Refs Fined?

[dallascowboysfan31]

me and my buddy were talking the other day of how to consequence refs for bonehead calls beside not including their crew in the post season. one suggestion was a fine and the other was coaches being able to challenge big penalties like personal fouls and pass interference. what are your thoughts?

 

[Yeagermeister]

me and my buddy were talking the other day of how to consequence refs for bonehead calls beside not including their crew in the post season. one suggestion was a fine and the other was coaches being able to challenge big penalties like personal fouls and pass interference. what are your thoughts?

I don't know if they get fined but they can be suspended if they make enough mistakes.

 

[Doomsday101]

me and my buddy were talking the other day of how to consequence refs for bonehead calls beside not including their crew in the post season. one suggestion was a fine and the other was coaches being able to challenge big penalties like personal fouls and pass interference. what are your thoughts?

I think the NFL needs to sit down and change the rules. The Refs are put in this situation because of the vague rules set down by the NFL competition committee. I don’t think it would be a good ideal to have more challenges for coaches to use I think the rules need to be changed.

 

[ghst187]

there are some things that need to change IMO
1) Officiating should be a year-round gig and officials paid as such. The NFL makes plenty of money to do it. They should have training camps, ref NFLE, etc., to stay sharp. I think it will = a better product come regular season.
2) Officials need to forget about instant replay as a backstop and focus on making the right calls when they happen instead of waffling out of a big call at a critical juncture because they know a call will be challenged. Just stay focused and make the call the best you can.
3) Pass Interference needs to be maxed out as a 15 yard penalty. PI is so inconsistently called and dramatically changes a game. It should be a spot foul under 15 yards and a 15 yard penalty if the foul is beyond 15 yards. Its horrible to continually see games changed by questionable PI calls that end up giving a team 30, 40, 50 yards.
And as an addendum, the rules should be more clearly defined.
4) Crews should be kept together. Just like chemistry is important to a football team, it is important for officiating teams too.

 

[Future]

Roughing calls need to be made like facemask or kicker rules. 5 yards and 15 yards...some of these are absolutely ridiculous.

See spears on manning and what Miles Austin did vs. NYG did not warrant 15 yards.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

I don't think it would be fair to fine them. Sometimes, you just make a mistake. It's a fast-paced game and there are a lot of judgement calls that are just part of it. To fine someone for making a judgement call on a play that is over in a split second seems waaay overboard.

 

[thekavorka]

I don't think it would be fair to fine them. Sometimes, you just make a mistake. It's a fast-paced game and there are a lot of judgement calls that are just part of it. To fine someone for making a judgement call on a play that is over in a split second seems waaay overboard.

agreed

Like someone said above, the competition committee should look into making 5 yard and 15 yard personal foul calls.

 

[WoodysGirl]

there are some things that need to change IMO
1) Officiating should be a year-round gig and officials paid as such. The NFL makes plenty of money to do it. They should have training camps, ref NFLE, etc., to stay sharp. I think it will = a better product come regular season.

There are plenty of officiating clinics offered year round. Training is non-stop and officials pay good money to take these clinics. Many times it's used as a training ground for officials looking to move up the ranks. An official can call games year round, but it won't be at the same level as the NFL.
Also, football season is not year-round, so I don't see the need for officials to get paid as a year-round official. These guys still get paid a good amount of money for what would be full year's pay for some people.

4) Crews should be kept together. Just like chemistry is important to a football team, it is important for officiating teams too.

Officiating crews are kept together throughout the season. That was changed a few years back. It used to be that the best officials of certain crews worked the playoff games. And you would have an "all-star" crew working playoff games and such. But now whole crews are graded together and that crew's grade will determine whether they work any playoff games. And if they do, they will work together in that playoff game, etc. IIRC, the only way an official may not work a playoff game is if they have 3 yrs or less in the league.

And just to add, if a call is an egregious error, an official can be suspended or fired. If they're fired, you'll just find them working college games.

 

[cowboyeric8]

agreed

Like someone said above, the competition committee should look into making 5 yard and 15 yard personal foul calls.

completely agree

 

[YosemiteSam]

me and my buddy were talking the other day of how to consequence refs for bonehead calls beside not including their crew in the post season. one suggestion was a fine and the other was coaches being able to challenge big penalties like personal fouls and pass interference. what are your thoughts?

