No Whining!

A refs version of what happened on the Ramsey play....

by general counsel

I have a friend who is a professional football referee. Most of his work is in a major college conference and he has done countless bowl games including national championships. I saw him a couple of nights ago and chatted with him about the game. Here is his very simple take on what happened on the non-call on the ramsey facemask.

The refs who was responsible for the call was out of position and didnt see the facemask. No more complicated than that. My friend identified it immediately when he saw the play the first time and when he watched the replay, it was completely obvious to him what happened because he saw where the official was positioned (compared to where he was supposed to be positioned).

I said to my friend that was what i assumed the ref would say, that he can't call what he didn't see but that during the post game, the explanation was not that he didnt see it, but rather that he saw it but didnt think the facemask impacted the play, which in my view was among the most idiotic things i have ever heard a ref say.

What my friend explained to me was that it was the crew chief that did the talking in the post game and he was simply covering up for the guy who missed the call for a number of reasons. My friend was 100% clear with me that the explanation was literally impossible. You can not ignore a facemask especially when its an obvious grab of the facemask, regardless of whether the refs impact is that it didnt impact the play and regardless of whether its the super bowl. Among other things, its a player safety issue. Its no different than a player who leads with his head and makes helmet to helmet contact. Its a penalty 100% of the time that the refs see it. If they miss it they miss it, but its impossible not to call it if you see it. Thus, the only conclusion is that the ref didnt see ramsey get grabbed by the facemask and the ONLY way that could have happened per my friend is the ref being out of position because based on where the refs are trained to be positioned, its impossible for a properly positioned official to not see that kind of facemask on that spot on the field.

Fortunately, we won the game. I dont like the crap ramsey is taking from people because i dont think its fair. He had a huge pass breakup at the goal line that held them to a field goal on the first drive. Another big third down pass breakup that got our defense off the field. Sure, he made a terrible play trying to jump the route at the end. He got beat by a quarter of a step by chase on the long pass in the first quarter, it was a sensational catch. Not Ramsey's best game, but hardly a "bad" game either as many are saying in the football world.

Ramming speed to all

general counsel
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-02-24-2022, 05:20 PM
The first ten minutes.

by Fat Pang

I really wasn't sure which forum to put this post in. It's about football, but it's not about the Rams or the NFL. It's also very personal, or at least it's very personal in the sense that it's purely about my sensory perceptions of the first ten minutes of a football game from a players point of view. So, I plumped for the the default choice of the lounge, on the basis that in the unlikely event that I offended anyone with my musings, not very many people would see it.

As I think we can all agree, whether Ram fans or not, (and there are some who grace our forums who add to this site and aren't) the start of the football season is something to be savoured and anticipated. We start thinking about the future as soon as our teams last snap is concluded. Whether we were happy with the achievments of our chosen team or not,the future provides the panacea for all ills. Anything is possible in the virtual nirvana that is the future. Worst to first in one season is possible, we all know it, so what's to stop us from dreaming?

It's one of the best features of the human condition, a natural optimism, that, guided by the love of the sport, finds itself a comfortable chair, a jaundiced view and dreams of glories to come. I've already discussed this somewhere else of course, and informed you all of my intention to look for the best this season. I'm sincere in that and hope that I'm pleasantly surprised, but I realised this morning that as I did so, I was talking from a fans point of view.

This is natural of course because I am an armchair fan, but I was also a player for nearly eight years, and so realised that there are other points of view to explore. Player and fan aren't necessarily related either. At college, I knew guys who loved playing the game and were very good at it but who hated watching it and regarded the three hours spent doing so as a complete waste of time. Happy to have their own bones broken, but not too interested in seeing others break theirs.

So there is a difference that we often ignore when it comes to being passionate about the result of a football game and the outcome of a season and the vantage point from which you view it.

We're all guilty of it too. How often have we screamed at the television, berating those players who are on the wrong end of a caning for not caring quite as much as we do? How often have we held them culpable for dashing our dreams? How often have we accused them of being paycheque(paycheck) players with all that is implied in that statement?

I know that I felt that I had cause to do all those things for virtually the entire 90's.:x

However at work this morning, whilst writing a lesson plan that would teach chinese children whose native language is Cantonese, to write Japanese Haiku poetry in English, (Not as hard as it sounds) I thought about this very pertinent fact, something I was surprised I hadn't considered...
- Channel: LOUNGE
-09-06-2006, 06:36 AM
reviewing calls from the booth

by jdpbmo

Okay, enough is enough. I can usually sit by and hold my piece, but I am so tired of this idiotic process the NFL uses to review calls. It isn't that I'm against the reviewing of questionable calls. I am 100 % for it. I want the call to be right. A noncall or wrong call shouldn't cost a team the game. It all came to a head in the Detroit/GB game when they didn't bother reviewing the touchdown late in the game. How crazy was that? If I was in charge of that part of the game, there would be some people looking for work tomorrow. My main problem with the process is that you are asking officials that make a call, or maybe don't make a call, to reverse their own decision. You are asking them to second-guess themselves or perhaps members of their crew. Now we can sit there and say "well, so what if they have to reverse a call to get it right". Hey, news flash, these officials have egos. They don't want to come out and say "sorry everyone, we just blew that last call". So they look at the replay to satisfy us, then come back and say "indisputable evidence to reverse the call on the field". That's a load of crap. There have been plenty of calls that they show that need to be reversed, but until you get a seperate crew of 2 or 3 people in the booth who do nothing but review a call when it's challenged, you will continue to see this craziness happen. Why wouldn't you have people not associated with the officiating crew reveiwing these calls? If you did, you would find a number of calls overturned when it's obvious they are wrong. You would find calls that are legitimate standing as good calls. People would be satisfied for the most part. Except for the Z E B R A S. They will find they are making a call or two incorrectly in important situations. But you know what else you are doing? You are taking some responsibility from them. What does everyone think? jd
- Channel: NFL TALK
-11-25-2001, 07:37 PM
The Curse Of The 9ers

