BakoSaint

The Saints currently lead the league in penalty yards against, net penalties against, and net penalty yards against (yards against minus yards for). Their net penalty yards against do not merely lead the league, at -205 they are nearly double the next team, Arizona, which has -106. In a season without a training camp to prepare, one would expect the leaders in penalties to be teams with a new coach, new QB, lots of new players on the offensive line. Instead, a team with a coach-QB combo in their 15th year together, returning their entire offensive line, on a roster full of veterans that is the 3rd oldest in the league, is leading by a wide margin.

The truth is that penalties can be called or missed on many plays. If the refs are looking for them, they can find more that look legit, and if they are looking away they can miss a few that should have been called. Ever since the Saints 'disrespected' the refs by 'making too much' of the call against the Rams in the NFC Championship game that robbed the Saints of a Superbowl with an outrageous call at home, the refs have sought to systematically put the Saints in their place. We disrespected the thin zebra stripes so now they are profiling us and not responding to calls when we are the victims of dirty plays. Their bias is clear, backed by evidence, and it rises to the standard of a criminal conspiracy.

So what can we pursue as a long term solution? We need to think big. The NFL needs to abolish refereeing as we know it. A more fair and effective solution would be to replace on-field refs with staff who wear body cams to capture footage but do not make calls on the field or communicate with those making calls. These staff could be younger and more athletic so they can get to the plays and get the right angles, and they don't need to know the game and become biased in it. The footage could be streamed to operators who make the calls from a cubicle and don't communicate with each other. Only if multiple operators see the same infraction could it be called. Then the operators could work in groups of 50+ on Sundays and rotate between games every series, so there is no time to systematically favor teams and focus on jerseys just watch your assignments and make calls. In the event their calls are challenged, other senior operators could handle the challenge and result so that they never knew of the challenge or result. This would take the ego out of enforcing the rules and make the NFL safer and less corrupt for all teams, but it would take away Roger Goodell's power to reward teams new to important markets or expensive stadiums and to punish teams that defy the refs authority.

So lets dream big. Lets not try to fix what can't be fixed, what is in its essence 100% corruption and power and ego and greed. Lets strive to eliminate the entire corrupt and complicit tradition of officiating in the NFL. When people tell their grandchildren that their great grandfather was an NFL referee, the correct response in the future should be 'what was that?'

Rugby Saint II

The refs made a ton of "phantom" calls last night against the Saints. That horse collar was the worst call of the night but about average with how the refs treat us.

RailBoss

Will Technology Replace NFL Officials? | NFL Next

Not mentioned here; can we get a robot to take over as Commissioner.

Pete

I'm definately sick of the blatant bias of these jokers in stripes.
It's BS, (nothing more nothing less)
If they earn the call then call the s.o.b but call it the same on both ******* sides!
$ick of it..

3 last night and then there are the last 3 seasons.

It's just not a level playing field it seems.

Crooked Fkrs.

WW_Who_Dat

https://www.wsj.com/articles/now-cal...es-11564401605

Vrillon82

We should of seen it coming being its the Packers.

Thats a team that has been the beneficiary of BS penalties for years. especially the last 2.

Also to note, Packers were never called for hold once last night, saw a few and ironically was on the Packers left side.

RailBoss

1) Robert Kraft: "The assistant commissioner"

Sherman said Kraft and Goodell spend time at each other's houses and take pictures together, but the friendship between two of the NFL's most powerful men looks like it goes even deeper than that.

According to GQ, Kraft lobbied owners to issue statements publicly backing Goodell in the wake of TMZ's leaking of elevator footage showing Ray Rice striking and knocking his then-fiance unconscious. Kraft is called Goodell's "fiercest advocate and defender" by GQ, but one NFL executive has a different name for the Patriots' owner:

So large is Kraft's sway with Goodell that one veteran NFL executive likes to call him "the assistant commissioner."

Kraft also reportedly called and pushed for Goodell to go on the air with CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell and throw a blanket on the fire that was building around the Rice story before it got out of control.

2) Some owners resent Goodell's favoritism

While many of the owners have been publicly supportive of Goodell, he isn't everyone's favorite. New Orleans Saints' owner Tom Benson resigned from three league committees in 2013 due to the league's harsh punishment for the team's bounty scandal in 2012 as well as Goodell's pay package.

The owner of the New York Jets isn't Goodell's biggest fan either, and that's due to the "preferential treatment" given to Kraft and others that are close to the commissioner:

It's also an open secret in league circles that some owners, especially Woody Johnson of the Jets, resent the preferential treatment Goodell is perceived to extend to his inner circle.

According to GQ, Goodell prepared himself well for the job as commissioner of the NFL before even getting the job by understanding the shifting balance of power among owners. Goodell understood the relationships and the culture of the league and rose to power as the "old guard ceded influence to a new generation" or powerful owners, including Kraft, Jerry Jones and Jerry Richardson.

iceshack149

I watched last night's game and the Monday night game with my brother-in-law. After last night's game he said, "I don't know how you Saints fans do it." Even he knows the bias from the top of the NFL towards the Saints.

Cruize

The first down given to the Packers when he was clearly a yard short live and the subsequent few minutes it took to overturn the call on review was horrendous. The NFL and football in general is becoming less and less watchable. A dressed up, padded up, officiated so bad it rises to the level of fixed, flag football game.

Vrillon82

Been like this for a while but we too gullible to just admit to it or do anything about it.

It started becoming a joke after 9/11 happened with a year here and there that wasnt as fixed.