This year it seems that referees have had more game-altering penalty calls than I can remember. I haven't observed a spike in overall flags thrown but the timing of calls has greatly affected the outcome of games. I also have a few issues with penalties as a whole--what the intended purpose of throwing the flag is.

In my experience penalties in a sport our necessary to prevent a team or player from gaining an unfair advantage or competitive edge. Penalties like offsides, false start, holding, illegal formation, pass interference, two many man on the field, etc., These flags are there so players stick to the rules and no team can gain an unfair advantage.

However now there seems to be penalties only for the sake of protecting the leagues image and consequentially the players themselves. These include helmet-to-helmet hits, roughing the passer/kicker, excessive celebration, taunting, etc., Many of you probably won't agree with me but I feel that these penalties do not have an actual effect on the field (besides injury) and teams shouldn't be awarded yardage in these situations. Players should be fined, disciplined and suspended, yes. Obviously the league wants to prevent these situations from occurring but penalizing a team on the field for these annoys me. A team does not gain a competitive edge over another by celebrating excessively or taunting. Not even close. I feel that unless the conduct displayed by the player passes the natural effect test for "excessive" or "brutal" a flag should not be thrown. When I mean natural effect test I mean anyone who saw the play, regardless, would agree. I don't feel like refs are doing that anymore. There are too many judgment calls being made. They are really picky about pass interference on one play yet on another let the contact slide.

It's gotten to the point where I feel like the league and owners are using the refs against the players--although I admit that's one wacky conspiracy theory--by threatening them with the rule book. Basically saying "look, if you don't want to play 18 games that's fine but we can make these 16 games frustrating as fuck for you."

This season I've also started to lose my passion for football. I can barely watch games anymore without screaming at a referee and it doesn't matter which team is playing. They have too big of an impact. It could be me but I'm losing my patience.

I also agree with Peter King about the pass interference penalty. Different referees clearly have differing views on what is and what isn't pass interference. And because this is a passing league now it should be changed to a 10 yard penalty or maybe an automatic first down penalty. The whole spot of the ball thing is ridiculous.

I also agree with Nonstop about how teams and players gain reputations for specific calls and tend to get called more often because of it. I find this also to be ridiculous.

Lastly, in an era where most couch potatoes can rewind a play and figure out the correct outcome within a few seconds, I can't understand why we still don't review every play. It's as simple as putting a few guys in front of a TV with the technology to see plays from different angles. If they notice something they call down to the ref and inform them. Instead of having referees on the field making calls based on only what they see at the time you'd have referees sitting in a booth with the ability to see EVERYTHING and watch it as many times as possible. More penalties may be called but you'd god damn know they were the right call.

Like I said, many of you probably won't agree with me. In fact, me losing my passion for watching football could be an entirely personal thing and have nothing to do with the referees. But the game has been changing lately in ways I don't like. The league is becoming so overly concerned with issues of injuries, health and public image that they've destroyed the bonds they had with the players and the fans in order to change the nation's overall perception of the league. I think Goodell's personal conduct policies are bad for the league not because of the discipline aspect but because they make players out to be thugs. By creating and enacting these policies the league's admitting that they need the policies in place to stop players from engaging in criminal activities. They're admitting that their players are indeed criminals and need extra punishment outside of the law. What about due process?

It's just not fun anymore. I can't just turn on a game and watch good 'ol football. It might just be me (or possibly the lack of quality teams to watch). [/rant]

I agree that we have the technology to inspect every play closely. I think that the use of technology should go both ways, though. I think replay should be used to overturn bad calls just as often as it is used to enforce penalties not assessed by the officials. In other words, I believe every penalty and every whistle should be reviewable. Officials are way too eager to blow their whistles before the play is truly dead nowadays. Had the officials not swallowed their whistles in the Giants/Patriots Super Bowl, the Patriots would have been undefeated that year.

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I'm right there with you djcubez. I thought that there was no way I wasn't going to enjoy the Packers/Bears game on Monday night. The refs found a way to ruin it for me.

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A few points. I do agree with protecting against helmet-to-helmet hits as we're learning new things about concussions we didn't know before. Several players have gone crazy, literally. Their brains turn to jello. Pretty nasty reading about it in detail.

Excessive celebration I agree with you. Taunting is a who cares issue. If a grown man gets taunted, well, maybe he needs to step up his game. If someone taunts and gets humiliated the next play, he ends up looking like a jackass.

I used to be for pass interference as is. Now QBs are intentionally throwing the ball up and hoping for a PI penalty. That's bs. To counter that, maybe make it a 5-yard automatic first down like defensive holding. That will take out the intentionally throwing it up and holding for a PI penalty.

The other thing, I'd let more stuff go and only call blatant fouls. That's how my friends and I used to play basketball. It's so much more fun that way. I hated playing with someone who called everything. It slowed the game down.

Same thing with football. The more flags are called, the slower the game gets, and slow = boring. Like soccer. I'd rather go to the dentist than watch a soccer game.

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I completely agree with you but I wish it was that easy. The problem that I see is if a QB throws a 40-50 yard bomb into single coverage what smart CB wouldn't drag the receiver down and take the 5 yard penalty? It's a tough call.

D'oh!

Well, I guess that blows that theory all to hell.

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I would advocate that they balance the issue out. If they insist on keeping the PI penalty as it is, add a penalty (analogous to intentional grounding) for an obviously deliberate gambit to snag a PI penalty. That is, if the QB blindly bombs it downfield not to complete the pass but merely to draw the penalty, penalize him instead. I suggest a 10-yard penalty and loss of down.

Yes, this gets into the unfortunate grey area of intentions and judgment calls, but I think it's obvious more often than not to those of us watching the game when the QB is making a legitimate attempt to complete the pass and when he's merely lobbing a jump ball in the hopes of drawing a specious, game-changing penalty. If nothing else, the angle of the pass and the defensive formation give some pretty good clues.

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Another possibility would be to implement a procedure analogous to the jump ball alternate possession in basketball. If the WR and DB have to fight for possession of the ball, blow the whistle dead and award alternate possession. If possession went to the defense, it could be treated as an interception. Not only would this make the game more exciting, it would force QBs to be more careful with the ball to avoid putting their WRs in that bad situation. DBs still would not be allowed to mug the WR -- they would have to make an obvious attempt to go for the ball, not merely prevent the WR from catching it.

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Or another possibility, only call the fragrant fouls. Allow minimal contact during a jump ball situation. That would lead to more INTs which would take out the QB throws the ball up and prays for a PI penalty scenarios.

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Make it 15 yards or 1/2 the distance to where the foul happened. Which ever is greater. Would still turn the play into a 1st down but not be quite as damaging instead of 50yard penaltly it would b2 25.

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