Officiating has been terrible in the NFL for multiple years. It's really not a watchable product unless you are ok with one call being the biggest play of a 3 plus hour game. It seems to have more traction this year in terms of it being talked about. It's definitely not going to change in the next year or two and won't ever if they are still getting the ratings.
Don’t forget about the 3-4 key injuries teams have every week because there are too many games, teams playing on 3 days rest, traveling to London and Mexico City and doing everything they can to make the NFL more money while sacrificing the product. I will say - the Jags/Saints game is how the game should be officiated. Jags/Bills there were two or three drives where there were 3-4 straight plays with flags. The inconsistency is wild.
Your last sentence is everything. Not really even much more to say about it. No one knows what the rules are b/c of how inconsistent it is week to week.
The NFL is really an event, and a football game happened to break out during it. I would argue the actual game is more of an afterthought to a higher percentage of viewers/attendees compared to other sports. That's why I totally buy it becoming flag football, or something like WWE where it's accepted to be dramatically fake.
If the NBA model is anything to go by, with increased scrutiny over officiating, they will start making sure teams have a similar number of flags at the end of the game, although you will be able to easily see that number is irrelevant when you look at the nature of the calls. Teams that win will get away with all but the most egregious fouls and the losers will have been called for very cheap contact early and their play would have been affected because of it on defense.
It's really been aggravating me lately. It kills the flow of the game and penalties in general feel way too consequential. Holding shouldn't be 10 yards. Personal fouls shouldn't be 15 and an auto 1st down (especially with how ticky tacky personal fouls have become). The frequency with which teams get completely bailed out or utterly killed by penalties is insane right now. They have WAY too big an impact on the game and are called too frequently.
Yeah man. The fucking face mask on a 3rd and 15 draw that results in 3 yards but an auto first down makes no sense at all. They treat face masks like they’re Jack Tatum clotheslines. There’s literally zero face masks in the modern day NFL that are egregious where any player is trying to hurt someone. And the subtle cornerback tugs on the opposite side of where the QB is looking giving them a first down is also ridiculous. As football fans like we all are, it’s very easy to fix all of this.
I absolutely hate the penalties that bail an offense out for something really petty and minor. Third-and-20 after the defense gets a sack and a tackle in the backfield, then they break up a pass... but there's the slightest defensive holding and it's five yards and an automatic first down. It should be third-and-15. These automatic first downs are sickening and totally out of proportion to the foul. That's what really annoys me - it isn't fair, and rules are meant to be fair, not hideously slanted to favour one side over the other. Also, I get the feeling that if you talked to Pete Rozelle or Paul Tagliabue about this, you would get a reasoned and serious response. Goodell would just give you a salesman's smile and say everything was perfect and that the standard of officiating has never been higher and the 'product' is better than ever. I can't tell you how much I dislike that man. I really think the game is reaching a crisis point and he's just laughing all the way to the bank.
A quick and easy read: https://time2play.com/blog/referee-bias-in-the-nfl/ We definitely don’t get the calls (unless it’s a Jerome Bolger game and even then is basically even).
and boy did the Colts get screwed yesterday. It's almost as if the referees are part of the offense on late game drives. Play calling definitely has "penalty flag likelihood" factored in on what offensive plays are called.
Interesting. By raw numbers the Jets actually are in the lesser half of teams who get affected by penalties, but as @abyzmul pointed out, it's not just how many flags are thrown, but what type, the size of the penalty, and at what point in a game. Look at the Patriots game last year - the one where Zach melted down after running the offense well and having the Jets up and with momentum - then a chippy RTP call against the Jets and the game changed completely. One one call. There's no perfect solution, but I think all major penalties should be allowed to be challenged, and also they should be automatically reviewed just like TDs are. Of course in both cases we're asking the "fox" to decide if there's a problem in the "henhouse", but there's no real alternative. The only other thing is for the broadcast teams to be allowed to vocally call out bad calls, and thus apply pressure to the league to address the problem, whether it's replacing referees, or increased remedial education for refs who have the most questioned calls. One other aspect should be looked at too: rewriting the rules to make them less subject to interpretation. One example: "The ground can't cause a fumble". Since when? When did that change? It should really be that until the whistle blows, the ball is live and can be fumbled. Or, in the interest of safety, ANY contact made with a QB after they've gotten rid of the ball is a penalty. Also, ANY contact with a receiver when the ball is thrown in his direction - removing the subjective "catchable" from the equation. There are other ones that could be similarly revamped. However it's done, the game has to be taken back from the control of the zebras.
It’s certainly an imperfect system but many (but not all) of the fixes people propose either drastically lengthen game time (and once that’s unleashed, commercial sponsors won’t let it be put back into the box) or break it in some other way.
Yeah the only blanket way to fix it is make penalties reviewable. Which they did with pass interference and the refs and NFL basically mocked the shit out of that by refusing to overturn nearly anything that was called on the field. I think it’s just a rules adjustment though they’ll never do it. Everything related to the passing game and quarterback shouldn’t result in an automatic first down. Personal fouls should be reviewable if it’s head an neck contact (like college does with targeting) or roughing the passer. The refs have three penalties at their disposable if a passing play is interfered with - holding, illegal contact and pass interference. I understand they all have different definitions, but just make one of them a 5 yard penalty & replay of down especially if it’s away from the play or the pass isn’t thrown yet. I don’t get why that’s so hard to do. Don’t make holding, pass interference, illegal contact, etc. reviewable.
Revamping the rules like I suggested to make them clear cut doesn't extend game time, and will likely shorten it. Making penalties reviewable certainly will extend game length, but if the NFL wants to regain any credibility they're going to have to consider doing this.
Being imperfect isn't the problem. Being "imperfect" in ways that seem to affect game outcomes for the benefit - or against - certain teams is.
Have RTP and PI reviewed by the eye in the sky. No need to bring out the monitor and stop the game. If they need more time you have the ref hold up the play just like they do before an extra point after a TD that's under review.
