Officiating is so bad, I quit!

[falcongoggles]

I've been thinking about everything and have a few things to say. I am probably far too addicted to the Seahawks to quit them, but I am definitely never going to watch an NFL game again, including Seahawk games. I'm going to restrict my Seahawk addiction to just reading about them. I'm going to start watching a lot of college ball. I won't be buying any Seahawks gear again. I'm not a conspiracy kind of guy, but I'm beginning to think there's a lot of stuff in this world that's rigged including the NFL to some extent. There's been talk about parity since I was a kid some 40-50 years ago. The salary cap was pretty successful for parity, and I now believe that the league uses the refs to assist them in their quest for parity. The bottom line: it's all about ratings and money. They can have their money but I will never give them another penny. I think the refs are used to help certain teams lose and certain teams win.

Another example: the Raiders were flagged 24 times today...the Bucs only 6 times. One might respond by saying, "Yeah, but the Raiders still managed to win the game". Consider this: the Raiders outyarded the Bucs 626 to 270. Think about that...the Raiders played so much better, but yet, because of the refs, they barely won the game, and that was in OT. BTW, the Raiders were 5-2 and the Bucs were 2-4. It really made me wonder if there was some master plan for the NFL to make the NFCS look better than it actually is.

I can't believe that the refs actually called a 3rd penalty on the Saints in today's game, besides the two 5-yard false starts. They did call one offensive holding on Zach Strief...but then again they called it on a 5-yard sack of Brees knowing that the Hawks would decline it. What a bunch of crap. Just way too many coincidences to just be random.

I just can no longer believe that so many poor calls and non-calls are caused by human error. I think they are simply used by the NFL to improve parity. I don't think allowing the Seahawks to win SB's helps with ratings in the rest of the country. I even remember thinking prior to the Rams game that the NFL most likely wants the Rams to beat the mighty Seahawks in L.A. in order to excite one of the most populous regions in the country. Then in the game this bs happens with the OPI calls on our offense. I remeber the season after the win in SB48, noticing how biased the refs seemed against our Seahawks. Check out this stat on penalty differential for the 2014 season. The Hawks differential was -3.75 penalties per game, the next closest were the Patriots at -1.75. http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats ... tial/2014/ #32. In 2013, we were #31. In 2015, we were # 29. Guess who was #1 in 2015...the Cardinals. I remember in the 2014 season the Rams averaging like 8 penalties per game, but only getting called for 2 or 3 against us. I think the Chiefs had 2 penalties in their game...both of them delay of games called at the end of the game to run out the clock. The Cowboys game was similar to the Rams numbers.

I've come to the conclusion that NFL refs don't like to throw flags on Seahawk opponents. It's blatant. I remember last season when our guys even recovered a few fumbles that were called incorrectly and then even the reviews confirmed the cheating refs bad calls. It's not always penalties...it's fumbles, TD's, Russell getting hit on slides and it never being called. If I had the time, I could go through 4-1/2 seasons of this and write an entire book because it has happened so many times.

I guess from now on I'll just be reading about Seahawk games and maybe occasionally checking out the standings.

Amen!

 

[fuego]

Seriously? What a bunch of whiners. Especially after the home-cooking you guys get. And PI on Julio by Sherman that everybody outside of Seattle recognized and said we got jobbed. What goes around comes around. Shut up the whining and take it like a man like you expect every other team too. Sheesh. What a bunch of cry-babies.

 

[Willyeye]

You can get frustrated all you want but simply blaming the refs for us losing this game is just missing the mark. Tom Cable has a lot of work to do(!) and I personally think that Gilliam is now about as out of his depth as Sowell ever was! Fant looked better than Gilliam today. And it appears to be lack of effort more than anything else. The knock on effect of playing that poorly is that it A)becomes impossible to keep your QB or your RB's healthy, B)Invites the referees to the party C) keeps your defense on the field for the whole damn game, where they can then get injured. It has gotten so bad that it is taking Pete Carrol off his game plan. We are not controlling the clock and we are losing the turnover battles! Not Seahawk football as we know it.The OL is the key to everything in our immediate future if post season aspirations still exist. The Next 2 weeks will no doubt be a tough test. Our Defense deserves a tip of the cap for keeping us in the past few games, but we simply cannot continue to lay it at their feet every game.

