The Replacments

[bookelly]

The same officiating crew that cost the Packers a game Monday night (and also had a turrble game the previous week) is the one calling the Raven/Browns game Thursday night.

Oh the comedy...this shit just writes itself.

[pup]

So you are saying we got a shot

[swerb]

Greatest back door cover ever last night.

[bookelly]

Greatest back door cover ever last night.

Yeah...how anyone can gamble right now on the NFL is beyond me. There's something fishy about a ton of the outcomes.

And lest we may forget, the blown call to end the game was precipitated by a bogus PI call the play before.

[swerb]

Tirico did a great job calling that madness last night. Just a totally chaotic finish. Place went absolutely berserk when they said the call on the field stood.

[peeker643]

Credibility and integrity waning. Combine it with the shit sandwich the Browns serve up each week and I find myself watching Browns only on DVR to get through it faster, and paying much less attention to remainder of weekend games.

Fucking brutal officiating from guys that just can't hang with the bigger, faster, stronger NFL guys. Last night's abomination was preceded by about 6 mini-abominations on other calls. PI calls seem to vex these humps most of all.

[pod2dawg]

Greatest back door cover ever last night.

Yeah...how anyone can gamble right now on the NFL is beyond me. There's something fishy about a ton of the outcomes.

There has been a fishy smell in the NFL for a long time now. These Reffs make it worse.

Game is ugly.

<<<< Funny, Pete Carroll determined it a "good call."

I'm with Peek . DVR fast forward.

[Action Boy]

The product is unwatchable with the current officials. You need a 4 hour block to watch one freaking game.

Nothing will change as the owners will not budge. They know the fans will keep watching and showing up.

The commissioner talks about protecting the shield at all costs - lol. As Rick Reilly stated last night, the NFL has taken the Mona Lisa and painted a mustache on it.

[General]

This might seem a bizarre connection but over the weekend one of the Turner stations was playing "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken". One scene in there has Luther Heggs (Don Knotts)trying to give a speech; of course he is classic jittery Knotts, shaking and stuttering and he keeps repeating, "let me clarify" after every point he makes. As I watched several games this weekend and last night, I kept visualizing Knotts as either Luther Heggs or Barney Fife doing NFL games.

I'm kind of enjoying this.

[swerb]

Funny from Twitter

"The Inaccurate Reception"

[motherscratcher]

I feel bad for these guys. Could anyone convince you to be a replacement official? How much are they getting paid?

[Hikohadon]

I DVR fast forward Browns games because those are hard to watch no matter who refs them.

The rest? Flipping around too much to care that much. If the Refs are taking forever on a call, there's another game on another channel.

Haven't been staying up for the late games b/c... well, I just don't give enough of a shit.

[Spin]

I don't understand why it was a blown call.

Watching the replay M.D. Jennings has the ball in his hands in the air. It's not a catch until his feet touch the ground, right? Before his feet touch the ground, Tate gets one or two hands on the ball and they land. Tate still had a hand on the ball. So, in the NFL, isn't any catch where both offense and defense have the ball, doesn't it automatically go to the offense?

Maybe I'm not clear on the NFL rules, but that's what I see in the video.

[FUDU]

I don't understand why it was a blown call.

Watching the replay M.D. Jennings has the ball in his hands in the air. It's not a catch until his feet touch the ground, right? Before his feet touch the ground, Tate gets one or two hands on the ball and they land. Tate still had a hand on the ball. So, in the NFL, isn't any catch where both offense and defense have the ball, doesn't it automatically go to the offense?

Maybe I'm not clear on the NFL rules, but that's what I see in the video.

I believe it goes deeper than that in the rules, in that if one player has possession first then joint possession takes place at some point things become a bit of a judgment call. IIRC that is how I heard it broke down in terms of how the refs had to decipher the rule book, that they obviously have not read much of.

IMO this is a classic case of why some coaches teach players to bat the ball away/down.

[Hikohadon]

I don't understand why it was a blown call.

Watching the replay M.D. Jennings has the ball in his hands in the air. It's not a catch until his feet touch the ground, right? Before his feet touch the ground, Tate gets one or two hands on the ball and they land. Tate still had a hand on the ball. So, in the NFL, isn't any catch where both offense and defense have the ball, doesn't it automatically go to the offense?

Maybe I'm not clear on the NFL rules, but that's what I see in the video.

I kinda felt like you did. This is only a huge deal b/c the replacement refs are the early season talking point for sports media. Once the real refs come back, plays like this won't get nearly the ink/air/analysis, and they'll turn to some new topic du jour.

[FUDU]

Plays like this, and the fiasco that followed it, won't exist is a big part of why they won't get the ink or airtime.

[pod2dawg]

^^^^ Not only that, but didn't the real reffs blow a hail mary game deciding call against Detroit last year?
It was a bad call , and the dumb-ass DB should have knocked it down.
I think the generalized mugging going on all over the field is what everyone is most concerned about., plus their inconsistency & phantom calls.

[Hikohadon]

Plays like this, and the fiasco that followed it, won't exist is a big part of why they won't get the ink or airtime.

Ha! Sure they won't.

