In three weeks, the National Football League has become the laughing stock of America.
From a federal judge lifting the suspensions of the four participants in the Saints’ bounty scandal to fining players for making legal hits that didn’t draw penalty flags, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has seen the most prominent league in all of sports become a fiasco nobody takes seriously.
The debacle that unfolded on Monday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks only added fuel to NFL critics’ fire.
I’ve been hoping NFL replacement referees’ days of attempting to discern what was happening on the field would soon come to an end. It was only a matter of time before a mistake by the officials would change the outcome of a game.
As Goodell sat back in his recliner with a cold beverage and the end of Week 3 mere seconds away, he, along with the rest of the ESPN audience, saw exactly what would happen when such a call was made.
Forget about “The Music City Miracle” or the “Immaculate Reception;” the newest legendary football moment is “The Fail Mary.”
I don’t need to explain the details of the play. You’ve probably already seen it on ESPN, Deadspin and the Disney Channel.
A baffled pair of referees simultaneously made different rulings on the play. One signaled touchdown, the other an interception.
How can two officials standing a grand total of two feet apart have such a different interpretation of the play? How can the head official, Wayne Elliott, watch a replay and still make the wrong call? More importantly, how can the NFL continue to allow this mockery to go on?
I still can’t believe it.
A person not watching the game would have thought an atomic bomb went off with the way the Twitterverse exploded.
The blame shouldn’t be put on the replacement officials. It should be put on Goodell and the NFL owners who won’t open their checkbooks to pay the real NFL referees.
Unlike the NFL players’ lockout last year, the difference between the NFL and its referee association is millions, not billions. You’re telling me 32 NFL owners can’t spare a few bucks to restore order to the chaos on the field?
If you would have told me a referees’ strike would have more of an impact on the game than a players’ lockout, I would have laughed you out of the room. But that’s exactly what’s going on.
If what happened Monday night doesn’t create a sense of urgency for Goodell to get officials back on the field, I don’t know what will.
It’s not like the officiating faux pas occurred during an early Sunday afternoon kickoff, where multiple games are going on and you can only watch the play on NFL RedZone. Viewers watched during primetime as victory was literally snatched from the Packers’ hands.
I wouldn’t be as fed up with the NFL if it would have owned up and admitted its substitute officials took a win from one team and gave it to another. But of course, it didn’t.
In a statement released Tuesday, the NFL took the blame for the offensive pass interference call by Tate that should have ended the game. In the next paragraph it supported the game-changing ruling made by the referees, saying Tate and Jennings had “simultaneous possession” of the football, awarding the ball to the offense.
For the NFL to back up the call isn’t surprising. It has to try and save face after such a tumultuous start to the season.
The only way for Goodell to quiet fans, players, coaches and commentators is to pay the NFL officials sitting at home whatever they want or fire himself.
Until then, the game’s legitimacy will continue to suffer.
Your move, Goodell.
