Nate Jackson in Slate: replacement refs suck with holding, PI calls.

[T0mShane]

Interesting. It's like Nate Jackson read my mind.

An ex-player's guide to exploiting the NFL's replacement refs.

By Nate Jackson

Updated Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012, at 2:25 PM ET

The replacement refs know that the replacement refs are a problem. You can see them flitting about trying to please everyone, nervously recalling their newly learned NFL-specific rules on the fly. They're under the microscope, because we built the microscope, and what else are we going to do with it?

And sure, it's important to have competent refs. But these ones will be fine if we give them a little breathing room. They don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Roger Goodell's negotiating tactics are like Kim Jong-il's. So is his ego. He'll keep squeezing the refs until they fit in his pocket, and the Goodell-ization of the NFL will be complete. Then he can get to work on his uranium-enrichment facility.

In the meantime, the refs are so busy nervously making sure they cross every I and dot every T—or, sh*t, is it the other way around?—that they're opening the door for crafty players to manipulate the rules in their favor. Here are some of the main areas where NFL players can exploit the opportunity:

Holding: The NFL is a holding league. Everyone holds. How do you think you stop a snarling beast from going where he wants to go? You use good technique and swivel your hips and stay square and ... bullsh*t. Either you put the crown of your helmet under his chin, which is now illegal, or you grab him and you hold him. Ideally, it's both. It's the way you hold that determines whether or not you catch a flag.

Here's the general technique. When you engage a man on a block, you shoot your head, shoulders, and hands into his general torso area. Your head and shoulders supply the pop that you hope stuns him, but your hands supply the control. The shoulder pads come down just inside the armpits and cover the chest. That’s the best place to fit your hands, with your fingers literally underneath the pads. But that bull’s-eye is a rarity. Most of the time you shoot your hands and grab whatever you can—pads, jersey, neck hair—and pull him toward you.

But you have to keep your feet moving. Refs overlook the grabbing as long as you stay squarely in front of your man. If he breaks away from your positioning, you have to let him go, or a flag is coming. Usually. But in last week's games, blockers were given leeway to hold on longer.

Another effective form of holding is to shoot the hands and grab the outside of the shoulder pads, just over the deltoids. Totally illegal, but tolerated to a point. This is a tactic used on the edge of a run play, when you're working against a defender who's trying to contain the play or to chase a running back who's bouncing outside. Your man doesn't want to go through you; he wants to run away from you. A strong hand on his shoulder will keep him from doing it.

This is also a great technique for punt returns. You come off the ball hard, as if you're rushing the punt, your man lowers his weight to take on your rush, you engage him with an initial pop—then grab and hold on. Sometimes the ref yells "Let him go!" and you do, or else the flag is thrown. Or after the play, they'll tell you to cut it out next time. They don't want to call a penalty on every return, so they let you know when they think you're pushing it.

But the replacement refs are too concerned about enforcing the rulebook to issue any unofficial warnings. It's the Wild West on returns. Holding, blocking in the back, biting—they're letting it all ride, which is great. That means more big punt returns. Who doesn't love that?

Pass interference: In the battle between receiver and cornerback, the ref sets the terms, and precedent is established early. Corners like to get grabby. Receivers like to get pushy. And with a team of refs struggling to keep track of how many timeouts are left and thinking about whether or not to call a touchdown a touchdown when they know it's not a touchdown, and repeating the mantra "Stay off the head" all game, there's room for more extracurriculars downfield.

When the ball is in the air, the receiver has the advantage. Pushing off is an art form, and when done well, creates the right amount of separation at the right time, turning good coverage into bad coverage with a flick of the wrist. And that’s all it is—a flick.

If you put a hand on his chest and push, even a scabby ref might reach for his cloth. But a push with the back of the hand off the hip or lower torso area, or the use of a "flipper," like on a dolphin, arm tucked in and using the elbow-flip to create the separation, often goes undetected. And with these guys, it always goes undetected. That means more catches! More statistics! Yay, fantasy football!

General tomfoolery: Football is a wild-man’s game. Emotions run high. People get excited, talk sh*t, scream obscenities, get in each other’s faces, and celebrate like lunatics when they do something awesome. That shouldn’t be tamped down and suppressed. That should be celebrated and embraced.

**** that act-like-you've-been-there stuff. This isn't a sacred institution. Act like you’ve never been there before and you’ll never be there again. Act like you're out of your mind, because you are. The energy on an NFL football field does not promote levelheadedness or rational contemplation. It promotes frothing and grunting and pushing the Nitro button all the way down. I say embrace it. Don’t put a lid on it.

