Replacement NFL Officials

Ed Hochuli is still a ref. Does that answer your question?

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They're garbage.

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Not even close; but they certainly aren't qualified to call in the NFL. Nobody can be ready to call (from college to NFL) in so short a time. It's a faster game, different mechanics, and a new rule book to learn.

The NFL needs to settle this before the start of the season.

I'll give you missed calls live. Missing calls with the benefit of replay is garbage. It wasn't even a close call. He was a half a yard short.

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but will the regular officials receive the same scrutiny once the games count?

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No. I've seen these replacements get criticized for missing calls that I watched the regular refs miss all the time. Obviously these guys arent as good, but they've probably taken a little too much heat.

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No. I've seen these replacements get criticized for missing calls that I watched the regular refs miss all the time. Obviously these guys arent as good, but they've probably taken a little too much heat.

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They've been put in a pretty tough situation as well. All the replacements are lower tier D1 or lower division college refs. They aren't even close to being used to trying to call a game happening at the speed of the pro level.

Sad thing is...will the regular Officials be "up to snuff" when the season starts? Probably not. Will we hear the announcers criticize them? Probably not.

That's the thing...I agree the replacements aren't that good. There are different mechanics, the speed is different. The rules are different. Hell I bet the conditions to the rules are different. The NCAA Rule book is XX thickness..but the conditions book is orders of magnitude larger. I'm sure the NFL is the same.

All I'm getting at is this: Replacements suck. We know this. But the regular guys aren't exactly walking on water either...but they don't get the negative publicity the replacements are getting. Something about a goose and a gander comes to mind.