Gas2No99 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Longtime NFL referee Jeff Triplette to retire Longtime NFL referee Jeff Triplette is retiring, a source confirmed Sunday morning. The news comes one day after Triplette's eventful performance in the Tennessee Titans' 22-21 wild-card playoff victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Triplette's decision is not believed to have been a direct result of that game, but he was not immediately available for comment to explain his reasons. The NFL declined to comment, but news of Triplette's retirement was first reported by NFL Network. Triplette joined the NFL in 1996 and was promoted to referee in 1999. His career has included a number of high-profile incidents, most notably when he inadvertently hit Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Orlando Brown in the eye with a penalty flag during a game in 1999, temporarily blinding him. Overall, however, Triplette's performance was good enough in the eyes of NFL administrators to spur a two-decade career as a referee. The league grades officials on every play of every game, and consistently low grades over a three-year period are supposed to lead to dismissal. Saturday night, Triplette blew his whistle early on what appeared to be a fumble by Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, negating what would have been a Chiefs recovery. The Titans kicked a 49-yard field goal on the next play. Triplette also used incorrect details to explain an accurate decision to award Mariota a touchdown a tipped pass. Finally, Triplette's crew awarded Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson a touchdown on a fumble return in the fourth quarter. Replay showed that Titans running back Derrick Henry was down by contact before the fumble, and the call was reversed upon review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnitedWhofans Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 “Forced” retirement more like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RutgersJetFan Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoTownsell1 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 He retired one week too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SayNoToDMC Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 5 minutes ago, UnitedWhofans said: “Forced” retirement more like They rewarded him a playoff game for his great regular season performance. They wonder why people are finding better sh*t to do on game days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrickTamland Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 He’s one of many bad refs. But the real problem is the way “NY” is overturning correct calls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jet_Engine1 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 FU€K that guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycdan Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, BrickTamland said: He’s one of many bad refs. But the real problem is the way “NY” is overturning correct calls True but the league can't do anything about an early whistle on one of the cleanest and most impressive sacks we've ever seen. Triplett absolutely gifted the game to TEN with that call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbatesman Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrickTamland Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 5 minutes ago, nycdan said: True but the league can't do anything about an early whistle on one of the cleanest and most impressive sacks we've ever seen. Triplett absolutely gifted the game to TEN with that call. No. That singular play was a gift. The game was not gifted. They earned it going fwd. I’m pretty sure kelce fumbled on his concussion play. That was a gift to KC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billo83 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Triplette must of confused Alex Smith with Tom Brady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycdan Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 2 minutes ago, BrickTamland said: No. That singular play was a gift. The game was not gifted. They earned it going fwd. I’m pretty sure kelce fumbled on his concussion play. That was a gift to KC. Well TEN ended up with a FG on that drive when it clearly should have been turned over. They won by 1. So while there was more football to play, that was a critical bad whistle that resulted in points which exceeded the margin of victory. That's a game-altering gift in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrickTamland Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 4 minutes ago, nycdan said: Well TEN ended up with a FG on that drive when it clearly should have been turned over. They won by 1. So while there was more football to play, that was a critical bad whistle that resulted in points which exceeded the margin of victory. That's a game-altering gift in my book. It was a gift. It was not a gift of a game, in my opinion. Happy to admit I am definitely biased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewilly12 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Dude sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerfish Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 1 hour ago, JoJoTownsell1 said: He retired one week too late. 10 years and one week more like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerfish Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 People forget this guys biggest 'gaff' blinding orlando brown by throwing the weighted bean bag into his eye, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gas2No99 Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 Confirmed: NFL referee Jeff Triplette is retiring, as the NFL Network reported. Triplette has been a referee since 1999 and certainly had an eventful final game. His performance in Saturday night's wild-card game in Kansas City led what former NFL officiating chief Mike Pereira said was a "horrible" start to the playoffs. Kevin Seifert, NFL Nation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gas2No99 Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 Officiating in Titans-Chiefs was 'horrible,' but it didn't decide the game Rarely do we see an NFL game without at least one or two questionable officiating calls. The job is really, really hard. The game is faster than ever and fans are better equipped to spot mistakes than ever before. Equally rare, however, is seeing the type of criticism that Mike Pereira levied on Saturday night after the Tennessee Titans' 22-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Pereira, the former NFL officiating chief turned Fox Sports analyst, knows intimately how difficult the job can be. And yet Pereira crushed the work of Jeff Triplette and the referee's playoff crew after a series of odd calls in the wild-card matchup. Horrible way to start the playoffs. I hate to say it but this was not a good performance by the crew. Teams and fans deserve better. — Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 7, 2018 As an amateur observer of officiating, I was prepared to chalk Triplette's performance up to the large swamp of debatable officiating we've seen in football as far back as I can remember. When you accept that officials will never be 100 percent accurate, life is a lot less stressful. None of Saturday night's calls directly impacted the outcome of the game, and most of the mistakes ultimately were corrected by replay review. But when Pereira -- who speaks his mind, but is no way incendiary when it comes to officiating -- uses the word "horrible," it's worth taking notice. As I noted in our wild-card officiating scouting report, Triplette has a fairly earned reputation for extended discussions and occasional high-profile gaffes. There are certainly referees who inspire more confidence that the game is under control. And to be fair, playoff assignments are determined by regular-season grades. But Triplette and his crew didn't support their presumably high grades on Saturday night. The worst moment, in my opinion, came in the third quarter. After Marcus Mariota caught his own deflected pass for a touchdown, Triplette explained that the Titans quarterback was an eligible receiver because Mariota had been in the shotgun formation. But that actually had nothing to do with it. According to the NFL rulebook, all offensive players are eligible receivers -- offensive linemen, quarterbacks, everyone -- after the ball is deflected by a defensive player. Triplette made the right call, but his inaccurate explanation meant, frankly, that he didn't have his rules straight. As understandable as the mistake was given the NFL's complex rulebook, no one should feel confident about a referee in a playoff game reciting a phantom rule. Triplette's performance will also be scrutinized for what was, if nothing else, a very quick whistle after Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson sacked Mariota late in the second quarter. Mariota appeared to fumble the ball, which Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston grabbed. But Triplette said that Mariota's forward progress had been stopped before the quarterback fumbled it, rendering the play dead at that moment. Titans place-kicker Ryan Succop kicked a 49-yard field goal on the next play. The decision was a judgment call and thus was not eligible for review, but a look at the replay showed Mariota fumbling almost immediately after contact. Speaking to a pool reporter after the game, Triplette said: "The defender hit him and he was driving him back." That might be true, but I think we all have an idea about the end of "forward progress" -- a running back stopped but not on the ground, or a quarterback standing in a pocket with three defenders trying to bring him down. You don't often, if ever, see it applied to a quarterback who is going to the ground on initial contact. It's hard to say that a second-quarter field goal changed the outcome, even in a one-point game. But at the very least, I think the Chiefs were a victim of questionable judgment in that case. Let's put it this way: If the same play happened 10 times, I would wager that at least nine referees would all consider it a fumble. When you combine those two plays with a fourth-quarter gaffe -- when Triplette's crew first ruled that Titans tailback Derrick Henry fumbled, and that the Chiefs' Johnson returned it for a go-ahead touchdown -- it's hard to argue that the game was well-called. (Especially when you consider that it sure sounded like someone on the crew whistled Henry down before Johnson's return.) When Pereira describes officiating as "horrible," then you can feel certain that the performance fell well below NFL playoff standards. Wild-card referees are usually in the pool for the championship round, but something tells me that Triplette won't be there. So it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetrider Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I wanna see a ref ejected from a game, fined and fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycdan Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I think you got your wish on the last one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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