Has league-wide officiating gotten worse?

[LabattBlue]

Just now, stosh64 said:

It's just mind boggling to me that the NFL, a multi billion dollar operation, uses part time, amateur officials.

 

They need full time professionals that face reprimands when their calls are sub-par.

 

It's not F#n rocket science.  Blows my mind that the people that have the power don't care.

You don’t think they are graded weekly, and informed of said grade?

[stosh64]

Just now, BTB said:

You don’t think they are graded weekly, and informed of said grade?

Not in any way that really matters.

[K-9]

Can’t get any worse. It is the worst officiated game in sports. Bar none. 

[Big Blitz]

You need to be allowed ONE potential defensive pass interference call challenge per game.  If you get it right you get another one.

 

I can live with their awfulness if we can get that.    

[K-9]

2 minutes ago, BTB said:

You don’t think they are graded weekly, and informed of said grade?

Absolutely, they are reviewed and graded each week. Big whip. The worst thing that happens is the lowest rated officials don’t get playoff and SB assignments. There are no immediate repercussions. 

[LabattBlue]

Just now, K-9 said:

Absolutely, they are reviewed and graded each week. Big whip. The worst thing that happens is the lowest rated officials don’t get playoff and SB assignments. There are no immediate repercussions. 

What would you expect?  Guys being fired and hired on a weekly basis?

[Xwnyer]

1 hour ago, The Red King said:

I know, I screamed at the officiating in the Miami game, but I mean overall.  A critical no-call in OT in the Colts/Titans game.  And it seems most any game I tune in to has some wretched calls.

 

So, my question is two-fold.  First, is it just me, or does officiating overall this season seem noticably worse across the entire league then prior seasons?  And second, if so, what do you think can be done about it?  Nobody wants to see games decided by the zebras.

Yes Indy tenn game was pathetic

[Big Blitz]

 

[Robert Paulson]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

Absolutely, they are reviewed and graded each week. Big whip. The worst thing that happens is the lowest rated officials don’t get playoff and SB assignments. There are no immediate repercussions. 

if thy are graded  they are not improving and learning - same crews making same mistakes. crews are also not learning from other crews mistakes. 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Robert Paulson

[corta765]

Since 2010 when the rule changes came down on hits to the head, QB protection, WHAT IS A CATCH, etc.. officiating has been pretty rough. BUT to their defense the league has basically created this problem with the vague and ambiguines nature of these rules that make you question how one thing is a penalty and other play isn't. That really makes you screwed as an official in my opinion.

 

Also I would add the NFL does not utilize technology to the max for officials. The camera angles, replay ability, etc for networks and fans supersedes many times what the refs have which is insane. Why they do not have a GPS tracker for first down or TD lines is just beyond my understanding at this point. Additionally the refusal and angered nature that the refs responded to having a sky judge really limits things. Anyone could've seen in that Saints Rams title game it was a penalty. IDK why it is viewed soo poorly by refs to have a guy buzz down and say you need to at minimum review this and it probably should be a penalty. It cheapened the experience for everyone involved.

 

So yea the reffing has been poor for the last decade, but so much is either not being used to help them, they do not want to use to help, or the leagues rules are just so dumb that I am not sure a 1000 great refs would make that much of a difference.

[billsfan89]

1 hour ago, LeGOATski said:

This is some sort of backwards thinking, though.

 

Don't fix what ain't workin?

My point was that officiating is always shitted on. So I am not sure if something that is constantly being criticized is worse now than it was in years past. When was NFL officiating considered good? When was it not broken? Seriously asking.

 

Officiating in every sport is has subjective components that are constantly criticized by fans. Now some points of contention are coherent and worth taking a look into. Often times the league will make points of emphasis of rule changes to adjust to legit issues. But a general criticism is just always there no matter what.

 

I can’t think of a single time in my 20+ years as a sports fan where anyone in any sport has praised officiating in general. Every single fan base always complains about the refs both rightfully and just a general B word session.

Edited November 2, 2021 by billsfan89

[Rochesterfan]

45 minutes ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

It’s gotten worse because the NFL has, over the last 10 years, had refs emphasize certain penalties. This year is taunting, in years past it’s been the 5yard holding penalty, excessive celebrations, roughing the QB, hitting defenseless wrs. 
 

the issue arises when you get crews that are still zeroed in on some of those hot buttons, while others aren’t. It’s all unevenly applied. 

Honestly hockey may be the most solid officiating. As controversial as it may sound, I think it’s because they have younger guys calling them games. NBA is pretty solid too. Fans don’t like HOW the games are called, but they’re consistent in following the rules established. MLB is trash and the umps are divas. It needs to go digital. 

 

33 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Can’t get any worse. It is the worst officiated game in sports. Bar none. 

 

 

Totally disagree.  
 

I think by far football is the most complicated and fastest moving - with the most moving parts and the officials are significantly better than any of the other sports.

 

Baseball to me is terrible and it should be by far the easiest. 
 

Hockey is the most inconsistent and suffers from the most “make-up” calls of any major sports.  Guys get tripped, punched, hooked, grabbed - all game long and then suddenly - a whistle goes for something off to the side - it is just stupid.  Hockey is also a fast, crazy mess - so I get missing a few things here or there, but they ignore obvious things and love to “put the whistle away” late in games when the egregious penalties become more apparent.

 

NBA is all about the stars - if you are a star player - you get calls all game long - they don’t call travels, lane violations, double dribbles, and when a guy breathes on you - wham whistle.  It is also typically slower and easier to control - it like baseball should be easy to have consistent calls across multiple games and multiple seasons and yet it doesn’t.  It suffers from the same issue that people complain about football - some Refs want the FaceTime more than others.

