NFL Officiating Needs To Be Better

lostxn

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NFL Officiating Needs To Be Better

This is not an article that will claim the Dallas Cowboys lost their playoff game yesterday because of a blown official call. But it’s worth looking at two examples where the officials apparently didn’t even know the rules to ask whether the NFL can ever fix this problem.
by VAfan@vafanbtb Jan 16, 2017, 8:00pm CST

Yesterday’s Dallas - Green Bay playoff game, which the Packers won on a game-ending field goal 34-31 is an instant classic. Green Bay jumped out to a 21-3 lead half-way through the second quarter, and with 3:16 left in the third quarter, holding a 28-13 lead, had a 98% probability of winning the game. Yet Dallas clawed back to tie it at 28 all, and in the last 1:38 of the game, the win probability chart swung wildly back and forth.

Win_probability_Dallas_Green_Bay.JPG

This is offered as an illustration of how much difference a single play can have on a football game.

That brings us to the officiating for yesterday’s playoff game.

In the playoffs, the NFL scraps the regular crews that officiate games, and comes up with new crews made up of officials who rate better during the season. These were the crews for this weekend’s division series.

Overall in yesterday’s game, there were very few penalties. Green Bay was flagged three times for 22 yards. Dallas was flagged only six times for 50 yards. When these teams met in Green Bay earlier in the year, Dallas was flagged seven times for 60 yards, and Green Bay was flagged five times for 23 yards. So the flags for each game were pretty close in number, and they were not high by any measure.

The flags that were thrown were, however, potentially very influential in the game. There are two we are going to highlight.

The Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalty On Brice Butler

This one sent me to look up the NFL Rules for the first time, because in my 50+ years of NFL watching, I can’t recall ever seeing it called. Dallas had the ball, second and five at the Green Bay 37 yard line, 5:55 left in the first quarter, Green Bay up 7-3. Brice Butler came onto the field, went to the middle where the Dallas players were starting to gather, then left without playing a snap. At the time Butler came into the game and left, Dak Prescott was still standing to the side and had not yet “huddled” the team, or moved the team to the line.

Here’s the rule.

ARTICLE 11. UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT. Using entering substitutes, legally returning players, substitutes on sidelines, or withdrawn players to confuse opponents, or lingering by players leaving the field when being replaced by a substitute, is unsportsmanlike conduct. See 12-3-1-l. The offense is prevented from sending simulated substitutions onto the field toward its huddle and returning them to the sideline without completing the substitution in an attempt to confuse the defense.
The problem with the call on the field is that nothing Brice Butler did could have been interpreted as intended “to confuse opponents,” or “an attempt to confuse the defense.”

After Butler left, Dallas huddled, got to the line, and ran the play, which was a 22-yard pass down to the Green Bay 15 yard line. Instead, the 15-yard penalty backed up Dallas to it’s 48 yard line, where on 2nd and 20, Dallas threw incomplete, then incomplete again and punted. At the very least this cost the Cowboys three points.

The only “confusion” caused by this play was the referee’s call.

Pass Interference Call on Anthony Brown

With the game tied at 28-all, Green Bay got the ball back with 4:08 to play. Just inside the 2-minute warning, first and 10 at the Dallas 45, Aaron Rodgers threw deep down the right sideline, where the ball was intercepted by Jeff Heath. However, a penalty was called on Anthony Brown for pass interference, negating the interception and moving the ball to the Dallas 35.

From there, Ty Montgomery ran for two yards, ran again for minus 5 yards, and Rodgers threw incomplete on third down. Mason Crosby then kicked a 56 yard field goal to take a 31-28 lead.

Let’s look at that “pass interference” call. Here’s the rule.

SECTION 5 PASS INTERFERENCE ARTICLE 1. DEFINITION. It is pass interference by either team when any act by a player more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage significantly hinders an eligible player’s opportunity to catch the ball. Pass interference can only occur when a forward pass is thrown from behind the line of scrimmage, regardless of whether the pass is legal or illegal, or whether it crosses the line. Defensive pass interference rules apply from the time the ball is thrown until the ball is touched. See Article 2 for prohibited acts while the ball is in the air.
Note these words: “Defensive pass interference rules apply from the time the ball is thrown until the ball is touched.”

