee down, and that was it. Catch. You drop the ball after that, it's a fumble. No football moves, no falling to the ground, you didn't have to stand up with the ball for it to count. Now you can literally catch the ball on the 2 yard line, cross the goal line, take 10 steps through the end zone, go out of bounds by the uprights, but if you were stumbling that whole time and then fall down and the ball comes out, it's incomplete. Control has nothing to do with it, steps have nothing to do with it. There are crazy arbitrary asinine rules in place. What happens after the play now affects the play. Why? What for? Whose idea was this?

Then there're the challenges. If we let officials make calls all over the field without the head ref overruling them, like we do, why make the head ref the one to review the plays? Put an extra official upstairs, with a name and a camera on him for a little accountability, and let him look at them from above and buzz down the result. You know how long challenges would take then? 10 seconds. Not 7 minutes. Okay, so maybe for this one it is intentional sabotage to lengthen the game and squeeze in more commercials. I can understand that. That only f---s with me the viewer, and notsomuch the game itself. But what about the rest of the random rules? Are they just trying to get us to hate them?

The refs honestly don't know what's what. I don't know how anyone could have a clear conscience after taking away a Calvin Johnson-type touchdown, but they seem to. They must be feeling some kind of pressure to actually mess with games like that. The question is, who would apply such pressure for such a stupid reason, and why?

And when did the "indisputable visual evidence to overturn" thing go away? Remember that? They didn't just have to think it, they had to see it. If it was inconclusive, the play remained. And yet Hochuli took away that Antonio Brown catch that looked clean from every single angle. As far as I could tell, the ball might have hit the ground, but all you could see on any of the replays shown was the ball hitting his hands and then disappearing into his body. Maybe it hit, maybe it didn't. But Ed decided it did, even though he had no visual evidence (unless he gets extra camera angles that we don't, but I've only ever heard the opposite of that). It was literally just watching a ref reverse a good call based on a gut feeling.

My point is, these guys are as smart and sharp as they've ever been, but the rules have been clouded for them. They are getting God knows what kind of instructions to go along with the ridiculous rules in place. I don't like to be the "I know better" type, but if I got to make the rules and change this game it would be as close to perfect as could be in 5 minutes.

 

Great post. Well said!

And for good measure.... :godell:

 

Godell doesn't want the Steelers in another Super Bowl so he thinks by suspending Harrison it'll be that much harder for them to get there.

 

The conspiracy is there my friend all you have to do is look at Kemo to see that the refs and the league are out to get us. Never mind the fact that Kemo sucks and really deserves every penalty he gets! It just proves the point...if you don't believe me ask Jessy Ventura, I heard he is looking into this very thing!

 

And let's add that they're expected to be doctors now too since they're supposed to monitor players for signs of concussions. To go along with everything you said I'm amazed they're as effective as they are today especially when you consider they're only part time employees.