DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum NFL fires official Hugo Cruz

I said in my very first post after the play that if they could see it again just once on tape they would have called it ... i said that from the get go ... its not that EASY TO SEE IN REAL TIME ... its hard dawg ... trust me .. and i wont just blindly stick up for these guys .. that’s HARD .. theres a lot going on ...

The problem does go beyond verbage ... your correct in that regard but more than likely not in the way u think u are ... the verbage falls on Shaun ... minor ding, teaching moment ...

As far as what happenend on the field .. based off my experience and what i saw I have a pretty good idea what happened ...

The flag came from the back or field judge .. couldnt tell witch one ... they threw the flag for hitting a sliding QB ... not helmet to helmet ... they got together ... AS THEY SHOULD ... what happenend in the huddle ...

1. They determined Bake was not protected under the sliding qb rule cause he slide to late .. correct decision IMO ... but there is a wee bit of gray area there so u could have a mild argument ..

2. They determined it wasn’t an ILLEGAL helmet to helmet hit ... thats where they blew it .. that’s HARDER THAN HECK ... i said from the get go they’d of called the helmet to helmet in a heartbeat if they could have reviewed it ...

U wanna say they blew that ... i wont argue .. i’ll Defend it in the sense that it’s HARD AS HECK IN REAL TIME WITH ONLY ONE LOOK ... its not like some of the other calls they;be missed that are just BLATANTLY EASY things to see such as the Carr fumble or the spot or the false start ..

That mistake falls on more than likely the back and field judge and the linesman on that side ... that play took place in an area where depending on where the recievers were it would depend on whose primary area it was and how many and who may have had secondary responsibility ...

The official that would have had a GREAT LOOK at it in the old days would have been the umpire when they were behind the DL .. moving the U back behind the line took away a GREAT ANGLE from the middle of the field ...

The rule your thinking of .. at east the rule i think your reffering to is the one where if they determine it was helmet to helmet they will go to review to see if its just a penalty or an ejectionable offense ...

The LEAGUE is STRUGGLING with this rule .. they have NO CLUE what there doing with it .... they came out with changes almost weekly on how to call it during the pre-season ... they struggled explaining it to the teams ... there STILL STRUGGLING WITH IT ...

The REFS have STUNK this year ... they deserve a lot of what there getting FOR A CHANGE ... but there is still times when there getting ripped for things there not doing wrong or are a lot harder than they appear ...

On that play the offending officials will take a minor hit and the entire crew will for missing the helmet to helmet .. it wont be a big ding cause the league knows what position they’ve put there officials in ...

Were talking about different plays arch ... i’m not reffering to the offsides sir ...

Sorry if the confusion was on my part ...

Not exaclty what i was looking for but its along those line ... remember those “patterns” u were telling me about in math ... ...

That's the only thing that stands out in my mind other than him being the first black lead ref in the Super Bowl.

If grades alone detrermined SB assignments he’d of been doing most of them ...

I’ll see if anyone else wants to play then I’ll let u know ...

U were right there dawg .. you’ll see ...

He was also a great guy ... highly respected by his peers ... class act on and off the field ... someone you’d want your kid to grow up and be like ... ...

Is the Hochuli part of this video from an NFL show? I would like to see what he said about the no call.

My personal opinion is that while the missed call was pretty egregious, he should not have been fired. I am so sick of how our society has become make one mistake and get get fired. Should he have received some kind of punishment? Yes. Demoted or suspended for sure. But fired? No way. I read last year that he was a tier II official. So not top tier but not the worst. Has his performance gotten that bad outside this one call?

Makes me wonder if there is something else going on that hasn’t been disclosed ny the NFL. Did he fail a drug test? Was he drunk while officiating a game? Does he owe a bookie a lit of monet? There has to be something else going on to warrant termination.

"One of the sources confirmed that Cruz was not 'maintaining a very high level of performance over a sustained period,' while another told Football Zebras in March that Cruz's future with the league was already in jeopardy. This is partially borne out by his lack of postseason assignments for the two seasons he would have qualified for, not counting assignment as an alternate last season. Another oddity that our sources could not find a reason for was that Cruz was assigned to a different crew for 3 of the 6 regular season games he has worked this year."

Sounds like he sucked for a while, and some might conclude that he also didn't get along well with others, since he was shuffled from crew to crew. NOT fired for one lousy call.

The guys/gals get paid around 200,000 per year. Not all of them work other jobs so even though they are listed as part time, it is their full time job.

Plus they get paid $2,200 plus expenses for any day of work whether attending an officiating clinic or working practices.Can you think of any other high paying position with that level of incompetence? Doesn't exist.

U must think a lot more of our senators and congressmen and women than i do ...

Ya’all have fun hatin on sumtin u know nuttin about ...

What don't I know, DIam? I'll say this, I know more about what I'm talking about than you know about what I know. Y'all have fun acting like a superior ass.

Interesting, his performance had not really stuck out as significantly worse than many other officials, outside that particular call. But then again, I don't typically scout referees.

Maybe there should be a Referee Crew/Individual power Rating. Calls made, calls missed, bad calls made would all be considered. To many of us the Refs are anonymous. Perhaps if their names are put out there, to the point where the fans know them and know about them, the calls will improve.

I still say that they should fine and or suspend officials for horrible calls, like the one when Baker slid, and was blasted in the head anyway.

They announce fines for the players involved, so why hot the officials who blow the calls.

Something like:

"Jordan Whitehead of the Tampa Bay Bucs has been fined $20,000 for hitting Baker Mayfield after he began his slide, and an additional $15,000 for hitting him in the helmet with his helmet.

The entire officiating crew, who picked up the flags and refused to call any penalty on the play have each been fined $10,000, as well. Shawn Hokuli will also be suspended for 1 game without pay."

I mean, wouldn't that restore some sense of trust in the whole process? Maybe the officials would study a bit more, and make sure their calls were correct according to the rules.

Man, I remember years ago when the regular officials went on strike, and the NFL used scab officials. People were outraged at the horrible calls.

Today scabs might be an upgrade.

I like Tommy Bell

This is off topic but I didn't see a college football thread this week.. But dang 'peen, your Gators had one amazing goal line stand. Don't know who won the game but wow.

Players get fined and suspended for dirty plays. They do not get fined and suspended for throwing an interception, dropping a pass, missing a tackle, etc.

Human error is part of the game.

I don't think suspending your better refs for blown calls is a good idea. Who replaces them? Worse refs. How smart is that?

However, the job of the official is to properly apply the rules of the game. If they do not do that, and in fact, if they do things that could improperly affect the outcome of the game, then they are not doing their jobs.

For blatant errors, yes, they should be punished. A fine should be the lowest punishment. For absolutely blown calls regarding player safety issues, yes, a suspension could be warranted. A badly blown call that affects the outcome of a game? Yes, a suspension could be warranted.

Besides, wouldn't a player tripping and accidentally blasting another player in the head be a "human error". How about a player being frustrated after a really horrible call using some foul language? They still get penalized and/or fiend.

The officials are still responsible for doing their jobs correctly, and if they don't, there should be consequences, especially in cases where players are, or could be injured as a result .... or when the officials directly affect the outcome of the game, that must be penalized. It affects the integrity of the game, and that used to be something the NFL cared about more than anything else.

On the helmet to helmet hit, if Mayfield had been knocked unconscious, would the flag have still been picked up, or would they have said it was leading with the helmet ? Perhaps Mayfield should have laid there for 30 secs or more to make a point.

Didn't you hear? It was OK to hit him in the head...the ref said so on live TV. The league did nothing about it, so it must be true. I still can't get over that.