NFL continues to embarrass themselves

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We’re only three weeks into this NFL season and we’ve already reached a tipping point with the NFL replacement referees. I’ve seen some pretty bad officiating this year, not only on botched penalty calls but NFL rules as well, and I thought it couldn’t get any worse. Well, it turns out I was wrong. None were worse than what I witnessed last night as the Packers traveled to Seattle for Monday Night Football.

As time expired, the Seahawks’ Golden Tate came away with a touchdown on a Hail Mary from Russell Wilson to win the game 14-12 and send the Seahawks’ fans home happy.  Upon further review of the play, not only did Tate commit a blatant offensive pass interference when he pushed the Packers’ Sam Shields to the ground from behind, but there is no way he came down with that football. Packers safety MD Jennings had both hands on the football and came down with the ball inbounds for what should have been an interception. Why wasn’t the play ruled an interception on the field? A misinterpretation of NFL rules is the most likely culprit.

The simultaneous possession rule is pretty clear cut; Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 5 states:

“Simultaneous Catch. If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both players retain it, the ball belongs to the passers. It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control. If the ball is muffed after simultaneous touching by two such players, all the players of the passing team become eligible to catch the loose ball”.

Simultaneous possession? Get real.

If we go back and look at the play, it’s quite clear that Jennings had the football in his possession before Tate got any hands on the ball, meaning that this play was not a simultaneous catch. Even when both players came back down to the ground, Tate still didn't have possession of the football as this picture clearly shows. However, in a statement released by the NFL, they threw this out there:

“When the players hit the ground in the end zone, the officials determined that both Tate and Jennings had possession of the ball. Under the rule for simultaneous catch, the ball belongs to Tate, the offensive player. The result of the play was a touchdown”.

What? How in the world did the officials deem that a simultaneous catch? It’s quite clear there was a mistake made on the field, but that’s why we have instant replay right? The NFL went on to say:

“Replay Official Howard Slavin stopped the game for an instant replay review. The aspects of the play that were reviewable included if the ball hit the ground and who had possession of the ball. In the end zone, a ruling of a simultaneous catch is reviewable. That is not the case in the field of play, only in the end zone.

Referee Wayne Elliott determined that no indisputable visual evidence existed to overturn the call on the field, and as a result, the on-field ruling of touchdown stood. The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review.”

What’s the point of having instant replay if the referees can’t get it right even after a second look?

The NFL should be ashamed and embarrassed at the events on Monday night, and I’m not just talking about the Hail Mary. An offensive pass interference penalty should have been called on the Seahawks’ Sidney Rice with about 6 minutes left in the game. The Seahawks were facing a 1^st and 25 before being bailed out by the referees when they called pass interference on Green Bay’s Sam Shields. Seattle gained 32 yards on the play when they should have lost 10. Earlier that drive, a phantom roughing the passer penalty on Green Bay’s Erik Walden negated a would-be interception. Seattle also got hosed on some pass interference penalties earlier in the game.

In his post game press conference, Aaron Rodgers talked about how he was given a kicking ball for the 2 point conversion instead of a regular ball. Mistakes like this cannot be allowed to continue and the NFL and Rodger Goodell need to start having serious talks with the real referees and end this madness. Is the NFL ready to step up and fix this problem? Who knows, but we as fans have a right to let our voices be heard, and the easiest way to do that is not by calling Goodell’s office, or writing letters to the NFL, but to stop watching the games.

The easiest way to make the NFL budge is to hit them where it hurts--their wallets. I won’t be watching another NFL game until the real referees are back on the field. That’s a promise, and judging from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, I'm not the only one who's talking about boycotting the NFL. Hopefully enough fans will boycott to the point where the NFL’s ratings plummet next week. Maybe then they will understand that this is a huge problem and it needs to be fixed.