NFL: Anyone nervous about the ref lockout?

[Radical]

How bout that face mask call?

[NZFalcon]

[Shelley#37]

after last night, I am...that was 'turrible'

[Jesus]

It's been a problem across the league the last 2 weeks. I think the refs have proved their point. Pay them, Goodell!

[pauliwood]

Yeah, the refs have the NFL over a barrel.

[Mr. Patch]

The refs pretty much gifted the Jags D-Squad a win over the Saints D-Squad lol

[Jimusmc]

(08-17-2012 11:58 PM)Mr. Patch Wrote:  The refs pretty much gifted the Jags D-Squad a win over the Saints D-Squad lol

in this case.. ill allow it

[Anomaly]

[juraitwaluzka]

I'll tell you what my biggest problem with the refs is, and it's not the old refs and it's not the new refs, it's the NFL itself. They fully admit the difficulty in officiating a game but don't take any meaningful steps to address it. They dance around it as if they are scared of hurting the officials' feelings. They simply are not truly serious about the quality of officiating. Getting the call right should be the highest priority and it's absolutely not.

The phantom facemask the other night is a perfect example. The scab refs missed, the old refs may have missed it, but things like that could be eliminated through the use of technology and additional staff. Instead the NFL just throws their hands up in the air and says "Oh well, it's a hard thing to do", instead of maybe innovating with fresh ideas, even if they hurt the refs' feelings.

Here's an idea. Put a full time ref or two in the booth in addition to the guys on the field. Their sole responsibility is to overturn obvious bad calls. No challenges, no stopping the game for 4 minutes, if they see something bad, they buzz down and override it, simple as that.

In other words, there's no excuse for allowing a bad call to stand when millions of people are able to see that it's a bad call within a matter of 5 seconds. If it takes 4 minutes and multiple angles to figure it out then, it's not obvious, then fall back to challenges (as much as I hate them). This doesn't fix everything but it would be a dramatic improvement.

[Drathdon]

^
This

Why leagues, including the NFL, do not have one ref in a "booth' to watch the game as televised and call down to refs to tell them what the cameras are seeing is mind boggling to me. It would improve the game with no setbacks, as we would never even know, as fans watching the game, their involvement.
Ref calls a pass incomplete, upstairs ref says in the earpiece "nope, catch" (only if it is obviously clear), the refs huddle quickly like they normally do, reverse the call, and play continues. What's not to love?