Communication breakdown

Well ... it has sure hit the fan now.

If you foolishly stayed up late last night to watch all of the Seahawks-Packers game like I did then you saw the NFL's fake refs implode on national television. You think the officiating in the Pats-Ravens game was bad? Around midnight last night the fake refs took a big road victory away from the Pack and handed it to Pete Carroll and his Seahawks. The final play of the game -- a Hail Mary by Seattle -- was intercepted by Green Bay's M.D. Jennings in the corner of the end zone. Anyone but the most diehard Seattle fans (and the NFL) looking at the video below would have to agree with that. Seattle receiver Golden Tate gets an arm in there and claws away at the ball but it's clear who has "possession" and who doesn't.

It was even clear to one of the two refs on the field who made the call. The other ref, the one who signaled touchdown but really had no idea what had just happened, takes a look at his fellow fake ref and sees him starting to put his arms up so he too throws his arms up ... to signal touchdown. Problem is that the other ref was raising his arms to signal ... an interception and a touchback. Ooops. The two officials never talked to each other before making a signal as the regular officials would have. And after they made different calls they just stood there. Lost. The head ref, the man in the white hat, is no where to be found for a long time, thus allowing mass confusion to ensue. It was a mess. And it was all caused because there was no communication between the officials.

And that's where the real problem with the fake refs comes in. All refs -- real or fake -- make bad calls. It's just going to happen. Even to the best of refs. They have to make hundreds of split second decisions each weekend. But what the real refs do is prevent a game that is played on the edge of chaos from actually devolving into that chaos. And that's no easy feat.

Simply put .... the real refs, most of them in their 50s and 60s, manage to maintain total control and authority over giant athletes who are playing a ferocious game in an almost-out-of-control state of mind. Guys like Ed Hochuli never look confused. They are always in command and always communicating with their fellow officials. Everyone knows who is in charge. That's why the regular refs are a very important part of the game.

The fake refs have totally lost control of that game. ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook writes a good piece about this. The Pats-Ravens game had more skirmishes and pushing contests after the play than you normally see in a month of football. The regular refs know how to take control in those situations ... toss a lot of flags high in the air so all the players can see them and get in their faces. The fake refs mostly just stand there looking like I would ... lost in a scrum of NFL players.

Packer Greg Jennings was asked about the rough play after the game last night. The veteran wide receiver said he had never played in an NFL game where players were just taking shots at each other and the refs were doing nothing about it. The only way to make the players think twice about unloading on someone is to keep control of the game. The fake refs can't seem to do that. Someone is going to get hurt. And then the NFL will have a real problem.