Here is where the replacement refs are genuinely improving the game. Regular officials have enough attention left over to enforce the NFL's incredibly uptight rules about player conduct. The replacements are desperately focused on things that really matter, like down and distance. So they are allowing players to celebrate more, yell more, and get up in each other’s faces more—knowing that it's harmless, it's natural, and that it will pass almost immediately. It's healthy communication, that's all.

Otherwise players are forced to bottle it up, and who knows when it'll get to come out again? Maybe when you walk up to one at the bar around closing time and tell him "You’re not as big as I thought you’d be." Football is a game, and game day is the players' chance to have fun. Let them enjoy themselves while it lasts. For the fan, there's always the next game. For the player, it's always almost over.

[Larz]

michael irvin would have a 3,000 yards season with these guys, lol

[SenorGato]

Honestly, all this would do is make up for the number of BS ones that piled up in the past few years. PI calls were getting absolutely ridiculous, and almost becoming a play in itself in every offense's playbook (throw deep when desperate and hope for the catch or PI call). It was getting cartoonishly bad, except for that one time it helped the Jets.

[RutgersJetFan]

Great article and the premise he sets up on the positives at the end make some sense. But, I really can't imagine if Seattle had won that game. sh*t like that just can't fly. I've bitched about officiating as much as the next guy over the years, but these guys were generally not very good across the league in Week 1. Perhaps that'll change as the weeks go on and game experience develops; but right now there's just a basic comprehension of the rulebook they're failing to grasp and are overwhelmed. It'll be interesting to see if the league wide averages on penalties per game change to a stronger degree than they normally do as weeks go on.

[RutgersJetFan]

Honestly, all this would do is make up for the number of BS ones that piled up in the past few years. PI calls were getting absolutely ridiculous, and almost becoming a play in itself in every offense's playbook (throw deep when desperate and hope for the catch or PI call). It was getting cartoonishly bad, except for that one time it helped the Jets.

That's not exactly the point of the article, (which I'm guessing you didn't read because you admittedly don't normally). He's not looking to quantify anything, he writes that players are taught to do things a certain way positionally on offense to avoid getting called, (how to hold without holding, how to push off without pushing off); the naiveté of the scab refs takes all of this out of the equation and opens up the door for players to exploit their inexperience. It leaves the door way, way too wide open for the refs not knowing what to do.

[SenorGato]

Yeah, totally didn't read it. Still don't mind the new refs. NFL reffing is always terrible to me.

[RutgersJetFan]

Yeah, totally didn't read it. Still don't mind the new refs. NFL reffing is always terrible to me.

Oh, well as long as YOU don't mind it...

[T0mShane]

Great article and the premise he sets up on the positives at the end make some sense. But, I really can't imagine if Seattle had won that game. sh*t like that just can't fly. I've bitched about officiating as much as the next guy over the years, but these guys were generally not very good across the league in Week 1. Perhaps that'll change as the weeks go on and game experience develops; but right now there's just a basic comprehension of the rulebook they're failing to grasp and are overwhelmed. It'll be interesting to see if the league wide averages on penalties per game change to a stronger degree than they normally do as weeks go on.

It really is a cool thing that Jackson does with these articles. I've always found it disappointing that ex-players, as soon as they become "analysts," completely forget that they ever played the game and just spew cliche-ridden tripe.

As to your point, I can't wait to see the culture shock from players and fans alike when the regular refs get back. Scoring will drop by a TD almost instantly.

[RutgersJetFan]

It really is a cool thing that Jackson does with these articles. I've always found it disappointing that ex-players, as soon as they become "analysts," completely forget that they ever played the game and just spew cliche-ridden tripe.

As to your point, I can't wait to see the culture shock from players and fans alike when the regular refs get back. Scoring will drop by a TD almost instantly.

Yeah, I mean it's not like counting the amount of times I hear Ron Jaworski say "NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE" per broadcast gets annoying.

[CobraVerde]

great read!

[dbatesman]

But...but they're doing their best!

[dbatesman]

And you know what? The regular officials screw up too!!! >:-o

[Bugg]

Don't think they're as bad with the general calls as reported. But when it comes to the mechanics of moving the game along-setting the ball, consulting with their colleagues,replays, the clock-they are horrible.

One thing I did notice last night-seemed they were intimidated by Lambeau Field favoring the home team in front of a big crowd. You see this a lot in the NBA, but not so much in the NFL. AJ Hawk doesn't get called for the initial 15 yarder, but Gabe Carini does for reacting. And when Cutler gets a helmet to the ribs, no call. May be the Bears lose anyway, but we'll never know. Kinda saw the same thing in Jints/Cowboys, where they kept calling penalties on the Cowboys, some of which were pretty marginal.If that's a trend, the Jets might have some problems on Sunday.

[Jetsfan80]

I don't care about the following things getting called less:

1) Holding

2) Pass interference (offense or defense)

3) Illegal contact

Seriously, who cares? There's a decent argument out there for eliminating holding and illegal contact penalties altogether.

