Like all good television, the NFL has its fair share of action and drama. But after the past two weeks, pencil this season in to sweep the Daytime Emmy Awards for the most dramatic soap opera on television.
Yes, we’ve been treated to phenomenal performances in the first two weeks. We witnessed a sterling professional debut by RGIII against the Saints that spawned “Griffining.” We saw a possible NFC Championship preview when the 49ers took down the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 1. We even watched the lowly Cardinals upset the omniscient Bill Belichick’s Patriots in the defending AFC champ’s home opener.
But all of this excitement has taken a backseat to the real drama that is unfolding before our eyes, both on and off the football field.
In a meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell Monday, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma was presented with a sworn affidavit from his former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams alleging Vilma was much more involved in the bounty scandal than Vilma has admitted. The affidavit could prove to be a key piece of evidence the NFL has lacked in its attempts to uncover the Saints’ scheme of paying each other for big hits. Goodell must prove inappropriate conduct took place to reinstate the temporarily lifted suspensions of the Saints players.
The NFL and Vilma have given conflicting accounts, so one party isn’t telling the whole truth. Maybe Czar Goodell coerced the indefinitely-suspended Williams into signing the affidavit in return for a chance to coach again. If so, then Vilma put it best when he tweeted that the affidavit was a “#weakattempt”. But I think we might finally be seeing the Saints’ wall of silence crack, and soon the NFL may be able to prove that the Saints did not act as angelic as they have maintained. The plot thickens.
By now just about everyone has made the joke that the NFL must have hired Foot Locker employees instead of replacement referees by mistake. The replacement refs giveth, and the replacement refs taketh away. I didn’t mind them bailing out the Redskins on opening weekend with a questionable pass interference call on fourth down, helping the Skins score a touchdown against the aforementioned Saints. But the refs may have cost Washington the following week against the Rams. They gave St. Louis running back Steven Jackson a touchdown after his forward progress was clearly stopped short of the goal line, and they later called a penalty on receiver Josh Morgan that moved the Skins back 15 yards right before Billy Cundiff attempted a late game-tying field goal. Clearly, Morgan deserved a penalty for throwing the ball at Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan. But Finnegan, a notorious hothead, shoved Morgan in the face right in front of a referee to provoke the incident. How do you miss such an obvious infraction? At least call off-setting penalties!
Besides my obvious Redskins bias, there have been an embarrassing amount of other blown calls, some hilarious, others unforgiveable. I understand the refs can’t catch everything, especially when the game moves at NFL speed. But seriously, how do you give a team — Seattle — four timeouts in a half?
This blunder is so bad, it’s not even bush league. The number of timeouts remaining is listed on the jumbotrons! Their deficient elementary school math skills have also manifested themselves when enforcing penalties, resulting in a few nine-yard first downs.
My personal favorite has to be side judge Brian Stropolo. He claims to be an avid Saints fan on his Facebook page, yet he was slated to work last week’s Panthers-Saints game until Sunday morning, when ESPN contacted the NFL about the potential — translation: obvious — conflict of interest. What if ESPN had decided to keep that tidbit of information quiet until after the game and Stropolo hadn’t been replaced? Thank goodness ESPN pays its employees to Facebook creep.
Player safety is being endangered, and more than a few fights have broken out among teams, including a scrum in this week’s Monday night game between the Broncos and Falcons. The officials have lost control of the game and are affecting the outcomes in a way they aren’t supposed to be.
It will be interesting to see not only how long it takes the NFL to resolve its labor dispute with the refs, but whether the players and fans still complain about calls as much as they used to when the real guys return. Maybe we’ll learn to appreciate Ed Hochuli’s lengthy explanations. Until then, I’ll be glued to my TV looking for the next big gaffe.
To wrap up, I’d like to commend Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano on sending the house after Eli Manning in the final seconds of the Bucs’ loss to the Giants. I understand it may be an “unwritten rule” that you don’t rush the quarterback when he’s taking a knee to end the game, but it’s unwritten for a reason.
Tom Coughlin and his players were irate about the “unsportsmanlike” gesture and were thankful that nobody got hurt. Newsflash: People can get hurt at any moment in the game. There was still time on the clock, and the Bucs were down by one touchdown in a back-and-forth game. Snaps are fumbled all the time. True, it’s highly unlikely, but what if Eli had lost the snap?
No coach has the right to demand that a team lay down and accept the loss as a professional courtesy. Coughlin is obviously a successful and respected coach, but I like the fortitude Schiano showed by persuading his team to play a full 60 minutes.
Take it from Herm Edwards: “You play to win the game!”
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