Why Penalties and excessive replays are making games boring!

Bobhaze said:

I am not the kind of fan who complains about the refs being unfair or costing us games. I have always believed (and still do) that great football teams learn to overcome all obstacles. Most teams get some good calls and some bad ones.

Having said that, after two weeks of NFL football with its ever-growing rule book, I’m sick of watching a flurry of yellow flags and constant stops for TV replays that stop the game but end up proving nothing. The refs excessive calls and stoppage have become a much too large a part of the game. In fact, IMO, in its effort to make their game “almost perfect”, the NFL is making its games less interesting.

Here’s some evidence that the NFL’s excessive rules and officiating is making their game more boring:

• Offensive holding calls are up 66% so far in 2019.
• In 2018, there were 735 accepted offensive holding calls in the NFL. This year, we are on pace to have over 1,200 holding calls!
• On a typical NFL game day in 2018, there were approximately 15 defensive holding calls in a game.
• According to a Wall Street Journal study from 2010-2015, a typical 3 hour NFL game has only 11 minutes of actual game action. Wow.

I’m all for making games as well officiated as possible. But that starts with the understanding that as long as you have human beings both making the rules and officiating the actual game action, there will always be a few errors.

Having a flag fly every other play is not my idea of a good football game. Regardless of who is being penalized.

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Well good post bob, but we have no say in the matter unless we form a "Fans Union" then if we could get the fans with neilsen boxes to watch the games
at a neighbors or bar, the ratings would go to 0.00 and then the NFL would listen real good !

Even the commentators, are complaining, last week I dont remember which game but they said they were tired of penaltys on punts.
Every time a punt is returned there is a penalty, I noticed that the last 2 years, and said to myself, better to just fair catch them since there is always a penalty.
Part of that is dumb players and poor coaching too, as it only takes one guy to block in the back or hold etc, and then penalty.
The announcer said he would tell players they would be cut after the game, but pretty quickly your whole special team is gone.

Some of the holding calls and other penaltys, I have seen the replay on should not have been called, but I also see flagrant things like a block in the back
or a hold that is not called. some of those by cowboys, so it is partly the refs, partly the rules and changes to rules, new rules , interpretation of rules,
and then the stupid players themselves.
I say stupid, because sometimes it is just plain dumb what they do.

Hennessy_King said:

The fact all refs arent full time and make 250k a year for a billion dollar industry is about as dumb as it gets

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For most of them it is a 2nd job, and nfl owners are very cheap with paying employees, except guys like goodell.
I think in the 90's refs made 40,000 a season. then they had some strikes.

DandyDon52 said:

For most of them it is a 2nd job, and nfl owners are very cheap with paying employees, except guys like goodell.
I think in the 90's refs made 40,000 a season. then they had some strikes.

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You would think the nfl would just pay them more and make them be full time. The game would improve and the nfl wouldnt have to look stupid every week trying to explain horrendous calls.

Hennessy_King said:

You would think the nfl would just pay them more and make them be full time. The game would improve and the nfl wouldnt have to look stupid every week trying to explain horrendous calls.

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Well if I were Commissioner , I would take some young candidates, and train them to be nfl refs , and they would be full time, and well paid once they
were actually good enough to do the games.

DandyDon52 said:

Well if I were Commissioner , I would take some young candidates, and train them to be nfl refs , and they would be full time, and well paid once they
were actually good enough to do the games.

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It makes so much sense thats its unbelievable that a billion dollar business cant figure it out

kskboys said:

I thought it was just me. It really does appear that the NFL is being overrun w/ penalties.

As to the other, here's your problem, Bobs. Agendas. Or something of that nature. The ignored PI call against NO was simply crooked. Something is foul in the state of Denmark. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but that was so outlandish that fans started realizing that something crooked or something is going on, so they made a rule. That rule was specifically to quiet the talk about how crooked that call was. There's no way that call was missed, so the obvious bias or manipulation or whatever is happening was suddenly staring them straight in the face, w/ gadzillions on the line. So, they made a rule to "show" that they were honest and appalled at the non call.

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Uncatchable ball!

Shane612 said:

Replays are product of too many people taking this game way too serious. Plus, too much money is now at stake.

