Back to the replacements

While my last entry in this blog was dealing with the possible repercussions of the current referee situation in the NFL, reality has once again overtaken me and it is now even worse than I had expected. While during the last weeks the replacement refs made many critical and obviously wrong calls, it has reached a new level with the result of Monday Night Football.

On Monday the Green Bay Packers played at Seattle to match the Seahawks. Most of the game was a brilliant defensive effort (sadly nobody is talking about that)  from Seattle and not much offense took place. And it was a "usual" replacements game, as there were numerous dubious pass interference calls, some critical penalties and a general feeling that they were not 100% in control of what was going on all the time.

But then there was th final play. And it was a big one, as Seattle was back 5 points and they needed a hail mary pass to win the game with the final play. So Seattle QB Wilson, after avoiding a sack, threw it up for grabs into the end zone in the general area where Golden Tate was waiting for it. He was surrounded by at least four Packers and Packers DB M. Jennings was in perfect position to defend the pass. Instead of doing what defenders are tought to do in such a situation, i.e. knocking the ball down, he tried to catch it. And he DID catch it and all replay angles showed he caught it first and although Tate might have had simultaneous possession of the ball while going to the ground for a split second, it was Jennings who had the ball in the end.

By now everybody knows the end of the story. The catch was awarded to Tate (even after review) and the NFL has admitted the mistake. However, they are only admitting that Tate was actually pushing off before the "catch" (enough to overturn it) and still call it a simultaneous catch which, by rule, should go to the offense. Everybody who saw what happened knows that this is wrong. There was a push off, yes, but Tate never caught the ball. It was a clear mistake that I do not think regular NFL refs would have made.

The way the NFL is handling the situation is definitely deciding games. We saw that on Monday. The integrity of the game is in danger. Some Packers have come forward and argued that the NFL was "more about money than the integrity of the game". Well, that's news! The NFL is the best sports business in the world. Of course, it is all about money. If it was just about competing in the game of football it would not be a billion dollar industry. Interesting, though, that this criticism comes from the only NFL team which is publicly owned (Packers). So there is no owner involved who wants his profits maximized rather than the success of his team on the field of play.

I agree. The integrity of the game is in danger. But I would go a step further: the only fans who might be happy right now live in the city of Seattle. If fans see that the current situation goes on and more games are decided by wrong officiating, they will turn away and the NFL as a whole product could suffer.

The NFL could have changed the call or set a rematch. They decided to stick to the result and come up with bad excuses. Fine, but please, for the sake of the game and the league, pay the regular refs and bring them back!