This is life without Sean. People were *****ing about Sean about 5 years ago and were like we needed a reset. Well, this is what that looks like. Sean may have been the best coach in the league. I think Drew and him made the roster look better than it actually was. The D in the last few years has finally come around. It's a shame we couldn't get Brees a defense when he was in his better years. Brady always had a D to fall back on. If you gave Brees a D, he'd won multiple championships and people would be debating on whether he was the best of all time.

"The refs appeared to have botched the call on the Saints' opening drive vs MIN. Cesar Ruiz was ruled an ineligible man downfield on a screen to Mark Ingram, but Ingram caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage, making Ruiz legal. Same scenario on MIN's 1st TD & refs let it go," Duncan wrote on Twitter.
The penalty discrepancy was noticeably large at the end of this Week 4 contest. The Saints collected 10 penalty flags for 102 yards. The Vikings amassed just five for 35 yards.

Look: NFL Refs Appeared To Botch Important Call On Sunday

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...ae73a60ad45090

But IMO the refs are being let off the hook with the “can’t blame them” attitude Oak. And since you brought it up let’s look at baseball.

That sport has embraced technology well. They are able to review and challenge just about everything on the field except balls and strikes and that will change in a few seasons. They have realized that umps can screw up the game to such a degree that something needed to change. They’ve taken advantage of technology to make sure calls are correct.

The NFL has done the exact opposite. There is no standard for camera coverage on games or what views can be used for review. Far too many easily reviewable plays are not allowed to be challenged. They briefly experiment with something like reviewing PI, screw THAT up, then say “oh well, nothing can be done”, then move back to the status quo that always just happens to screw the same teams over and over again with part time refs. It’s like they keep serving up the same turd sandwich and expect NFL fans to like it.

Sure a team can strive to play a perfect game and hope to put themselves far enough ahead that the refs can’t determine the winner. But that hardly ever is going to happen with any team. Why is it so much to ask that they get it right?

The team worked their butts off even with all their mistakes to take a late lead against Minnesota yesterday. The D (which had played so well up
to then) stopped them twice on third down only to have the refs call BS penalties (announcers and Perrera pointed them out). That’s just supposed to be chalked up as human error? Sorry, I’m tired of being offered a turd sandwich.

If the team would have lied down and rolled over and lost by multiple scores I’d let it rest. But they didn’t. In all 4 games so far I’ve seen them fight like hell (to Allen’s credit IMO) through adversity of their OWN making to put themselves in a position to win only to have the zebras chime in and give it to the other team. I find that pathetic and I’m gonna call it out. That’s just the way I see it.

This is life without Sean. People were *****ing about Sean about 5 years ago and were like we needed a reset. Well, this is what that looks like. Sean may have been the best coach in the league. I think Drew and him made the roster look better than it actually was. The D in the last few years has finally come around. It's a shame we couldn't get Brees a defense when he was in his better years. Brady always had a D to fall back on. If you gave Brees a D, he'd won multiple championships and people would be debating on whether he was the best of all time.

Sean Payton left us in the position we are in right now. An aging roster, a bum quarterback, and bad contracts. At one point in time, yes he probably was but that ship has sailed. I will always appreciate what he did for us but I will still **** on him for leaving us they way he did. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

I never said they have no blame, I am just not an idealist. There is no way to remove human error from officiating, there aren't enough cameras or angles to catch everything.

As far as for baseball, I played catcher for 11 years and other than officials having the potential to impact a game negatively MLB/NFL is apples to oranges.

Baseball
- 90% is 1 ball flying in or outside of an invisible box, the remaining 10% is a ball/bag/ and foot or hand. There are no penalties.

- baseball fans are religious about the integrity of the game. The MLB has been careful to not change rules to make it "more exciting".

Football
- 22 people making contact for a couple minutes at a time with a book that defines what it or isn't a penalty.

- The NFL is like the band Kiss. It will sell out its integrity in a split second to generate revenue. They change the rules to make the game more exciting. They sell the ****ing 1/2 time show. This is entertainment not sport, Sean Payton left the competition committee because of that fact.

Fair enough Oak. Sounds like you agree with my main point of the refs sharing blame for the Saints losses. I don’t think the NFL has done all they can in minimizing the impact of “bad calls” on a game. The whole challenge system has flaws. They could better train and pay the refs (or instruct them not to cheat).

I will also say that baseball has done a lot of rule changes lately. Universal DH, automatic walks, minimum three batter facing for pitchers. Next year starts pitch clock and shift banning. All done in effort to speed the game or increase runs (i.e. make it more of an entertainment).