NFL Officials deciding games - THIS IS THE NFL!

THIS IS SPARTA!!! Everyone knows where that line is from and how it sounds, whether you saw the movie 300 or not. In case you don’t know you can watch the link below.

Why is this relevant to sports? I will get to that, but first lets talk about the NFL and the officiating of games. The refs this year has been atrocious. No matter what game you are watching, there have been terrible calls all around. This happens every year in the NFL. This year though, the calls for Personal Fouls, or Roughing the Passer have gotten out of hand.

When the NFL refs see any violent hit it seems that yellow confetti fly’s (Yellow flag).  They are horrible at calling it, just because there is a violent hit doesn’t mean they should throw the flag.

Why am I talking about this? In the last few weeks there have been some questionable calls and non-calls that have decided games. See that is the issue here, the refs deciding games.

Three weeks ago, the Bengals played the Ravens, and Bengals defender Carlos Dunlap was called for a Horse Collar tackle on Quarter back Joe Flacco. The former head of the NFL officiating committee Mike Pereira even tweeted it was a bad call. It ended up costing Cincinnati and they lost the game.

Last Sunday the late in the Saints and 49ers game, a 49ers player hit Quarterback Drew Brees of the Saints viciously. When I first saw the hit live I was screaming for the flag. Bree’s neck looked like it did the Egyptian slide. It appeared as if the 49ers defenders arm close lined Bree’s neck. When they slowed down the replay, you could clearly see the defenders arm hit his chest and slid up. That is not a penalty.  Bree’s fumbled the ball and the 49ers recovered. It was negated! The 49ers were charged with a 15-yard personal foul penalty. It ended up costing them the game.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/11/ahmad-brooks-drew-brees-gif/

Then on Monday night football, there was a controversial flag thrown on the last play that was picked up. You can read more about the controversial non-call in the Patriots Carolina game by clicking the hyperlink.

I want to focus on last night’s game. This game also involves the Saints, this time against the Falcons. Early in the game “Hicks hit Falconsquarterback Matt Ryan in the face with a hand while Ryan was in the pocket.  No flag was thrown by referee Ron Winter” (per Profootballtalk.com). That non called backed the Falcons up 8 yards, they could not convert a 1^st down, so they settled for a field goal instead of a touchdown. They lost by 4 points. If they get that touch down instead, they are tied and the game goes into over time later. Once again, the Refs are deciding a game.

The lack of consistency between different groups of officials is horrible. They are getting way too involved lately in deciding games.

Here is a solution, if they are going to throw the flag they need to have some way besides 4-5 refs conferencing in the middle of the field discussing whether it was a personal foul or not. Perhaps they should allow a coach to challenge a personal foul hit with a coach’s challenge. The refs should not be deciding games.

Finally, I will answer the first question, what does THIS IS SPARTA!!! Have to do with this post? Well the NFL built its image on violence and excitement. This is the Gridiron, a new version of the Coliseum from Roman days. Bottom line just because a hit looks vicious doesn’t mean a flag should be thrown automatically. If it does mean that a flag should be thrown to error on the side of caution, let the play be reviewable or challenge eligible. THIS IS THE NFL!!!

I warn you the video gets a bit graphic. Viewer discretion is advise.