Officiating far from perfect this season By Larry Weisman, USA TODAY
Let us speak pointedly and with the knowledge that right is on our side.
All together now: "The officiating in the NFL is the worst it's ever been."
What an original thought. Why, we haven't been this disgusted by penalty flags since ... last week. And the week before. And last year. And the year before. Things now are more like they are than they have ever been before.
Penalties are up. No one argues that. And there's no question that every now and then the boys in black and white miss a call so egregiously that they deserve some grief. Except if it comes from a coach, the cost for speaking freely (or expensively) starts at $10,000 (Washington's Joe Gibbs) and escalates to $20,000 (New Orleans' Jim Haslett, Denver's Mike Shanahan) in fines.
Go ahead. Blame the field officials for slowing down the game, for calling everything they see, for not seeing things they should call, for calling things they shouldn't and for not calling things they should.
But while you're serving up blame, be sure to spread it around, don't forget your coaches and players.
Pre-snap penalties — the irritating false starts that doom drives before they begin — often are a function of the gimmickry coaches install to fool defenses. Sometimes the defense jumps offside, sometimes an offensive lineman moves too soon, but either way there's a flinch and a flag. Coaches frustrated by first-and-15 might think about sending their team to the line promptly and going on a quick count.
Those defensive linemen who zip across before the snap? The football isn't but a yard or 2 away from their bulging eyes. Don't be suckered by the quarterback's cadence. Sneak a peek at the ball.
Coaches might also encourage the lads to play within the rules. On Monday night, the New York Jets had a touchdown on a 95-yard kickoff return called back on a holding penalty. Watch the replay — the perpetrator tackled a would-be tackler. Are we angry at him? No, we say the stupid refs messed up a great return by Justin Miller by calling yet another penalty on special teams.
That's not to say the indefensible is defensible. When Saints tight end Ernie Conwell is down and on his back clutching the ball and St. Louis Rams defensive back Mike Furrey races by, relieves him of it and cruises in for a touchdown, Conwell, for one, feels this needs to be fixed.
"I'm not a betting man, but I feel 99.9% confident that I had possession and that I was down by contact," Conwell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I went to the official and said, 'I'm sure I had that ball and I had possession. You guys got to review that.' "
But they couldn't. The play occurred when the Saints were out of timeouts and therefore could not seek a review by instant replay. As far as New Orleans fans are concerned, it's a blown call. The league hates the calls as much as the disappointed team. It just doesn't say so publicly (and isn't exactly apologetic privately).
And what of the guys who are talking to the fan base? Yeah, the TV announcers. Sometimes the listening audience should wonder about their motives. Is the guy in the booth a purist who is truly offended by non-stop stoppages, or is he booked on a flight that leaves at 7:40 p.m.? It could be the latter case, in which an arrhythmic game drags on an extra 20 minutes because of the flag factor and our hero eats hotel chocolates instead of the missus' yummy meat loaf that night.
Do not confuse poor play and penalized play.
"If it's a great game, no one notices the penalties," says Rich McKay, the Atlanta Falcons president and general manager and co-chairman of the NFL's competition committee. "That Carolina-New England Super Bowl was pretty exciting. Do you have any idea how many penalties there were?"
Well, yeah. A record-tying 20. (OK, I had no idea and looked it up.) But that aspect never arises in conversation about Super Bowl XXXVIII. There's the Carolina comeback, the Patriots' closing drive and the Adam Vinatieri kick. No talk of the penalties.
Less-skilled performances by weaker clubs (which may be badly coached and execute poorly) reflect negatively on the seven in stripes, who only make a bad thing worse by enforcing the rules and extending the length of the contest.
"We focus on issues and tie them into penalties when in reality it wasn't a very good game. Then everybody immediately focuses on the officials," McKay says.
No, we're not starting a Zebra Defense Fund. A game that grows ever faster, with bigger and stronger and quicker people using more of the field, taxes the ability of all involved. It's harder for the coaches to coach it properly, the players to execute the multifaceted schemes without redlining emotionally, the crew to enforce the rules coolly and efficiently.
We ask a lot of the officials. We get it more than we know but not often enough. It could be worse.