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I think another reason is that we have replays and high def cameras showing it from every conceivable angle. Every single person at home knows whether the call was blown or not. They almost HAVE to review calls at this point.

Bobhaze said:

I am not the kind of fan who complains about the refs being unfair or costing us games. I have always believed (and still do) that great football teams learn to overcome all obstacles. Most teams get some good calls and some bad ones.

Having said that, after two weeks of NFL football with its ever-growing rule book, I’m sick of watching a flurry of yellow flags and constant stops for TV replays that stop the game but end up proving nothing. The refs excessive calls and stoppage have become a much too large a part of the game. In fact, IMO, in its effort to make their game “almost perfect”, the NFL is making its games less interesting.

Here’s some evidence that the NFL’s excessive rules and officiating is making their game more boring:

• Offensive holding calls are up 66% so far in 2019.
• In 2018, there were 735 accepted offensive holding calls in the NFL. This year, we are on pace to have over 1,200 holding calls!
• On a typical NFL game day in 2018, there were approximately 15 defensive holding calls in a game.
• According to a Wall Street Journal study from 2010-2015, a typical 3 hour NFL game has only 11 minutes of actual game action. Wow.

I’m all for making games as well officiated as possible. But that starts with the understanding that as long as you have human beings both making the rules and officiating the actual game action, there will always be a few errors.

Having a flag fly every other play is not my idea of a good football game. Regardless of who is being penalized.

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None of that evidence is really evidence. One doesn't even have anything to do with penalties (actually, more penalties would likely increase game action with more clock stoppages).

You're not wrong, but ratings are up across the board. The NFL has no reason to care.

Kevinicus said:

None of that evidence is really evidence. One doesn't even have anything to do with penalties (actually, more penalties would likely increase game action with more clock stoppages).

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A play that is nullified by penalty doesn’t count as game action.

To be determined on how how many penalties are called as the year goes on and players get into their groove and understand what's a penalty and what's not in 2019.

Coaches have used certain advantages hurting the game at times but the refs used to not want to blow the whistle every snap. Seattle got away with a lot with their legion of doom and grabbing receivers. Packers O-line bear hug on passing downs etc.

So, in essence, some of the penalties so far could be used to clean up the game. Unless you prefer some teams taking advantage of the rules.

An glad to see them calling the offensive holding plays committed against our D-Line. Remember how many games we went they weren’t called.

There have been a tonnnnn of flags the last two games. But we've always gotten penalties like that..

Bobhaze said:

A play that is nullified by penalty doesn’t count as game action.

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Sure it does. It's football action, and it impacts what happens on the game. But the clock still stops, so there will be more plays.

What they have done is turned football into an episode of Judge Judy. These lawyer refs are too big a part of the game. We don't want to watch them. We want to watch the athletes. And a few more cheerleader shots. You don't even see them on the broadcast anymore. TDs & Pom Poms shaking. It is a winning combination.

Im sorry but Refs cant get plays right even with Replay but their gaffs and missed or phantom calls are ruining games., IR is necessary because once the playoffs get here you dont want what happened to the Saints and other teams happen to us.. you would be screaming for replay if it did..

I get the point but officiating has been horrible the last 5 years even with replay , somehow the league allows them to get these wrong and still be employed is the issue, I feel its an ego thing,, they are rebelling against replay and at times just fault wont reverse call even though it staring them in the face.. more bad calls against the saints whistles blowing early, two hand push off by Brown that doesnt get a call after replay.. thats so blatant and why the rule was put in place and yet it failed..

without Replay it would be more out of control..sure makes 16 RS games bit tedious but I for sure want it for the playoffs and on my side if possible for that big game.. I mean the Rams got free SB appearance but Replay would most likely have put the saints in.. thats not fair the rams get to claim forever they made a SB when in actuality it should have been the Saints..

the NFL has an issue with not enough good officials to go around and its hurtling the game not IR..but they need to make sure the refs on the field reviewing IR get it RIGHT!..

when betting starts becoming legal around the league this will look real bad if you believe ref is shaving points or effecting outcomes for whatever reason,, calls like they are making sure have that appearance even if it were not true.. I mean blind man can make some of these calls, its not subjective..

Bobhaze said:

I am not the kind of fan who complains about the refs being unfair or costing us games. I have always believed (and still do) that great football teams learn to overcome all obstacles. Most teams get some good calls and some bad ones.

