The System is Fundamentally Broken

How come Walt Coleman hasn't been suspended by the NFL already?

I mean, really?

If Tony Corrente can get docked a full game check just because his "rule 'splainin' microphone" was accidentally "on" when he uttered a "fuck" to the crowd in Indy, and a "god dammit" to the crowd AND the home TV audience, then surely Walt Coleman needs to sit his ass at home for a week.

Corrente was undone by the quirks of technology.

Coleman and his crew were f'ing BRAIN DEAD for allowing that call to get so botched on Thanksgiving.

It might be the worst call in modern NFL history.

And that doesn't even GET INTO the whole challenge-flag-thrown-illegally-negates-all-otherwise-automatic-video-reviews "rule."

(Which I'll get to, in just a second).

When a play is over in football, the primary command of the referees is to BLOW THE WHISTLE. This is because football players, are coached to hit not just "up to" the whistle, but as some coaches like to say "hit to the ECHO of the whistle" (whatever the fuck that means, but I'm gonna guess it equates to "err on the side of crushing a dude, if you have to").

How come Coleman's crew didn't whistle Texans RB Justin Forsett down when both knees and his elbow clearly hit the ground?

Here's a theory: IT IS REPLAY'S FAULT!

Heh. And you thought REPLAY was REDUCING the amount of bad calls in the NFL. Ha. Sucker. It's doing nothing of the sort. In fact, it's likely increasing the number of really bad calls.

Why?

Because refs are less and less focused on getting the call right when it happens on the field. Instead, they fall back to the ol' "replay will sort this out..."

Result: worse and worse officiating in "real time." It's only logical.

From the excellent website Football Zebras...

Remember, last week line judge Mark Perlman was criticized in some quarters for shutting down a potential catch and fumble play to incomplete (Deadspin video).  The topic of how “obvious” this down by contact play was today can be debated.  But, the officials were doing what they were taught – when in doubt, let the play go and have replay sort it out if need be.  Replay was going to sort it out in the Lions’ favor until coach Schwartz forgot the rule.

Indeed, replay was all ready to "save the day" on a play that should have never needed saving, until the overly complex, and idiotic NFL RULEBOOK swooped in to create a travesty out of a technicality.

But of course normally refs would have whistled the play over, but fans get all pissy when one bang-bang play gets whistled too quickly. So refs are now just laying back letting crap happen, expecting our unending faith in frame-by-frame video analysis to deliver a perfectly called football game.

Still waiting for that one.

Why oh why is the rule the way it is? Because once upon a once, Redskins LB London Fletcher intentionally kicked the ball when it was being spotted, delaying the game for the express purpose of giving the coaching staff a little more time to see some replays and decide on whether to challenge.

So the vaunted "Competition Committee" decided "harumph-a-dumph, WELL, we ah sure can't ah have a that, now can we?!"

So they wrote another stupid, needless layer of bureaucratic legalize into an already bloated rulebook.

It's funny.

Until it screws your football team. Or until government decides to write a 2,409 page law that radically changes your health care options.

Ha. Ha.

@DaveLazo accurately summed up the stupidity of it all thusly.

"I witnessed a murder. Please investigate." "Sorry. We investigate all murders. This call means we can't now. And you're under arrest." #NFL


Naturally, bureaucrats being bureaucrats, the NFL is just CONSIDERING changing this idiotic rule - but probably not until AFTER the season.

Go ahead, take your time, idiots.

The season is burning.