Officiating

[Year of The Hawk]

WOW. I did not realize we had soooo many tin foil hats in here. Yes there were plenty of ticky tac bad calls but it is just the way the league officiates. If you go to the opposing fans forums on any given week (including this one) you will see complaints about the officiating. All fans complain their team is unfairly penalized. I am not saying it is perfectly fair and even every week but a fix? Please. The league loves parity so why would certain teams not get the breaks like Jacksonville or the Raiders. Do they get more favorable calls? All teams get bad calls every week. It is the nature of the game. With that said officiating last night sucked.....

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I won't lie, I'm not a conspiracy guy, but after the 3rd Harvin TD was negated by a suspect penalty I did joke that the league must of told the refs to keep the game close due to all these terrible primetime games of late.

 

[kidhawk]

Most of the calls were legit. I might question if they are the type to be called as much as they were, but technically each could have been called.

I heard a stat on the radio this morning.....both us and the Ravens (the last two Super Bowl Champions) led the league in our championship season, in penalties, so although I hate them when I see them, reflecting after a win shows they aren't a season killer.

 

[Barthawk]

Kid, they could call a penalty on every play from scrimmage. The head bob, the block by Carp, and the "false start" by Harvin were headscratching stupid calls. It is peculiar that very few of the questionable calls went against the Skins. Disproportionate is putting it kindly I think.

 

[The Battle #83]

WOW. I did not realize we had soooo many tin foil hats in here. Yes there were plenty of ticky tac bad calls but it is just the way the league officiates. If you go to the opposing fans forums on any given week (including this one) you will see complaints about the officiating. All fans complain their team is unfairly penalized. I am not saying it is perfectly fair and even every week but a fix? Please. The league loves parity so why would certain teams not get the breaks like Jacksonville or the Raiders. Do they get more favorable calls? All teams get bad calls every week. It is the nature of the game. With that said officiating last night sucked.....

This. This. This. Did i mention this. Agreed 100%. Almost every team whines about officiating every week. Great teams win by destroying the other team and capitalize on opportunities so even if the ref does dumb calls they wont matter.

 

[MOCHawk]

Here is what is different about last night's officiating debacle:

* Seahawks won, so we aren't whining that the officials cost them the game.
*At least 2 of the calls were calls that I have never heard before after watching football for 40+ years.
*Extraordinarily lopsided number of penalties on the visitors.
*If Percy Harvin's penalty was for false start, rather than illegal motion (which is what they really mistakenly threw the flag for) shouldn't the play have been whistled immediately dead? I think Percy did false start, which is where they landed, but they called it like it was illegal motion which was not the case.

I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theory. I think the officials had a terrible night and Tripplett just, frankly, made some stuff up to justify a flag being thrown. His crew will be downgraded for several of the calls that they made and the league will apologize.

I tend to believe that these things work themselves out in the long run, but we have a bunch of "make up" coming our way if that is the case.

 

[Silentwander]

NY Giant Geoff Scwartz Best Quote "Umm when did it turn illegal to finish a DL? That's a bad call. Should we just tap them when they fall down?". On Carp penalty.

It was his twitter. I don't have a twitter account to link his twitter.

 

[Mtjhoyas]

The Conspiracy stuff is off-base, but that officiating was borderline inept.

Like someone else mentioned on the thread, there is a penalty on every play. Officials should be instructed to evaluate whether or not that had an adverse effect on the play. If you are going to start calling ticky-tacky things, then it needs to go both ways.

Nobody expects to have flawless officiating, but for God's sake, have the same "strike zone."

 

[Hawks46]

I won't lie, I'm not a conspiracy guy, but after the 3rd Harvin TD was negated by a suspect penalty I did joke that the league must of told the refs to keep the game close due to all these terrible primetime games of late.

I'm not a conspiracy theory guy either, but if you look at the flags, and the ones that stayed in the pocket, it's pretty obvious the NFL didn't want another prime time blowout. Before any gets all conspiracy theory, yes I know the Hawks weren't scheduled a lot for primetime this year because they continually blow teams out (in primetime), but there have been a string of prime time blowouts this year across the league. I haven't seen a competitive Thursday night game yet.

