The NFL's ratings crisis

Yeah, spill!

 

hah

 

One of my favorite clips from the old NFL films clips was Marv Levy as head coach of the Chiefs screaming at a ref and calling him an "over-officious jerk."

 

Well, we've got to get some of the 'more replay' crowd in the sports media to shut they're pie holes.
Rod Brooks and Bob Fitzgerald on KNBR in SF are the dunces I hear the most on this topic.
'The most important thing is getting the call right' is a simpleton's way of viewing these things.
There is zero evidence to indicate that replay has enhanced the audience's satisfaction with officiating.
More replay is not the answer. Rules that require live action be parsed into super slo-mo are not the answer.

 

What I think gets ignored is that officials are athletes, highly skilled, trained and physically talented athletes. They're older than players, so that part of their roles is passed over. Athletes make mistakes. We accept that players and coaches fuck up. Why should officials be held to an impossible standard of video reviewed perfection at the expense of the pace and beauty of the games themselves? Who wants to watch other people watch television?

 

Fitz and Brooks at times are their own brand of strange at times, especially when Fitz gets goes off on one of his "the refs are screwing the Warriors" rolls.

But you raise a good point in your last sentence. Seeing a lot of complaints like that on the baseball threads "Well, he had his hand off the base for a tenth of a second, he's out." But the inconsistencies in the NFL's rules are worse than the differences in individual umpires' strike zones in MLB. You would think that's something the league would work out in the offseason, but we're dealing with Roger Goodell here.

 

It's because a run and a reception are two different animals. A runner already possession until he loses it, therefore as soon as he crosses the plane with possession it's a touchdown, no matter what happens after that.

A receiver doesn't have possession until he makes the catch and establishes it. From there it's a matter of defining when the receiver has established possession. You might not agree with the definition the league has created (it is indeed byzantine), but it is not the same situation as a runner crossing the goal line with the ball.

 

Well said.

In the end, the most important thing is that the game has to be enjoyable.
You have to have an audience, or sports revert from profession to hobby again.

 

Fitzgerald is a complete tool and especially insufferable during NBA season.
Humorously, he was even worse with the Ws stunk. Just a constant apologist.
Also seems like a two-faced rat the way he rips so many players after they leave the Ws roster.

 

Refs screwing up is in no way analogous to players screwing up. In competition, not making a mistake is a skill, it's part of what makes an athlete good or bad, so it should be part of determining the outcome of games. Players' mistake don't unfairly reward one team over another; the responsibility for and the outcome of the mistake is squarely on the team that made the mistake.

That's not the same for refs or umps. If they screw up, one team benefits and the other is harmed for no other reason than a man or woman who is supposed to be neutral made a mistake. Replay is here. It's not going away and with the current ability to review closely any play, fans would scream bloody murder when an obvious fumble or missed home run decided a playoff game.

 

Which is exactly why I said it should be a catch (and a TD if in the EZ) the minute he establishes possession, in bounds with two feet, and not when "he has completed the play" nonsense.

 

Or decided a betting outcome. Let's face it, that's a big part of the NFL's appeal.

I also agree with Buck that the addition of on-call rules announcers is a very troubling sign (what do those guys do when they're not called on for analysis, anyway? Slam beers? Watch PornHub?).

How much camera time is spent focused on officials huddling, referee announcements/explanations of penalties, or refs looking at replay monitors? It's bad enough that endless commercial breaks have interrupted football to such a degree. The replay decisions need to be made more quickly and on a more limited number of calls ... only ones that are vital to the outcome of the game (I realize that is tough to quantify).