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The Spectacle Blog
Just a quick note to say that regular refs aren’t all that much better than the replacement officials the NFL used during the first weeks of the season. Saints fans like me are happy the Saints finally won a game, but it’s questionable whether we deserved it. Three bad calls sealed the Chargers’ fate against us. First, a Saints defender CLEARLY interfered with a Charger receiver, thus forcing an interception that turned the whole game around. The refs missed it. Then, on what would have been the game-tying drive for San Diego, Chargers’ tight end Antonie Gates was called for a highly dubious offensive pass interference call. There was incidental contact and then the Saints defender stumbled, but on replay after replay it sure didn’t look to me as if Gates really pushed off and didn’t look as if the stumble had anything to do with the incidental hand contact. The call negated a huge gain. On the very next play, the Chargers completed another long pass, only to have it called back due to “holding” onthe SD center. I only saw one replay, but it sure didn’t look like holding to me. The Saints pass rusher tried to get around the center; the center pushed without appearing to grab, and the Saints guy lost his balance and fell.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad the Saints won. They had a game effectively stolen from them earlier this year by an awful call, so turnabout seems to fans like fair play. But really, the Chargers got monumentally rooked. And this happens all over the league, week in and week out. Officiating an NFL game is a hard job. Fans are never going to be happy, because calls will continue to be blown.
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More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/10/08/regular-regs-arent-much-better
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Bob K| 10.8.12 @ 12:05PM
That's a fact, but these are referees of a higher class! Some of them are top educators I am told and there is even a lawyer or two in their mix! I don't know if any of them work for NPR or are high ranking Federal Bureaucrats though, and there are no elected officials as far as I know in the mix although they have the most spare time of anybody.
fmm| 10.8.12 @ 12:12PM
The holding call was a good one as the center hooked the defender under the arm and then took him down by pulling on his shirt.
L.E. Powers| 10.8.12 @ 12:30PM
"I can't perform flawlessly night after night!"
Oh, wait; that was President Obama.
JimH| 10.8.12 @ 12:42PM
Yeah, there was an interception in the Browns/Giants game which clearly should have been a pass interference call. I’m inclined to give these refs a bit of slack, for a while at least, as they were locked out by the owners and unable to get up to speed during the pre season.
Oldefarte| 10.8.12 @ 2:31PM
The Saints' problems go much deeper than call by referees sadly. Granted their bounty-gate scandal was deplorable, but is anyone in their right mind willing to think that they were the only NFL team guilty of same. Their former DC was [think] employed with four MFL teams prior to being hired by the Saints, and the latter were judged by the NFL Commissioner as the only guilty team of infractions? The Raiders sued the NFL in the 1980's and the Cowboys did so in the 1990's over various disagreements, so why cannot the Saints do so over now being head-coachless, GM-less, OC-less [which leaves their $million QB and other players susceptible to career-ending injuries etc? Is anyone going claim that the Buffalo Bills, the Houston/Tennessee Oilers-Titans, etc not also guilty of the exact same things from being coached by the exact same coach? Give me a break! The Saints are now 1-4 [and probably headed towards 5-11 if they're lucky], a huge loss in revenue from declining fanbase, and potential damage from player-injuries. The NFL has discriminated in applying its solitary punishment to them and should become the recipient of a big fat lawsuit!!!!
lsudolemite| 10.8.12 @ 6:18PM
Goodell knows damn well that every team in the league had some form of bounty system. But the owners were never going to tolerate him performing an exhaustive league-wide investigation. So instead of doing the hard work required to actually fix a real player safety issue, Goodell made an example out of a sacrificial lamb so he could run a victory lap and claim "Problem solved!"
Oldefarte| 10.8.12 @ 7:58PM
Yep! The only problem is that there is RIGHT/JUST and there is WRONG/UNJUST, and the course that he decided on was the definately the latter. The purpose of any punishment is [or should be] to teach a lesson, but the only lesson learned was to possibly NOT GET CAUGHT WHEN COMMITTING WRONG/UNJUST ACTION !!!!!
Oldefarte| 10.8.12 @ 7:59PM
PS: ROOOOOLLLLLLL.....TIDE!!!!!!
lsudolemite| 10.8.12 @ 9:45PM
GEAUX TIGERS!!!
Oldefarte| 10.9.12 @ 12:45PM
GEAUX GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!
Jocon307 | 10.8.12 @ 9:45PM
You are right, it looked like the fix was in on that game. Disheartening.
Oldefarte| 10.9.12 @ 8:08PM
Speaking of the Saints, it's now reported that Alex Karras is near death from kidney failure [Karras was the Detroit Lion DE that rushed Saints' kicker Tom Demsey's 63 yard field goal]:
http://www.nola.com/saints/ind.....d_goa.html