I originally planned to write two separate posts for
Sunday’s games. I felt the need to cut it into two posts because there is so
much to talk about and so many games to cover that it made sense to do one post
for the 1:00 games and a second for the late afternoon and Sunday Night games.
That was before something more important came up, something
I believe ranting a little bit about is more pressing than covering any of the
games from this Sunday (except for maybe the Sunday Night Game, which I’ll get
to in the end).
What the hell is wrong
with the NFL today!?! Those of you who have read my blog in the past know
that I am generally very tame. I don’t use any questionable language, I don’t
let emotion integrate with my writing, but I can’t help myself today.
There is something inherently wrong with a league that
allows officials to impact the outcome of games beyond performing their
responsibilities.
Last week the replacement refs nearly cost a team their
game. When the week ended, the league sent a memo out commending them for the work they performed. COMMENDING!?! NFL
games generally last about 3 hours. They rarely last more than 3:15. Yet
between last week and this week the average length of the Sunday games has been
right around 3:30. What on God’s green earth are we commending?!
Thursday Night, Sunday Night, and Monday Night games are
assigned to the ‘best of the replacements.’ So far, those games have actually
been pretty well officiated. There have been a few mistakes, a few unnecessary
delays, but overall the quality has not been lacking.
That leaves the other replacement refs, the schoolteachers,
parents, ‘desk jobbers,’ and apparently even a few fans, to officiate the day
games on Sunday. This week the Baltimore Ravens were cost their game. Well, let
me revise that slightly.
I place the blame for the Ravens’ loss about 65-70% on the
officials and the remaining 30-35% on Baltimore’s offense. Joe Flacco threw a
beautiful touchdown pass into tight coverage to Jacoby Jones in the fourth
quarter. An official threw a flag (not a yellow penalty flag, mind you, but a
blue beanie used to mark the spot of a fumble, or of the beginning of a punt or
kickoff return) and called offensive pass interference against Jones.
Now, throwing the wrong flag is forgivable. The ref is still
new to this; he grabbed the wrong one and threw it. Okay, I’ll give him a pass
on that. But I’ve watched as many replays of that play as I could find online,
looking for as many angles as I can get. Unfortunately, there aren’t many
replays available. But from every one I’ve seen, there is very little contact
by Jones on Nnamdi Asomugha. Yes, Jones extends his arm out, but he doesn’t
touch Asomugha with his outstretched arm. It was a BS penalty that would have been
picked up had the real officials been out there and conferenced after the play.
So that terrible call is a big part of why Baltimore lost. I
can’t place all the blame on the
officials though. After all, there were bad calls all game (though the second
worst call was a fumble call against Michael Vick that was reversed by challenge). More importantly, Baltimore did get the
ball with another chance to drive downfield with less than two minutes left in
the fourth quarter. They fell short after an incompletion on 4th
& 2.
The Redskins game in St. Louis had just as poor officiating.
The refs did everything they could to give it to the Redskins. Well, everything
short of not calling an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Josh Morgan
with time running down in the fourth quarter. They called one BS late hit
against London Fletcher, followed by two BS late hit calls against the Rams on
the first couple drives of the first quarter. The officials screwed up again by
not giving the Rams a 15-yard penalty when they challenged a turnover (all
turnovers are now reviewed by the booth, a 15-yard penalty is supposed to be
enforced when coaches challenge such plays). But they made up for that, and
more, by taking away a Rams touchdown when Steven Jackson appeared to cross the
goal line and then spiked the ball in frustration when the call was delayed. An
official ruled no touchdown and then gave Jackson a 15-yard unsportsmanlike
conduct penalty making the play unreviewable by the Rams. St. Louis had to
settle for a field goal on the drive.
Now do I blame the replacement refs for their ‘suckishness?’
No, or at least I don’t place the blame entirely
on their shoulders. They have botched a lot of obvious calls that they had no
business messing up and that I can say with a fair level of certainty that I
would not have botched. They have also made some calls that anyone who has not
been doing this for years might mess up and should be met with a certain level
of understanding. No official is perfect, especially these replacements, and I
can forgive them to an extent (though I do draw the line at costing a team a
win, as they did in the Ravens’ case).
No, I place the majority of the blame on the NFL for not
pushing on with negotiations with the real officials. Last year Roger Goodell
said he wanted to make a certain number of the NFL officials full-time
employees, but then he can’t get a deal done that will be fair to them. Okay,
fine. Then don’t make any of them
full-time employees for God’s sake!! The NFL needs to make money. I get
that. But Goodell and these owners are sacrificing the integrity of the game, a
game that I love and want to make a career out of covering!
I have dedicated so much of my life to studying and
understanding football, to learning the history of the National Football
League, to examining the best ways to cover it. What have these past two weeks
done for me? Not much other than to nearly ruin
it all for me. I love football. Even when the teams I like aren’t doing
well, I can still enjoy the games because it’s a great sport and every moment
is a new one in the history of the sport and a moment that I was, in a way, a
part of. Today I spent the afternoon frustrated, beating my head into the wall,
nearly punching a hole in it, screaming at my television, and finally walking
out with a little over a minute left in the Redskins game because I had gotten
to the edge and needed to clear my mind and get some fresh air.
Today was not fun. Today was not football. Sure the
49ers/Lions game was pretty clean, but one good game does not nearly outweigh 13 games that I don’t
believe qualify as football.
Ok. I know I need to stop. And I will right now. Let’s go
ahead and briefly review the one good game of the day, Detroit at San
Francisco.
San Francisco is a championship caliber team. There is so
much unknown around the league after two weeks, but the 49ers are very well
known. Last year they were good, but managed to fly under the radar much longer
than they should have been allowed to. This year, no such luck for them. They
came out and played a great game in Lambeau last week and then protected their
home field against another playoff team from last year.
But it isn’t just San Francisco’s defense that is playing
outstanding football. Their offense is impressive, too. Alex Smith is throwing
the ball very well. He has playmakers in his offense. Vernon Davis, as always,
showed up today. Mario Manningham had a few big receptions. And Michael
Crabtree had a nice game with not many yards but some catches in a few very key
moments, including three first down receptions on third down on a late fourth
quarter drive that sealed the game. Frank Gore, as always, impressed in the
ground attack. This is a complete team and nobody can afford to look past them.
The Lions struggled. Their defense got occasional stops, but
it felt like the 49ers broke a big play against them on every drive, even those
that didn’t lead to points. Matthew Stafford had no fantasy points at halftime
(he managed to finish with around 13 depending on the league scoring you use).
Detroit never established a running game and that meant Calvin Johnson couldn’t
run open down the field or get in position for jump balls.
Still, it was a great game to watch because I wasn’t
constantly waiting for the next screw up by an official. We need more games
like that. What do you say Commissioner Goodell? Owners? Can we make it happen?
Eh, probably not. And yet, a win is a win. Yeah, why get the real refs back
when the fans don’t care that their team was handed a win unfairly? I’m looking
at you, Eagles fans, the ones who couldn’t define integrity if its page in the
dictionary was opened to and in front of your face. Sorry for the
generalization, but it’s accurate for enough of them, so let’s roll with it.
We have one more game left this week. The Broncos and
Falcons face off tomorrow night in Atlanta. Matt Ryan looked very Manningesque
last week (I’d like to note that when Matt Ryan was a rookie I thought he’d be
‘the next Peyton Manning.’ It hasn’t happened yet, but he looked like he was
getting there last week) while Peyton looked like the Manning we’ve been
waiting for over a year to see again. It should be a fun game. I’ll be back
Tuesday with a recap of that.
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