NFL Replacement Refs Are Doing Fine!

Yes, I'm serious.

Now quit crying like a little teenage girl.

What sort of expectations did you have?  The NFL brings in a bunch of replacements with no experience at the NFL level and gives them a month [speculation] to get up to speed.  All things considered, I think they're doing great.

So there's some bad calls?  You think the regular officials weren't as myopic or bad?  Riiiight.  Thanks for opening the door, because referees have been making horseshit calls since about 1930.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time supporting my assertion because frankly, I just don't care.  It's only sports, not something important or life threatening.

However, a few things do come to mind.

In the aftermath of the Seahawks/Packers game, there seems to be a consensus that the touchdown should have been nullified because of Offensive Pass Interference on receiver Golden Tate, who CLEARLY pushes off on the defender right in front of him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_69zsC08cxg&feature=relmfu

That was with replacement officials.  The replay officials who were consulted, by the way, were still the real deal.

Time for a flashback now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFsb4vIvLzI

Yep, many people think that pushoff by Drew Pearson was just as egregious.  Perpetrated by regular officials. Yes the video quality is shit, but I still love the television presentation back then -- full screen football!  No logos.  No dumbass score ticker.  Just the damn game.

The Packers only lost an early regular season game.  Boo hoo.  Minnesota got screwed out of the playoffs

Flashback 2, a bit more recent.

A case can also be made that the "regular" bad officials blew about a half dozen cheap shot calls against Vikings quarterback Brett Favre that impacted the finale of the game.  The result was that Minnesota got screwed and the Cheats, er Saints, got a gift Super Bowl appearance because the league felt bad for poor, poor New Orleans after they got crushed by Katrina.  "Look the other way fellas, we gotta give New Orleans something to feel good about."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPZCVCZNc50

Equally bad ... like ten different times ... as the current replacement referee error.  So get over it, the replacement referees are doing just fine.

NFL referees have been horseshit forever.