On the final play of the game, Seahawks' quarterback Russell Wilson dropped back, faced some pressure, rolled to his left, and heaved a rainbow up into the Seattle sky. On the play, receiver Golden Tate shoved Sam Shields to the ground, and as the ball came down, M.D. Jennings jumped up and appeared to intercept the pass. As he came down with the ball and landed, Tate stuck an arm into the fracas, two officials made opposite calls, the play was ruled a touchdown, and finally was upheld upon further review. Ten minutes later, both teams had to come back for an extra point, and the Packers lost a game almost everyone felt they won. Approximately $350 million changed hands on bets as well, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.
The fact that the officials did not overturn this after watching the replay and the NFL standing by the refs and saying it was the right call today added more fuel to the fire that these replacement refs must go and the regulars must return to work. The call of a simultaneous catch was ridiculous because Tate barely had his hands on the ball even after Jennings came down with the ball. Even watching this as a Bears fan, you couldn't help but feeling a little bad for the Packer brethren who got jobbed in a big way by these refs.
I know this hasn't been talked about much, but Jennings has to knock that ball down. Even though the call on the field was totally wrong, defenders are taught to knock the ball down in that situation. He still intercepted the pass, but if he had done what he was taught, this whole debacle would never have happened. A lot of people are also freaking out about the pass interference the league admitted should have been called, but I don't have a huge problem that this wasn't called. Pushing and shoving like that happens all the time on these last-second plays. It was an obvious shove by Tate, but I don't think the pass interference issue is the biggest by any means.
I was thinking about what I wanted to say here and decided to break it up into a few different sections.
Business/officiating side
It was brought to my attention today just how much this refs are asking for in their contracts. They essentially are asking for pension and benefits that not even full-tume NFL employees have. These refs only work six months of the year, yet they are expecting a lot in return for their work. It is clear that they are a huge piece to the success of the NFL and keeping things running smoothly, but is it possible that these refs plotted this so they could prove a point of how important they are? I'm not sure if they are expecting all those benefits, but they sure are making a case for them after what we've seen these last three weeks.
I know the best refs make mistakes too, but they have a much better grasp of the game and they have control over it. These games have been a joke because the replacements are in awe of the players and don't have a grasp of the rule book. They are simply unqualified. One ref reportedly may have been pulling for LeSean McCoy as he was reffing the game. Another was removed from doing a game just hours before because his Facebook page had him wearing Saints' gear.
The pace of the game at the highest level is too great for them no matter what kind of "training" they received from the NFL leading up to the season. The regular refs have been doing this for years and know what it's like to be under the pressure of officiating an NFL guys. These guys doing the games now are making a lot of calls just for the sake of making calls.
Integrity of the game
We all know the Packers should have won the game, and this is the thing that bugs me the most. All the analysts and experts agree that the integrity of the great game of football is at stake here. Games are being decided by poor calls, coaches and players are complaining at unprecedented levels, and the league seems to be indifferent because their product is still making money. Roger Goodell has not issued an apology, either. I don't think people are going to stop watching football because of this, but a lot of people may put the games on hold until the legitimate zebras are back patrolling the field.
Even that Sunday Night Football matchup between the Patriots and Ravens had its controversy. Baltimore's last touchdown was greatly aided by poor calls, but that's not to say that New England didn't benefit from some bad calls in their favor. It just seems like a total crapshoot when it comes to what the officials are going to call a penalty. Every game seems to have had issues. Bad calls happen all the time with regular refs, but they aren't as magnified as with these replacement refs, who are under constant scrutiny. I actually feel bad for them because they've been told to do a job that they aren't truly capable of doing right.
Closing remarks
While some say this debacle doesn't make a deal any closer to getting done, I'm optimistic that the regular officials will be in uniform come Week 4. Like many other lockouts, the two sides have to come to an agreement somewhere in the middle and end this nightmare. Football fans don't deserve the product they are getting right now that is being tainted by wild unpredictability. The parity in these first three weeks has been great, but that doesn't make it all right that these current referees are in a situation they shouldn't be in.
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