Disaster in Seattle

(I had trouble getting into the site again just now. Had to use the Cris Collinsworth bio link on Google, the main URL didn't work.)

Ya know, the NFL goes the whole game with nothing hugely wrong, then on the last drive the whole officiating thing just explodes in their face again. Two horrrid offensive pass interference calls missed by the refs. A clearly intercepted ball is called a TD.

The Big One just happened. The officials cost a team the game, plain for everyone to see.

Let's face it, these refs just aren't good enough to go Greg Schiano (that's play hard for 60 whole minutes) and not make a royal screw-up. Not with a hand-holder on the sideline. Not with a baby-sitter upstairs. Not with the league office on the telephone. These officials are so bad they're able to overcome all that help and still make massive mistakes.

That must be some kind of superpower, no? Maybe they'll get their own movie.

First off, I am a totally biased Chicago Bears fan who roots against the Packers with any and every opportunity I can, and I agree with your (Andy's) assessment 100%. That should tell you something. To SpartaChris, Ragar, packa, and any other Packers fan in this forum that I forgot, I feel sorry for you guys because that was awful. I still feel sorry for the replacement refs who are trying their hardest but are just beyond unqualified right now. My upsetness about this result goes straight to the power-hungry moron up top, Roger Goodell, and I really hope they finally settle.

Having said all that, the Packers didn't do themselves many favors with that first half, and they did miss that 2 point conversion toward the end of the game. They still got robbed, but it's not like they played their best game either.

Yup. This Dumpster Fire is Blazing Red Hot And I feel like the NFL won't flinch. They are sticking to their guns because they aren't losing Money. They ended the Player issue in August 2011 because they wanted the revenue to stay. It will take owners who are collectively angry to stop this trash.

That was clearly an INT and there's some Good photo evidence all over Twitter. What a Red Hot Mess.

I hate being right, and being right that it would likely affect the Packers.

Huge props to Mike McCarthy for not blowing a gasket in his press conference.

(and massive problems continue getting to the site. bookmarks do not stay working, and it's 50/50 if i get into teh site or not)

Originally Posted by DaBearsFan

Having said all that, the Packers didn't do themselves many favors with that first half, and they did miss that 2 point conversion toward the end of the game.

The replacements refs gave Aaron Rodgers a kicking ball for the 2-point conversion, not a regular ball. They are completely clueless.

Man, I'm absolutely raging right now. I've tried giving the refs the benefit of the doubt, but this just blows my mind. That pass interference call on Sam Shields was ridiculous, and then this? Seriously, Golden Taint made the greatest no-handed catch in the history of the NFL!

Seattle absolutely man-handled the Packers in the first half, but the Packers fought back through the second half and deserved the win that was so rightfully theirs tonight. To have a game end like that is just... I don't know what to say at this point..

https://twitter.com/edogg559/status/.../photo/1/large

http://twitpic.com/ay40m6/full

The scab issue isn't going away, GODell.. its only festering week by week. Each week worse than the last.

ALL of these refs have been promoted to a level of INCOMPETENCE. (Popular phrase in my line of work) you have to develop talent, cultivate it. The NFL has done the equivalent of me promoting my part timers to district managers. It's a business plan that screams pure and utter fail. EXACTLY like its played out. You cannot replace the experience the. NFL crews had. 83% of NFL zebras had 10+ years of experience. Now we have 0% of zero have zero experience in the NFL. What a mess!!!

My condolences to the pack fans. That call is utterly inconsolable, especially if it affects division ranks or playoff seeding...

Here are a few good suggestions I've seen for names for this debacle:

Golden Taint
Clueless in Seattle
The immaculate interception
Sightless in Seattle

Originally Posted by SpartaChris

https://twitter.com/edogg559/status/.../photo/1/large

That's great!

Titans got 12 extra yards on drive with game-winning field goal, Ravens lose last week on bad call. Ravens win this week with a few bad calls. Refs give Seahawks a win because the city is nice, I guess. I know I am forgetting something, but about 4 or 5 of 48 games have been decided due to key calls that were bad calls. An error rate of between 8.25 and 11 percent for game outcomes is much worse than unacceptable.

It is starting to make me watch games with a wry smile than excitement. The media is partly guilty, but outcome error is more guilty.

I love that both officials at the scene simultaneously called something different as they looked at each other.

It gave the moment a 5 second YouTube bite which crystalized the problem.

What I am hearing as an undercurrent on interweb. The wise guys are betting home dogs to cover, as they think the homecrowd is shaping the refs.

Hopefully the real reefs will be back by week 5 when I'm back home catching the games. This is approaching FUBAR status, and well have to start putting asterisks on any conclusions in the future.

Originally Posted by darvon

What I am hearing as an undercurrent on interweb. The wise guys are betting home dogs to cover, as they think the homecrowd is shaping the refs.

Yeah, I actually mentioned this last week in relation to our game picks thread when many were taking 9 or 10 road teams to win.

As it turns out, home teams only went 8-8 this week (compared with 14-2 last week), but there were 5 home dogs that won outright, and I believe the Jets-Dolphins game was a push.

Interesting angle to keep track of as this debacle continues.

Only thing league office has going for it this morning, no owner in GB to call and *****.
No matter when this mess is settled this will be a factor in January, either due to GB missing postseason or having a lower seed.
Flip side until refs back off pension, I have no sympathy towards them.
Only thing we can do a fans is watch something else.

This looks remarkably like a call I once saw in a HIGH SCHOOL game. Where the ref in question happened to be an uncle of the player in Golden Tate's position (my brother attended the school gettng the favorable call, and I got some handy background information out of that one.)

@Frzz,

Why no backoff on Ref pensions? The NFL granted them in prior years and now wants to retract them. It raises an issue that pensions are a longer term asset than a CBA, thus is illserved by having the CBA contract for them.

The Refs offered to grandfather the pensions, with no new pensions if current ones were kept. NFL rejected this offer.

Why is keeping the pension an immoral position?

I understand that a pension for a part time job is unusual. But the NFL made that decision more than a decade ago. I understand no MORE pensions, but givebacks are a tougher position.

Which Games did this team ref in Weeks 1 and 2?

After the mess of last weeks MNF, I would have thought the best ref teams would be on THIS weeks MNF.