It Has Been the 'National Referee League' for the Past Two Weeks

It's a weird Sunday because I would say we left talking as much about officiating, but kind of in a different way than we normally have.

Uh, we have like the head of the NFL players union coming out, I mean, issuing a stern statement about an official, which he should have.

Um, in the Giants Cardinals game, an official just telling Trey McBride, FU FU FU, which is not good.

We had an official in the uh, I think the Vikings Dolphins game getting up, um, in a player's face after he was knocked over on the field.

We had an official.

Uh, hitting Mike Vrabel for unsportsmanlike conduct for Mike Vrabel, saying it was a terrible effing call, which Mike Vrabel said.

He has said 78 times over the course of his coaching career and has never been flagged for , um, I, I, it's probably just week 4, right?

Everybody's got the ass a little bit, you know , everybody, I mean, I did that.

I did that again.

I did that in the 6th grade game on, on , uh, on Monday night.

I don't think I did it yesterday, but I did on Monday night.

I, I, um .

I, I think that there's like a little bit, I mean, it's just.

I think what happened last week with the Rams, right?

I puts everybody on edge a little bit.

Yeah, and I mean like that memo that went out, I mean, Jesus Christ, you know, like.

I'm just gonna call this like it is.

All right.

Everybody saw the play.

I think we can all agree Josh Wallace did not interfere on that play.

You're talking about Rams Broncos, Rams, Broncos, which is a week ago.

He picks it up for those who missed it.

A memo went out, um, on, well, at some point last week, a memo went to, and I'm gonna bring this up, so.

So we, I can actually read it to you.

I did it on my new TikTok page.

It's not a new TikTok page, but it's active for the first time.

Everybody can, uh, check that out.

Oh, makeup tutorials with Albert.

I'm trying, I'm trying to, to, to be where the kids are right now.

Um, so the memo, and I'm gonna read it right now, the chief executives, presidents, general managers , head coaches, and communications directors dated October 2nd, which I think was Friday, right?

Um, so.

It says, as a reminder, subject, disclosure of, of confidential information.

As a reminder, the league office encourages the officiating department to respond candidly to questions regarding officiating raised by head coaches and other club employees following review of each game.

After reviewing the plays in question, the officiating department is obligated to give their factual opinion of each call.

Or non-call to the appropriate club executive.

All such conversations are confidential and are not to be discussed publicly.

Accountability measures will be imposed on club personnel who breach that confidentiality.

This drives me nuts.

All right.

Every coach who makes a bad call in the game, every quarterback who throws a bad pick in the game, every receiver who drop drops a ball in the game, every running back who fumbles, every lineman who misses a block, every pass rusher who whiffs on a quarterback, every corner who gets beat has to .

Stand in front of the media after the game, maybe 20 minutes after, maybe a half hour after, and answer for everything that went wrong after, like in the immediate aftermath, and then again during the week, and over and over and over again.

And We all, and we all know why that is, right?

That's why you get paid that money, the scrutiny, the attention, like this is the other side of all of that, right?

And we all understand that, and I think the guys that are in the spotlight understand that as well.

Why aren't the officials under the same?

Scrutiny.

That's what I don't understand is like why to get an official do we have to put in a request and then one reporter gets to go talk to him for a limited amount of time.

Why?

Like, why aren't they, why aren't they subject , and I respect the job those guys do.

Why aren't they subject to the same scrutiny?

And then one coach says, yeah, the officials said they got the the the league said the officials got it wrong.

And now they're coming down on that coach for that.

I mean, like, excuse me, I, I, it, it cost them a game which could cost them a home game in the playoffs, I don't know, right?

And like, and he just mentions it.

It should be a good thing that it's out there.

It should show that the league is taking accountability, that the officiating is taking accountability for what happened.

But instead, we have to have this shroud of secrecy over all of it, and like, as if they never make a mistake.

And I just don't understand it.

These officials, like, and again, I respect the job they do.

They're paid good money, they're allowed to work part-time and have other jobs, right?

They, uh, and, and, and I'm all for them getting all the things that they've been able to negotiate, right?

I was on their side in the lockout.

I think the owners were being pigheaded and greedy.

But this is ridiculous, you know, and I just, and, and I think that there's this tension where it's like you have all of these guys who are being held accountable, and then you have the refs who, I mean, if the camera doesn't catch that official saying that to Trey McBride.

It just gets let go, yeah, and, and no one would believe, no one would believe Trey, no one would believe Trey McBride if he said that, right?

Like they'd be like, no, an official wouldn't do that.

That's crazy.

And if, if we're seeing that just by happenstance, how often is it actually happening?

