NFL: Replacement Referees Compromising Integrity of Game

UPDATED 9/25/12 1:02 AM EST

Now that it's actually happened, a replacement official costing a team a victory, this issue has become even more explicitly apparent.

The NFL needs to get serious about replacement referees because the game is losing credibility.

That was all too evident in the ending of tonight's Monday Night Football tilt between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.

On a frantic final play, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson heaved a Hail Mary into the end-zone where it appeared receiver Golden Tate blatantly pushed off Packers defender Sam Shields. It was obvious offensive pass interference and was not called.

Tate then came down with the ball along with Packers defender M.D. Jennings, with both men wrestling on the ground for possession. It was never clear who caught the ball though it appeared on replay that Jennings had made the initial catch.

Either way none of that should have mattered as the play by rule should've been negated as offensive pass interference. Video review confirmed the call on the field as a touchdown, giving Seattle an improbable, and highly controversial win.

Another week of NFL football, another week of blown calls and discontent from players and coaches.

The NFL has a very big problem here. Refereeing is done by humans. Humans are not perfect and make mistakes. We've all seen replays of guys being called safe when out, in bounds when out and balls that bounced being called a catch. This is normal and it's a part of the human element in sports. And while it may be frustrating, particularly for fans of the team on the short end, it's to be expected.

What is occurring in the NFL these days is altogether different. And it's beginning to call the integrity of the game into question.

Nobody is saying that the replacement referees aren't trying hard. Nobody is saying that there wouldn't be controversial calls if the regular officials were on the field. 

Missed calls happen. Even blown calls happen. But in many cases, these officials are going beyond that. They are demonstrating a total lack of understanding of the rules of the game. And it's beginning to impact directly on the outcome of games.

But while this the Packers-Seahawks ending is the most high-profile event, the weekend was full of bad calls.

Take for example the ending of yesterday's Tennessee Titans-Detroit Lions game. 

On their first possession of overtime, the Titans had the ball on their own 44-yard-line. Titans quarterback Jake Locker dropped back and threw a pass to his tight-end Craig Stephens who was hit by Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch. 

The officials threw a flag on Tulloch for unnecessary roughness on the hit, what should have been a 15-yard penalty against Detroit. But instead of marking off the penalty from the Tennessee 44 yard line, which would've given the Titans the ball at Detroit's 41, they marked it off from Detroit's 44 yard-line.

The Titans would then get the ball on the Lions 29 yard-line, rather than the 41-yard line. This was a major and unacceptable error that gave the Titans an unearned 12 yards. They would go on to make one more first down and then kick what would prove the winning field goal.

The Lions would get the ball with a chance to tie or win the game. But one can only speculate on what would have happened if the penalty had been assessed correctly. It's unacceptable to make a mistake of this magnitude.

Then there's the case of the curious ending to the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals game yesterday in Landover, Maryland. This was another case in which officials unaware of the rules potentially impacted the result of a game.

With just seconds left in the game, and out of timeouts, the Redskins rushed to the line inside Bengals territory to spike the ball and stop the clock. 

On the play after the spike, and with seven seconds left on the clock, Washington tight-end Fred Davis was called for a false start penalty.

At least one replacement official then indicated there would be a ten second runoff due to the penalty which would end the game. This was an incorrect call as the previous play had been a spike.

Arguing the call, correctly, the Redskins were also given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. No specific player was penalized. Adding the five yard false start to the fifteen yard unsportsmanlike you would assume a 20 yard penalty.

But the referees, not happy to allow their incorrect interpretation of the rules be enough, walked off a penalty of 25 yards, somehow tacking on an additional five yards.

This left the Redskins, who previously had at least been in Hail Mary range inside Bengal territory, at a 3rd and 50 from their own 41 yard line. 

These were, of course, not the only questionable calls of the day. Simply some of the most egregious. And this stuff is bound to continue. 

Now there is no guarantee that the Lions stop the Titans if they don't get 12 phantom yards. Or that the Redskins complete a miracle Hail Mary to win their game with the Bengals if not for a bad penalty and an incorrect assessment.

But misinterpretations of the rules and utter incompetence simply made it that much harder. And it simply isn't fair. It's time for the NFL to take a long hard look at what's happening to the game. And they need to do it before a replacement official explicitly costs a team a win.