Last week, I defended the replacement refs, guys who are clearly overmatched but doing a difficult task to the the best of their ability. Let's face it, these guys can't win. A game was bound to come down to a bad call, and last nights MNF Packer/Seahawks game was the one. On it's own, the call was bad. Really, really bad. Packer DB MD Jennings intercepted a hail mary pass from Russell Wilson as Golden Tate flailed/hugged/touched the ball and Jennings on their way down to the ground. At no point did Tate ever possess the ball, while Jennings maintained possession all the way through "the process." OK, horrible ending to a fairly horrible game. Taken as one bad call to end a game, I think we could all stomach it. Added to the confusion, mistakes, blatant disregard of NFL rules, and heightened by the players, coaches, and fans disbelief, the NFL has taken the most popular game in the land and made it a mockery of itself.
Instead of talking about the Vikings stunning throttling of the 49ers, the Falcons dominance on the west coast, or the Cardinals (?!?!) 3-0 start, we're talking still about the refs. Bill Belichick touched a ref! Jim Harbaugh was mean to a ref! The refs gave the Titans something like 25 free yards in overtime! And now, the nadir, the refs cost a team a game. On Monday Night, in front of millions to see. Not only did the refs cost a team a 2-1 start, they cost people betting real money on these games hundreds of millions of dollars, they cost fantasy teams, and most egregiously of all, they cost me and Dre a win! Bastards.
Speaking of bastards, I lost a lot of respect for the NFL Network. Yes I know that the network is in the employ of the league, but when you make the talking points coming out of ESPN look rational, you have a credibility problem. NFL Network trotted out talking heads on it's "NFL AM" show this morning that implied that the refs "may" have made the right call. These people know who signs their checks, while over at ESPN, the outrage and sadness was palpable. Steve Young was near tears. Trent Dilfer was speechless. Jon Gruden made sense. It was like bizarro world.
My other loss of respect goes to Mike McCarthy, the Packer head coach. If you get jobbed by the officials to the degree that his team did, you don't leave it to TJ Fucking Lang to be the one to stand up. If I was McCarthy, I would have stood at the postgame press conference making out checks to the league while I tore everyone within earshot a new asshole. McCarthy also had no business in sending out anything other than a goon squad for the final extra point. Somewhere, Greg Schiano was wishing that was his team that got hosed so he could blow up that extra point. McCarthy, in his acceptance of it all, lost a lot of respect. Case in point: Jim Leyland after Jim Joyce blew a perfect game for Armando Galarraga. A game Leylands team WON, by the way. Aaron Rodgers called the call "awful" and left it at that. Greg Jennings wanted Golden Tate to take a lie detector test. Sadly, however, nobody stood up to the beast that is the league. Such is why this wont change. The locked out regular officials have no reason to give in to the demands of the league at this point. With every week that passes, people lament guys who've made calls just as bad over the years. Bizarro indeed.
Jason 9-7
Dre 6-10
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