The problem with this call is that at the time Anthony Brown hooked Ty Montgomery, Aaron Rodgers was still holding the ball! The call should have been defensive holding, which is a five yard penalty, not a spot foul, and had everything else held up, Green Bay wouldn’t have been in field goal range to take a 31-28 lead.

The other mistake in this play is that the referee called the foul on “42” - Barry Church, not “30” - Anthony Brown. Barry Church was on the field, but he wasn’t even near the play.

There were plenty of other calls that were missed in the game, and quite a few of them should have gone against Dallas. For example, Orlando Scandrick grabbed one Green Bay receiver’s jersey so much he pulled it off the shoulder pads, yet wasn’t called for holding. Mo Claiborne got away with a similar hold. If you went through the game, you could find many more. But these are judgment calls that likely can never be eliminated.

The problem with the two examples highlighted here is that even the “good referees” apparently don’t even know the rules, which ought to be unacceptable in the NFL.
 

Rev

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Even my wife had the correct call on the "pass interference" and she hardly ever watches any football.
 

Genghis Khan

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The problem with this call is that at the time Anthony Brown hooked Ty Montgomery, Aaron Rodgers was still holding the ball! The call should have been defensive holding, which is a five yard penalty, not a spot foul, and had everything else held up, Green Bay wouldn’t have been in field goal range to take a 31-28 lead.
I'd forgotten about this, but I noted the same thing at the time. That should have been a 5 yard defensive holding. The ball wasn't in the air yet.
 

Rev

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I'd forgotten about this, but I noted the same thing at the time. That should have been a 5 yard defensive holding. The ball wasn't in the air yet.
Thats the first thing my wife said. She didnt watch the game until the 4th quarter and saw that immediately. "The ball wasnt even in the air. How can that be pass interference?" I had no answer for her other than a shrug... My wife knows the rules better than these so called professionals.
 

lostxn

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The Butler penalty really burns me. There was just no reason to call that play. It's not called normally. Apparently hasn't been called in 30 years. You pull that shit out for a fucking playoff game? Not to mention you call it after the play to maximize the impact. The guy who called this should never call another NFL game again.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Thats the first thing my wife said. She didnt watch the game until the 4th quarter and saw that immediately. "The ball wasnt even in the air. How can that be pass interference?" I had no answer for her other than a shrug... My wife knows the rules better than these so called professionals.
Rodgers wasn't even trying to complete that pass. He was trying to throw the damn thing away. The receiver wasn't even in the vicinity. Just a dumbass penalty all around.

And sure it should have been defensive holding. But they had been letting both teams get away with that stuff the entire game. You don't suddenly call it at the most important time in the game. I hope the NFL ratings suck the rest of the way in the playoffs. Maybe then they will realize that they shouldn't have the officials pulling stupid shit like that against us.
 

lostxn

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http://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/2017/01/19/salt-in-wound-nfl-admits-error-in-cowboys-penalty-in-loss-to-packers/

Did NFL privately admit error in Cowboys penalty in loss to Packers?

Too little, too late.

In the first quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, things didn’t start off well for Dallas. A sack squashed their first offensive drive and made them settle for a field goal. Aaron Rodgers methodically marched the Packers down the field for a touchdown, signalling Dallas would not be able to kick field goals to remain in the game.

On their next possession, Dallas was driving with relative ease. On 2nd and 5 from the Green Bay 37, QB Dak Prescott found WR Terrance Williams for a huge gain of 22 yards down to the Packers 15-yard line. Only there was a flag and an explanation that confused everybody. Now, according to analyst Michael Lombardi, the league told some of their teams it was a flag that shouldn’t have been thrown in the first place.

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michael lombardi @mlombardiNFL
The too many men in the huddle call on Dallas for 15 yards was a mistake, the league admitted this to teams...sorry....
11:57 AM - 19 Jan 2017
1,426 1,426 Retweets 1,026 1,026 likes
The Cowboys were called for an unsportsmanlike conduct call for having a player join the huddle but leave the field without participating in a snap. The problem was, the players weren’t even in a huddle when Brice Butler made it to the field and then left.

If in fact the league admitted it’s error, this is the proverbial salt inside the wound for the Cowboys. What we don’t know yet is whether the league said there should have only been a five-yard penalty or if there shouldn’t have been a flag thrown at all.