The league is about entertainment. Keeping QB's upright while still allowing the game to be physical (IE O-linemen manhandling D-linemen, CB's manhandling WR's) is a win-win towards that end and a nice compromise that keeps the game from getting too offense-minded or too defense-minded. The league can also continue to pretend they care about player safety by strictly enforcing leading-with-the-helmet penalties.

F*** the old refs. Less yellow = me having more enjoyment watching the game. And that's all that matters.

[Jetsouth]

that head ref last night still drives a Nash Rambler with three speed on the column..

Do we really have to watch professional football with a head ref who says its first down on third down.. ?

I don't mind correcting the 80 year old bag boy at the grocery store, but the head ref in a game between GB and the bears ?

[Bleedin Green]

And you know what? The regular officials screw up too!!! >:-o

While mindlessly dismissing something is always a good time, the truth is the regular officials were just as bad despite dramatically less scrutiny of their (absolutely horrible) work. Just go back and watch last year's AFC Championship game and then tell me how a single one of those refs ever again deserves to be paid a cent to do that job. Do these new refs suck ass? Sure, I've just yet to see a single argument that suggests they're any worse than the old ones. At least these ones haven't (yet) shown a tendency for blatant favoritism, something nobody can try to claim of which the old ones were innocent. The most important factor in officiating than anything else is consistency, the very thing the old crew was worse at than anything. Plus, I'm with 80, I'd much rather see them let the game be played anyway.

[dbatesman]

While mindlessly dismissing something is always a good time, the truth is the regular officials were just as bad despite dramatically less scrutiny of their (absolutely horrible) work. Just go back and watch last year's AFC Championship game and then tell me how a single one of those refs ever again deserves to be paid a cent to do that job. Do these new refs suck ass? Sure, I've just yet to see a single argument that suggests they're any worse than the old ones. At least these ones haven't (yet) shown a tendency for blatant favoritism, something nobody can try to claim of which the old ones were innocent. The most important factor in officiating than anything else is consistency, the very thing the old crew was worse at than anything. Plus, I'm with 80, I'd much rather see them let the game be played anyway.

This isn't an argument, it's just anti-Pats butthurtedness. The regular officials suck, but I don't remember them awarding an extra timeout in two different games, let alone in the same week. If you don't think the scabs are worse than the regular guys, you're not paying attention.

[Bleedin Green]

This isn't an argument, it's just anti-Pats butthurtedness. The regular officials suck, but I don't remember them awarding an extra timeout in two different games, let alone in the same week. If you don't think the scabs are worse than the regular guys, you're not paying attention.

Ah, so the fact that the old officials who are supposedly so amazingly better than the current ones (and have excessively more experience) made that exact same error in the past few seasons is irrelevant then? There are plenty more examples beyond just the Pats that show how horrendously awful the officials are, and you only need to turn on the other game that took place that very same weekend to see that. Once again, the supposedly massive difference is nothing but an illusion in people's minds based on the fact that there is more scrutiny and analysis of the sh*tty officiating job this league has always had to deal with than ever before. That should be proven by simple things like your post, which intends to blame the replacement officials for a 3-second error by the clock operator, claiming it was an extra timeout given by the officials, which is completely untrue. Once again, the point isn't that the officiating by this crew is so great, it's that there's really nothing to justify the allegations of how much worse they supposedly are than their predecessors. There are countless years worth of examples of horrible officiating deciding the outcome of games and yet we're supposed to believe the NFL can't survive because of a timeout error that had no impact on the game?

[dbatesman]

Ah, so the fact that the old officials who are supposedly so amazingly better than the current ones (and have excessively more experience) made that exact same error in the past few seasons is irrelevant then? There are plenty more examples beyond just the Pats that show how horrendously awful the officials are, and you only need to turn on the other game that took place that very same weekend to see that. Once again, the supposedly massive difference is nothing but an illusion in people's minds based on the fact that there is more scrutiny and analysis of the sh*tty officiating job this league has always had to deal with than ever before. That should be proven by simple things like your post, which intends to blame the replacement officials for a 3-second error by the clock operator, claiming it was an extra timeout given by the officials, which is completely untrue. Once again, the point isn't that the officiating by this crew is so great, it's that there's really nothing to justify the allegations of how much worse they supposedly are than their predecessors. There are countless years worth of examples of horrible officiating deciding the outcome of games and yet we're supposed to believe the NFL can't survive because of a timeout error that had no impact on the game?

I don't really get your point here, Wordsworth. I'm with you in that the only part of this conflict in which the league is indisputably correct is beefing up the evaluations. But the fact that the old officials are bad doesn't make the new officials any better.