We Should Be More Sympathetic Towards NFL Replacement Referees - Joe Chacon's Blog

Joe Chacon's Blog

We Should Be More Sympathetic Towards NFL Replacement Referees Stuck

Posted on September 11, 2012 at 02:44 PM.

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“We will now get the call from the retired insurance salesman from Des Moines, Iowa.”

I heard Al Michaels use that introduction for the head referee in Sunday night’s game between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers. This was, of course, when the referee’s conferred with each other for what seemed like ten minutes to make sure the ball was being placed in the right spot.

One can only imagine the stress the replacement referees are under as they do the best job they can when nobody else is really giving them a chance. You can sense it everywhere from the broadcast booth to the players on the field. Unfortunately, you can also sense it from the referee crew themselves – they appear to be lost at times.

Instead of sensing a spirit of compassion from fans around the league, I get the vibe that people are angry towards the replacement refs. When we see them make a bad call or give an extra timeout they are met with a massive amount of scrutiny. Yes, these referees are being paid (between $3,500 and $3,800 per game), but the angst against them should be toned down quite a bit. These officials have stepped in and allowed for the 2012 season to begin while the regular NFL crew continues to negotiate their contracts.

The latest news regarding the status of replacement referees is that they are scheduled to officiate the games through Week 5. I’m not calling for an all-out campaign to send them greeting cards and flowers to boost their morale, but I do think fans should have more of an open mind to the no-win situation they are in. If there is any anger it should be directed towards the NFL itself for not getting a deal done with their normal crews. It has become a battle of egos between the two sides and with the amount of revenue the NFL generates on a yearly basis, I believe they should pony up and pay the officials. Even if they gave in and paid them everything they are asking for it wouldn’t put the slightest dent in the bottom line of the league.

With replacement officials in the game we are always going to have a sense that things can fall apart at any time. When a 49ers player took his helmet off (yes, he took his helmet off, don’t tell me it was kicked off) the referee threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. Niners coach Jim Harbaugh blew a gasket and laced into the official. In the back of Harbaugh’s mind he knew he was dealing with an inexperienced NFL referee and treated him as such. The point is, if players and coaches think they know more than the referees, we are bound to see situations within a game get out of hand.

Seeing players and coaches have words with a referee is nothing new. However, the intensity in which I have seen them go after the refs during this first week of the season has definitely been kicked up quite a bit.

As fans, let’s be realistic and temper our expectations towards the replacement refs a bit. These people have normal jobs just like you and I and they are doing the best they can with the situation they have embraced. Sure, let’s give it to them a little when they blow a call, but the outright anger and hatred I’ve been seeing on the message boards and through Twitter has been truly despicable.

There are ways in which people should be criticized. Criticism is what allows many of us to do our job better and without constructive criticism people will never know what they need to improve on. However, feedback such as “These refs *@#$ suck!” and “I hope that ref wrecks his car” are not what most would consider “constructive”.

Call me crazy, but I think they deserve better.

OS Voice: How would you grade the performance of the replacement referees in week one?

Joe Chacon is a staff writer for Operation Sports and a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Comments

# 1 mgsmith119 @ Sep 11

Riduculous. F these SCAB Refs. They crossed the picket lines, they can deal with the consequences.

# 2 paconaifas @ Sep 11

These refs really suck, and I have no sympathy towards them. It´s not only the big bad calls, like that 4th timeout in Arizona, but most of all it's those little calls like holdings or offsides that they mess up and ruin a drive or penalize a defense. Roger Goodell should have concentrated more on dealing with the refs bargain agreement, than all that Saints bounty soap opera. I just can´t really imagine a superbowl with these referees.

# 3 misterkrabz @ Sep 11

The refs are doing a good job. Have they missed a few calls? Sure. Do the normal refs miss a few calls? Yep. I find it funny that people are hating on them. I'm actually proud of them. They're doing a great job under tough circumstances and limited training/experience. This dopey union mentality that permeates the brains of mindless union drones is hilarious. You pro union goons act like you're so unified against the system when in reality you're looking after one thing, you're own bottom line...and you don't care where the money comes as long as you get yours. Public sector unions are even worse because they tax payer flips the bill for their demands. Any one of you would be grovelling for your job back if the NFL (or any big business) did the right thing and told you to go to hell when you strike because all of your demands aren't met. If there's one thing we learned after week one is we can live with out the regular refs...just like we can live with out the union goons in general.