No way the regular refs call that a catch or call a fumble an incomplete pass (cough cough Ed Hochuli cough cough) or call a QB dive that's clearly short of the End Zone a TD (cough cough Vinny Testaverde cough cough) or flag a QB trying to tackle a defender after an INT for illegal blocking (cough cough Hasselbeck Super Bowl cough cough) or review a play after another play has already been run (cough cough Bottlegate cough cough).

The call on Monday night wasn't nearly as bad as all of those. Which is in no way saying the replacement refs are any good, cuz they aren't. Just that the regular refs are more than capable of making that same call, and if they did, no way it gets as much pub.

[peeker643]

If that call is the flash point that gets the parties talking and agreeing sooner rather than later then so be it.

Bottom line is that these guys, not even the best and brightest in big college football officiating, haven't adjusted to the size and speed of the NFL game. They're not only guessing on too many plays but they're also unsure of themselves as to rules, marking off yardgae, allowing challenges with teams lacking the requisite time out to challenge a play.... in short they're not prepared or capable of calling the game efficiently and accurately.

Which also makes them malleable and more easily intimidated by coaches, players and crowds.

Say what you will about regular officials making mistakes and poor calls. They do and they will again when they return. But they have more control and have earned more respect. And that makes a huge difference every single time they take the field.

Just because you have your license to fly a Cesna in and out of Lost Nation Airport doesn't mean I want you trying to land a 767 at LaGuardia.

[skatingtripods]

Per Mortensen and others, real refs should be back this weekend.

[Hikohadon]

If that call is the flash point that gets the parties talking and agreeing sooner rather than later then so be it.

Bottom line is that these guys, not even the best and brightest in big college football officiating, haven't adjusted to the size and speed of the NFL game. They're not only guessing on too many plays but they're also unsure of themselves as to rules, marking off yardgae, allowing challenges with teams lacking the requisite time out to challenge a play.... in short they're not prepared or capable of calling the game efficiently and accurately.

Which also makes them malleable and more easily intimidated by coaches, players and crowds.

Say what you will about regular officials making mistakes and poor calls. They do and they will again when they return. But they have more control and have earned more respect. And that makes a huge difference every single time they take the field.

Just because you have your license to fly a Cesna in and out of Lost Nation Airport doesn't mean I want you trying to land a 767 at LaGuardia.

Agree with all that. Regular refs are clearly better.

I just feel this particular situation has been blown out of proportion by a media that was already looking to pile on the replacement ref controversy. The sooner the regular refs can get back the sooner the media can move onto the next (somewhat media generated) controversy.

[General]

I still like the comedic aspects of it.

[Rat_Tail]

I don't understand why it was a blown call.

Watching the replay M.D. Jennings has the ball in his hands in the air. It's not a catch until his feet touch the ground, right? Before his feet touch the ground, Tate gets one or two hands on the ball and they land. Tate still had a hand on the ball. So, in the NFL, isn't any catch where both offense and defense have the ball, doesn't it automatically go to the offense?

Maybe I'm not clear on the NFL rules, but that's what I see in the video.

Don't forget Tate also should've been called for offensive pass interference on the same play. Pretty obvious push off.

[peeker643]

I don't understand why it was a blown call.

Watching the replay M.D. Jennings has the ball in his hands in the air. It's not a catch until his feet touch the ground, right? Before his feet touch the ground, Tate gets one or two hands on the ball and they land. Tate still had a hand on the ball. So, in the NFL, isn't any catch where both offense and defense have the ball, doesn't it automatically go to the offense?

Maybe I'm not clear on the NFL rules, but that's what I see in the video.

Don't forget Tate also should've been called for offensive pass interference on the same play. Pretty obvious push off.

OJ probably shoulda faced breaking and entering charges too, right before he lopped a couple heads off

[peeker643]

Agreement reached. Actual officials en route to Baltimore to be there in time to do tonight's game.

[General]

Has the NFL reached an agreement to get rid of the replacement Browns?

[pod2dawg]

Sadly, as Brown's fans we were the least affected by the "keystone -cops" and their fouling the "PRODUCT" on the field. Our product has been fouled for 10 years. If anything the mayhem played into our hands.

Luckily, the Real Reffs show up tonight, that will make the game so much more palatable to watch.

[Hikohadon]

Sadly, as Brown's fans we were the least affected by the "keystone -cops" and their fouling the "PRODUCT" on the field. Our product has been fouled for 10 years. If anything the mayhem played into our hands.

Luckily, the Real Reffs show up tonight, that will make the game so much more palatable to watch.

The Refs (replacement of otherwise) have had little effect on the palatability (or lack thereof) of watching the Browns.

[motherscratcher]

Game starts at 8.

Over/Under on the time we hear/read the first "even the replacement refs would have gotten that right" (or something to that effect) crack after the suddenly infallible regular officials blow a call?

[googleeph2]

Game starts at 8.

Over/Under on the time we hear/read the first "even the replacement refs would have gotten that right" (or something to that effect) crack after the suddenly infallible regular officials blow a call?

Exactly- the next bad call that goes against one of the league darlings will be really fun.