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michael lombardi @mlombardiNFL
Spoke w/ 2 teams that talked to the NFL office about the huddle call and both said it was a mistake. No deception on the part of D, no call
12:12 PM - 19 Jan 2017
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michael lombardi @mlombardiNFL
Other teams saw the call, called the league office for clarification and NFL said Dallas was not being deceptive,no call was the right call
12:26 PM - 19 Jan 2017
380 380 Retweets 258 258 likes
No one in the Cowboys organization has publicly looked at this as a reason for the loss, but it certainly has had many others in an uproar.

The NFL has responded as Lombardi’s tweets have obviously gained serious traction. They’ve gone on record via Michael Signora, league VP of communications, the call was correct.

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Michael Signora ✔ @NFLfootballinfo
Penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in GB-Dal properly called. Rule 5, Section 2, Article 8e has been rule since 1955
12:47 PM - 19 Jan 2017
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The league feels it has cover via the rulebook, but if they’ve had discussions with teams about whether or not it was an actual violation, it could be another mark sullying their transparency.

Here’s the rub, the rule has a note in official rulebook that seems to support Lombardi’s take of what was told privately to teams.

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Joey Ickes @JoeyIckes
Substitution Rule applied on Butler call.... Read that note.
1:16 PM - 19 Jan 2017
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Note: The intent of the rule is to prevent teams from using simulated substitutions to confuse an opponent, while still permitting a player (or players) to enter and leave without participating in a play in certain situations such as a change in coaching decision on fourth down, even though he has approached the huddle and communicated with a teammate.

Further confounding the issue, head of officiating Dean Blandino has tweeted he has not been in contact with any team about the rule.

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Dean Blandino ✔ @DeanBlandino
I have not spoken to any club about this call. Longstanding rule that was last called in 2014 Week 8 WAS at DAL against WAS #82. https://twitter.com/NFLfootballinfo/status/822153588323602433
1:07 PM - 19 Jan 2017
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Instead of sitting inside the Green Bay red zone, Dallas was marched back to their side of the field to face 2nd and 20. The Cowboys couldn’t convert the long distance and ended up punting. Green Bay scored a touchdown on the subsequent possession and raced out to a 21-3 lead.

Dallas mounted a furious comeback, tying the score twice in the final four minutes at 28 all and 31 apiece. Here’s the difference that call would have made.

The Cowboys were in great position to score a touchdown, which could’ve changed the entire complex of the first half and of the game. At the very least, Dallas would have a field goal chip shot, and Dan “Split’Em” Bailey was sharp on the day. That three points could’ve meant the 56-yarder nailed by Mason Crosby ties the score at 31 points instead of putting Green Bay up 31-28.

That rolls into Dallas having possession driving to kick a game-winning field goal instead of shooting to tie. There’s no reason to spike the ball with 48 seconds left, because Dallas’ primary concern is kick the field goal with no time left on the clock or go to overtime.

It’s an erroneous call that squarely impacted a key playoff game, but there’s no guarantee the rest of the game plays out the way it did if that drive ended differently.

The league makes these concessions every week, in almost every game. Teams submit plays they think the referees got wrong and the NFL rules on them. There is no solace to Cowboys Nation as the world prepares to watch Green Bay face Atlanta for the right to go to the Super Bowl.
 

DLK150

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Not to be harsh or anything but this is crying over spilled milk at this point. Same old song. Different refs/umps from different crews call certain things certain ways. Others see them differently.

That's why I've been one of those to call for making ref crews full time instead of all the part timers that only work part of the year and barely keep up with the nuances of the plethora of rules tweaks that happen every year. There are somewhere over 100 officials employed by the NFL. Make them full time employees at a base wage of say $100K a year with the scale trending upward based on tenure and title. Send them all to a rules re-orientation class every year to make sure they're informed of any nuances in the changes every year. Test them all after orientation to make sure they are properly trained and grade/pay them based on how well they test. Take it out of GOOD For ALLmost Nothing's voluminous salary. Shoot, it could probably be paid for with the ad revenue from a couple of Super Bowl commercials.

Send replay reviewers along with them.

