Replacement Referees: Give or Take, They're Part of the Game

As I pondered what to write about this week, the only thing that would inevitably have to be written about was the amount of criticism the replacement referees have faced since the season began.

Now, do I like the replacement refs? No, they're losing control of games. They're slow with the calls they make. They're making calls based on if a player complains for it...we could do this all day. BUT...what nobody wants to talk about is the NFL completely dropping the ball and letting these replacements refs even touch the field.

Now, referees will always be a topic for discussion whether we as fans like it or not, but looking at their performance, I wouldn't say they're doing a horrible job. The reason why these refs are taking so much heat is for two reasons: 1) They don't know the rules and 2) They're not used to the speed of the NFL. Granted, we just had a lockout where the players were cut out of everything, but seriously, I miss Ed Hochuli and his overgrown muscles making calls man.

Watching the Eagles/Ravens game last weekend, I'm surprised nobody was seriously injured. Players scuffled pretty much every other play in the first half, the second half it died down a little bit. But I think it gave the Eagles some much needed "Man-Up Energy" that they've lacked pretty much the past 4 seasons, give or take a few games here and there. Instead of continually collapsing when things got tough, I watched Michael Vick take hit after hit, dust himself off, and lead the Eagles to a victory. Now, was the offensive pass interference call on Jacoby Jones a bad call? No, we all saw him push off, but considering the amount of "defensive holding" calls the replacement refs made against the Eagles defense, I think it evened out. Especially when you consider about 3 or 4 of the "defensive holding" calls they made should have been "defensive pass interference" calls but, at least they called something right? But this game was beyond the realm of chippy...it almost got ugly a few times after plays with players jawing, grasping each others' face masks, and all that. Why? Because the replacement refs lack control of the game.

As a fan, I don't blame the regular NFL refs for not negotiating a deal, and I see why now. The NFL has made it their agenda to say "Hey, with these replacement refs, the players are on their own so everyone act accordingly during the game!" And "Act Accordingly" should be how we judge these referees. Its too easy of a cop-out to blame an official for not your team not scoring because of a penalty they may or may not have missed, that's going to happen with regular refs. But, ask Josh Morgan if "Act Accordingly" is his motto now, the referees aren't missing the penalties that matter, that's for sure.

But what the NFL is trying to hide is the fact that, these replacements refs lack the proper training to even be out there on the field. Its embarrassing from a professional standpoint, when you have refs who don't know the procedure for viewing calls and have sideline refs pushing them onto the field stopping the game and probably all the momentum a team has to get ONE call right. All the money the NFL has and they can't run a replacement ref training camp of some sort to make sure they at least are coherent while officiating games. You got refs officiating games with teams they're a fan of and you got refs officiating games and telling players they're on their fantasy team, are they replacements refs or fans that have the luxury of becoming referees on a temporary basis? A brief background check can solve these problems very easily.

Now, with all that being said, I think the replacement refs aren't bad because they're part of the game. That's where we're lost as fans. We see these refs, hear the coaches complaining, players complaining, and media complaining and what do we do? Eat it right up and complain with them. But, why complain as a fan, when you could either 1) stop attending games until an agreement is reached or 2) chalk it up as that thing called "Life isn't fair" and keep it moving. Where we are lost is where we say: "Oh these replacement refs suck!" We know! But, to say something sucks, does it make it okay to watch them as people get cussed out and berated on the sideline by coaches? Is it okay that Mike Wallace knocked a replacement ref out his way for accidentally bumping into him? No. Just because they're bad doesn't mean players and coaches have the moral right to blatantly treat these replacements refs in such a disrespectful manner when we knew going on, they wouldn't be very good. For Christ's sake, one official is from the Lingerie Football League, have you ever watched that league for its officiating? Didn't think so.