I, I, on Sunday, so, you know, you, you have 5 games going on, and you're trying to digest certain stuff, and then I, I, you started to watch the Chargers come back and we'll get to that game, obviously, in a little bit.

They start mounting a comeback, and then a, a face mask penalty is called.

It was a good call on the field, right ?

But then you hear the broadcasters say, This is Seattle's 5th penalty of 15 yards or more called today.

And then you look at the stats on it, 30 accepted penalties in that game.

That is the same officiating crew that in week two between Green Bay.

And the New York Jets had 27 accepted penalties in a game, like, we're week 4, this is out of control, you know, like they're not behaving properly on the field, they're acting soft when it comes to interactions with players, they're overmanaging games again, and it's like, And the problem is there's no accountability for it, and that's what that memo in bright lights illuminates for all of us, right, is that they are not held to the same standard of accountability that a player is, that a coach is, that a front office person is.

They aren't, and I The one reason why I would understand it is because we can't have like lynch mobs going after officials.

We can't have that, right?

100%, I get it.

I get that you don't want to heighten the hysteria around officiating.

But you have to hold them accountable.

And like I think in the case of the game, um, a week ago in that Rams Broncos game, it was a window into how these things are adjudicated and it was a window into The League not being able to see past Park Avenue and that they're gonna have to hear it from the officials.

Or have a greater problem with the officials than they are with the team.

And I, I just.

I don't know , I mean, like, I, I.

Again, these calls can wind up affecting people's livelihoods.

And to me, like that's where replay assist just stepped in on that one and done something about it, they didn't, you know.

So, it is what it is, but in that situation that you can't admit that you screwed up in the aftermath, like in a day and an age when They are in bed in just about every way possible with all the gambling outlets, right?

I know, man.

And, and, and that's, and that, that this is the type of stuff, this is the type of stuff that makes you not trust it, like a, a, a player or a referee telling, uh, you know, an all-pro tight end to f off as part of one of multiple confrontations a week after a blown call is actively being shoveled under the rug by the league, that's what winds up breaching trust.

I don't forgot any of the conspiracy theories, but that's what fuels that, you know.

We also had the, um, I forgot about that.

We had the, um.

That that that strange forward pass is not a fumble thing, but then it happened 3 more times in the season, the exact way that they called it the first week, and it was reversed, like, uh just in my , in my head, I'm like, God almighty.

And here's the thing.

It, it, it's, it's not.

I wouldn't say that it's impossible.

You gotta streamline this rulebook.

It's biblical in length at this point, and I think there's such a word salad in there that referees can use the language to arrive at any conclusion that they want to arrive at, right?

And I, I think that's part of the deal.

But the NFL, whether they want to look or not want to look, and I, you know, that's why I give them some grace.

I mean, like, it, it is.

Because the NFL chases its tail on these things, right, like where you layer it on top and then you add more clarification and more clarification and more, but what does that do ultimately makes it more complicated.

It just, it just gives them something to talk about in the competition committee room.

In the moment, you know what I mean, like, it's.

I like, does it really, is it really good for the game to continue to clarify and modify and change rules and add rules, uh, you know, and then you're doing it, this game, the game is moving at a million miles an hour.

Anybody who's stood on the sideline of an NFL game is, it's just the fact that how hard it is to make heads or tails of anything to begin with is, you know, a, a big piece of this, and You know, the refusal to, and or how slow moving they've been and using like the technology to try to get calls right and help the officials on the field, the unwillingness to go to a sky judge, which I think they should have one in every stadium.

Um, it's, It's a mess, and it's a mess of the league's doing, and it's a mess that I think can be cleaned up with common sense, but this is a bed that they made for themselves.

I'm also kind of like, let's go back to like, let's make this the the the Big East Conference and like, circa 1998, you know, just let him play.

I mean, how many times have have officials just Backed away from the moment in a Super Bowl, and everything's been fine, right?

Like we, we like officiating reaches a fevered pitch, and everyone's like, oh my God, how are they gonna officiate this game, and then the Super Bowl, they just disappear, and everything's fine, because they're not calling all of these inane penalties, they're just staying out of the way.

They're not creating a controversy.

I don't know.

They're also like.

I don't know, there's some optics too, right?

Like, Doesn't like Son of Hockey like kind of come off as rather satisfied with himself after calls, you know what it is, uh, and then we gotta move here, but it's like, like he looks like rather rather satisfied with himself, the, the official who calls two men.

Many penalties is like the person at your office who schedules 9 inane meetings, uh, just to make themselves look busy and be like, look at, I got all these meetings on the calendar.

It's like, yes, I'm an official.

I called 31 penalties in Seahawks Chargers and almost ruined the goddamn game.