The Official Officiating Thread

[Funkytown]

[Jordysghost]

While were on the topic we might as well throw that blatant facemask on Rodgers that was ignored on the Cardinals walk off TD win in the 09 wildcard game, what a rip.

[jackal]

the refs didn't call one on Griffen as well. I don't mind them not calling small stuff as long as they call it both ways ...

I thought the ref crew was very fair in the cardinals game..

[Mothman]

From Gregg Easterbrook, writing for the NY Times:

A Solution for Awful N.F.L. Officiating? Simplify the Rules

Officiating gaffes continue to be a story line of the 2015 N.F.L. season, and the problem is not just human error.

Football rulebooks are too complicated and too freighted with zany distinctions: In high school, players must wear shoes, but socks are optional, while in the pros, players must wear socks but don’t need to wear shoes.

And was it a catch or not a catch? In the off-season, the league said, “The language pertaining to a catch was clarified.” The clarification — it’s below — is 158 words and incomprehensible to a Supreme Court clerk.

Rulebook simplification would improve officiating. As for replay review, how about making it blind? If the reviewing official did not know what call was made on the field, he or she wouldn’t have observer bias.

Here’s the “clarification” of catch/no catch:

In order to complete a catch, a receiver must clearly become a runner. He does that by gaining control of the ball, touching both feet down and then, after the second foot is down, having the ball long enough to clearly become a runner, which is defined as the ability to ward off or protect himself from impending contact. If, before becoming a runner, a receiver falls to the ground in an attempt to make a catch, he must maintain control of the ball after contacting the ground. If he loses control of the ball after contacting the ground and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. Reaching the ball out before becoming a runner will not trump the requirement to hold onto the ball when you land. When you are attempting to complete a catch, you must put the ball away or protect the ball so it does not come loose.

I agree with Easterbrook: simplify the rules!

[ekk]

The catch rule is as simple as it's ever been. All the proposals I'm hearing would make it much more subjective and thus less consistent.