It will never happen though. A shame because the NFL is supposedly so concerned with the quality of their product but they fail to address one of the key issues that causes so much consternation among fans and that is officiating. Most fans can accept losing as long as they don't feel as though they've been screwed over by a bad/missed call.
 

lostxn

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Most fans can accept losing as long as they don't feel as though they've been screwed over by a bad/missed call.
Yep. After a while, though, it begins to become very obvious that the Cowboys may be fan favorites, but not the refs. You now have two consecutive games where the refs conspired to boot us from the playoffs against the same team. It's BS.
 

p1_

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The Butler penalty really burns me. There was just no reason to call that play. It's not called normally. Apparently hasn't been called in 30 years. You pull that shit out for a fucking playoff game? Not to mention you call it after the play to maximize the impact. The guy who called this should never call another NFL game again.
Me too. i couldn't believe such a stupid call that had an incredible impact. It wiped out a huge reception, then tacked on 15 more yards. Utter stupidity.
 

shane

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The refs are always gonna blow dick. Don't expect it to get anything but worse. It's infuriating, but I could imagine the league will give us the calls in the clutch if they were really trying to rig things.
 

ravidubey

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Even my wife had the correct call on the "pass interference" and she hardly ever watches any football.
That was the single technically wrong call that there's no ground to stand on. Sure he held him, but the pass wasn't thrown yet. Everyone knows that isn't PI, but holding.
 

boozeman

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[h=2]Brice Butler rule could be eliminated or modified[/h] Posted by Mike Florio on January 22, 2017, 8:57 AM EST

The rule that wiped out a 22-yard gain and turned it into a 15-yard loss for the Cowboys on Sunday eventually could be erased from the rule book.

A vestige of the ’50s, the rule that allows the referee to flag the offense for unsportsmanlike conduct if a player not in the game approaches the huddle and then leaves without participating in a play could soon be expunged.

As one source with thorough knowledge of the rule book and its application told PFT on Saturday, current game mechanics aimed at giving the defense a fair chance to match any changes the offense may be making in an effort to confuse the opponent make the threat of a 15-yard penalty irrelevant. Put simply, the so-called (at least by me) Brice Butler rule has become outdated.

For now, it exists. And it’s no coincidence that referee Tony Corrente is the man who called the foul on Sunday in Dallas. Corrente called the foul the last time the rule was invoked during a Washington-Dallas game in 2014. He’s regarded as the lone stickler on this issue among the NFL’s referees.

At a minimum, the rule book could be (and should be) cleaned up to eliminate conflict between the actual rule regarding offensive players who quickly enter and exit (Rule 5, Section 2, Article 5) and a provision that lists the penalties for various types of illegal substitutions (Rule 5, Section 2, Article 8) and that inaccurately summarizes the text of the rule to prohibit a player from “mov[ing] onto the field inside the field numerals and leaves without participating in one play.”

Even if the rule isn’t changed or modified, the NFL may consider making it a dead-ball foul. Since the violation locks in before the snap, there’s no reason to wait until after the play to call it and to enforce it. That would lessen the potential impact of the call; last Sunday, the Cowboys wouldn’t have lost 22 yards before losing 15.

Then there’s the practical impact of clinging to this archaic rule. If Corrente had never thrown the flag, it never would have been an issue. The Packers wouldn’t have complained that they didn’t get a fair chance to match the offensive personnel and/or that the 22-yard gain should have been wiped out due to a technicality. If they had, many would have accused the Packers of complaining about a goofy technicality.

Instead, the issue has become a distraction to what was an excellent and memorable playoff game — even though (as PFT has learned) the Cowboys never complained about it.
 

Joe Fan

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[h=2]Brice Butler rule could be eliminated or modified[/h] Posted by Mike Florio on January 22, 2017, 8:57 AM EST

The rule that wiped out a 22-yard gain and turned it into a 15-yard loss for the Cowboys on Sunday eventually could be erased from the rule book.

A vestige of the ’50s, the rule that allows the referee to flag the offense for unsportsmanlike conduct if a player not in the game approaches the huddle and then leaves without participating in a play could soon be expunged.

As one source with thorough knowledge of the rule book and its application told PFT on Saturday, current game mechanics aimed at giving the defense a fair chance to match any changes the offense may be making in an effort to confuse the opponent make the threat of a 15-yard penalty irrelevant. Put simply, the so-called (at least by me) Brice Butler rule has become outdated.

For now, it exists. And it’s no coincidence that referee Tony Corrente is the man who called the foul on Sunday in Dallas. Corrente called the foul the last time the rule was invoked during a Washington-Dallas game in 2014. He’s regarded as the lone stickler on this issue among the NFL’s referees.