This morning, there are PLENTY, if not ALL of the analysts complaining about the Carpenter flag. That was just bogus.

Spinning the football is illegal. That's not up for debate. It's also kinda hard to hide, especially right in front of the refs. Yet there was no flag on Wash for doing so.

Harvin's false start. Even Pete scratched his head about that. Harvin went in motion, but late. Pete said he thought "it kind of surprised the line judge by him taking off late". I don't give a crap if you're surprised or not, being startled isn't grounds for a penalty.

There was an obvious offsides on the Redskins. Flag comes out. False start on Seattle. TV replay shows NONE of the OL moved a hair, not even after the DLman jumped across the neutral zone and into the OL.

Harvin was tackled to the ground twice while trying to go out for routes after crossing the formation in motion. No calls. TV replayed it.

Sherman was dragged down by his hair, by a WR, on a route to which he was thrown the ball. No flag. These are very obvious fouls, nothing ticky tack, and nothing hard to see. I saw all of these on a 47" TV, in a bar, with the only replay allowed to me was TV replay. It's either an agenda, or gross incompetence the like we haven't seen in years.

If I wanted to dig further, 2 of those I mentioned (these were all the most egregious) called back TD's and one was in FG range (false start). There seemed to be a concerted effort to make it harder for us to score, and keep the game close. I'm not taking it personal that the NFL has it out for the Hawks, but it was definately there.

 

[marymoorhawk]

I won't lie, I'm not a conspiracy guy, but after the 3rd Harvin TD was negated by a suspect penalty I did joke that the league must of told the refs to keep the game close due to all these terrible primetime games of late.

I'm not a conspiracy theory guy either, but if you look at the flags, and the ones that stayed in the pocket, it's pretty obvious the NFL didn't want another prime time blowout. Before any gets all conspiracy theory, yes I know the Hawks weren't scheduled a lot for primetime this year because they continually blow teams out (in primetime), but there have been a string of prime time blowouts this year across the league. I haven't seen a competitive Thursday night game yet.

This morning, there are PLENTY, if not ALL of the analysts complaining about the Carpenter flag. That was just bogus.

Spinning the football is illegal. That's not up for debate. It's also kinda hard to hide, especially right in front of the refs. Yet there was no flag on Wash for doing so.

Harvin's false start. Even Pete scratched his head about that. Harvin went in motion, but late. Pete said he thought "it kind of surprised the line judge by him taking off late". I don't give a crap if you're surprised or not, being startled isn't grounds for a penalty.

There was an obvious offsides on the Redskins. Flag comes out. False start on Seattle. TV replay shows NONE of the OL moved a hair, not even after the DLman jumped across the neutral zone and into the OL.

Harvin was tackled to the ground twice while trying to go out for routes after crossing the formation in motion. No calls. TV replayed it.

Sherman was dragged down by his hair, by a WR, on a route to which he was thrown the ball. No flag. These are very obvious fouls, nothing ticky tack, and nothing hard to see. I saw all of these on a 47" TV, in a bar, with the only replay allowed to me was TV replay. It's either an agenda, or gross incompetence the like we haven't seen in years.

If I wanted to dig further, 2 of those I mentioned (these were all the most egregious) called back TD's and one was in FG range (false start). There seemed to be a concerted effort to make it harder for us to score, and keep the game close. I'm not taking it personal that the NFL has it out for the Hawks, but it was definately there.

Sherman also had another one where he was dragged down by his face mask (Garcon again?) and the guy kept yanking on it - the back official comes running in while Sherm is getting worked over plain as day and no call.

The ball spin was another obvious one and guys get flagged for that all the time (hello Sidney Rice).

I also agree with the earlier poster on the 2 made up calls - I have been watching football a long time, a head bob on the center who peaks between his legs on shotgun I have never seen called and an OL following thru on a block called for unnecessary roughness ... another never before seen call. On that play I commented to my buddy it reminded me of Hasselback's "block below the waste" call in *XL.

