jeffy124's Journal: NFL Officiating Solutions...

The NFL Refs, after screwing up last Sunday, have instuted some changes to (hopefully) improve things. They have said there are more changes possibly coming.

ESPN reveals those changes not yet made public: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/sportoon/030109.html

Balanced screw ups...

[heliocentric]

I thought the screw-ups were even and fairly balanced. I seem to remember a pass that was questionably picked off or incomplete within the 2 minutes that wasn't reviewed. Usually anything even remotely questionable gets a review, and when you've got one guy tossing his bean bag and others from far away disagreing I think its time to take another look...

I'm still confused...

[Otter]

So, after all the Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday, ..)-morning quarterbacking and refereeing, I'm still not sure what the rule is and what is just people spouting off:

Could the Giants' holder have thrown a quick incompletion? He's not allowed to spike it, the way a quaterback can to stop the clock. But can he do a normal "throw it away" in the vicinity of a receiver?

Anyway, as a Giants fan, they deserved to lose regardless. Not only did they blow the lead but they got a last-second shot to win and pulled the most undisciplined special teams play I've ever seen outside Pop Warner. A bad snap, the failure to stop the clock (if only by falling on the ball) and then not just one lineman but the whole damn line going downfield!

I'm thinking back to last summer, when my wife and I watched the Little League World Series every night. We were impressed with their skill, but even more with their fundamentals: runner on third with no out, the pitcher fields a hard grounder, looks the runner back, throws to first, the runner goes, out at home. You'll see veteran major leaguers not make that play.

Anyway, with the Giants and Pats out, my full attention is turning to hockey, but I think I'll root for the Falcons. Vick is so much fun to watch.

Re:I'm still confused...

[jeffy124]

I, OTOH, will be rooting on McNabb. Then again, I'm in Philly, and therefore dont have much choice.

Yeah, I'm of the opinion that the Giants screwed up that last play. I think that if the holder had thrown a quick incompletion, that "ineligible receiver" call would still get made, and then that screwed up pass interference call would have never happened.

I'm busy tracking three teams simultaneously. Flyers, Eagles, and my college basketball team. Flyers seem to have pulled themselves out of a slump where they couldnt score into open nets, Drexel seems to be doing just fine despite some early hiccups going into the conference portion of the schedule, and we all know about the Eagles.

Sixers, now. Heaven help them. It's so bad Larry Brown said that if the Eagles werent in the playoffs, it would be his team's struggles all over the front page of the sports section.

Bah

[Safety Cap]

If a team loses by a bad call or two, then they suck anyway. If you can't put enough points on the board to negate the bad call, then you are going to lose often.

What happened in the 49er/Giants game was inexcusable. The fact that both teams have idiots on them speaks more than the fact that the Giants are losers, which they are. Well, so are the 49ers, but they got a lucky break this time --- if they keep their current "style of play," they're going to die Sunday.