There is only one answer. Give them the Guillotine!

 

[sago1]

I don't thing fining the refs is the answer. If they perform poorly as graded against other ref, they should be suspended/released. I also think we expect too much from 5-6 refs; they can't see everythng all the time. Maybe the answer is to add an additional ref for each game & break down a little bit more their their responsibilities. I also think at least 1 official from each referee grouping should be a permanent hire which would include significant receive extra training every year on changes in the rules, including tests to see how quickly they deal with problem areas, etc.

 

[theogt]

Personally I think they should allow steroids and get rid of all personal fouls. Now that would be fun to watch.

 

[jackrussell]

Football, baseball, basketball.....imperfect games, yet we expect perfect officiating. Human game, human elements, human mistakes.

Guys can complete 70% of their passes, hit 35% beyond the 3 point line, hit safely at a 30% clip...and be canonized and paid millions. Yet a referee, official, or umpire perform at a 95-97% correct level..... we need more refs, more cameras, more schools, more rules.

A single game is but a small part of the overall big picture and end result. Very few league champions in all of sports have been crowned as a direct result of poor officiating. If there were, it was an abberation as opposed to being the rule.

 

[theogt]

Football, baseball, basketball.....imperfect games, yet we expect perfect officiating. Human game, human elements, human mistakes.

Guys can complete 70% of their passes, hit 35% beyond the 3 point line, hit safely at a 30% clip...and be canonized and paid millions. Yet a referee, official, or umpire perform at a 95-97% correct level..... we need more refs, more cameras, more schools, more rules.

A single game is but a small part of the overall big picture and end result. Very few league champions in all of sports have been crowned as a direct result of poor officiating. If there were, it was an abberation as opposed to being the rule.

You mean refs don't get 5 angles in slow-motion to make calls?

 

[jackrussell]

You mean refs don't get 5 angles in slow-motion to make calls?

Maybe they should be outfitted with some sort of quasi camera head gear and jet packs.

 

[ZeroClub]

3) Pass Interference needs to be maxed out as a 15 yard penalty. PI is so inconsistently called and dramatically changes a game. It should be a spot foul under 15 yards and a 15 yard penalty if the foul is beyond 15 yards. Its horrible to continually see games changed by questionable PI calls that end up giving a team 30, 40, 50 yards.
And as an addendum, the rules should be more clearly defined.

I'm with your addendum and what Doomsday said. The rules have become impossibly complex to be enforced reliably and consistently in the real world.

These rules have already ruined one Super Bowl ... last year's. The integrity of the game is being threatened.

Simplify the rules, especially the pass interference calls, and things should be fine. And, frankly, I'd be happiest if they allowed more contact between pass defenders and WRs.

Also, they might as well get rid of the 5-yard face mask penalty. It seems like anything and everything is being called as a 15 yarder.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Maybe they should be outfitted with some sort of quasi camera head gear and jet packs.

If we could somehow implement a camera that utilizes all ten dimensions (or 10 plus depending on how you look at it) of the String Theory. I doubt they would ever get a call wrong!

 

[jackrussell]

If we could somehow implement a camera that utilizes all ten dimensions (or 10 plus depending on how you look at it) of the String Theory. I doubt they would ever get a call wrong!

I think you're onto something.

 

[theogt]

Maybe they should be outfitted with some sort of quasi camera head gear and jet packs.

You jest.

 

[Vtwin]

The rules committee needs to simplify the game. There's to many rules that are completely up to the "judgement" of the particular official.They need to lighten up on the rules that have really no bearing on the outcome of the game. Rules against celebrations and taking your helmet off etc. They need to stop the practice of giving the ref center stage and a mic to make the calls. Let the PA announcer announce the call. I think some of the officials just like the spotlight.I know it goes against my second suggestion but I would like to see a 15 yard personal foul called against any player who tries to talk an official into throwing a flag. They won't let a player use the ball in an endzone celebration but they let receivers get up and try and coerce an official into throwing a flag after almost every incomplete pass.I've been a fan since 1968 but I am really being pushed to the edge with the way the "new" NFL is being played. The officials play way to large of a role in almost every game.