NFL officiating is broken. How do we fix it?

[Yobogoya!]

28 minutes ago, BuffaloBillies said:

OBVIOUSLY full-time refs. Well-paid who have NO OTHER JOBS but to work on their craft all year long.

Heavily trained and scrutinized all year long. Weekly meetings with league refs to go over the hundreds of plays and how best to call everything for consistency.

Strict review policies and weekly "grades". One week of a "C" or worse, you're on probation. Another "C" or worse week you're gone. 

 

Yeah and then you wouldn’t have, for example, an attorney for the company that worked on Gillette Stadium being a head referee on the field for Patriots games. 
 

That one still blows my mind. 

[oldmanfan]

Add 3 refs to each game so coverage of the field is better.   Instruct officials to only call penalties that are egregious.  Then eliminate replay, eliminate challenges, and realize mistakes can be made.

[Mr. WEO]

42 minutes ago, BuffaloBillies said:

OBVIOUSLY full-time refs. Well-paid who have NO OTHER JOBS but to work on their craft all year long.

Heavily trained and scrutinized all year long. Weekly meetings with league refs to go over the hundreds of plays and how best to call everything for consistency.

Strict review policies and weekly "grades". One week of a "C" or worse, you're on probation. Another "C" or worse week you're gone. 

 

 

I don't understand the logic that informs the opinion that "full time refs" would change an outcome.  How is that been working forever in MLB?  lol---not well.  And it makes no sense to say that the NFL system has suddenly "broke".  They haven't changed their hiring and training methods. 

 

"Bad calls" aren't made because the officials simply don't understand the rule book---it's because they didn't see what viewers feel they saw. So having them "study (or whatnot) on the season's off months would accomplish little. 

 

I think, with replay, officials "back in New York" should be able to simply say "that was a penalty" or "pick up the flag" on any significant play.  Also, simplify the rules.  Offensive holding should be radically simplified--it's a penalty if you take a guy to the ground---not for transiently grabbing his jersey sleeve for 2-3 seconds.    Also, a TD pass should be ruled as such immediately   when the ball in the receivers possession crosses the plane (same as a rushing TD)---the catch should not have to "survive the ground".  These are only 2 examples where, in seeking clarity, the rule have only introduced hopeless complexity, leading to all of these contorted referees interpretations.  Get rid of challenges.  Let the "eye in the sky" decide if they disagree with any call.

 

Logic would dictate that the solution isn't having "full time refs" sitting around  watching film for 7 moths out of the year.  It all gets fixed by a systematic review and simplification of the rules. 

Edited November 8 by Mr. WEO

[benderbender]

7 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

The XFL had the best system. They had Dean Blandino review everything. When something was missed or if a call was incorrect, they radioed the refs immediately. It didn't slow the game down and they rarely had bad calls. 

 

I need to see if there are any full XFL games on YouTube where you can see this in action. It's worth seeing it 

 

Another cool thing they did in the XFL was each team had one and challenge where you could ask for a review on anything.

But the thing the NFL chose to copy was the kickoffs. Figures. 

[Chicken Boo]

Nothing in that tweet is likely to happen.  All it would do is draw more attention to mistakes that officials make.

 

It doesn't matter what they do, there will always be bad or missed calls.  

 

The job is so much harder and the game moves so much faster at eye level than most people can fathom.  It's easy to criticize when you're at home, watching in 4K from a wide angle.

[GunnerBill]

We have tried: full time professionals; younger guys identified and fast tracked; year round training; greater explanations and transparency; and obviously video technology in the Premier League soccer. 

 

And after all the stat the standard is worse than it was before. 

[Livinginthepast]

I think it would be quite easy to fix a big portion of the problem by doing:

 

1. A coaches challenge on penalty calls or non calls. Only 1 allowed per half. Lose the challenge then lose a Time out.

2. Use the eye in the sky to automatically review big calls in the game and get them right. If a bogus holding call is made that never happened or a severe facemask (like Darnold's) is uncalled. Then buzz the referee and tell him to review and overturn the call if necessary.