Having said that, after two weeks of NFL football with its ever-growing rule book, I’m sick of watching a flurry of yellow flags and constant stops for TV replays that stop the game but end up proving nothing. The refs excessive calls and stoppage have become a much too large a part of the game. In fact, IMO, in its effort to make their game “almost perfect”, the NFL is making its games less interesting.

Here’s some evidence that the NFL’s excessive rules and officiating is making their game more boring:

• Offensive holding calls are up 66% so far in 2019.
• In 2018, there were 735 accepted offensive holding calls in the NFL. This year, we are on pace to have over 1,200 holding calls!
• On a typical NFL game day in 2018, there were approximately 15 defensive holding calls in a game.
• According to a Wall Street Journal study from 2010-2015, a typical 3 hour NFL game has only 11 minutes of actual game action. Wow.

I’m all for making games as well officiated as possible. But that starts with the understanding that as long as you have human beings both making the rules and officiating the actual game action, there will always be a few errors.

Having a flag fly every other play is not my idea of a good football game. Regardless of who is being penalized.

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This downtime is essential for catching up on the posts in the cowboys-zone gameday threads. This is also when I get a chance to go out and check on the grill.

Players are as much to blame for the increase as Refs, the vast majority of flags are legitimate penalties that Refs should be calling.

Bobhaze said:

I am not the kind of fan who complains about the refs being unfair or costing us games. I have always believed (and still do) that great football teams learn to overcome all obstacles. Most teams get some good calls and some bad ones.

Having said that, after two weeks of NFL football with its ever-growing rule book, I’m sick of watching a flurry of yellow flags and constant stops for TV replays that stop the game but end up proving nothing. The refs excessive calls and stoppage have become a much too large a part of the game. In fact, IMO, in its effort to make their game “almost perfect”, the NFL is making its games less interesting.

Here’s some evidence that the NFL’s excessive rules and officiating is making their game more boring:

• Offensive holding calls are up 66% so far in 2019.
• In 2018, there were 735 accepted offensive holding calls in the NFL. This year, we are on pace to have over 1,200 holding calls!
• On a typical NFL game day in 2018, there were approximately 15 defensive holding calls in a game.
• According to a Wall Street Journal study from 2010-2015, a typical 3 hour NFL game has only 11 minutes of actual game action. Wow.

I’m all for making games as well officiated as possible. But that starts with the understanding that as long as you have human beings both making the rules and officiating the actual game action, there will always be a few errors.

Having a flag fly every other play is not my idea of a good football game. Regardless of who is being penalized.

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One complaint I have is the television coverage during the replay timeouts. Sure, whether or not there are too many replays is an legitimate talking point, even a legitimate complaint. However I feel as long as it is happening the fact that the tv crew has to focus on it so much makes it considerably worse. Sure, they need to talk about it to a point, they cant ignore it, it is happening in real time, but they just keep playing the replay over and over and over. They keep waffling back and forth over whether they think the call is right or not. They feel the need to incessantly remind us for the 30,000th time that you need evidence to overrule the call on the field. How about they talk about something else during one of the time outs? They do that when there is an injury time out. Sure they make mention of the injury or the play but they don't obsess over it. But they just obsess over the replay. The other day there was a fumble, clear cut, all you needed was 1 maybe 2 quick views of the replay, it was right in front of your eyes and clear. So the refs need to make sure, that's today's game. But the tv crew had to show the replay again and again and again and again and again, is it? isnt it? is it? isnt it? over and over. I really think their obsession over it is far worse than the actual stoppage of play. Thats my rant.

The easy explanation is that the game is too fast for human eyes to process. However, that particular fallback excuse does not fully explain why different sets of eyes cannot annually analyze and consistently enforce blatant holding.

Officials train for this. Heck, the league even provides base video for fans and the media to know what the OFFICIALS should look for:

https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/offensive-holding/

--but glaring unobscured examples are not flagged practically every game.

I do not like flags. Flags pause games. I want the game to flow smoothly. However, I do not believe any team should have an advantage in the way penalties are enforced--ESPECIALLY holding penalties.

/rant

Wait



Okay. I'm good.

/rant for real