by Guest

What will officials dream up Sunday night when the Rams take the field in San Francisco? Let�s turn back to 1998. The first call occurred with the Colts leading 21-7. The ball was intercepted by Indianapolis defensive back Jeff Burris in his own end zone. He returned it to the 9ers' 32-yard line, which almost certainly would have led to a 24-7 lead and, given the way that Peyton Manning was carving up the 9ers' at the time, most likely an insurmountable 28-7 lead. Instead, the officials called Burris for "holding" and the 9ers were handed the ball back and ultimately a touchdown.

On the 9ers' next possession, Young again threw a pick, again it was overruled ruled by a defensive holding penalty, and again the 9ers got the ball back and scored. The result of the botched calls? A point swing of a minimum of 14 and as much as 28 points. The blown calls by the referees were so bad; the NFL had to come out with a statement in essence apologizing for the poor officiating.

The Colts farce allowed the 9ers to host the wildcard game Enter Green Bay, a team they hadn�t beat in 5 tries. A Jerry Rice fumble was ruled down by the referees, and four plays later, a touchdown pass to Terrell Owens.

Enter New York; another playoff game which the 9ers had little chance of winning even with all the referee huddles that always end in gifting the 9ers the ball or the call. Even though the Giants blew a sizeable lead and deserved to lose the game given the fact that they laid down like dogs for the 9ers one cannot deny the injustice of the referee shenanigans which gifted the 9ers yet another referee aided win. Once again the NFL had to cut and paste their 49er apologist bile as if this sort of thing is not common in the NFL. Oh wait they are right, its not common place in the NFL unless it�s an important 49er game.

Does anyone remember the game last year? The NHS describes it best in this snippet.

So when 12 seconds into it, an important game for the 9ers was being dictated by an inexplicable referee reversal to give the 9ers a touchdown on the opening kickoff, followed minutes later with a penalty negating a would-be 9ers turnover on a kick return, followed by several more of the classic "referee huddles" throughout the afternoon, fans nodded and understood. Even if the Rams injury-depleted split squad came to compete today (which they didn't), the script already had cast them as losers.

The opening minutes were the 49er Problem in a nutshell. As the 9ers broke open the opening kick return, the "flag" message clearly appeared during the run-back. No big whoop, all seasoned NFL fans are well accustomed to having penalties negate good returns. The ref signaled the illegal block against the 9ers, and the game was set to start with the 9ers mired deep in their own territory.

But wait! Someone, somewhere instead decided that it wasn't a...
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-10-01-2004, 07:54 PM
Officiating this past season...

by RamsFanSam

I have a few minutes here before I go to catch up with my best friend from high school. I haven't talked with him for 25 years. So, while I am waiting for the hot water heater to catch up, I figured I would have my say.

The new uniforms worn by the zebras this year did nothing to hide their lousy eyesight.

Rams fans were at the bad end of lousy officiating during several games this year, but we were not the only ones. In the majority of the games I watched (and with Sunday Ticket and the Red Zone channel, it was a lot) I saw a lot of 'non-calls', a lot of 'over-done' calls, and a lot of bogus calls. Probably the worst of all was the pandering to the NFL's 'pet' QB's.

Hey, Zebras, I have a news flash for you. Football is a physical game. When a 350 pound defensive end, running at full speed, leaps toward the QB a half second before the QB throws a pass, it is impossible for said DE to stop in mid-air. He will hit the QB. Seriously, ask any high school physics teacher. Sometimes, the QB is going to get hit. Next time Brady or Vick or Manning gets knocked on his backside, think before you throw a flag. Ask yourself whether the defensive player could have avoided contact. I bet you'd find that the majority of the time, the defensive player couldn't have done anything to avoid the contact. Just look over at the little pansy QB, tell him that football is a man's game, so quit acting like a 'girly man'.

Another thing I would like to point out is that you are supposed to be impartial. I believe that you should look the definition of that word up in a dictionary. I have asked around, and those who know football say that they thought Seattle benifited from 'non-impartial' officiating more than any other team. I'm not sure I agree, but I do think Seattle did get more favors from you than did teams like the Cards, Lions, etc.

Someone (I wish I could remember who) suggested that the officiating of each game should be reviewed by an impartial group, and that the officials should be held responsible for their performance. Miss a blatant foul, get a big fine. Throw an unnecessary flag, get a big fine. I bet that the games would be officiated a lot more fairly once cash started disappearing from the pockets of the zebras who don't do their job well.

Now, for my last point:

I said football is a physical game. I know the zebras have to be 'in the action', but what genius thought a ball cap and a whistle would be enough protection when a 350 pound linebacker blindsides your butt? Seriously, I have seen 5 year old kids with enough sense to know that a helmet is a good idea when riding a bike.

Then again, maybe if a few of them had some sense knocked into them (or some BS knocked out of them) it might not be a bad thing....but, no. Even I can't be that cruel unless it involves someone mistreating my family.

Well, that's all the time I...
- Channel: NFL TALK
-01-02-2007, 03:57 PM

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