Integrity Restored: The NFL's Nightmare

      Who would have thought that a referee would have so much to do with a sport.  Last season it was the players who were locked out from the NFL.  Fans, coaches, families, all waited as the first NFL lockout was on the verge of reality.  Now these were the players that we are talking about, a deal was imminent.  On July 25, 2011 a deal broke and the NFL players were back to business and the NFL survived a huge scare.  Fast forward  to 2012 and we have a similar situation, but then again a little different.  The referees that have been part of the game for years and years did not have a deal in place for the season and were being replaced by "replacement officials" for the start of the season.  Most people shrugged this off because who really cares about a referee right?  Week one came around and things got a bit out of control, no major controversies but there were some complaints that these guys just could not keep up with the speed of the game.  Post week one, comments from all over the NFL poured out that these guys were doing there best but everyone would like to see the real guys back.

     When week three rolled around everyone was a bit fed up with the whole idea of replacement officials.  Many of the players mocked the fact that these guys were refereeing their football games and refused to be detained by them.  In a week two matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Philadelphia Eagles there were several times during the game that players began to shove and push after the play because they knew the referees were not going to give them penalties or worst throw them out of the game.  Over the course of the football game four or five big fights broke out that did not result in any penalty yards for either time, so no lesson was learned.  Now, these referees were only a part of one football game at a time.  When they made mistakes it was a big deal but the audiences were limited.  This is when Monday night football came around, week three featuring the Green Bay Packers vs the Seattle Seahawks.  Monday night football is usually the most watched football event of the week and the referees were on the hot seat.  It came down to a late drive by the Seahawks that left them at the 25 yard line with four seconds left on the clock.  This meant Seattle was down to their last opportunity, the score was 12-7 Green Bay.  Before this play took place there was already some conversation that the officials were having a tough day and could not keep up with the NFL game.  This is when it happened, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson scrambled around and threw up a prayer to the endzone. Green Bay had three or four defensive backs around the ball, Seattle had wide receiver Golden Tate who shoved the corner back in front of him went up and was just late after an M.D. Jennings interception, game over!  But wait, the referee awarded Golden Tate with the catch for a touchdown even though the packers corner back (M.D. Jennings) caught the ball.  Seattle had won the game 14-12.  This was all over the news, sports fans were going nuts, reporters were going even more nuts.  A senator from Wisconsin posted Roger Goodells (commissioner of the NFL) phone number online.  He received over 70,000 calls that next day.  Wednesday September 26, came around and the NFL and NFLRA had come to a deal, the real referees were back and the integrity of the game was restored.

Seattle's controversial touchdown catch that brought an end to the replacement officials.