DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Cleveland Browns: It’s time for Hue Jackson to go nuclear on officials

https://dawgpounddaily.com/2018/10/14/cleveland-browns-time-hue-jackson-go-nuclear-officials/

Cleveland Browns: It’s time for Hue Jackson to go nuclear on officials

The Cleveland Browns suffer a weekly tradition receiving apologies from the NFL officials. Maybe it is time for the officials to get it right or get called out.
The Cleveland Browns are suffering from a lack of leadership. Right now, the Browns need their head coach Hue Jackson to step up the plate and call out the officials.

Anyone paying attention this season has seen it go down. Multiple plays have been incorrectly officiated that have cost the Browns wins.

The NFL feels is it simply appropriate to apologize. Doing their best Wimpy (from the old Popeye cartoons) impersonation saying, “We will gladly apologize on Tuesday for our garbage call today.”


Well enough is enough. It is time for the Browns to step up and do something about it. To date, Jackson and the team have taken the high road. They have claimed that if they play better the officials should have no impact on the game.

Thanks for taking the high road. But right now, the fans need you to take the low road. It is time to go nuclear on the officiating. It is time to get fined.

I am sure Browns fans would be willing to start a go fund me account to pay whatever fine is occurred for calling out the referees.

Other teams do not seem to suffer from these bad calls. When was the last time anyone saw a garbage call against the Pittsburgh Steelers or New England Patriots? They don’t get garbage calls. Why? They don’t get those calls because their head coaches will publicly call the officials out for their calls.

Haslam should sue the league for fraud. Period.

I've said before, until the refs can be fined or punished for accountability and performance, nothing will change.. I could see the next CBA incorporating something. I'm sure the players aren't too happy either

Why arent there full-time year round paid officials?

There are. Just not all of them.

What good would this accomplish besides causing temporary satisfaction?

I have a serious question: Is the author a professional journalist or some guy who writes blogs and/or has his own site?

The article doesn't come across as professional and the demand is less than intelligent.

Btw: The Steelers had a pretty bad call go against them on Sunday. It sure looked like Connor was in for the TD. The officials spotted it short and the Steelers ended up having to kick a FG.

Stuff happens.

To be fair Vers, that's because their arrogant coach was sure they would punch it in from the 1 and didn't bother to challenge.

But I definitely get what you're saying...

The article is borderline garbage, but the subject/idea isn't. To the casual fan, it sure does seem like the officials are coddled. You're not allowed to criticize them without being punished. In an environment such as this, I don't understand why they're so protected from any sort of criticism/consequences.

I'd love to hear about what they have to do post-game that could relate to a sort of performance review. As a relatively uninformed fan, all I see is the same guys trotted out there to ref these games, week after week, with no visible sign of improvement or change.

It's way past due that somebody in the Browns organization stands up and says enough is enough. I don't care if it's Jimmy, Dee, Dorsey, Hue, or the entire team. Enough is enough. The Browns have been getting screwed by the Refs since 1999, and it's time to put an end to the bullcrap.

Except to make them think long and hard before bending us over again and ramming it home while we sit here and take it like a female dog.

We are the only team that had a win blatantly stolen from us in Oakland ... Just Sayin'

But it won't.

I wonder if Pro Football Focus or one of the other football sites could track referee performance. PFF already watches every play and tracks each player's performance-- why not the officials too?

This is a fantastic idea, and one that I hope they've already begun work on.

I still say Haslam should put together a reel with all the blatant calls, and sue the league. That crap would cease forthwith.

My guess is the NFL would greatly discourage that.

My guess is that, at the very least, teams track the refs. I know they do in MLB and the NBA.

The officiating has stunk, like the deck is stacked or leaning against us. No calls, wrong calls, missed calls, ticky tacky calls, it all hurts. Especially the flagrant ones. The writer has issue with it, and it is overdue for the Browns to confront it. But a Hue rant and ballisticness probably not the route. Really crappy just sending letters of apology to us and admissions of "missed that one!"

Zebras managing the game. Even replay seldom matters. QC time for refs IMO. Don't bother with the rant. Don't want to get Hue confused with Harbaugh crying or something. hasn't helped him. Or cheat better.

But I understood the ref teams are evaluated for playoffs and SB. Some performance review is in place already, no?

This is a stunning idea. Ref numbers could be compiled like QB performance I would think.
Super idea! You should be the next commissioner!

Can someone please explain to me why coaches in basketball and baseball have their coaches 'take one for the team' and get ejected, but it never happens in the NFL?

If Hue can't, then Haslam needs to get his behind out on the field and do it for him..

I don't know about going nuclear, but I feel like Hue should work the officials more during games. One of the NFL network shows brought up "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" referring to Tomlin. The Steelers do seem to get a lot of calls that go their way at critical times.

