Aubrey Bruce: What’s up with all the bad calls in NFL games?

Aubrey Bruce says, ‘The status quo, gotta go’

 

by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier

During the recent past in the NFL, one element that sticks out like a sore thumb is the number of officiating errors that have directly affected the outcome of games. Recently there have been far too many incorrect, questionable, and blown calls for any NFL purist to shake a stick at. From the “Immaculate Reception” to the “tuck rule,” to the Dez Bryant “catch or no catch,” the list is endless and does not seem as if the NFL has any plans to put anything in place that will help prevent future controversies. I asked this question in a recent column: why have instant replay if it doesn’t have the power to correct the outcome of any and every play? The NFL is not supposed to mirror the WWE or WWF where the outcome of the game may be predetermined for months or even years in advance.

Let us begin with the origin of the “tuck rule.” The NFL only had to create a “tuck rule” because of a game involving the team that has a history of cheating scandals, the infamous New England Patriots.

One of the origins of the rule caused a “questionable” outcome to a divisional playoff game between the Oakland Raiders and the New England Patriots on January 19, 2002. In that game, Referee Walt Coleman reversed a called fumble and ruled the play an incomplete pass, and gave the ball back to New England. The game went into overtime and the Patriots kicked the winning field goal. Two games later, the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI. The tuck rule was used by the NFL from 1999 until 2013.

NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2. When (an offensive) player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble.

A fumble, is a bumble, is a stumble, is a mumble, you diggg. A bad or incompetent call by an official may not only alter the outcome of a game, but chances are the botched call may more than likely alter the course of NFL history. Not only do fans have the right to suspect officiating irregularities, everyone, including NFL franchises, should be cautious and wary about “the overall officiating process” as well as officiating equality.

Will Brinson filed a story on cbssports.com on September 8, 2015. An excerpt from that report chronicled the shenanigans involving “Spygate.” An excerpt from that report reads as follows. “Inside a room accessible only to Belichick and a few others, they found a library of scouting material containing videotapes of opponents’ signals, with detailed notes matching signals to plays for many teams going back seven seasons. Among them were handwritten diagrams of the defensive signals of the Pittsburgh Steelers, including the notes used in the January 2002 AFC Championship Game won by the Patriots, 24-17. Yet almost as quickly as the tapes and notes were found, they were destroyed, on Goodell’s orders: League executives stomped the tapes into pieces and shredded the papers inside a Gillette Stadium conference room.”

The following month on February 3, 2002, the Patriots defeated the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Was this cheating allowed because the Steelers ownership group may have been more “ethnically sensitive” to the needs of their franchise? The Patriots had been to the Super Bowl twice before they defeated the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI P.C. (pre-cheating). However, in both those appearances, 1986 and 1997, they were soundly defeated by more than an average of two touchdowns per game. They could only begin their winning streak, simultaneously, with their cheating streak. And both streaks began when the Patriots began to employ illegal methods to gain a devious and unfair advantage over their opponents. Incorrect calls, whether they happen on the sidelines or in the boardrooms of the NFL or any other professional sports league, are flat-out wrong. Look at the starving franchises that have been denied the opportunity to advance because of incompetent calls, denying the cities that they represent an opportunity to participate, economically in the postseason. 

An incompetent call is just as bad as outright cheating because the result remains the same. As far as the public should be concerned: The status quo, gotta go. 

 

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