Replacement Referees

After last night's Seahawks/Packers game, it is impossible not to comment on the impact that the replacement referees are having on the integrity of the NFL. The NFL brand and reputation has been tarnished by the referee lockout. The picture below represents the culmination of miscues that have occurred over the last 3 weeks.

During the last 3 weeks, we have seen legendary coaches such as Bill Belichick lose their cool and chase down officials after games. In that same Patriots/Ravens game, John Harbaugh had a run in with a referee while trying to call a timeout. John Fox and Jack Del Rio have been heavily fined for venting their frustrations on the replacement refs during a Monday night matchup in Atlanta (read more). There was the Kyle Shanahan incident where he was livid with a referee's mistake of calling for a 10 second run off at the end of the Bengals/Redskins game (read more). There has always been NFL rules prohibiting verbal or physical abuse of game officials but the current situation has gotten out of control. A lot of it has to do with the lack of respect for these referees by the coaches and players.

There have many other miscues throughout the first 3 weeks of the 2012 NFL season. Here is a replacement referee list of miscues:

1. Seattle granted an extra timeout against the Cardinals.
2. The 49ers were granted challenges without having any timeouts in the Vikings game.
3. A 15 yard unneccesary roughness penalty ended up being a 29 yard penalty in OT of the Titans/Lions game.
4. Refs called for a 10-second runoff after a Redskins false start penalty. The clock had already been stopped previously by a spike. This resulted in Kyle Shanahan's unsportmanlike conduct and the refs then walked off too many penalty yards.
5,. Darrius Heyward-Bey was knocked out and sent to the hospital with a helmet to helmet hit and no flag was thrown.

Feel free to comment and add any more miscues that you have seen. We will add them to the list


Final Thoughts:
The NFL is looking more like the WWE these days with Roger Goodell playing the role of Vince McMahan. However, even a WWE referee knows he must avoid the spotlight and let the grapplers shine.