It's not just the point that they're being blamed for the loss. The refs are making these calls and non-calls at inopportune times. It's bad enough that Wilson is playing through these injuries, but the refs are calling back half of the good plays. And then they just ignored the pick block violations by the Saints. I'm not saying that the offense is killing it right now, but the refs are just adding insult to injury, literally. Bear in mind, I think I read somewhere this week that Wilson is releasing the ball quicker than any other QB in the NFL this year. It wouldn't be that bad if our opponents weren't constantly being helped by the refs. Besides, I don't mind if they throw flags on Seahawks violations as long as they throw them on our opposition. I've literally seen dozens of holding violations against our D-Line that were not called. I just want a fairly called game.

 

[fuego]

I'm already at the point that I don't watch any other games other then the Hawks away games. I get that there's calls that go against you and for you in every game, but all I'm asking for is some freaking consistency. The bottom line is the refs over regulate by NFL design to the detriment of the product. It's simply no longer enjoyable to watch, it's actually excruciating! The problem is now, what is the NFL going to do about it......absolutely nothing, very sad!

This is a piece of work coming from you guys that live off non-called home cooking penalties. Sheesh.

 

[XxXdragonXxX]

Seriously? What a bunch of whiners. Especially after the home-cooking you guys get. And PI on Julio by Sherman that everybody outside of Seattle recognized and said we got jobbed. What goes around comes around. Shut up the whining and take it like a man like you expect every other team too. Sheesh. What a bunch of cry-babies.

I see you forgot to mention the 2 hands to the face penalties that went uncalled on the same play.

Its funny that fans of other teams really think Seattle gets home cooking, when theyre the most penalized team in the league year after year, while their opponents are the least penalized. But when 1 call goes the Seahawks way finally, now its all home cooking.

Go home.

 

[potatohead]

Gulliver is bang on.

You can't sit there and say "oh just play better" because the point is, you don't get that chance. When the defence is called for phantom defensive holds after stopping third down, and those penalties then extend NO drives, that is a huge problem because not only does it keep your defense on the field for longer but it also keeps your offense off the field and unable to score points, and at the same time keeps NO's defence off the field and resting. That doesn't even mention the points NO scored off those drives. This happened twice today. There were also two blatant pick plays not called which were flat BAD.

If you legitimately do not believe the refs had a serious impact on the outcome of the game, you are simply wrong, and it's not whining to say so.

 

[AROS]

I'm already at the point that I don't watch any other games other then the Hawks away games. I get that there's calls that go against you and for you in every game, but all I'm asking for is some freaking consistency. The bottom line is the refs over regulate by NFL design to the detriment of the product. It's simply no longer enjoyable to watch, it's actually excruciating! The problem is now, what is the NFL going to do about it......absolutely nothing, very sad!

This is a piece of work coming from you guys that live off non-called home cooking penalties. Sheesh.

And you are on a Seahawks forum because???

Come on Admins, dump this douche.

 

[Largent80]

I'm already at the point that I don't watch any other games other then the Hawks away games. I get that there's calls that go against you and for you in every game, but all I'm asking for is some freaking consistency. The bottom line is the refs over regulate by NFL design to the detriment of the product. It's simply no longer enjoyable to watch, it's actually excruciating! The problem is now, what is the NFL going to do about it......absolutely nothing, very sad!

This is a piece of work coming from you guys that live off non-called home cooking penalties. Sheesh.

And you are on a Seahawks forum because???

Come on Admins, dump this douche.

A butt hurt falcon fan.

 

[ShockerFalcon]

been watching football for over 30 years at every level and I can't recall a single year where refs didn't make bad calls. The refs are only human they can't see everything and don't have the benefit of watching slow mo replays before making a call. I watched the entire saints-seahawks game, was the officiating bad probably but officiating was not why the hawks lost anymore than the blown pi call was why the falcons lost to the Hawks. Truth is the Hawks have issues on the O-line, a near non existent running game, and a very brave and tough QB who is not a 100% healthy. The defense is getting gassed because they are spending too much time on the field because the offense can't sustain drives. You can cry about the officiating all you want but the Hawks problems run deeper than a few blown calls.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Bye to all that are leaving.

 

[UK_Hawk]

Officiating may be bad, but you need to win games without relying on decisions. A few weeks ago Sherman clearly got away with one on Jones that ended up winning us the game.