 

The game has become way to fast for these officials and most of the calls are guessing. I'm surprised that they even get it right as often as they do tbh. One other factor is that in the past there were less teams and less officiating crews. I am sure that has watered down the quality as well.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I would go the totally opposite way. No instant replays, no challenges. Simplify the rules. Just call what you see and move on.

 

the “problem” isn’t the officiating. The officiating has actually gotten a lot better. The problem is we now have about a thousand cameras in slo mo reviewing every angle of a guy’s shin possibly touching down, which makes every call or non call subject to scrutiny. 
 

they need to just simplify the rules (eg, what is a catch?), and make quick common sense decisions, and we should accept that errors will be made but that they will mostly get things right.

[Figster]

Simple fix, add missed or wrong calls to the red flag challenge. Number of uses allowed stays the same. Perhaps when officials start getting put on the hot seat for bad officiating it will change. The important thing is to get the game called correctly. Especially on plays that can decide the outcome of the game.

 

Bengals had 3 penalties that should have been called vs Ravens on the last play of the game.

 

THREE

 

Awwwww come on man

Edited November 8 by Figster

[Ethan in Cleveland]

18 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

I don't understand the logic that informs the opinion that "full time refs" would change an outcome.  How is that been working forever in MLB?  lol---not well.  And it makes no sense to say that the NFL system has suddenly "broke".  They haven't changed their hiring and training methods. 

 

"Bad calls" aren't made because the officials simply don't understand the rule book---it's because they didn't see what viewers feel they saw. So having them "study (or whatnot) on the season's off months would accomplish little. 

 

I think, with replay, officials "back in New York" should be able to simply say "that was a penalty" or "pick up the flag" on any significant play.  Also, simplify the rules.  Offensive holding should be radically simplified--it's a penalty if you take a guy to the ground---not for transiently grabbing his jersey sleeve for 2-3 seconds.    Also, a TD pass should be ruled as such immediately   when the ball in the receivers possession crosses the plane (same as a rushing TD)---the catch should not have to "survive the ground".  These are only 2 examples where, in seeking clarity, the rule have only introduced hopeless complexity, leading to all of these contorted referees interpretations.  Get rid of challenges.  Let the "eye in the sky" decide if they disagree with any call.

 

Logic would dictate that the solution isn't having "full time refs" sitting around  watching film for 7 moths out of the year.  It all gets fixed by a systematic review and simplification of the rules. 

Agree.  Full time refs won't make a difference.  These guys know the rules. It's just too difficult 

[seattlebillsfan]

1 minute ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I would go the totally opposite way. No instant replays, no challenges. Simplify the rules. Just call what you see and move on.

 

the “problem” isn’t the officiating. The officiating has actually gotten a lot better. The problem is we now have about a thousand cameras in slo mo reviewing every angle of a guy’s shin possibly touching down, which makes every call or non call subject to scrutiny. 
 

they need to just simplify the rules (eg, what is a catch?), and make quick common sense decisions, and we should accept that errors will be made but that they will mostly get things right.

Yes, there are 2 options:

1. Old school: complete human accountability with no replay. Add a ref or two if needed to cover the entire field effectively 

2. total technology solution. Just 1 human as mouthpiece for sensors, video review, total tech. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

2 minutes ago, seattlebillsfan said:

Yes, there are 2 options:

1. Old school: complete human accountability with no replay. Add a ref or two if needed to cover the entire field effectively 

2. total technology solution. Just 1 human as mouthpiece for sensors, video review, total tech. 

To me, option 1 is so much better. Won’t slow down the game. I also think the result would be a focus on important calls that matter to the play. 
 

for example, how many times is there some silly penalty or non-call away from the ball that has no bearing on anything? 
 

even last night on the 2-point conversion, yeah, Giesicki was held, but at no point was burrow looking his way on the route. And burrow’s face mask was touched, but it didn’t impact his movement or throw. I can live with those errors. 

[Chandler#81]

AI

[JerseyBills]

49 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

Fewer tv angles may actually make the game more enjoyable in this regard. 
 

im not sure officiating fell off a cliff so much as we can now hyper monitor every detail

 

room for improvement but maybe not as drastic as seems 

Give coaches 2 - 3 or more additional flags for penalties, it should take the people monitoring off field under a minute to determine if a penalty was legit or not

[BuffaloBillyG]

46 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

Fewer tv angles may actually make the game more enjoyable in this regard. 
 

im not sure officiating fell off a cliff so much as we can now hyper monitor every detail

 

room for improvement but maybe not as drastic as seems 

This is worth stating. 

