Yesterday might have been a tipping point in the NFL’s referee lockout.
The replacement officials struggled so mightily across the league that commissioner Roger Goodell and owners are under even more pressure now to return to the negotiating table and end three-month-old dispute.
The fill-in refs were especially awful in the Eagles’ 24-23 win over the Ravens in Philadelphia, making so many mistakes and having so much trouble interpreting the rule book, the game dragged on for nearly four hours and left Baltimore coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Joe Flacco fuming afterward.
While the mistakes in the Philly-Baltimore game were voluminous (at one point, the Ravens were awarded an extra timeout in the second half), Baltimore was incensed by an extremely shaky offensive-interference call that wiped out a late TD catch by Jacoby Jones.
Flacco said the replacement officials are affecting “the integrity of the game,” while Harbaugh said coaches and players everywhere are increasingly paralyzed by the cluelessness of replacement refs culled from small-college conferences, the Arena League and even the Lingerie Football League.
“The challenge for us right now is, what constitutes what?” Harbaugh said. “What constitutes illegal contact? What constitutes pass interference? I’m not sure right now.”
Harbaugh described the loss to the Eagles as “chaotic,” which he said was a term that applied to the officiating as well as the teams.
Asked if he had anything else to say about the officials, Harbaugh noted the threat of fines from Goodell and said: “No, not that I’m allowed to talk about.”
There has been no movement in weeks in the labor dispute, which centers mainly on what the NFL Referees Association says is the league’s attempt to cut their pay and essentially eliminate their pension plan.
The league has plans in place to use the replacement refs through Week 5, but that could change based on yesterday’s woes.
“It’s a business, but the sooner they work something out that gets the real referees in here, the better,” Eagles defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said.