Ok... I am going to call BS.... These cats are all DIVIII college referees. There are not drastic differences in the rules between where they come from and the NFL.

They don't flip coins in Div III college games? <---splain dat one.


That being said the NFLRA needs to STFU, as their refereeing accuracy is not much better.

My thoughts exactly! Though here is food for thought, after week 3(?) of the preseason all those refs go back to college and we are left with scabs even further down the line.

They missed some calls, but what flags they did throw, they got right.

I think with some games under their belt and more focus, they can be better than the lockout officials, lets be honest, the lockout officials are probably gamblers of the game which is why games every week are just completely F'ed up somewhere.

Still, we should all be clamoring and making as much noise complaining about this as possible, everywhere --we should be preaching the gospel in other internet forums and in comments underneath articles, that the scab refs are missing calls and not doing a good job. Why? Because this issue is actually more likely to get Goodell fired, than the mishandling of Bountygate.

They missed a freaking safety and a freaking touchdown. That's huge, that's not ticky tacky mistakes.

I know it seems counter intuitive to side with the refs on anything, but hear me out -- the NFLRA is totally right about this. The biggest league in sports, worth billions of dollars, having to resort to poorly-prepared scab refs, this has to be laid squarely at the feet of Goodell where it belongs. We need to scream this from rooftops!

Mishandling Bountygate and the lawsuit with Vilma, is something Goodell can survive and recover from; it's going to take a cumulative effect of numerous incidents and scandals to pile up, and get the owners to turn on him, in order to get Goodell removed. He effed up the CBA with the players and caused the lockout and everything, he effed up with Bountygate, he effed up with James Harrison and a bunch of other things, and now he is effing up the referees' negotiations. THIS is how we get him removed, folks.

The way I see it, we outplayed the opposing team AND the referees. If that just happened each and every game, or at least with some regularity ---

1) I could get off my aspirin regimen
2) We could produce some motivating, decisive wins
3) We would strike fear into even our most fearless opponents (Packers, Niners, Falcons)
4) Goodell would eat SHAT and expire
5) We "Come Marchin' In" to the Mercedes Benz Superdome for the Superbowl.

Alaska

How can the NFL, one of the most money making-est franchises and pastime's in the WORLD, NOT pay professional wages to their on-field Referees, who are almost as visible as the players themselves on the field?

I'm just blown away by this.

I thought, generally speaking, the game was called okay.

Now, I did notice a number of false starts on both the Saints and the Cardinals that weren't called. In my heart I think the games will suffer without the regular NFL refs officiating the games, but I can't prove it based on what I saw Sunday Night.

I felt the flow of the game was 100 times better without all the ticky-tack flags.
I feel the game is being hijacked by referees and penalties.
I'd much rather games won or lost on gameplay rather than flag after flag.

Lots of people feel the way I do. I see opposing arguments too.

I thought they missed alot of calls, especially trench calls. However,the refs last year were aweful alot of the time also.

I've read the real issue is the ref's pensions. The league wants to do away with the pensions and change over to a 401K (or something similar).

But I agree with you 100%. The league, with billions in revenue, should be able to give these guys compensation packages appropriate for skilled professionals. It seems every few years the league is trying to low ball these guys in some way or another.