There are bigger problems than the officials... Our offensive line is poor, our offence, whilst improved from last week, still seems lacking in ideas, in my mind Graham is still criminally underused.

The defence, however good defending the red zone, are allowing too many first downs which is resulting in a) the opposition moving the ball up the field and coming away with points from field goals and b) them being on the field way too long. I don't want to be over-critical as they're doing a wonderful job, but when you get a team to 3rd and ~10, 3 or 4 times on a drive and they move the chains, it's so frustrating...

Whilst there are bad calls, and ultimately reviews probably should be allowed for such situations, they're not, and rather than moan, I think we need to look at how the team are performing instead...

 

[mistaowen]

been watching football for over 30 years at every level and I can't recall a single year where refs didn't make bad calls. The refs are only human they can't see everything and don't have the benefit of watching slow mo replays before making a call. I watched the entire saints-seahawks game, was the officiating bad probably but officiating was not why the hawks lost anymore than the blown pi call was why the falcons lost to the Hawks. Truth is the Hawks have issues on the O-line, a near non existent running game, and a very brave and tough QB who is not a 100% healthy. The defense is getting gassed because they are spending too much time on the field because the offense can't sustain drives. You can cry about the officiating all you want but the Hawks problems run deeper than a few blown calls.

I agree the refs didn't cause the loss. Seahawks offense has been anemic all year outside of one or two games. My issue with the calls and lack of calls are the ones that come at big moments. So many flags continue drives after the defense makes a stop and more often than not it's a bad call or ticky-tac. Blatant hold by our bad offensive line - sure, that sucks. 'Defensive holding' 15 yards away from the play with minimal contact after a third down stop that gives a free first down? No. That happened a handful of times yesterday.

The two pick plays the Saints ran were for a TD and a huge first down at a critical point. Both absolutely in the refs field of view. Snead didn't even make an attempt at a route on either, the ball wasn't caught yet, and is not allowed to throw a block at that point. I've seen pick plays that don't even use blocking, just running into the defender get called. Snead literally threw blocks.

It was also 11 penalties to 1 until the meaningless false start made it 11-2. The skewing is real. I'm sure a lot is because the Seahawks play physical and that's something I've grown to accept, the team will be penalized. But the absolute difference in penalties called against the Seahawks is crazy. Every week teams fall below their season average by a good amount. This has been happening for years, how the hell does a team like the Saints who get penalized constantly get 2 total calls?

 

[Anonymous]

Perhaps the officials need to be chosen by the use of background checks, up to and including if they are involved in any online gambling activities, ever played for (or have relatives that work or play for) a given NFL team, etc.

If they are choosing refs by how expensive it is to move them around and/or lodge them, or according to geographic region, they also need to stop that practice. Officials need to be vetted similarly to how jurys are selected or even like secret service agents.

It is the inconsistency of the officiating that sucks. Putting in place a way to sequester them from friends, families, access to the internet, the news, and completely cleared of all allegiances, and/or potential partiality, then they might have a more fair system.

Somebody needs to do some Excel work and create some graphs of these crews results based on various factors so we can identify the trends. Until then, we're all just going to have to not gloat when we win and be pissed off as hell when we lose.

 

[Largent80]

Everyone says the offense sucks, I would add....How many huge plays have the Hawks made this year that were nullified by penalties?

 

[Anonymous]

It's obvious Pete's comments about scouting the crews were a jab at the league, but I'll bet 100% true.

Heavily penalized teams still win though. Yesterday, as one example, the Raiders set a record at 23 (24?) with Terry McCauley's crew (SB XLVIII coin interception ref) tossing yellow bean bags around, and they won the game!

The only calls that really bother me are the NON-calls, like the pick play for the TD. Deion Sanders commented during our highlights last night the "ahhh, every team runs that play". Sure Prime, we get that, but why do we get called for it a few weeks earlier and lose the points but other teams don't? Did we miss the memo?

Non-calls, and inconsistency, those are the issues.

 

[OkieHawk]

It's obvious Pete's comments about scouting the crews were a jab at the league, but I'll bet 100% true.

Heavily penalized teams still win though. Yesterday, as one example, the Raiders set a record at 23 (24?) with Terry McCauley's crew (SB XLVIII coin interception ref) tossing yellow bean bags around, and they won the game!

