Replacement Refs [merged x2]

[Phishfan]

I'm sorry, he threw the ball into the ground as he was going down.  That's spot on grounding.  Once the officials determined it was an incomplete pass, they should've thrown the flag.  You can do that.

If by "throwing it into the ground" you mean it hit the ground after he threw it I guess we can agree. It was not thrown like a spike into the ground by any means.

[MikeO]

I must be the one person on the planet who hasn't noticed (other than being told they're replacement refs repeatedly) and to be honest I couldn't give a shit.  Let them stay on strike.  If anything I like the replacement refs better.

These replacements are calling way too much pass interference and they are calling it badly.

Plus in 2 games yesterday there were almost 2 bench clearing brawls. They have no control over the games. It has become a disgrace!

[Brian Fein]

The replacement refs are doing an exceptionally stinky job tonight on MNF. Kind of appalling, actually.

[Cathal]

It took about an hour before the 1st quarter was over. Two calls overturned in the 1st quarter. Game looked like it was getting out of hand. Did you here what Mike Tirico was saying about the replacement refs during the 1st quarter? He said something like they were a bunch of 6th round draft picks put into a group and go play against the best teams available. While it may be true, I was a bit surprised to hear it.

[Pappy13]

It took about an hour before the 1st quarter was over. Two calls overturned in the 1st quarter. Game looked like it was getting out of hand. Did you here what Mike Tirico was saying about the replacement refs during the 1st quarter? He said something like they were a bunch of 6th round draft picks put into a group and go play against the best teams available. While it may be true, I was a bit surprised to hear it.

I did hear that and I am also a little surprised at the number of announcers taking shots at the officials this year. I seem to remember a real reluctance by the announcers to criticize the regular officials, why are they being allowed to just rip the replacements on a whim? I still don't see the huge disparity between the regular officials and the replacements that everyone seems to be saying there is. Two overturned calls in a game is bad officiating? Silly me, I actually thought that the whole purpose of instant replay was to get the calls right and in my opinion they got both of those calls right and they were both very close calls. I remember several calls last year that after instant replay they STILL got wrong in my opinion. Anyone remember the games that Miami lost the last couple of years because they didn't get several calls right? How about the game against Pittsburgh where Roethlisberger CLEARLY fumbled before crossing the goal line and Miami recovered in the endzone that was BLOWN and not corrected? How about the return by New Orleans a year or 2 before that that was CLEARLY fumbled prior to the goal line that that should have been a touchback that was BLOWN and not corrected? I haven't seen ANYTHING come even remotely close to those HUGE blown calls that were not even corrected on review. I'm of the opinion that the replay officials in the booth have actually been doing a BETTER job than the regular officials as far as overturning bad calls.

So the replacement refs are letting holding calls go? I can't remember a game where I didn't see at least 1 blown holding call when the regular refs were there. Pass interference is being called too much? Ditto. Hell the fans don't even know the freaking rules and they think the officials are messing up. I watched the Miami game at Hooters this passed weekend and there were some Raiders fans there and they all wanted Tannehill flagged for grounding on the play where he threw the ball away as he's getting hit while going out of bounds and thought because they were replacement officials they BLEW that call, only problem is that Tannehill was CLEARLY outside the tackles and it's completely within the rules for him to throw the ball away in that case, I didn't have the heart to tell them the officials actually got that right while they went on and on about how bad the officials were.

Fans are being oversensitive to the fact that these are replacement refs and looking for ANYTHING to rip on them when the truth is they have been nearly as good as the regular officials. Give them a bit more time and cut them the same amount of slack that we cut the regular officials and you won't notice the difference.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[CF DolFan]

I think it's a solidarity thing between football people and the refs. They keep pointing out issues because they side with the refs when under normal circumstances they tend to give refs a break.

With that said there is a very noticeable differences in many instances. Not every game but it is pretty common. Right or wrong .... they seem to lack the experience and assertiveness of the NFL referees and things tend to get out of hand and they get more flustered. 

[Pappy13]

I think it's a solidarity thing between football people and the refs. They keep pointing out issues because they side with the refs when under normal circumstances they tend to give refs a break.

With that said there is a very noticeable differences in many instances. Not every game but it is pretty common. Right or wrong .... they seem to lack the experience and assertiveness of the NFL referees and things tend to get out of hand and they get more flustered. 

I can see that, but that's mostly because the players don't respect the replacement refs, it's not really anything the refs are doing. The league needs to come down HARD on players that are getting into fights and stuff and that stuff will stop. Maybe there needs to be a few more flags from refs as well, but if they start pulling hanky's at everything I think that will be looked at as they don't know what they are doing too.

[suck for luck]

Last night was brutal.

[Pappy13]

Last night was brutal.

You talking about Peyton in the 1st quarter or the replacement officials? I was thinking that the replacement Peyton was pretty bad, but it looks like they got the real Peyton to come back and play after the 1st quarter.

[suck for luck]

LOL both.

[Fins4ever]

Unless he really thought it wouldn't be?  My only point of comparison - I have buddies who are hockey officials.  I know guys who ref as high as AHL. A good friend of mine played four years at UNH and has been a linesman for many UNH games.  He's been flat out asked the question.  He would never allow anything to get in the way of doing his professional job.

Devil's adovcate, anyway.  Maybe this guy thought he could handle it and didn't want to ruin the chance he had.  When you think about it, they all could be making an audition for future openings.

Congrats. You have friends who are of high character and integrity. My guess is when it comes right down to it, most people would naturally (even unintentionally) favor the team they support. Either way,
hiring a ref to officiate a game that he is a fan of is a bad risk and would surely piss off the other team. I consider myself pretty objective, but you would not want me officiating a Fin game if you were a fan of the other team. lol

 

[BigDaddyFin]

^^^ How do you like them better? Do you think they're doing a much better job or do they have better personality? 

They have much better personality and as long as they don't screw the Dolphins, I'm more than happy with them.

[suck for luck]

Is there some Replacement Referees of the NFL reality show that I don't know about?

[Dolphin-UK]

I'm getting fed up with the flak the replacement refs are getting. They're in a terrible situation, they're stepping for more experienced and better paid refs who are off whining they don't get paid enough.

The players and coaches don't want to back them because they know they need to side with the NFL refs in case they return and bear a grudge. The NFL can't do much about it because they're in negotiation with the NFL refs and the replacements don't have a union to stand up for them.

I'd love it if the refs just decided that this week they won't let the game start for 10 minutes just to show everyone who exactly it is that's allowing this season to get run while the NFL refs sit at home complaining.

Both teams have the same refs and the same chances of getting bad calls....deal with it!

[Phishfan]

How about the game against Pittsburgh where Roethlisberger CLEARLY fumbled before crossing the goal line and Miami recovered in the endzone that was BLOWN and not corrected?  

In an effort to represent this more correctly, the fumble call was corrected upon review. Then I heard the most asinine and unusual call of my life. The ref announced they could not tell who recovered the fumble therefore it went back to the Steelers on the 1 or somewhere like that. That was the only time in my life I ever heard that call made, especially when video showed a single Dolphins players hand on the ball first and he was the same person who came out of the pile with it.