Nfl replacement referees why

And when Jennings appeared to intercept the ball, Easley signaled the game-winning touchdown. After replays that seemed to drag on for eternity, ruling stood and the Seahawks snatched a victory.

The long reviews were nothing compared to the drive back to the refs' hotel. In the days leading up to history, Easley asked his dad, Roy, if he wanted to fly to Seattle to come see the game. It would certainly be the first and only time his boy would officiate a "Monday Night Football" game. But Roy said no. Roy Easley used to tell his sons that he had a feeling that one of them, someday, was going to have a defining moment that would go down in history.

Sometime after the Seahawks-Packers game, when Lance was calling from an airport, his dad reminded him of that. They are a family of stripes and whistles. Roy, a longtime ref, taught Lance to be an official. Then Lance taught his son. Roy Easley is a colorful man, a retiree who lives in Utah. If you want an odd chuckle, or just a glimpse of humanity and color in the lives of men who wear black and white, go to YouTube and search for Roy Easley. It's probably 20 years old.

A young Lance Easley is featured in the video. His refereeing credentials immediately came under fire after the call -- the Santa Maria Times reported that Easley had not officiated anything above the junior-college ranks before becoming a replacement -- but Roy, like most fathers, is protective of his son's work. In a line that is heard often from athletes, Roy Easley said that until his critics grab a whistle and officiate a game, they do not fully grasp what he faced.

Lance Easley has spent the past 10 days underground. He has been stalked by paparazzi and received "some threats from idiots," according to his father, who wouldn't elaborate. Those final hours were far from memorable for the Seattle-Green Bay crew. The men went back to the hotel, filled out their standard postgame paperwork to be sent to the league office -- paperwork that lists things such as penalties -- and then they went their separate ways.

Three of them, including Peek, caught a redeye flight home. Peek couldn't sleep much on the flight, and didn't get home until a half-hour before his 8 a. He said the crew already had received its assignment for Week 4 and was scheduled to do the game in Detroit. But after the ragged finish to the Packers-Seahawks game, the replacements sensed the lockout was nearing its end. That Tuesday, some of the replacements from other crews said, they jumped on a conference call with the league and didn't hear anything about the Monday night game.

Late Thursday morning, the refs received a brief email from the NFL. It thanked them for their time. It said a more formal display of gratitude was forthcoming. The next day, NFL. N ot all of them were waiting by the phone for their chance to blow a whistle in the NFL. Lynn Lawhon was finished with being a referee. The lanky Texan had a job as a veterinarian and a teenage daughter who had spent too many weekends without her daddy. Officiating wasn't everything to him, and he figured the Cotton Bowl in was a good place to call it quits.

He loves football, loves Texas, and the idea of doing his last game in Dallas sounded fitting. He was 46 years old. A year later, the NFL called. It needed him to fill in as a replacement ref. So he did, and then 11 years passed before he was tapped again.

Lawhon does not cringe at the word "scab. Lawhon admired him for that. He did the same thing during the past few months as a replacement ref. He shut out most media, ignoring the critics who said they didn't belong out there. Off the field, Lawhon gushes about his grandkids. That's what his life is about now. On the field, he's as tough as a burnt piece of sirloin. Why did he do it? Because he was needed. And with that as their mantra, we moved forward to do the best we could for them.

There are no regrets. Many of them will look back at the summer of with a bit of romanticism. Some of them will live with consequences. Hank Zamborniak worries he might have lost a pair of friends who are regular NFL officials. I'd doubt it. Wilmoth approached the end of the lockout with a sense of peace. Like the no-call on roughing the kicker in the Chargers-Titans game.

Or the offensive pass interference flag on Jacoby Jones of the Baltimore Ravens. Or, in the same game, the flag against Ryan Clark for a legal hit on Ike Taylor.

Or the touchdown stolen from the Rams in their game against the Redskins. Or the subsequent penalty against Stephen Jackson who spiked the ball in disgust. This was bad. This was Skywalker-discovering-his-father-was-a-magical-mass-murderer bad. He went on CBS Boston this week and said :. Although have done some good things, I think it points out the need to get the regular guys back on the field. FOX Sports was a little bit more understanding :.

It takes years. Even The Onion got in on the rabble rousing , writing that the refs flubbed big calls like:. Vikings player Chris Kluwe, who was recently in the news for his scathing letter to Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Again, on a national stage, the replacement refs showed why they were replacements in the first place.

One referee clearly called for a touchdown, while the other clearly called the play a touchback. However, it is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains control.

While this ruling would be controversial even if a professional referee crew had made the call, the fact that a replacement referee crew was officiating tonight brings an air of uncertainty to the hectic finish. Their inability to make a decisive ruling and keep the teams on the field led to even more confusion. Unfortunately for NFL fans, replacement referees are a necessary evil and, until such a time that the NFL and the NFL Referees Association reach an agreement, fans everywhere will have to deal with uncertainty and a lack of control on Sundays.

They called 18 penalties and drew the anger of both team's coaches. Some player criticism of the replacement refs has been widely reported. Robbie Gould, the place kicker for the Chicago Bears, called the fill-in refs "clueless". Quarterback Sage Rosenfels of the Minnesota Viking described them as "overmatched".

Aside from complaining about the bad calls of the replacements, the players have been very restrained in their response to the lockout. They have been unwilling to label the fill-in refs "strike breakers". The players' restraint may also reflect the fact that the regular NFL referees, most of whom hold other jobs during the week, are already getting good salaries.

Still, what the regular refs are asking for in their new contract is modest in light of their employer's growing wealth. If the refs have overreached, it has been in believing their nearly 1, years of collective NFL experience would spare them from being treated as disposable, middle-class employees.