NFL Officiating Is Losing Its Credibility

What's up to all my die hard NY Giants fans out there?! If you are like me, you are still riding high after that historic 37-20 upset win over the Green Bay Packers this weekend at Lambeau Field. It was one of those games to remember for a long, long time. Another thing that I know for certain that many fans(Giants fans in particular) will remember is the horrendous calls made by the refs in this very important game. After all the smoke was cleared, the league issued a particularly vague statement about one of the many questionable calls made when a Greg Jennings apparent fumble was called down by contact after one referee initially called it a fumble. Had the Giants lost this game as a result of that play, I believe that that incident would've been dubbed, "Fumblegate" because every person with two working eyeballs could see CLEARLY that the ball was coming out way before ANY part of Jennings's body had touched the ground. For the league to issue a statement saying that referee Bill Leavy's decision not to overturn the indecisive ruling on the field was correct according to the technical definition of the rule, left me wondering if NFL officiating can really be trusted. To make matters worse, this wasn't the ONLY call that this officiating crew clearly screwed up during the course of this game.

At around 9:21 of the 3rd quarter, Giants HB DJ Ware ran the ball on a shotgun draw on 3rd and 2 and was tackled apparently past the line of scrimmage. Somehow, the referee then spotted the ball a whole yard short of where Ware had went down with the football. Tom Coughlin, seeming to sense that he wouldn't stand a chance at winning this challenge after he had lost such an obvious one previously, chose not to throw the red flag. In my opinion, this was also a decision by the refs that had me screaming, " WTF!" and "This is some BS!!!" at my TV screen like plenty of others did as well, I'm sure. Nonetheless, that call also had no effect on the Giants performance other than the fact that it caused us to give the ball back to the Packers once again to help them try and dig themselves out of hole that was starting to get deeper and deeper. By this time, it was crystal clear what was happening... these refs were on the home team's side

Later on during the 4th quarter, after Aaron Rodgers was sacked on 4th down and a Ryan Grant's fumble allowed the Giants to tack on another 10 points, the looks of Green Bay coming back from this one was starting to look like a pipe dream. I was almost positively sure that at this point, the refs would do something to try and help them out again and to my expectations, they proved me right. A little after the 7 minute mark of the 4th quarter, Green Bay tried to mount a comeback. After two straight completions, Aaron Rodgers scrambled out of the pocket to throw another incompletion to Donald Driver and was hit immediately by Osi Umenyora as soon as the ball left his hands. What do the refs do to make sure they extend this last minute drive?... Yup, you guessed it, they throw a flag and call Umenyora for a 'blow to the head', which clearly did not happen. When Joe Buck and Troy Aikmen(both of whom I'm convinced hate the Giants) start to question the validity of the calls on the field, in DEFENSE of the Giants, it has to be extremely blatant. This 'phantom' blow to the head call allowed GB to score a TD, but time was not on their side. After they failed to recover the ensuing onside kick, the Giants scored again on a rushing TD by Brandon Jacobs that sealed the game. So despite a 15-1 regular season record, one of the league's most prolific QBs, some of the league's most dangerous WRs, AND a lot of home cooking officiating, the Packers were about to do the one thing that their name suggests they do best... start packing, and become the only team in NFL history with a 15-1 regular season record end up 'one and done' in the playoffs.

Aside from the fact that the questionable calls made by this officiating staff did not determine the outcome of this game, I do not think for one minute that it should be overlooked or swept under the rug. By the league giving such a vague and incomprehensible explanation for only one of the calls in that game, one has to wonder how things would be if a referee's call/no call will in fact determine the outcome of a game as big as the Conference Championship Game or better yet, the Super Bowl. Its not like we live in such a trustworthy world that the thought of a referee of a professional sport wouldn't try to rig the game with questionable calls for whatever reason is something that is preposterous. People have been put in federal prison for the exact same thing. All any true fan of a sport only wants two things out of that sport's officials.... fairness and consistency. Is that too much to ask for, or is the league becoming so driven by marquee matchups on the biggest stage that would rake in millions to an already billion dollar industry, that they would sacrifice the integrity of the sport by having refs who would blatantly sabotage a game in favor of the most popular team? I would hope not, but the possibility of that happening isn't all that far fetched. Especially when a clear mistake, is not called exactly what it is. A mistake... or two, or three.