Seen any baseball lately?
Let us speak pointedly and with the knowledge that right is on our side.
All together now: "The officiating in the NFL is the worst it's ever been."
What an original thought. Why, we haven't been this disgusted by penalty flags since ... last week. And the week before. And last year. And the year before. Things now are more like they are than they have ever been before.
Penalties are up. No one argues that. And there's no question that every now and then the boys in black and white miss a call so egregiously that they deserve some grief. Except if it comes from a coach, the cost for speaking freely (or expensively) starts at $10,000 (Washington's Joe Gibbs) and escalates to $20,000 (New Orleans' Jim Haslett, Denver's Mike Shanahan) in fines.
Go ahead. Blame the field officials for slowing down the game, for calling everything they see, for not seeing things they should call, for calling things they shouldn't and for not calling things they should.
But while you're serving up blame, be sure to spread it around, don't forget your coaches and players.
Pre-snap penalties — the irritating false starts that doom drives before they begin — often are a function of the gimmickry coaches install to fool defenses. Sometimes the defense jumps offside, sometimes an offensive lineman moves too soon, but either way there's a flinch and a flag. Coaches frustrated by first-and-15 might think about sending their team to the line promptly and going on a quick count.
Those defensive linemen who zip across before the snap? The football isn't but a yard or 2 away from their bulging eyes. Don't be suckered by the quarterback's cadence. Sneak a peek at the ball.
Coaches might also encourage the lads to play within the rules. On Monday night, the New York Jets had a touchdown on a 95-yard kickoff return called back on a holding penalty. Watch the replay — the perpetrator tackled a would-be tackler. Are we angry at him? No, we say the stupid refs messed up a great return by Justin Miller by calling yet another penalty on special teams.
That's not to say the indefensible is defensible. When Saints tight end Ernie Conwell is down and on his back clutching the ball and St. Louis Rams defensive back Mike Furrey races by, relieves him of it and cruises in for a touchdown, Conwell, for one, feels this needs to be fixed.
"I'm not a betting man, but I feel 99.9% confident that I had possession and that I was down by contact," Conwell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I went to the official and said, 'I'm sure I had that ball and I had possession. You guys got to review that.' "
But they couldn't. The play occurred when the Saints were out of timeouts and therefore could not seek a review by instant replay. As far as New Orleans fans are concerned, it's a blown call. The league hates the calls as much as the disappointed team. It just doesn't say so publicly (and isn't exactly apologetic privately).
And what of the guys who are talking to the fan base? Yeah, the TV announcers. Sometimes the listening audience should wonder about their motives. Is the guy in the booth a purist who is truly offended by non-stop stoppages, or is he booked on a flight that leaves at 7:40 p.m.? It could be the latter case, in which an arrhythmic game drags on an extra 20 minutes because of the flag factor and our hero eats hotel chocolates instead of the missus' yummy meat loaf that night.
Do not confuse poor play and penalized play.
"If it's a great game, no one notices the penalties," says Rich McKay, the Atlanta Falcons president and general manager and co-chairman of the NFL's competition committee. "That Carolina-New England Super Bowl was pretty exciting. Do you have any idea how many penalties there were?"
Well, yeah. A record-tying 20. (OK, I had no idea and looked it up.) But that aspect never arises in conversation about Super Bowl XXXVIII. There's the Carolina comeback, the Patriots' closing drive and the Adam Vinatieri kick. No talk of the penalties.
Less-skilled performances by weaker clubs (which may be badly coached and execute poorly) reflect negatively on the seven in stripes, who only make a bad thing worse by enforcing the rules and extending the length of the contest.
"We focus on issues and tie them into penalties when in reality it wasn't a very good game. Then everybody immediately focuses on the officials," McKay says.
No, we're not starting a Zebra Defense Fund. A game that grows ever faster, with bigger and stronger and quicker people using more of the field, taxes the ability of all involved. It's harder for the coaches to coach it properly, the players to execute the multifaceted schemes without redlining emotionally, the crew to enforce the rules coolly and efficiently.
We ask a lot of the officials. We get it more than we know but not often enough. It could be worse.
Seen any baseball lately?