Despite all that, we still won by 10 on the road - shows just how far this team has come.

 

[253hawk]

I heard a stat on the radio this morning.....both us and the Ravens (the last two Super Bowl Champions) led the league in our championship season, in penalties, so although I hate them when I see them, reflecting after a win shows they aren't a season killer.

There's a big difference between offensive and defensive penalties though. You can recover from the ones on defense by forcing a punt, a turnover or a FG. There's multiple opportunities to erase or minimize the damage. You're lucky to get another first down after an offensive penalty (but all of these 5 yard auto first down defensive penalties are helping keep golden boys like PeyPey and Gisele to keep the scoreboard lit.) After a single holding call, you're basically leaving points on the field unless the defense is really inept.

Another missed call was a Redskin tackling someone and then stood over the Hawk player, basically straddling him, and celebrating. Triplette's crew threw more flags than any other last season and it doesn't seem to have changed much for this year, but the balance and consistency should be questioned.

 

[ZagHawk]

No conspiracy theory here. Refs made a few bad calls, but that happens EVERY game to EVERY team. But what amplified it was that our O-Line also played sloppy, very sloppy. Hell I think "sloppy" was the word PC even used this morning. Take those "sloppy" plays away, we get up by huge numbers early, run the ball more with Marshawn to burn clock. Redskins have no hope at all of winning this game. Another blowout blunder on primetime this season. Chargers game looks even more like a fluke loss.

What I am looking forward to is the fact that the turnover opportunities are happening. How many fumbles recovered, how many ALMOST interceptions. Eventually those balls are going to bounce our way, and Earl, KJ, Bobby and Sherm are going to hold onto those interceptions. When that happens, those are going to be those games we've all been waiting to see.

The point is we're not peaking too early. The team is great and still has room for improvement (hopefully will fix that O-Line play first).

 

[SalishHawkFan]

Just because you throw the "conspiracy" word around doesn't mean you just won the argument.

The refs were told by the league to keep the game close. It's blatantly obvious. Call it whatever you want, but what I call the OP: In Denial.

 

[Hawks46]

Let me get this straight: I am in no way saying the NFL had it out for us, has it out for us currently (other than changing derfensive penalties to favor the offense), hates Seattle, or wanted to see the Redskins win.

Also, most of the penalties called on us were legit. Our OL was terrible, and that can be reasoned into the line of thinking that if our OL was accruing so many dumb penalties, a few bad calls will ensue. Kinda like we don't get the ticky tack stuff called on our secondary because they're so good they aren't known for holding or illegal contact. Incidentally, Washington's secondary is, and tackled Harvin twice while going out on a route to no reprecusisons.

If Washington was blowing us out, I'd bet the flags would rain in on the other side. Thing is, I think the league would want to see us behind, as we're much better coming from behind than Wash is and Wilson is a feel good story they probably want to get behind. Even so, this is more about the league wanted a closer prime time game than anything punitive for the Seahawks.

The presnap penalties are the easiest in the game to call. If someone moved, he's the ONLY guy moving when he shouldn't, on both sides. Illegal formations happen literally in freeze frame. 12 man penalties aren't difficult to ascertain either. So on those, it's just plain ineptitude. An obvious offsides called a false start.

One last point to how bad the refs were: If Harvin took off early and it was a false start, why didn't they call the play dead right there ? False starts blow the play dead right there. The conspiracy theorist in me has to wonder: if Harvin fumbled on that play, was it still a false start ?

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I won't lie, I'm not a conspiracy guy, but after the 3rd Harvin TD was negated by a suspect penalty I did joke that the league must of told the refs to keep the game close due to all these terrible primetime games of late.

I'm not a conspiracy theory guy either, but if you look at the flags, and the ones that stayed in the pocket, it's pretty obvious the NFL didn't want another prime time blowout. Before any gets all conspiracy theory, yes I know the Hawks weren't scheduled a lot for primetime this year because they continually blow teams out (in primetime), but there have been a string of prime time blowouts this year across the league. I haven't seen a competitive Thursday night game yet.

