NFL having daily discussions on 17 full-time refs

[Prime Time]

Still not enough but it would be a start.
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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ing-daily-discussions-on-full-time-officials/

Troy Vincent: NFL having daily discussions on full-time officials
Posted by Michael David Smith on December 1, 2016

AP

A month ago, Saints coach Asshole Face laid out his case for full-time officials in an appearance on PFT Live. Since then, the subject has been much discussed around the NFL.

In fact, it’s been discussed every day in the league office, according to Troy Vincent, the league’s V.P. of football operations.

“This is a topic of discussion daily,” Vincent told the Associated Press.

Those daily discussions have led the league to conclude that it should hire up to 17 full-time officials this offseason, Vincent said. That would be enough to have one full-timer on every officiating crew. The NFL is also considering increasing the size of crews from seven to eight.

NFL V.P. of Officiating Dean Blandino said after Payton made his case for full-time officials that the idea has merit. Hiring 17 full-timers is still a long way from making all of the officials in the league full-timers, but the league may be heading in that direction.

 

[Selassie I]

Hopefully they get rid of a number of the clowns they currently have out there who are fucking up the integrity of the game. The shear number of mistakes and game changing fuck ups being made right now by the zebras is at an all-time high if you're asking me. There are refs that are flat out failing at their jobs right now... they need to be shown the door. They are a cancer to the league.

I can remember a time in the NFL when the refs really did an excellent job for the most part. Nowadays,,, it seems like the refs are EXPECTED to fuck the game up in some way. That's insane. I never thought I'd see the day when NFL refs would be considered worse than NBA refs... but that day is now.

NFL refs are an embarrassment to the greatest sports league in the world. They need to do a lot more than hire 17 new full-time refs if they want to earn the integrity of the game back.

 

[Jacobarch]

It might get a little better but the human element will always be an issue. I think fans need to relax a little on the issue otherwise games are going to take 4 hours because there's going to be holding calls on every other play.

 

[Bruce2980]

It might get a little better but the human element will always be an issue. I think fans need to relax a little on the issue otherwise games are going to take 4 hours because there's going to be holding calls on every other play.

This is 2016, not 1906. There are video feeds and cameras all over the stadium watching the game, put some zebras behind some of those screens with a phone, or radio, we have those too now a days, and things can happen live time. You can reduce the game time by an hour by getting rid of those stupid commercials, or you can add an hour by putting in more stupid commercials and blame it on the refs.

 

[Mackeyser]

True, some of the "delays" blamed on the refs are in part waiting for the networks to "come back from commercial"

 

[Merlin]

The NFL is ridiculous man. How in the F can they take so long to PAY THE REFS??? Pay the dudes. Build a group of professionals that only do that. It might eliminate a bad call or two per week, and help to offset the constant addition of extra rules every year that these guys have to integrate and evaluate in real time.

I feel for these refs. Seriously. Isn't the NFL making enough money?

 

[jrry32]

The NFL is ridiculous man. How in the F can they take so long to PAY THE REFS??? Pay the dudes. Build a group of professionals that only do that. It might eliminate a bad call or two per week, and help to offset the constant addition of extra rules every year that these guys have to integrate and evaluate in real time.

I feel for these refs. Seriously. Isn't the NFL making enough money?

You've got it all wrong, my friend. The refs are the ones who oppose being made full-time employees. As I recall, the NFL pays the head refs in excess of $100,000 a year. The refs don't want to be full-time because it allows them to keep their day jobs and make even more money.(ex. Hochuli making $100,000 a year as a ref AND makes money as a lawyer)

 

[CGI_Ram]

I can remember a time in the NFL when the refs really did an excellent job for the most part.

Why do you think that is?

Unless the current group just isn't as good as those before them, the rules of the game must be harder to officiate?

Play is faster and harder to officiate?

 

[CGI_Ram]

You can reduce the game time by an hour by getting rid of those stupid commercials

Perhaps I've always just overlooked the basics of this...

The networks are paying more than ever to broadcast the NFL...

To cover those costs, perhaps the cost of a single commercial hasn't increased much, but I assume they have had to add commercials for those costs?

Said another way; the amount of commercials is directly a result of the TV rights going up and up. The NFL doesn't dictate the amount of commercials, they are what they are due to the network costs. That's my assumption anyway.

 

[den-the-coach]

AND makes money as a lawyer)

Lawyers....What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? Well, one's a bottom-feeding mud dweller. The other's a fish.

What do lawyers use as birth control? Their personalities...I will be here all weekend, make sure you tip your waiters and waitresses and try the veal.

 

[Selassie I]

Why do you think that is?

Unless the current group just isn't as good as those before them, the rules of the game must be harder to officiate?

Play is faster and harder to officiate?

Let me try and explain what I mean with the old refs like this.

Now, I only picked this particular commercial because it had the Rams in it... but there are a shit ton of these on YouTube that are more informative and tricky. These commercials used to run during NFL games for years. They would play the 1st half of the commercial and then break away and show some other stuff before coming back and showing the 2nd half of the commercial with the answer. It was cool because everyone who you would watch with would have a chance to give their answer before the answer was actually revealed.




Now the cool thing about these clips for me was the fact that the refs called the game correctly.... even with the difficult calls that sometimes most people wouldn't have known what to do. I realize that they certainly wouldn't use a ref fuck-up in one of these,,, but the thing was, back in those days (these commercials ran in the 80s and 90s) NFL refereeing was seen as the best in all sports. If they were to try and do these same kind of commercials today... I think that they would get more attention from showing all of the clear fuck-up calls that all of us out in TV land somehow have a better understanding of than the refs. It's bad.