 

Football to me is still the best officiated sport and they do a great job with tons of things, but at the same time they have inconsistencies just like everyone else.  They cut down on holds - especially on passing plays, but when you see a guy break contain - even a small tug gets called.  That impacts teams like Buffalo more than a team like TB because the QB style of play.  The roughing the passer and taunting calls are bad, but those are points of emphasis and therefore will be bad for a few years and then fade as the players adjust.  
 

I think in general officiating everywhere is 1000x more difficult as there are more cameras and better high def cameras and TVs that allow fans to see things that were harder to see.  For the most part - I do not want things like a sky cam looking at every play and then deciding afterwards was there holding or hands to the face or any of a million other ticky-tacky fouls that occur on every play.  I would like it to look at things like egregious PI calls or fumbles and the such, but for the most part - I would let it go.

 

 

[YoloinOhio]

Nothing is worse than CFB officiating 

[Utah John]

1 hour ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

No it hasn't.

 

The rules are getting more and more complex every year like what is a catch, what is roughing the passer, etc etc.

 

Then on top of that you have multiple camera angles in super slow motion and they highlight the bad calls over and over again.

 

So it APPEARS as though officiating is getting worse but given the challenges i think it has stayed the same if not improved slightly.

I think this is right, that the rules are more complex.  

 

For every horrible call (Colts v Titans, Jets v Bengals, Ravens v Lions) there is an amazingly accurate real-time decision that shows these guys can generally do the job.  But this is no excuse for the bad call.  In fact it's a deeper indictment of the referees.  They CAN do a good job, so why do they screw up so much?

[nucci]

just as bad but the roughing the passer calls are getting ridiculous. Called 3 on tampa on one drive. Brutal calls.....can barely touch the QB now 

[quinnearlysghost88]

15 minutes ago, Rochesterfan said:

 

 

 

Totally disagree.  
 

I think by far football is the most complicated and fastest moving - with the most moving parts and the officials are significantly better than any of the other sports.

 

Baseball to me is terrible and it should be by far the easiest. 
 

Hockey is the most inconsistent and suffers from the most “make-up” calls of any major sports.  Guys get tripped, punched, hooked, grabbed - all game long and then suddenly - a whistle goes for something off to the side - it is just stupid.  Hockey is also a fast, crazy mess - so I get missing a few things here or there, but they ignore obvious things and love to “put the whistle away” late in games when the egregious penalties become more apparent.

 

NBA is all about the stars - if you are a star player - you get calls all game long - they don’t call travels, lane violations, double dribbles, and when a guy breathes on you - wham whistle.  It is also typically slower and easier to control - it like baseball should be easy to have consistent calls across multiple games and multiple seasons and yet it doesn’t.  It suffers from the same issue that people complain about football - some Refs want the FaceTime more than others.

 

Football to me is still the best officiated sport and they do a great job with tons of things, but at the same time they have inconsistencies just like everyone else.  They cut down on holds - especially on passing plays, but when you see a guy break contain - even a small tug gets called.  That impacts teams like Buffalo more than a team like TB because the QB style of play.  The roughing the passer and taunting calls are bad, but those are points of emphasis and therefore will be bad for a few years and then fade as the players adjust.  
 

I think in general officiating everywhere is 1000x more difficult as there are more cameras and better high def cameras and TVs that allow fans to see things that were harder to see.  For the most part - I do not want things like a sky cam looking at every play and then deciding afterwards was there holding or hands to the face or any of a million other ticky-tacky fouls that occur on every play.  I would like it to look at things like egregious PI calls or fumbles and the such, but for the most part - I would let it go.

 

 

NBA doesn’t call double dribble or travel on almost anyone. It’s why I said fans don’t like HOW the game is called but they’re consistent. Also they’re starting to clean up some of the guys drawing fouls by jumping into the defender while shooting. Stars get better treatment in every sport. 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

Yeah it's just like everything else that you see in the world. It smells bad, but eventually olfactory fatigue sets in and you move on. The choice is tune in or tune out. On a scale of 1-10, it may have gone from 1.5 to 1.0.

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, BTB said:

You don’t think they are graded weekly, and informed of said grade?

No I don't think they are. They only time they are probably even reprimanded is a extreme blatant miss like the Saints/Rams a couple years ago. Officiating has been gradually getting worse every year. The Bills don't even have to be involved anymore. Shawn Smith's crew last Sunday is one of the worst. Why the NFL doesn't go with FT refs is mindboggling. 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

2 hours ago, RiotAct said:

doesn’t seem any worse than previous seasons.

 

 

One way to attempt to fix it would be to hire full-time refs that train and watch game tape like crazy on their downtime, instead of using guys who are  gym teachers and financial consultants in their “day jobs”.

 

I tried to give two check marks, but the system won't let me.

 

One of the arguments I've head for years is they like these bank presidents, attorneys, school district superintendents as officals as they make large enough salaries not to be influenced by bribes.  The two big issues with this is:

 

1   With as much money as there is floating around today on betting, these guys don't make enough money to not consider a bribe.  They need to sign Bill Gates and Warren Buffet as officials to stop that.

 

2   We're not watching Leave it to Beaver where Ward has breakfast at home, reads the paper with his coffee and then heads into the office around 9:00 and is back home to have his martini before dinner at 5:00.  Guys that make the kind of money in those jobs are going into work and 7:00 in the morning and come home around 7 at night, then bring work home with them to look at for a couple hours.  They don't have time to watch film, review the rule books, etc.

 

The other general comments I'll make about the overall level of officiating is TV's and number of camera angles have got much sharper than refs gotten worse!

[Direhard Fan]

Sunday showed me there is no more "In the Grasp" on QB's.  Just another example.   Play off games are much better.  Let them play.