Been saying this for years. People told me I was crazy.

Next time it happens I want Hue to have all his staff and played take the field and refuse to let the game continue until it’s fixed. Not gonna happen I know, but I can dream.

Feels good not to be one of few seeing this happening. Still haven’t works out WHY exactly, but I hope it stops!

I think I would enjoy seeing Hue out there, kicking dirt on the refs shoes until he gets tossed.

bard, the answer to this problem is in the hands of the nfl. I am 99% certain officials are graded each game. The highest graded officials get postseason assignments. They need to add to that policy that the bottom 25% graded officials are fired at the end of the season and replaced. Over a few seasons you would filter out the worst officials and hopefully hire better officials to replace them.

I thought a few years ago they became full time employees. Is that not correct??

Only several.

Who do you replace them with?

I’d be fine with replacing refs if they didn’t meet a certain correct call threshold, but you can’t just replace refs for the sake of replacing them.

I like that idea. I just wish there was another league they could get sent to.

Kind of like in soccer where the bottom teams go to the lower class league and the top teams in the lower class league get bumped up.

Something to add more incentive to do a good job and ensure the best are the ones out there

j/c sorta.

To you, and everyone complaining about the refereeing..........have you ever done it? Reffed, umpired a game?

In this last game, the ref's absolutely missed the false start on LA. Absolutely.

I'm curious though, how many people griping have ever been an official?

How many people griping about coaching have been an NFL head coach?

How many people griping about QB play have ever played QB in the NFL?

A fan has eyes, and can see obvious blown calls/non calls. It doesn't take an expert.

Okay.

I'm just saying that the refs have missed blatant calls in several of our games, some that have had major impact on the game. (the created decision that Hyde was short on 3rd down in the raiders game, and the completely blown call on the Tackle jumping by a full second on a play that resulted on a TD) Some of these are just obvious, blatant calls. It's not like a guy missing a DB doing a good job of hiding a hold down the field, or something like that. Blatant. The fumble by Carr in the Raiders game. Blatant. Clear as day. Blown.

These aren't officials missing questionable calls, these are the ones that are clear as the noses on their faces, yet somehow they blew them. These are the ones professionals have to get right if anyone is to trust in the integrity of the game. Too many, not just in our games, either, have been completely blown.

j/c:

The refs are graded by the league each game, thus there is no reason for PFF to be involved. Besides, some of PFF's grades are whacked.

I think the Browns have had a couple of bad calls go against them, but Brown's fans are overreacting. I get why. Fans of all teams do.

My son and some of his friends stopped by after work awhile ago and they were complaining about all the bad calls the Steelers got in the last game. Our fans are saying the Steelers get all the calls. What's the truth?

I'd say somewhere in the middle. Just like w/every team in the NFL.

Dudes brilliant ... ...

Every week were submitting tapes and letting the head honchos know how bad it is ... were pulling no punches in our verbiage in those tapes ..... thats about all we can do ....

Going off on the officials publicly will get u no where but in a worse place ... every close call .. every time there not sure ... we will get ZERO of them ... ZERO ....

Not sure why acting like a 2 year old in public is acceptable ... and i’m not defending the officials here .. when there wrong and they’ve been wrong way more than they should .... i got no probs sticking it to them ... but calling them accomplishes NOTHING GOOD ... NOTHING .. it might make u feel better for a few minutes but then reality set in and you realized you’ve emberassed yourself and set a HORRIBLE EXAMPLE for your team .... u just taught them its’s OK to blame others ... GOOD MESSAGE ... ...

Finally, a voice of reason!

The problem is they are not messing up. These are intentional.

Now I can see it being a mistake on some things like blowing the whistle early for the fumble vs Raiders, and that kind of thing.

Landy being tackled by 2 guys in the middle of his route?
The false start?

Those are intentional no calls. They even huddled up to talk about them. Clear as day purposeful choice.

While I hate to admit it you're right.... I feel like we're getting screwed a few times by the refs but the Browns can't go off on them publically... behind closed doors I hope we express our frustration... but we can't do squat publically...

Yeah, can't just whine about it to the media. Even when you're right the masses don't care. Why? I don't know, but that's just how people they are.

However, if after that the refs didn't call offsides OR leaping on the Steelers when they blocked the game winning kick to tie, I wouldn't have minded if Hue ran out and punched the umpire in the face lol OK maybe not that severe, but something enough that it would be talked about on TV all week and finally garner some attention.

We should be 4-2. I'm finding it harder and harder to watch a sport that isn't giving outcome based on the players/coaches actions. I'll watch WWE or NBA if I wanna see freak athletes playing pretend.

NFL’s referee turnover could create some sticky situations this fall

By Ben VolinGLOBE STAFF
JUNE 30, 2018

NFL free agency hit a second wave this past week, but it didn’t involve any players.