I don't think it's the rule changes either. Think about what changes have been made. They have made the passing game more wide open by restricting what and when defenders can contact pass receivers. Those rules are clearly written... but think about what we all watched with our own eyes in that Super Bowl we lost against the cheatriots. Were the rules enforced like they were written??? My answer would be Hell No.

My opinion is that the refs are not enforcing the rules that are clearly written. I understand that there are subjective calls that will always be iffy either way... but many of the calls we see made OR not made these days are just flat out fuck-ups by the refs. Think of all of the holding calls that are miraculously just not called against Robert Quinn as an example. Or how dick sherman is permitted to contact and mug WRs all the way down the field. There should not be different rules for different players... or refs that call rules the way that THEY see it instead of the way the rule is written.

Keep in mind that I used to ref basketball games a lot. I loved it and did it for the enjoyment more than the fact that I was payed a little money for my time. I did it at a pretty high level too. One summer I even called games during the NBA summer league here in Orlando. I have a decent understanding of what it takes to be viewed as a quality referee.

I watch these guys and believe that they are marching to their own drums. Their training looks to be less than adequate by a long way... maybe they should start out with the old IBM commercials with the current zebras. My guess is that these current goofs wouldn't do very well with some of the more involved calls... or they would all feel that they have earned the privilege of calling the play from their own personal set of rules.

The system is broken. It didn't used to be. Changes are needed in the worst way.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Why do you think that is?

Unless the current group just isn't as good as those before them, the rules of the game must be harder to officiate?

Play is faster and harder to officiate?

The NFL should do the same thing to there rule book, as the USA should do to the Tax code! Scrap the whole thing and come back with something much smaller and Simpler!!

 

[Mikey Ram]

To me, the value of another official would be very minimal...Yeah, they might see a thing or two that are hidden, but those are really far and few between, imo...The bigger problem is that consistency is a foreign concept...What is holding to one guy is an incidental action to another...PI is called so differently by different officals that it would be hilarious if it wasn't such an integral part of the game...I compare it to the strike zone in baseball...It's so different from umpire to umpire that It's a travesty...The only thing most hitters ask is that they be consistent...They can deal with that...I could deal with it in football if everything were called the same way, right or wrong...Then everybody knows the boundaries...

 

[Mikey Ram]

The NFL should do the same thing to there rule book, as the USA should do to the Tax code! Scrap the whole thing and come back with something much smaller and Simpler!!

Good luck with both of those things, Dave...Though I think both should be done...

 

[Mackeyser]

Let me try and explain what I mean with the old refs like this.

Now, I only picked this particular commercial because it had the Rams in it... but there are a crap ton of these on YouTube that are more informative and tricky. These commercials used to run during NFL games for years. They would play the 1st half of the commercial and then break away and show some other stuff before coming back and showing the 2nd half of the commercial with the answer. It was cool because everyone who you would watch with would have a chance to give their answer before the answer was actually revealed.




Now the cool thing about these clips for me was the fact that the refs called the game correctly.... even with the difficult calls that sometimes most people wouldn't have known what to do. I realize that they certainly wouldn't use a ref freak-up in one of these,,, but the thing was, back in those days (these commercials ran in the 80s and 90s) NFL refereeing was seen as the best in all sports. If they were to try and do these same kind of commercials today... I think that they would get more attention from showing all of the clear freak-up calls that all of us out in TV land somehow have a better understanding of than the refs. It's bad.


I don't think it's the rule changes either. Think about what changes have been made. They have made the passing game more wide open by restricting what and when defenders can contact pass receivers. Those rules are clearly written... but think about what we all watched with our own eyes in that Super Bowl we lost against the cheatriots. Were the rules enforced like they were written??? My answer would be Hell No.

My opinion is that the refs are not enforcing the rules that are clearly written. I understand that there are subjective calls that will always be iffy either way... but many of the calls we see made OR not made these days are just flat out freak-ups by the refs. Think of all of the holding calls that are miraculously just not called against Robert Quinn as an example. Or how dick sherman is permitted to contact and mug WRs all the way down the field. There should not be different rules for different players... or refs that call rules the way that THEY see it instead of the way the rule is written.

Keep in mind that I used to ref basketball games a lot. I loved it and did it for the enjoyment more than the fact that I was payed a little money for my time. I did it at a pretty high level too. One summer I even called games during the NBA summer league here in Orlando. I have a decent understanding of what it takes to be viewed as a quality referee.

I watch these guys and believe that they are marching to their own drums. Their training looks to be less than adequate by a long way... maybe they should start out with the old IBM commercials with the current zebras. My guess is that these current goofs wouldn't do very well with some of the more involved calls... or they would all feel that they have earned the privilege of calling the play from their own personal set of rules.

The system is broken. It didn't used to be. Changes are needed in the worst way.

Well said.

Couple that with the fact that now, NO ONE truly knows what constitutes a catch. NO ONE. Each week we have catches that fall into that "gray zone" where... no one knows. The guy has to get possession, get two feet down, make a football move, do the hokey-pokey, make at least one and half sides of the electric slide all while making sure the ball doesn't touch the ground before one body part from column A or two body parts from column B touches the ground.

I glad I'm sitting down, cuz I'm dizzy just writing that. Try refereeing that.

As well, the rules governing pass defenders are just...wonky. And that's led to them being implemented in a very uneven manner where some refs "let them play" and others "call it tight". And because of the complexity, we're seeing deference given to superstars and penalties given to rookies and guys with "reputations". Which we've seen, repeatedly. And... Which sounds EXACTLY like the NBA refs from the rise of Jordan to today.

 

[Yamahopper]

Here's to them getting a different 17.