NFL announces officiating changes for 2015 playoffs

[gmf1369]

On Wednesday, the NFL announced some changes with regard to the league's officiating process for the 2015 NFL playoffs.

With the approval of Commissioner Roger Goodell, the NFL Competition Committee has unanimously recommended an adjustment to the league's officiating procedures for the upcoming postseason. This postseason, game officials be will allowed communication between the referee and Dean Blandino, the NFL Vice President of Officiating, who is based in the league's officiating headquarters in New York, with regard to the correct application of rules in specific situations that are not currently covered by the instant replay rule.

Here's a specific explanation of the rules change by NFL.com:

"For the 2015 Postseason, consultation may occur between the Referee and the VP of Officiating or his designee located in the league's officiating headquarters in New York regarding the correct application of playing rules. In addition to the VP of Officiating's current role in Instant Replay, this consultation will only include the appropriate assessment of penalty yardage, the proper administration of the game clock, the correct down, or any other administrative matter not currently reviewable.

"This will not include the ability to call or change a foul, or otherwise become involved in on-field judgment calls that are not subject to the current Instant Replay system."

While the new officiating process will help correct several issues that took place this regular season-the game clock issues in the Steelers-Chargers and the Cardinals-49ers games, for example-the VP of Officiating or his designee will not have the ability to overturn controversial calls, such as the play that involved Dez Bryant in last year's NFC Divisional Playoff game between the Cowboys and Packers.

"The committee feels strongly that giving the referee and Dean the ability to consult with each other in certain situations beyond instant replay will further support officiating in the playoffs," NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay said. "The officials do a very difficult job exceedingly well, and we think this adjustment in the playoffs will make them even better."

Per NFL.com, Blandino and his staff in New York will "not call or change a foul or become involved in on-field judgment calls beyond what is already part of the instant replay review process. Communication on administrative matters can be initiated either by Blandino or the referee."

Momentum for Blandino's expanded role for the NFL playoffs was initiated by Goodell during the December 2 league meeting in Dallas, when Goodell discussed the potential expansion to the league's postseason officiating with NFL owners, in which the Competition Committee made a recommendation shortly thereafter.

"We constantly strive to make our game progressively better for the players, coaches and fans," said NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent. "This change will assist our officials with an additional resource for clarity and consistency in game administration."

 

[Bigmoe]

In this day and age of the NFL, it boggles my mind that NFL refs are not full time.
If the NFL really wanted to correct many issues the refs would be full time. In school during the offseason and even go thru training classes to stay in shape.There should be no excuse to not understand any rules during the game and be much more consistent.
Any who, it's really a joke .
$10,000 a game part time and they all suck.

 

[mykcuz]

In this day and age of the NFL, it boggles my mind that NFL refs are not full time.
If the NFL really wanted to correct many issues the refs would be full time. In school during the offseason and even go thru training classes to stay in shape.There should be no excuse to not understand any rules during the game and be much more consistent.
Any who, it's really a joke .
$10,000 a game part time and they all suck.
View attachment 1254

Full time is a very difficult thing to accomplish. These guys live all over the country, where do they train during the week? Many won't want to be uprooted like that.

Also, these guys are highly successful business professionals, and intentionally so. The nfl doesn't want a ref in a position to need money, and potentially throw a call. Just leaving your profession is a big deal, and they'd have to get paid a lot of money to justify leaving law firms and the like.

What about from the refs view? You leave your job to become full time, you ref for a year, make some bad calls, and get fired. Your previous job is long gone.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[LGM]

In this day and age of the NFL, it boggles my mind that NFL refs are not full time.
If the NFL really wanted to correct many issues the refs would be full time. In school during the offseason and even go thru training classes to stay in shape.There should be no excuse to not understand any rules during the game and be much more consistent.
Any who, it's really a joke .
$10,000 a game part time and they all suck.
View attachment 1254

100% agree

NFL officiating would dramatically improve if they got rid of this collection of part timer per diem lawyers, insurance salesmen and school assistant principals and other administrators and hired a completely new corps of younger physically fit men and women whose life dream was to be a football official in the biggest and most important sports enterprise in America.


They could spend the weeks during the season staying in shape, studying film on the teams they would be working and studying the rulebook. They could also have their eyesight checked routinely (something I bet the NFL hasnt done ever with their current crop)

During the offseason, they would be sent study materials on the rules and rule changes and attend monthly seminars and meetings in which they would have to pass tests on both their physical fitness and knowledge of the rules. Once OTAs and TC began they would be assigned to camps and rotated

 

[mykcuz]

100% agree

NFL officiating would dramatically improve if they got rid of this collection of part timer per diem lawyers, insurance salesmen and school assistant principals and other administrators and hired a completely new corps of younger physically fit men and women whose life dream was to be a football official in the biggest and most important sports enterprise in America.


They could spend the weeks during the season staying in shape, studying film on the teams they would be working and studying the rulebook. They could also have their eyesight checked routinely (something I bet the NFL hasnt done ever with their current crop)

During the offseason, they would be sent study materials on the rules and rule changes and attend monthly seminars and meetings in which they would have to pass tests on both their physical fitness and knowledge of the rules. Once OTAs and TC began they would be assigned to camps and rotated

Well, the common idea I keep hearing is that they will make the crew chief full time.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Bigmoe]

Horrible calls again
Horse collar ??
.wtf are they looking at

False start on the FG????