 

Officials get one chance at one angle to catch an infraction or not as it happens live. 

 

They don't have the luxury of sitting on the couch with a bag of Doritos, having a camera crew zoom in and have super slow replay while knowing exactly what to look for. And they aren't being spoonfed an opinion from the announcers.

 

Add into this that the average fan does not know what actually is and isn't a foul. They THINK they do. But if you read the game day threads you would see just how much a fan knows nothing about the rules 

 

Blaming refs has become a crutch for fans more than it's ever been. It's the ultimate "Yeah...but" ideal.

 

Yes officials miss some calls. Or make a call where they shouldn't. But by and large most do a good job if you're being unbiased 

[GunnerBill]

I am with @Mr. WEO. Simplify the rule book and take challenges off the coaches. Make New York responsible for deciding when something so obviously wrong that it can be clearly seen and changed before the next play is snapped.

[R.O.]

Doesn't College have automatic reviews from the Press Box?

 

They should do that.

[djp14150]

After each game they have ref review.

 

any calls thst should not have bern made or should have bern called the team gets future penalty flag voids.  Like that non hold that was called in Josh TD they get to void a future hold against in a later game

[BuffaloBillies]

31 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

I don't understand the logic that informs the opinion that "full time refs" would change an outcome.  How is that been working forever in MLB?  lol---not well.  And it makes no sense to say that the NFL system has suddenly "broke".  They haven't changed their hiring and training methods. 

 

"Bad calls" aren't made because the officials simply don't understand the rule book---it's because they didn't see what viewers feel they saw. So having them "study (or whatnot) on the season's off months would accomplish little. 

 

I think, with replay, officials "back in New York" should be able to simply say "that was a penalty" or "pick up the flag" on any significant play.  Also, simplify the rules.  Offensive holding should be radically simplified--it's a penalty if you take a guy to the ground---not for transiently grabbing his jersey sleeve for 2-3 seconds.    Also, a TD pass should be ruled as such immediately   when the ball in the receivers possession crosses the plane (same as a rushing TD)---the catch should not have to "survive the ground".  These are only 2 examples where, in seeking clarity, the rule have only introduced hopeless complexity, leading to all of these contorted referees interpretations.  Get rid of challenges.  Let the "eye in the sky" decide if they disagree with any call.

 

Logic would dictate that the solution isn't having "full time refs" sitting around  watching film for 7 moths out of the year.  It all gets fixed by a systematic review and simplification of the rules. 

 

Good points (especially simplifying the rules). But they wouldn't just be sitting around watching film. The idea is they all review, discuss and agree on what should and should not be called... for consistency throughout the league. A consistency that is severely lacking these days. Just last night is a great example. Mugging WR, Burrow's face hit 3x, all with no calls. In some other game this weekend all 4 will be called. Just terribly inconsistent. 

[Mr. WEO]

2 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

To me, option 1 is so much better. Won’t slow down the game. I also think the result would be a focus on important calls that matter to the play. 
 

for example, how many times is there some silly penalty or non-call away from the ball that has no bearing on anything? 
 

even last night on the 2-point conversion, yeah, Giesicki was held, but at no point was burrow looking his way on the route. And burrow’s face mask was touched, but it didn’t impact his movement or throw. I can live with those errors. 

 

the repaly rules and "eye in the sky" came about specifically because option 1 was a failure.

 

Also, why would refs, with no replay recourse, change the way they call penalties, big or small?  You would have them pick and choose which holding calls they would call (the rules obviously do not permit them to do that).  Now, individual refs may decide not to choose to throw a flag on the Giesicki hold (for example)--but then they would be ignoring the rules as written (great for one team's fans, not so great for the opponent's).   The rules do not allow for letting a player slide for a witnessed infraction.

 

Now, if the rules committee changed everything about how they do their business and allowed individual ref discretion as to whether to call holding, based on its impact on the outcome of a particular play (he could explain his no call to the head umpire for backup)----I would be all for that.