Zebra Report: Finally a Calm Week

FanHouse's resident referee will chime in weekly with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report.

For the first time all season, we went through a week with relatively little bashing of the officials. Sure, there was whining on individual calls, but that's always gonna happen. I'm also sure there are more than a few fans out there who think the refs cost their team the game. Again, that's always gonna happen in sports. Fan is short for fanatic, after all.

I've never seen this fact more magnified than last week when I traded emails with a critical commenter. He basically just said the officiating was awful and it needed to get better. I said that we only talk about one percent of the calls because 99 percent are correct. He replied that if people making airplanes erred one percent of the time, then people died.

Ok, that's where we've lost our grip, people. An NFL official blowing a call -- in your uneducated and inexperienced officiating opinion -- is akin to a plane full of people crashing to their death? This is when you need to take a step back and realize your fandom has spiraled out of control.

Anyway, since we were mostly void of major controversy this past week, I figured I'd go through a few generalities that are sometimes not as well-known as they should be.

1. The dreaded pylon. Guys on my crew and I always joke that we're going to put on a demonstration sometime. I'll take the ball, run down the sidelines, step out of bounds at the ten, keep running, and then knock over the pylon. That's a touchdown, right? You know the answer ... so why do the masses become so irrational when the pylon is knocked down and their favorite team has the football?

Seriously, think about it. Every time there's a player approaching the goal-line, near the sidelines, he lunges toward the pylon with the ball. Invariably, our little orange friend is knocked out of place. The fans of the offensive team everywhere are screaming with delight. The official comes up and spots the ball on the one ... and he's the villain. He has an agenda, right? Well, he actually does. It's called getting the correct spot. If the ballcarrier steps out of bounds before the pylon is hit, the spot is where the ball was when he stepped out. If the ballcarrier is taken down on the two yard line and slides forward, with his shoulder hitting the pylon, he's down where he was down by contact. The funniest part about this is that many times the defender is actually the person who knocks the pylon out of the way.

Finally, remember, if a player is on his feet and those feet cross inside the pylon, it doesn't matter where he's holding the ball.

2. The Tuck Rule. I gathered some more information on this rule over the past week. Basically, as long as the quarterback is in a position to pass the football, once his arm starts to move forward it's a fumble should the ball leave his hand. I've been told that this rule is a favorite among the officials because it's the most clearly defined, judgment-wise. Mike Pereira, NFL VP of Officiating, discussed the rule last week with Rich Eisen.

3. Why aren't all penalites reviewable? I think it's because it would be a slippery slope where human beings were actually eliminated from decision making on the field. You would be taking every ounce of judgment away from the officials on the field, so they'd be handcuffed and probably not very confident or firm with their decisions. With every single call under intense scrutiny, you'd eventually have to give coaches more challenges, and then we'd have games taking 6 hours.

I understand that the officials would probably want to overturn calls such as the offensive pass interference on Brandon Marshall this past Monday night or the infamous no-call of the Reggie Bush facemask, but again, slippery slope.

4. Why aren't officials full-time? Simply put, because they only work once a week. The only way professionalizing the officials would help matters is if they were not well-versed when it came to the rules. The problem with the argument that they should be full-time employees is that they already know the rules inside and out. Every single call that has come under scrutiny this year had absolutely nothing to do with an official having a day job during the week. I do know that this is much more than a hobby. The NFL officials have some input on rules interpretations, they work clinics with newer and younger officials, and they break down film of all their games in an effort to better themselves.

What else do you think they should be doing? They aren't like coaches where they have to game-plan There's only so much film you can watch. There are no mid-week NFL games where they can get more practice on the field.

I'll again use the Bush example from above. Do you really, honestly, think an official saw that facemask and decided to not call it? Do you really, honestly, think that if the officials were full-time employees they all of a sudden do see it? They are watching 22 guys with seven officials. Things get missed. Telling them they aren't allowed to work the other 348 days a year does nothing but piss them off ... and require the NFL to pay them a lot more money.

5. The spot-challenge. During the Texans/Lions game, the spot was challenged by the Lions following a fourth down run by the Texans. It had been ruled a first down. After review, the officials moved the ball, but the Lions were still charged a time-out. This is because the Texans still gained a first down. In order to win the challenge the ball would have had to be moved back behind the line to gain. Use this as your example moving forward on the spot challenge.

6. And, of course, the collegiate umpire who knocked down a ball-carrier. The on-field officials, in addition to trying to see everything around them and not miss a blatant penalty, also have the bonus pressure on them of trying to avoid contact with every player on the field. The official on this play was in proper position and likely just tried to protect himself when the ballcarrier approached him. Yes, it looked bad. It looked real bad. I know that, and I'm sure he does, too. I'm just saying, that sometimes you get caught in very bad positions and it's human to look to protect yourself.

I know one time I got caught in the middle of a scrum for various reasons -- all of which were my fault -- and a defensive player ended up just running straight into me. I had to stop, as like five guys were all coming towards me. There was no rhyme or reason how I "chose" the guy to let run into me. Just pure coincidence. After the play, I simply went to their huddle asked, "where's the guy I just blocked?" The defender raised his hand with a smile. I apologized, made a joke about it, and we both moved on. You see, most of the time the players have a better personality about these things than the fans.

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I'll be back next week. As always, if you want a rule or play reviewed (even if it's a local 8th grade game), you may submit one to our mailbox. I do want to say, after our little talk last week, one person emailed to say they were going to start working local youth games. Props to that person, and I recommend more do the same. If you really think all the officiating is this bad, put your money where your mouth is and start doing it on your own.