Conference Call With All Refs Today

**pbatrucker** · 10-29-2010, 06:24 AM

The NFL has scheduled a conference call with every member of every officiating team, FOX Sports' Jay Glazer reported Thursday on NFL Network's "NFL Total Access." An officiating source told Glazer that the purpose of Friday's call is to give a pep talk and clean up mistakes by officials. Sources say having all the officials involved in the call is rare, if not unprecedented.
The conference call comes on the heels of two high-profile officiating decisions in Week 7.
Late in Sunday's game between the Steelers and Dolphins, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger scrambled out of the pocket and lunged for the end zone. The ball was knocked loose right around the goal line, but the officials ruled that Roethlisberger had scored a touchdown.

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A Dolphins player emerged from the ensuing end-zone pileup with the football. When the ball was determined on replay to have come out before Roethlisberger reached the goal line, Miami believed it had a touchback. But since officials initially ruled that Roethlisberger had scored a touchdown, they didn't bother to see who recovered the ball, because it technically was no longer in play.
Pittsburgh was awarded the ball on the Miami 1-yard line and went on to kick a go-ahead field goal and hold on for a 23-22 victory.
The second controversy came in the Sunday night matchup between the Vikings and Green Bay Packers, when Minnesota tight end Visanthe Shiancoe made a diving grab in the end zone and appeared to secure the ball as he rolled onto his back. Officials ruled the play a touchdown but overturned the call on review. Minnesota settled for a field goal and lost 28-24.
Vikings coach Brad Childress publicly criticized the officiating in the game, then was fined $35,000 by the NFL.
Carl Johnson, the NFL's vice president of officiating, wasn't happy about the reversal of the Shiancoe catch.
"We wish the ruling on the field would have stood as a completed catch," Johnson said on Wednesday's "NFL Total Access."
League spokesman Greg Aiello tweeted a statement later Thursday, downplaying the implied meaning of the call.
"It's a routine part of Carl Johnson's expanded communications program for officiating," he wrote. "It's a follow up to their preseason clinic. There will be another conference call near the end of the season before the playoffs. It is like team meetings."

**Chiefster** · 10-29-2010, 07:10 AM

Show them film of what is supposed to be called pass interference!

**GlennBree** · 10-29-2010, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Chiefster

Show them film of what is supposed to be called pass interference!

AMEN!!!....(and what IS NOT pass interference)

**Chiefster** · 10-29-2010, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by GlennBree

AMEN!!!....(and what IS NOT pass interference)

Eggsactly!

Two weeks in a row we were victims of offensive pass interference and were called for defensive pass interference.

**Chief4Ever&Ever** · 10-29-2010, 09:12 AM

Horrible play calling this year!! Which I believe lost the game for the Chiefs against the Texans! That was PI on Johnson not Flowers!! These refs are making bad calls that determine the outcome of the game!

**honda522** · 10-29-2010, 10:18 AM

They need to address their issues with our DB's, cause it looks like they got something against us.

**Ryfo18** · 10-29-2010, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by honda522

They need to address their issues with our DB's, cause it looks like they got something against us.

It's the only way to be successful against our DBs...push them down and cause them to get a PI call

**SIC J** · 10-29-2010, 11:07 AM

I've seen about 7 or 8 plays this year where the refs reviewed the play and STILL GOT IT WRONG!!!

Some of the refs simply just need to be fired.

**Hayvern** · 10-29-2010, 11:25 AM

I am going to play a small part of devil's advocate here. It is very tough to officiate in the NFL, which was the point of a recent thread I made about adding an official or two to the team.

Replay now is so prevelant with every stadium being able to now put up a replay of a play almost instantly after the play is over, and the fact that at home we can see so much more with replay as well.

The league brought in replay and I think that has messed with the referees a lot. I think they now figure it really doesn't matter what they call, that it can always be reviewed. Unfortunately, the review system still is not foolproof.

Officiating has always been a human element, but the human mind can only process so much information in a given moment, something is going to be missed. Adding a couple more officials to the field would help lighten the load.

Face it, this game has gotten faster and faster through the years, being an official and dealing with everything they have to deal with is not a task that I would be willing to take on.