Real refs are back

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/26/daopoulos-nfl-nflra-deal-is-done/

I bet Mr. Kraft had a say in this too all week. NE has been bitching about the refs since the game ended.

I thought I was watching amateur backyard football.
I just don't get it...
Isn't this the pros?
We should have had better than this from day one.

I am glad they are apparently back but at the same time don't forget that even the real refs can make mistakes and make fans rip their hair out.

It should be much better but they are not flawless either. But, an upgrade obviously.

If they didn't get full time officials or a couple extra crews to allow for more in-season training time, or meaningful performance reviews, then we're going to end up with the same status quo of mediocrity we've had the last 12 years.

I doubt anyone else will do so, so I will thank the replacements for the services they rendered for 2 months. They knew they were going into a no-win situation and they knew any bad call would be talked about non-stop, and they were. The best of them proved they were worthy of the job and hopefully those who were will eventually replace morons like Levy, Triplette and Coleman. So thanks to them for doing their best and showing up to work regardless of the haters.


EDIT: Okay, finally found a few specifics. Looks like NFL will be allowed to start hiring full-timers beginning next year and existing officials who want to be full-time will have the option as well. They will also be able to hire a few guys, which will put pressure on officials to improve to keep their game count up. Officials will keep pensions but move to a 401(k) by 2017. Sounds like a decent if not ideal agreement for both sides... as it should be.

Now we can get back to hating the "real" refs

It sucks. Just really, really, really, really,really, really, sucks that the Packers and us fans/owners had to suffer through all this and be the victims and scapegoats of the game that lead to the agreement.
Why oh why couldn't it have been another team?

Not the end of the world. We shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. You can thank the OL and MM for having their heads up their butts for the first half.

Yeah, I could do that. But there were just way too many bad and bogus calls that went against us that cannot have me look beyond the Packers holy offense line.
We were so awesome and returning to the 2011 fine Packers form in the 2nd and then the crap hit the fan. And it was ALL because of the refs.

Remember to not expect these regular referees to be perfect now either. They blow calls also. But they'll sure be a hell of a lot better then the Foot Locker employees we had for the first 3 weeks.

For real. Saw a tweet. How long will the honeymoon last between the fans & the refs? I'll give it a day. Yes they will make mistakes BUT not as many & not as often. They'll actually confer w/the others when needed. May not be pretty but the past is the past & I'm looking forward to Sunday as I will be workin' the game. The aints will be o fer after we're done w/ them. O fer 4 that is

lol at this tweet

Chris Pika ‏@BlogAndTackle
Ed Hochuli needs to do the Ray Lewis dance coming through the tunnel in Baltimore tomorrow night.

SEC officials are foot locker employees?

LOL!

Wonder if the old refs are gunna be rusty and give us some more bad ref stuff to b*tch about.

These weren't SEC or even Big 10 officials. They were from lower college levels, the Arena league, high school refs and Junior college refs.

Now, why would the NFL bring back the real refs when that call at the end of the GB game was legit?

::sarcasm::

At least we will now have the guy's who sometimes blow calls who actually know the rule book.

Yay! Thank you, Jeebus!

Packers took the bullet for the rest of the league.

I heard a rumor on the radio that one of the referees worked for the LFL. (Lingerie Football League) and was fired for incompetence. If you are deemed to stupid for reffing a bunch of half naked girls with 20 fans watching, you're too stupid for the NFL.

That's an accurate and succinct way to put it.

I wonder if we will see a significant shift in which teams do well (and which teams do not) now that we get the regular refs back?

What I mean is this: The scab refs seemed to have lost control of all that "little stuff"-- such as offensive holding and defensive interference (grabbing the jerseys, bumping and holding 20 yards downfield, etc.) As the players realized that they could get away with this behavior, the game changed. Teams with very physical DBs (Seattle?) benefitted. Then again, teams with weak O-lines (Packers?) also benefitted.

An analogy from the NBA back in the day with Detroit-- the Bill Laimbeer days. When the refs called a clean game, the Pistons usually lost. However, when the refs let the physical stuff go as they did in the late 80s, the Pistons rocked.

Now, I expect the NFL regular refs to establish control quickly-- more or less a return to the game being tightly managed as it has been over the past years. Will we see some teams fade away and others emerge?

If so, I would expect the Packers to benefit. Though their O-line will likely have a ton of penalties until they go back to better habits, I would think that our WRs will recovery their ability to get open now that they won't have DBs grabbing them all day.

This was the plan all along lol. The MNF game is a nonfactor. It was reported long ago the lockout would be resolved after week 3. The byes start week 4 and the NFL wanted to make sure all teams get the same number of games with replacements, and didn't want this to drag out to week 11 or whenever it is that byes end.