Instead, it was the TV networks making a couple of surprise moves. NBC hired 20-year veteran referee Terry McAulay as its rules analyst for “Sunday Night Football” and Notre Dame broadcasts. And CBS hired Gene Steratore, who refereed the Patriots-Eagles Super Bowl in February, as its rules analyst for its Sunday NFL broadcasts as well as college basketball’s March Madness.

The moves were great for the networks, but another tough blow for NFL officiating. The departures of McAulay and Steratore now make four longtime referees who have left the NFL this year. Ed Hochuli and Jeff Triplette each announced his retirement shortly after last season, with Triplette recently taking a job as a rules analyst with ESPN.

That’s 85 years of NFL officiating experience leaving this year, with five Super Bowls refereed between them. McAulay, Steratore, and Hochuli were among the NFL’s best and worked the playoffs almost every year.

Their replacements are a little greener. Hochuli’s is his son, Shawn Hochuli, who has worked four years in the NFL. Alex Kemp also has just four years as an NFL official. Shawn Smith and Clay Martin, the other two new referees, have been in the NFL for just three seasons.

All four have college football experience as well, but the NFL game has several different nuances.

“I’ve never been involved in a season where you went with four new referees, and four referees that really haven’t been around the league that long,” said Mike Pereira, a former NFL head of officiating who was one of the first to leave for a TV gig when he went to Fox in 2010. “And first-year referees aren’t eligible for playoffs, so you’re going to dig deeper into the remaining stash of referees. That could create a problem, too.”

The NFL has had a troubling lack of consistency in its officiating ranks over the last couple of years.

A total of nine officials retired this offseason, including the four referees. Dean Blandino, the head of officiating from 2013-16, also abruptly left his post last offseason for a gig with Fox. Plus, longtime referees Walt Anderson, Walt Coleman, Pete Morelli, and Tony Corrente are believed to be on their way out in a year or two.

This year, in addition to promoting four officials to referee, the NFL hired six officials from college and promoted a seventh from its developmental program.

Bringing young blood into the officiating ranks certainly isn’t a bad thing, but there is a noticeable amount of turnover and lack of experience. And this could prove to be a challenge this fall as the NFL looks to institute tricky and controversial issues such as the catch rule and the new rule that bans leading with your helmet.

“They’ve got some big problems, because they don’t have the experienced officials to fill in for the four referees they lost,” said Jim Daopoulos, a Marlborough native and a former 23-year veteran of the NFL officiating department. “They just don’t have that many good, strong, veteran officials that can step in there and help a young referee. This is just a problem they’ve had over the years, and they haven’t done a good job of preparing for this turnover.”

The departure of four officials doesn’t necessarily mean that something is rotten in NFL officiating. Triplette and Hochuli had been around for three decades and were contemplating retirement for a while. And Daopoulos said that Steratore, a 15-year NFL veteran, had back and knee issues that were really slowing him down. Steratore has also officiated college basketball for decades.

The life of an NFL official is still pretty good. The travel is contained to the weekend. And while their exact pay isn’t known, the officials’ lockout of 2013 produced a new collective bargaining agreement that will pay each an average of $205,000 in 2019. In addition to getting paid for games, NFL officials also get paid $2,200 plus expenses for a day of work, Daopoulos said — whether that’s to attend an officiating clinic in New York or work a minicamp practice.

“It’s not like the NBA, it’s not baseball. If you have a Sunday game, you travel Saturday, you get home Sunday night,” Daopoulos said. “You spend a lot of time during the week studying and working with other guys, but it’s not in the same category as the other major sports.”

McAulay’s departure, though, was sudden and unexpected. He worked the playoffs in 15 of 20 seasons, and was the referee for three Super Bowls, including the first Patriots-Eagles tilt.

But the TV networks are serious about having top-notch rules analysts, and are offering significantly more money than the NFL pays its officials.

“[McAulay] just said it didn’t make any sense not to take it,” Daopoulos said. “He got a three-year contract, and he doesn’t have to put up with everything now.”

Pereira said he has no regrets about leaving the NFL for the TV booth.

“There’s certainly a lot less pressure,” Pereira said. “You have some pressure when you’re in the booth or making an observation on Sundays. But it doesn’t carry with you on Monday, you don’t wait for your grade on Tuesday, and you don’t have to refuse your negative grade on Wednesday.”

The NFL will survive all this turnover among the officials, but it could make for some sticky situations this fall, especially considering the new rules that are being implemented.

“I guess you could look at this as something negative. I think overall it’s positive for officiating,” Pereira said. “It’s nothing to me they can’t overcome, but it’s probably a little bit of shame that four had [retire] at once.”

Link

Yeah, Haslam should definitely sue the league. It's a complete cluster.