If you’ve watched American Football for a few years, you have undoubtedly seen game turning, game-churning blown calls by the referees. This is unfortunate because while I don’t think most of the referees are biased or doing this because of backdoor bribing, they are in a tough place to make calls in real-time. It’s just not always possible to get them right! I couldn’t…and sometimes it’s impressive that they DO get them right.
The challenges, then the instant replays, and the call from “upstairs” are welcome additions to ensure that the calls made are fair and accurate. The rules around QB safety and leading with helmets are topics for discussion on another day as they’re complex and need some tweaking although I agree with the tenets. Remember though, “pass interference” and “holding” calls are NOT reviewable. There may be other arcane calls that are not reviewable either.
However, NFL rules committee has it all wrong! The problem isn’t the referees. It’s the RULES! There are just too many non-sensible rules that expose the refs to vulnerability; not to mention slow down the tempo to a crawl every few plays.
So here’s my observation followed by suggestion…
Stupid rule #1: Pass Interference
Whoever came up with this term “pass interference” and disguise it as a rule was either corrupt, or a moron. Are you not supposed to interfere with a pass completion from your opponent? No? Then why have defense on the field at all! Just don’t interfere with them and let all passes be caught by your opponent and let them win. No need to waste 3 hrs! The underlying principle behind is rule is flawed. You ARE SUPPOSED to interfere so that you disrupt the pass completion!
So, where would be a foul by defense?
My suggestion is to have the rule where they “unfairly impede the receiver“. Now, isn’t that much better than the moronic term “pass interference”? Ok, then we have to define the “unfairly” part. The unfair would be: Hitting or otherwise physically impeding the receiver too early, or hitting the receiver in any illegal manner during or after the catch! The “illegal” manners are already defined (helmet hit, horsecollar, tripping, unsportsman-like-conduct, etc. etc.)…no need to add new ones here! And let the boys play!
Another suggestion around this is the actual penalty. Today, mostly (except for rare “holding” call which is 5 yards) it’s at the spot of foul and an automatic first down! Are you kidding me? All QBs and teams know how to cheat this rule and use it to completely cheat a win. If the pass is caught despite a foul, DON’T THROW A FLAG…it’s caught, move forward! Let the boys play.
If the pass ISN’T caught BECAUSE of the foul, then I’m ok with heading forward to the spot of the foul, but NOT automatic first-down. Let me explain: If it was 3rd and 10 and the receiver was impeded as I explain above at a 10+ yards progression, then YES it’s a first down. However, if the pass was thrown at 5 yards forward and receiver was impeded, it should be a 5 yards PENALTY but since it was 3rd-and-10, now they should be 3rd and 5 meaning they move forward to the spot of the foul, and try again without a loss of down but NOT automatic first-down.
If this doesn’t make logical sense to the committee, they’re still morons.
Stupid rule #2: Holding
Holding by O-line or D-line is another dumb rule; as idiotic as they come. You have 300 pounders standing there and they are made to look like a retard with no ability to use hands or legs…no wonder they’re paid so little and historically, these players were the worst and dumbest…so the committee made them look such by imposing such fouls on them.
My suggestion is to NOT have this penalty AT ALL! How many times have you seen a great play (which had nothing to do with 1 guy in the O/D line) wiped out by this dumb rule? Let the big boys play! Let them tackle each other in accordance to the existing rules already in place! (see above for a quick review of what I mean by existing rules)
Conclusion:
Just get these 2 stupid rules fixed and the games will be instantly of higher quality. Let’s shift the focus from the referees to the men in power: the committee to hold accountable. And to wrap it up, remind yourself to see some of the most awful calls here.
You’ll either be entertained or furious after watching that. What are your thoughts? Ideas on how to get my thoughts communicated to them? Please post in comments. Thank you for reading 🙂
