The NFL, National Football League, has had many problems occurring this year. From teams having to use temporary stadiums while moving to the unpopular results of Deflategate, the league has found itself in a rather dismal position. San Diego Charger’s move to Los Angeles has been met with resistance from both San Diego and Los Angeles patrons. The most shocking news for the league was when it was discovered that the referees are not full-time officials.
Referees in the NFL are part-time crews that officiate the game. While this seems to work, this year has shown a fault in the system. Because they are part-time workers, they are not constantly trained in the rules, and do not spend time trying to better understand the calls they will make in games. This season, we have seen times where pass interferences have been missed, roughing the passer calls overlooked, and targeting treated as normal tackle. For a league that preaches player safety, the player appears to be in more trouble. To add onto this, more reviews are being conducted to ensure that the referees have made the appropriate call. Shouldn’t the officials make the call the first time and trust their judgement? Instead, we are stopping the flow of games just to see whether a team gained a half yard or one yard on a 2nd & 21 play.
If we cannot trust officials to make calls without so many reviews, then we should stop using referees and look to use machines to make calls. But, we cannot do that. We do not have the capabilities to but machines out on the field to start making calls. So, if we are not able to use machines, then what is the solution? Hire referees to officiate full-time. Stop making this a part-time job where they go into games and a fan has to be worried on whether they are getting proper training. The crew should receive constant training on rules to ensure they have full knowledge on what they are calling. The NFL should also allow for off season mock games be played so that officials can get a chance to see rules in action so that they can make calls in real time. This can help take away the amount of reviews that occur during a game. And, for the more dangerous rules like targeting, have the officials review old games to help them determine what could be targeting and what is a solid hit.
Human error will still be a factor in this. At the end of the day, they will still make bad calls or miss calls, but a fan is ok with that as long as the crew is consistent. But, with full-time training and preparations before the season, referees can be prepared to call a more high-quality game. In the end, that is all that people ask for from the zebras brave enough to go out to a game and officiate.