# 4 IowaAJ @ Sep 11

Some of the replacement refs are doing a good job the ones that did the packers vs 49ers were awful they let San Francisco get away with everything especially pass interference as they held our receivers all day.

# 5 JG1986 @ Sep 11

So much for sympathy here, haha.

# 6 joefrommo117 @ Sep 11

I do think these refs have done a pretty good job considering the circumstances, but they certainly have made some glaring errors too. The block in the back in Green Bay was a 7 point error, and they missed a blatant, violent helmet-to-helmet hit in the end zone in the same game.

I'm not angry at the replacement refs, I'm angry at the NFL for putting the organizations, players, fans, and these referees in this situation. Roger Goodell needs to stop being so worried about his image and start worrying more about player safety and the integrity of the game.

# 7 paconaifas @ Sep 11

Yeah, refs in Packers game were simply the worst i've seen. Sure, maybe they should have called that block in the back, but all the penalties they didn't call against the niners were simply ridiculous.

# 8 frankwyte81 @ Sep 11

@mgsmith119, How did they cross the picket line? They were never behind the picket line. Most of these guys are Div II college refs and in no way was affiliated with the NFL beforehand. On their performance, it's not great, horrible at best. What kind of training did they receive? Who knows, don't seem like much, but their job isn't an easy one. I'm not happy with the quality of these refs performance, but it's not their faults. Blame the NFL or the locked out refs, because one thing I do know, somebody is being greedy here.

# 9 footballfan41 @ Sep 11

I wish I had the power to vote for the guys to STAY!!! Cause after watching this weekend games,..OMG was great,..even the other ones made bad calls,..but these guys let them play the game of football,...player fight for more yards b4 the play is blown dead,. I love these Referees they have done a awesome Job,..I would Vote to fire the other greedy Referees for sure,..Two thumbs up to NFL & Referees,...

# 10 footballfan41 @ Sep 11

Funny how the referees are great to everyone, all the errors everyone says they made was the team that poster was pulling for,...LOL....all n all they done a AWESOME JOB'.!!!!!!

# 11 joefrommo117 @ Sep 11

@footballfan, it has nothing to do with who I'm pulling for. I'm a Chiefs fan, so I could care less who won the 49ers/Packers game. They haven't "done a AWESOME JOB'.!!!!", they have done a poor job of officiating at a professional level. Some games are decent, some are blatantly bad. As I said, though, they have done as well as could be expected given the circumstances.

# 12 jhogan3132 @ Sep 11

Quote: (# 1 mgsmith119 @ Sep 11 (2 Hours Ago)
Riduculous. F these SCAB Refs. They crossed the picket lines, they can deal with the consequences.)

I can't even begin to address this comment. If it were not for them "crossing the line" we wouldn't have a season right now.

# 13 misterkrabz @ Sep 11

paconaifas @ Sep 11 (1 Hour Ago) Yeah, refs in Packers game were simply the worst i've seen. Sure, maybe they should have called that block in the back, but all the penalties they didn't call against the niners were simply ridiculous.

Well, welcome to the club. I witnessed one of the worst officiated games in NFL history a few years ago when the Seahawks play the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Green Bay lost a regular season game....the "real" ref's ruined the most important game of the year (the Super Bowl) and the biggest game in the entire history of the Seahawks franchise. So the week one loss really isn't that big of a deal even if they did lose it because of "non" calls.

# 14 lockdown50 @ Sep 11

SCABS! I don't approve of them undermining the referees who they all hope to one day be. some of them may end up being the ones who are forced to stay home because they made it to the NFL and are now in a labour dispute.

# 15 frankwyte81 @ Sep 12

@Jaybird2585, you're obviously a Green bay fan to say that wasn't a block in the back, because it was. I agree Green Bay did get screwed on a bunch of calls. I agree about the false starts, I saw of a couple of them that weren't called. But that was a block in the back.

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