Yesterday I wrote that I didn’t think the replacement refs would have that great an impact on football, ultimately taking the official’s leverage away. It was based on assuming the NFL had replaced them with competent people who would be motivated by the potential for a new job.
Well, honesty compels me to note this article at Deadspin. They go through a number of preseason games and highlight various flubs by the new guys. Mainly, the majority strike me as “nerves” sorts of errors. But still, there are some legitimate screwups that don’t bode well.
But I won’t be backing off my prediction, yet. People need to keep in mind that the regular refs were hardly foolproof, with flubs like screwing up an overtime coin toss on Thanksgiving. Or, for good measure, how about a Super Bowl altering screwup? Those are off the top of my head, but a little googling would reveal plenty more, I’m sure. All from the regular guys.
There will be a tendency to blow every screwup by the replacements. That’s just the way it goes. I still think they’ll prove more than adequate to the task.
One reply on “Another Look at NFL Refs”
The only thing that the game of football NEEDS in order to be successful and the most popular sport on the planet is players. The NFL has those guys locked up for the next decade…thanks to the wonderful negotiating of the Union…sorry, I was laughing at that comment…no, seriously, they have the players for the next decade.
Refs ALL make mistakes, many huge, many game changing…honestly, there is no difference between these guys and the old guys. The other guys had a lockdown on their reffing fraternity, now they don’t, and I would fully expect some people to not have a job waiting for them once the new guys get the experience they need for no one to be able to tell a difference.
Hindsight is 20/20, Deadspin should stick to important stuff like politics and leave sports out of their radar. No reason for a bunch of keyboard-jockeys to start trying to figure out sports now, it is too late.