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.

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).

Boston, I fully agree with how crappy Referees and Umpires are. Bad officiating has been part of football and baseball as long as bad grass has. That hasn't changed in the 4 decades that I have been playing sports. I also agree that the NFL is not doing all they can to correct the problem. Where we differ is that I don't see the NFL feeling motivated to address the issue until it effects revenue and we both know that is not going to happen. Fans cant stay away, therefor the league will never see it a necessity. For what it is worth, I also don't let my daughters blame the teachers when they don't make the grades they should.. unless their score is the highest in the class. If someone else can manage to win with terrible officiating, then so should we.

All of what you listed speeds up the MLB game, looking at 22 players every play for penalties is not going to have the same effect and it is not until you fix the no-calls that you can fix the calls because all Ref's have to do is not call critical penalties and there is nothing to review. Pass interference can cause a team to lose a score as much as not calling pass interference on critical plays.