Just terrible week in and week out

 

[LGM]

Horrible calls again
Horse collar ??
.wtf are they looking at

False start on the FG????

Just terrible week in and week out

The week is only two games old but the incompetent part timers masquerading as officials in a multi billion dollar sports industry are already approaching the Phil Luckett or possibly the Tim Donaghy level for the week

And Walt "Tuck Rule" Coleman, Ed Hochilli and Pete Morrelli haven't even had the chance to strut their usual screwups out onto a field yet

 

[Elias]

Speaking of corruptness in the NFL's officiating:

The possibility has existed, and been anticipated by many, since the NFL outfitted its officials with wireless communication last year. In a world where conspiracy theories erupt by the minute, it was easy to wonder: Who is talking to the referees? What are they saying? And why?

This week the NFL codified a limited expansion of communication for the postseason between referees and members of the league's officiating command center in New York. In a press release, the league said vice president of officiating Dean Blandino, or his designee, will consult not only on replay reviews but also on "administrative" issues "regarding the correct application of playing rules" such as penalty yardage and clock operation.

It insisted that Blandino "will not call or change a foul or become involved in on-field judgment calls beyond what is already part of the replay review process," but here's a dirty little secret: Many people in the officiating community aren't buying it and remain highly suspicious of the true purpose and use of the wireless communication system.

The theory has been advanced by none other than Mike Pereira, one of Blandino's predecessors who now works as an analyst for Fox Sports. In an interview this week, Pereira reiterated his belief -- which he first voiced in September -- that Blandino or a member of his staff has been whispering in the ears of referees for some time.

The league has denied it, but Pereira -- still highly respected in the football community -- said: "Of course they're going to say that publicly because it was against the rules."

Pereira added: "There's really no context in the rule book [before this week's expansion] for allowing the replay official or New York to give any input [beyond replay], so it's not something they would acknowledge. But really, to think that it wasn't happening is probably being very, very, very naive."

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It sounds like on-the-field referees will be getting more information from New York in the playoffs. AP Photo/Bill Wippert
The upside of this week's announcement is that it will minimize the possibility of an embarrassing mistake in a playoff game. If a referee loses track of downs, as Pete Morelli's crew appeared to do in a Week 12 game between the Cardinals and 49ers, Blandino could catch and correct it. If a clock operator allows time to run off in error, Blandino could restore it. From my perspective, as discussed in September, this expansion provides a painless safety net for the most correctable errors.

The bigger question: Where could this modification lead? Questions of consistency, accountability, motive and transparency grow more complicated upon the introduction of a new dynamic.

"I would hope they'll limit this to correcting only the most egregious of errors," said retired NFL referee Gerald Austin, now an ESPN analyst. "I don't want to sound critical, but there have been some inconsistencies in the decisions that New York has made on replays this year. So what would you be doing? Would you just be shifting the inconsistency you may perceive on the field for the inconsistency from New York?"

On a philosophical level, Pereira said, the questions grow more basic. Officials are in place to be the objective, uninfluenced third-party administrators of games. What would it mean to introduce the possibility of, in essence, a wizard pulling levers behind the curtain?

"Everything up to the point of putting the earpiece into the referee's ear," Pereira said, "has been accountable. It was what you saw on the field. A conversation with someone in New York, that's the unknown. I would understand a coach being concerned about that. How do you know what's being said? How do you know they're only covering the plays that are reviewable? And what are you left to think if they have that in place and still miss something?"

Said former NFL official and supervisor Jim Daopoulos: "If they're going to be in the ears of the officials, how do you determine who is accountable? Say an official makes a call on the field and the flag is picked up, as happens from time to time. Is it picked up because the crew got together and decided it needed to be, or was it because someone in New York doesn't like the call?"

Indeed, nearly every NFL fan base -- and some team owners -- have taken turns assuming the league plays favorites. (The issue was covered extensively in this ESPN investigation into Deflategate.) Blandino already has experienced the assumptions caused by the most minor of mistakes -- TMZ cameras caught him last year exiting a bus owned by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones during a night out in Los Angeles -- and Pereira believes the wireless connection during games will only fuel future concerns.


"Basically, what it looks like is that the league office is making decisions on who possibly wins or loses the game," Pereira said. "You could go back to the old theory of the conspiracy of the Raiders, that the league didn't like [former owner] Al Davis and all the stuff that went along with it.

"All of a sudden, decisions that were being made on the field or in the stadium, all of a sudden are being made in the league office. That seems to be the wave of where this is going. Things have changed so much, but this ... strive for perfection really isn't attainable. I wish I could be effusive in praise of all of the changes and the technology, that it can make things better.

"Maybe I will someday."

 

[JohnnyBaseball1]

I'm over replay in general - just agree that the calls on the field are final. We will ALL get screwed but I'd rather get screwed with no review than screwed after boring, annoying segments where they use all sorts of technology to "get it right" but still get it wrong anyway.