A Problem

     One of the biggest problems Football is currently dealing with is the Referee and Flags specifically Unnecessary Roughness, Pass Interference, and Illegal Formations. The NFL is beginning to see a problem that has kind of been rearing it's ugly head for quite some time now but with the amount of betting money and pure chaos that is birthed from bad referee's calls for a solution. Now there are a few solution out there but whether or not the NFL is willing to go those routes is the question. In my opinion some of these solutions are ideal and favorable but there are downsides to all of them that we will get into right now.

    Ok, so what exactly can't referee's get right about the plays during a game of football and why is it so hard for them to get correct what looks so obvious for us on TV. Well for one they can't seem to get pass interference calls right and it's really bad when it comes to this one. Teams have won and lost games purely at the hand of ref's making absolutely horrendous pass interference calls. Why they can't get it right is due to the fact that it really is a sort of grey area kind of call. Did the DB allow the WR the ability to make the catch fairly? Did the DB just make a good defensive play? Did the DB get his head around? Was he face guarding? Was he making an attempt at catching the ball? Did he make contact before or after the ball got to the WR? Was the football even catchable or was it out of reach? All of these questions have to be asked all while the players are moving at insane speeds and also just happen to be the best players in the world who know how be salesman to get calls to go in their favor. Football is a very fast paced physical game with so many moving parts for a ref to answer all those question for just 1 singular penalty is a lot. No, it isn't impossible by any means but as people we understand with that much responsibility every single play throughout such a fast paced game the occurrence of a mistake is inevitable. But in all honesty that is exactly the problem because it is so unfair and really the NFL can't afford mistakes at this level especially when they always seem to come in the most critical situations of an NFL game which usually decide who wins the game. Pass Interference calls have plagued the NFL for a long time and it's gotten to the point where QB's in dire situations understand that they have a good chance of just throwing the ball up in the air hoping they can get a pass interference call to keep them in the game. The only time we are ever 100% sure whether or not a Pass Interference was necessary is when we watch it on TV and can see the entire sequence play out with a replay camera. Then there is the Unnecessary Roughness flags and while they have gotten out of hand when it comes to QB hits we can understand why because the NFL nor can the organizations afford to have starting QB's seasons ended. Purely based off of the nature of the game needing strong quarterback play. Which I can get behind but what I can't is the favoritism shown towards some QB's in this regard. A QB will barely get touched and the flag will be called, OK, if that's what it takes to protect the QB's then we can understand but when the same QB gets this call so often and another QB gets his face ripped off in such an obviously Illegal manner and no flag is thrown is what gets fans upset. Games have also been won and lost off of the favoritism or partiality shown with this call. However, in this case I'm referring to the Unnecessary Roughness flags that are called on tackles not made on the quarterback but rather everyone else on offense that carries the ball. Players have been getting this flag for tackles deemed to violent or too physical and while suplexes really have no place in the game there are a multitude of hits that have been deemed in this category that are in my opinion great football plays. Also the Illegal Formation flags that refs can't decide whether to throw a flag or not on every single play throughout an NFL game just to make a point is crazy. Offensive linemen do line up behind the LOS often to get a jump on defensive ends rushing the Quarterback but they will throw the flag for the slightest depth then not throw it the next play when it's so obvious. In the season opener the refs were throwing this flag every play and now all of a sudden it's as if it doesn't matter anymore. I think that is the main problem here the inconsistency of the flags called. There needs to be a perfect consistency of flags thrown. The NFL does have solution but I'm not sure they are willing to use them. They can go to the 'Eye In The Sky' route where all plays are flagged by watching camera's through out the game which would entail basically every necessary flag and unnecessary flag being thrown or not thrown. This in thought would ensure as close to 100% accuracy as possible but now the classic black and white print refs on the field would be no more and a part of the historic game would be lost and so many jobs would be lost to technological advancements. Also if technical difficulties somehow ensue we might not be able to ref the game at all and you just never know all the problems that could arise until you really enact it which I'm not sure the NFL would be willing to. Then there is allowing the flags to be challenged by each team which the NFL tried to allow but did such a horrible job incorporating into the game. They basically never overturned calls even if they are obvious there were certain rules that had to be followed and so many flags couldn't even be challenged anyway plus a sort of penalty would be ensued if the challenging team was wrong. With all these rules put into challenging the flag the NFL has basically abandoned this option due to it's own ability to execute it not the failure of the option. I mean wouldn't it be so easy if a team felt that the flag was terrible and could challenge the flag but the NFL was scared of team challenging every flag and in result slowing the game down even more so, they just came up with rules that really didn't help anyone. Then there is just allowing for AI to have a flag generator which I completely oppose and don't even think is worth talking about. But the NFL nevertheless needs to come to some sort of conclusion on this problem or NFL fans might stop watching. This is a problem that needs a fix and soon.

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