Monday, September 10, 2012

Redskins v. Jets Super Bowl! Let's Do This!

Oh yes, the wonderful part of being an NFL fan, is how things change so quickly, and the "consensus" football wisdom can be so utterly wrong, so often.

There was simply NO way, the hapless Jets - described by me, and many others as a "circus" waiting to happen - were going to come out breathing fire on offense the way they did. No way? Not with just ONE offensive touchdown in the pre-season.

Wrong.

Just like there was simply NO way, the 5-11 Redskins - breaking in a rookie QB who played very little in the pre-season - were going to roll into a dome where the Saints were 8-0 last year, and beat the living stuffing out of a supposedly spite fueled team playing for their suspended head coach.

Wrong.

Now, many of you peeps will say "but Czabe, YOU DID call it" on the Redskins.

Ahem.

Sorta.

Like any good "scam-dicapper" I gave out BOTH sides of that game, in various venues. The Skins +7 on my Yahoo! Sports Radio show and as Jimmy. The Saints -7 in my official Cover5 selections, and also on Twitter.

I know. I suck.

I really should just pick ONE side to a game, and stick with it, across all "platforms." But at least I'm not so dishonest as to come here this morning, peacocking like a chump.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The replacement refs, really suck.

This is not "hating" on them. They are doing their best. But we now see how hard the job is. And if you still don't believe the job is hard, then you have to concede this: nobody knows what holding is now, or pass interference, or hands-to-the-face, or blocks in the back.

The regular officials have a well honed understanding of what these calls look like, when to call them, and why to call them. It is a sense honed over the last 20 plus years of their average NFL experience.

So now, games are being swung on a crapshoot. The egregious flag-pick-up on the Randall Cobb return, was just ONE example. Mario Williams says the Jets jacked him in the facemask repeatedly while "blocking" him, and he may have a point.

The Redskins got a true gift of a pass interference call on an otherwise cleanly defended 4th and 1 pass into the endzone, that really helped them out.

Then there was the jackknifed debacle in the desert. The Seahawks were not only given a 4th timeout. The refs also took about 5 minutes to figure out exactly how, and why, that happened.

Then, they lied - LIED - about the timeout snafu to the crowd.

Mike Pereira was classic on Fox: "That is NOT true."

Only after the game was over, did the refs acknowledge their mistake. A mistake that some will claim - falsely - that "even the real refs make sometime."

No. No they don't. Gaffes of this magnitude almost NEVER happen.

But of course, the NFL will likely only dig their heels in, and drag this farce out even longer. The last thing this arrogant league is gonna do, is come running back to the table for a settlement.

And some will say that because nobody is going to turn off the TV just because former CFL refs are screwing up games, that it justifies the NFL's "strategy."

At some point, any smart business realizes that certain cost-cutting measures damage the brand in ways that don't become apparent  until weeks, months, or years later.

For those who were raising the "Mission Accomplished" banner after the mostly successful Wednesday night kickoff for the replacement refs, you might just want to take it down.

I bet more gaffes and fiascos are to follow.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>..

Boo! Liar. Boo.


4 comments:

  1. The replacement refs were every bit as good as the "regular" refs in my opinion. By "good" I actually mean "bad" since the regular refs have always stunk at their job.

    I predict Czabe will use the cluster-fudge that is the rule book to his advantage now to deride the replacement refs....compare that to last year or 2 where he constantly said how f-ed up the rulebook has become.

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  2. Look at this brilliant nugget from Peter King about the replacement refs:
    ------------------
    The regular officials might want to go to Wikipedia and read about Ronald Reagan firing the Air Traffic Controllers 31 years ago. Not saying the NFL's on the verge of whacking Ed Hochuli and 119 of his officiating peers. Just saying that after 14 of the 16 games of Week 1, the replacement officials have done an adequate job. "We've seen nothing that stood out as a glaring mistake,'' NFL VP Ray Anderson told me at halftime of the late afternoon games.

    ---------------------------------------


    Soooooo... because an NFL VP, who is heavily invested in seeing the regular refs get screwed, tells King that 'nothing stood out as a glaring mistake', he accepts it hook, line and sinker... I almost want to check King's bank records for his kickback from the league.... but, then again, we only need to find the Vaseline bill to see how much he needs for his collective [butt]-kissing of the Shield and the Ginger Hammer

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  3. I watched football non stop from noon until 10:30pm central time zone sunday and both games monday and if you never told me these were repalcement refs I would never know the difference, and neither would you or evey other American out there.
    They blow calls, phamtom pass intereferences, mix up time outs, place ment of spot of ball....pretty much business as usual in the NFL.
    As far as I'm concerned the refs that are holding out and go suck it. You guys sucked before and these new guys suck now.

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