At a minimum, the rule book could be (and should be) cleaned up to eliminate conflict between the actual rule regarding offensive players who quickly enter and exit (Rule 5, Section 2, Article 5) and a provision that lists the penalties for various types of illegal substitutions (Rule 5, Section 2, Article 8) and that inaccurately summarizes the text of the rule to prohibit a player from “mov[ing] onto the field inside the field numerals and leaves without participating in one play.”

Even if the rule isn’t changed or modified, the NFL may consider making it a dead-ball foul. Since the violation locks in before the snap, there’s no reason to wait until after the play to call it and to enforce it. That would lessen the potential impact of the call; last Sunday, the Cowboys wouldn’t have lost 22 yards before losing 15.

Then there’s the practical impact of clinging to this archaic rule. If Corrente had never thrown the flag, it never would have been an issue. The Packers wouldn’t have complained that they didn’t get a fair chance to match the offensive personnel and/or that the 22-yard gain should have been wiped out due to a technicality. If they had, many would have accused the Packers of complaining about a goofy technicality.

Instead, the issue has become a distraction to what was an excellent and memorable playoff game — even though (as PFT has learned) the Cowboys never complained about it.
Here's my issue with that so-called penalty. It's one thing to pull it out of your ass to ruin our drive, but when you fail to call it on Ripkowski on the very next drive it shows how completely full of shit the officiating was.

Same thing with when Witten was tackled but yet you manage to pull a PI out of your ass on a play where the ball wasn't even in the air and then was uncatchable when finally thrown.

The NFL can go fuck itself. I refuse to watch any more games for the remainder of the season because of that shit.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Here's my issue with that so-called penalty. It's one thing to pull it out of your ass to ruin our drive, but when you fail to call it on Ripkowski on the very next drive it shows how completely full of shit the officiating was.

Same thing with when Witten was tackled but yet you manage to pull a PI out of your ass on a play where the ball wasn't even in the air and then was uncatchable when finally thrown.

The NFL can go fuck itself. I refuse to watch any more games for the remainder of the season because of that shit.
It's like baseball. Strikes and balls may be different from one crew to the next, but you expect the ump to be consistent with his calls.

I'm ok with the officials calling things different from game to game but at least be consistent within the game. When the officials pull random rules out of their ass to penalize one team but don't do the same for the other, it screams agenda.
 

Joe Fan

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It's like baseball. Strikes and balls may be different from one crew to the next, but you expect the ump to be consistent with his calls.

I'm ok with the officials calling things different from game to game but at least be consistent within the game. When the officials pull random rules out of their ass to penalize one team but don't do the same for the other, it screams agenda.
That's exactly my point. If you call it, then so be it.. But it's simply bullshit to either call it or not call it depending on which team it impacted.

That was my issue.

You let GB get away with tackling Witten, then you can't call what Brown did as PI especially since the ball wasn't in the air when it happened. And if you're going to call some weak ass penalty against Butler then you can't turn a blind eye when GB does it the very next drive.

Plain and fucking simple.
 

lostxn

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That's exactly my point. If you call it, then so be it.. But it's simply bullshit to either call it or not call it depending on which team it impacted.

That was my issue.

You let GB get away with tackling Witten, then you can't call what Brown did as PI especially since the ball wasn't in the air when it happened. And if you're going to call some weak ass penalty against Butler then you can't turn a blind eye when GB does it the very next drive.

Plain and fucking simple.
Well we got away with a ton of DPI during that game. They were letting them play. However, when it's an open play in the end zone with a ref looking right at it you have to call that. You can't not call that. I know the ref saw it.
 

Joe Fan

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Well we got away with a ton of DPI during that game. They were letting them play. However, when it's an open play in the end zone with a ref looking right at it you have to call that. You can't not call that. I know the ref saw it.
You're right that the NFL let them play for the most part.. That is until GB needed a spark or new life on a set of downs.

Game changing play you say? Here comes the flag.
 

UncleMilti

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I don't give a shit about the rule....The one thing that sticks out to me is the fact Corrente was and has been the only guy that called this penalty.

You can't go back and change the impact the call had on the game, but for a league that is always preaching"accountability" where is the fucking punishment for Corrente?

He should be banned from any playoff duties moving forward. But I'm sure Goofdell and the NFL are too busy worrying about the 14 month Elliott investigation and don't have time for silly refereeing issues that actually impact the integrity of the game.
 
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