The only calls that really bother me are the NON-calls, like the pick play for the TD. Deion Sanders commented during our highlights last night the "ahhh, every team runs that play". Sure Prime, we get that, but why do we get called for it a few weeks earlier and lose the points but other teams don't? Did we miss the memo?

Non-calls, and inconsistency, those are the issues.

I've been an advocate for the refs to be full time employees of the NFL, and to receive training in the off season on the rules and consistency. There is no reason why they can't all be on the same page with rule enforcement.

 

[StoneCold]

It's obvious Pete's comments about scouting the crews were a jab at the league, but I'll bet 100% true.

Heavily penalized teams still win though. Yesterday, as one example, the Raiders set a record at 23 (24?) with Terry McCauley's crew (SB XLVIII coin interception ref) tossing yellow bean bags around, and they won the game!

The only calls that really bother me are the NON-calls, like the pick play for the TD. Deion Sanders commented during our highlights last night the "ahhh, every team runs that play". Sure Prime, we get that, but why do we get called for it a few weeks earlier and lose the points but other teams don't? Did we miss the memo?

Non-calls, and inconsistency, those are the issues.

Very much this. It's hard to maintain energy to root for a team in a game that can be decided by a judgement call. It will kill the game. I will likely be watching next Monday, but not with the same enthusiasm. I have the opportunity to go to the game, but won't because it takes a lot of time and energy to go to the stadium, scream your lungs out and then have the game decided by the opinion of a non-player. It feels more like Pro Wrestling.

I also don't see a solution to the problem. Baseball has a judgement call on every pitch, which they mostly get right, but with the advent of technology you can clearly see, instantly, when they're wrong. And they have a solution, which I'm sure will be implemented in the next few years. Let a computer call balls and strikes. I don't see a solution for the NFL. They add rules, change rules and still games are decided by a call or non-call.

 

[Anonymous]

It's obvious Pete's comments about scouting the crews were a jab at the league, but I'll bet 100% true.

Heavily penalized teams still win though. Yesterday, as one example, the Raiders set a record at 23 (24?) with Terry McCauley's crew (SB XLVIII coin interception ref) tossing yellow bean bags around, and they won the game!

The only calls that really bother me are the NON-calls, like the pick play for the TD. Deion Sanders commented during our highlights last night the "ahhh, every team runs that play". Sure Prime, we get that, but why do we get called for it a few weeks earlier and lose the points but other teams don't? Did we miss the memo?

Non-calls, and inconsistency, those are the issues.

I've been an advocate for the refs to be full time employees of the NFL, and to receive training in the off season on the rules and consistency. There is no reason why they can't all be on the same page with rule enforcement.

Exactly.

Please guys, don't use your jerseys to line the cat-box just yet.

Be patient. It's better these officiating issues get out at the midpoint of the season, so as not to be the big thing at the end of the season.

We can only hope that the league office at least attempts to remove head from arse before then. :les:

 

[Austin Hawk]

I was driving home from out-of-town and was unable to watch, or even listen to the game. Thank goodness this was the game I missed - don't think I could have handled it. Just watching highlights and seeing Kearse make that effort at the end had me dwelling on the horrific Super Bowl a few years ago when he made his memorable "destiny" catch, only to be followed by the biggest disappointment in Seahawks history.

I can't quit watching Seahawks games, but I'm already done watching other NFL games - I just don't care about them anymore. I care too much about the Seahawks to stop watching them, but I hate that officiating has taken over so many of the games (and both ways, I'm not a homer - we benefited from the no-call vs. Atlanta).

NFL viewership is significantly down this year, and while there are MANY reasons for it, I think the NFL needs to stop creating such an expensive, exclusive market. I live in Texas, where I only see the Seahawks if they are on national TV or if I go to a sports bar (thanks, no). I'm not going to pay several hundred dollars a year just to watch them on TV when I can see any college football game I want. Every Washington Husky game is always shown on some station somewhere, except Portland State, lol. I think the NFL needs to make themselves more accessible and stop trying to strangle every penny out of its fans. Taking care of the obviously poor officiating will generate a more "pure" viewing experience and game, and could bring back higher ratings.

 

[HawkFan72]

I think Pete Carroll nailed it. Their scouting and game plan for that group of officials was off this week. To me that was the difference in the game. It happens.

The fact that they have to gameplan for certain groups of officials is pathetic in itself. It should not be that way if the officials just call it the way it's supposed to be called.