This morning, there are PLENTY, if not ALL of the analysts complaining about the Carpenter flag. That was just bogus.

Spinning the football is illegal. That's not up for debate. It's also kinda hard to hide, especially right in front of the refs. Yet there was no flag on Wash for doing so.

Harvin's false start. Even Pete scratched his head about that. Harvin went in motion, but late. Pete said he thought "it kind of surprised the line judge by him taking off late". I don't give a crap if you're surprised or not, being startled isn't grounds for a penalty.

There was an obvious offsides on the Redskins. Flag comes out. False start on Seattle. TV replay shows NONE of the OL moved a hair, not even after the DLman jumped across the neutral zone and into the OL.

Harvin was tackled to the ground twice while trying to go out for routes after crossing the formation in motion. No calls. TV replayed it.

Sherman was dragged down by his hair, by a WR, on a route to which he was thrown the ball. No flag. These are very obvious fouls, nothing ticky tack, and nothing hard to see. I saw all of these on a 47" TV, in a bar, with the only replay allowed to me was TV replay. It's either an agenda, or gross incompetence the like we haven't seen in years.

If I wanted to dig further, 2 of those I mentioned (these were all the most egregious) called back TD's and one was in FG range (false start). There seemed to be a concerted effort to make it harder for us to score, and keep the game close. I'm not taking it personal that the NFL has it out for the Hawks, but it was definately there.

On the flip side, and I already mentioned it, the refs could have thrown two flags on the big scramble play and throw to Lynch on the last drive of the game. Okung was very close to holding, and Britt ran down and blasted somebody just as the play was over. Both could have easily been called, especially with that crew last night.

So maybe the crew realized or was told they messed up, and decided to eat the flags on us.

 

[Year of The Hawk]

Just because you throw the "conspiracy" word around doesn't mean you just won the argument.

The refs were told by the league to keep the game close. It's blatantly obvious. Call it whatever you want, but what I call the OP: In Denial.

Somebody is off there meds.
I do believe there probably is some personal feelings between some refs and players but as far as pre-game determination. You are NUTS.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I was thinking the Pac-12 refs were calling the game.

 

[chet380]

Beginning of 4th quarter -- SEA - 13 penalties, WASH - 2 penalties.

I'm not sayin', but just sayin' ...

 

[Rainger]

Kid, they could call a penalty on every play from scrimmage. The head bob, the block by Carp, and the "false start" by Harvin were headscratching stupid calls. It is peculiar that very few of the questionable calls went against the Skins. Disproportionate is putting it kindly I think.

Hey watching this game and seeing the blow outs on Thursday night, I would not put it past the league to "indirectly" instruct the refs to "keep the game close" . After all the NFL is really just about the buck in the end.

 

[TwistedHusky]

It was clearly unevenly officiated. The question is why.

But the folks swearing that it cannot / could not be fixed because conspiracy theories are tin foil hat?

There are a whole group of conspiracies throughout history that are far more complex that succeeded (Was a good Cracked article on that once), so yes it could happen and in fact is likely.

Ask yourself how much an NFL makes per year, maybe $200k? Now how much is wagered on football in an average month? How much is wagered per game?

Finally, how many calls in football are completely subjective, (ie at the discretion of the ref)? The number is significant.

I remember having this discussion before when the Spurs were playing the Suns and the Suns were just getting screwed on call after call (some infamous Horry calls included). It was clearly rigged. I pointed this out, hell I was even interviewed in a NY Times article where I pointed out the discrepancies.

Years later it turns out the referee was bad, placed bets or was in league with organized crime and affected that game. You think that was the only one?

Let's look at the stakeholders that have a vested interest in fixing games:

1. NFL
2. Networks
3. Advertisers
4. Gamblers or those that facilitate the industry
5. Fans of individual teams
6. The referees themselves

I would say that given the amount of people that benefit "fixing" games, and the amount of money to be had by doing so - it is a virtual certainty it occurs. The issue would be how often and to what degree? (Since too much of it would kill the golden goose).

The argument that conspiracies cannot happen because they are too complex or difficult to keep secret leaves out the reality that they happen all the time.