Promoting NFL Referees To Full-Time Status Would Be A Good Starting Point To Fixing League's Officiating Shortcomings

One of the more well-known of the NFL'S officials Ed Hochuli is an attorney off the field.

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Thinh Nguyen

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Unless you've been living under a rock the last few years or so, I don't need to tell you that the National Football League is the most popular sport in terms of the ratings and viewership numbers it generates.  Fans of the gridiron just can't seem to get enough of for whatever reason.  Maybe it's the overall strategy of the game or the hard hits.

The allure of football would lead you to believe that it's decision makers, such as the Commissioner and the Owners would do everything in their power to ensure that the quality of the officials they employ are the best they can be.  Every professional sports league should strive for greatness from their officials. On the other side of the coin, fans know that not all officials have a perfect track record in their career.  

What football fans may not know is that unlike the other Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA) or the National Hockey League (NHL), the officials of the National Football League (NFL) have other jobs and careers in addition to the work they do on the football field.

As I've mentioned before, if you've been paying close attention, one of the things I really look at when watching sports is the work of the officials in charge of making the calls in addition to watching a game for pure entertainment value.  I know that once I really got interested in all things officiating in all the major sports, I was initially surprised by the fact that NFL officials are not employed on a full-time basis.  I must also point out that those who are among the league's best officials have my utmost respect knowing that they are doing the best job they can do while holding down another occupation.

I don't expect to see any immediate changes to the league's officiating procedures and policies on this matter any time soon but it is something worth keeping an eye on in future seasons.  In the meantime, we can continue getting whatever enjoyment you get from the most popular sport in North America. Just remember that the officials are doing the best job they can the next time you feel the urge to put your hands in your head over a blown call for whatever team you root for.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved.

As Roger Goodell's World Turns

With his less than stellar reputation, Roger Goodell is always on the proverbial Hot Seat.

During the NFL'S regular season and playoffs I couldn't find time to offer my take on the continuing tumultuous tenure of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.  Well with the scouting combine freshly completed and the draft more than a month away, I figured now would be a very good time to offer my thoughts on Roger Goodell's world.

The bottom line plain and simple is that since he became commissioner of the most popular of the four major North American sports leagues in 2006, he has fallen well short of my expectations as a fan.  From the snafu of the Ray Rice investigation to Deflategate, Goodell has made a couple of things very clear.  He is very inept for one reason or another at overseeing the various investigations of alleged criminal activity and his handling of numerous player suspensions is at times beyond comprehension!  We all know that 2 games was more lenient than it should have been given the evidence and circumstances of the Ray Rice case.  As far as the Deflategate episode goes, that is a totally different situation which I will expand on in a future post.

In all likelihood however, Goodell's job status will remain safe as long as the NFL keeps making huge gobs of money under his watch.  If the tide starts to turn the other way I would give serious consideration to finding a replacement for Goodell's services.  There's no telling what will happen on the next episode of 'As Roger Goodell's World Turns.'  Your guess is as good as mine.

 

Tim Musick
Copyright 2015
All Rights Reserved    

NFL N-Word Penalty Is Beyond Ridiculous

Starting next season, the NFL is going to penalize players and teams 15 yards for the use of the N-word.

My question is when did the NFL become a nanny state?  I think the owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell are totally blowing it on this one.  Just let the players play the game and don't bow down to how the general public perceives the league.  This stupid penalty would also make the job of the officials on the field more difficult because you know there's going to be a time when they will probably penalize the wrong player.

Bottom line Mr. Goodell and the owners who employ you: STICK TO MORE PRESSING FOOTBALL ISSUES!

Tim Musick
Copyright 2014
All Rights Reserved.  

Tim's Two Cents-January 5

Should NFL Teams Rest Their Starters in the Final Weeks of the Regular Season?  News spread over the weekend that the NFL would look into the policy of teams resting their starters during the final weeks of the regular season.  Until this weekend, I didn't even know that there was possibly such a policy in the league.  I always thought those decisions were left for the teams to decide for themselves.  This story is noteworthy because of what has taken place the last few weeks with teams such as the Indianapolis Colts and, more recently, the New England Patriots.  I really don't think there's that much Roger Goodell and the NFL can do by looking into this situation.  There's been rumors of extra draft picks to those teams, but I don't see something like that having a significant impact in the long run.  

You may remember that in week 16 Colts head coach Jim Caldwll decided to pull his starters out in the third quarter of what would be a 29 to 15 loss against the New York Jets, thus ending their pursuit of perfection.  It caused a lot of backlash this past week from the fans, as well as the media, who were seemingly disappointed that giving the starters some rest was far more important than trying for the perfect season.  That situation with the Colts is somewhat understandable, given their way of operating in the final weeks of the regular season the last few years when they had everything wrapped up.  I personally would have liked to seen them go for the perfect season, given what their place in history could have been. 

What I don't understand is why in week 17 in a 30 to 7 loss at Buffalo in the snow,  the Colts decided to play their starters just so they could reach certain milestones for the season.  Peyton Manning extended his consecutive start streak to 192 and tight end Dallas Clark got his 100th reception of the season.  It was no surprise that they were pulled after acheiving these milestones.  If I were in charge of the Colts, it would have made more sense to have kept the starters in longer during week 16 so they could acheive those goals as well as going for the perfect season.  It wouldn't surprise me if they fall behind early against their next opponent in two weeks time and start feeling the pressure to reach the Super Bowl as favorites in February.

In a similar, but at the same time different situation for the Patriots, they chose to play their starters in a 34 to 27 defeat against the Houston Texans on Sunday.  Today, Bill Belichick is probably wishing he should have done things differently.  Tom Brady has reportedly been playing with cracked ribs and a broken finger the last few weeks and Wes Welker, arguably New England's biggest play making wide receiver not named Randy Moss, reportedly has a torn PCL and MCL thanks to a knee injury he suffered early in Sunday's game. 

That's the dilemma these teams face when considering whether or not to rest their starters down the stretch heading into the playoffs.  To have the starters go out and attept to reach personal as well as team goals to end the season, or risk injury to star players in what essentially amounts to a meaningless game where everything has already been decided.