Flood of Yellow Flags

[Hoose]

Just a question here: I know many Colts fans will agree with the idea that way, way too many flags are being thrown in the Colts games we've all watched. But honestly, the onslaught of penalties is ruining the NFL game for me, and I assume for many other fans around the country.  No one can return a kick without a flag being thrown. On almost every contested pass play, you expect a flag. Sack the QB, and the odds of a flag are better than 50%.  Holding calls on the O line seem to be dramatically on the rise. I just HATE the direction this is headed. The Refs now dominate the key moments on any given Sunday. The game I love is getting almost unwatchable. 

 

Can the League please, please get a professional group of referees employed? I know the billionaire owners want to avoid a referees' union, but I have to believe that the quality of the calls would be dramatically better with a full time staff of refs. With a business this large and profitable, to employ a group of weekend warriors to ref the games makes little sense....especially with the advent of technology and the replay. Fix this NFL. Please. 

[TDewar1987]

This post flagged Clay Matthews for roughing the poster. 

[Four2itus]

How about Steven King's Randall Flagg?

[Hoose]

Really?

[csmopar]

Unionized Refs would make the thing even worse. 

[DaveA1102]

I understand the sentiment but the league is (quite rightly) putting a real emphasis on player safety.  This means flags will land for leading with the helmet, etc until players don't do it.

 

I do agree the roughing the passer calls are really damaging the game.  It is going to result in a defensive player getting injured trying to tackle and then pull out of the tackle right at the last second.  

 

The only other issue I have is the spot placement at the place of the foul on pass interference.  These calls can be so subjective and really difficult to see in real time, I think a 15yd penalty, automatic 1st down is more than enough as this can hugely impact the game when there is no guarantee the player would have caught the ball in any case.

 

I do feel the NFL are doing the right thing, but there are tweaks that need to be made and I genuinely think they are not trying to hinder the flow of the game.  Al Riveron even came out and said he knows that one of the key things he has to consider is the entertainment factor of the sport and that he and his team ensure that is considered in all they do.

 

Overall, when flags fly, I would say 90% of the time I can see the reason why, but people will fixate on the ones that were wrong.

 

The key in anything like this is consistency.  As long as a call for unnecessary roughness (as an example) is the same in one game in Seattle as it is in another game in Miami, then we have a solid starting point for making tweaks to make things better.

[lollygagger8]

Wait until the Colts game tomorrow and they sack Brady and get called for roughing the princess 

[NannyMcafee]

its great to make things safer, but when there are too many rules to count, and a flag is thrown every other play, it takes away from the game for me. Long pass play? I’m waiting for a flag back at line of scrimmage to pop up. I wait for a flag every time the colts get a first down. The more rules you add to a 60 minute time clock the more flags we are going to see and the NFL is showing no signs of slowing down. 

 

lingerie football is more physical than the NFL these days.    

 

The NFL is making itself irrelevant in today’s society. 

[Coffeedrinker]

10 hours ago, Four2itus said:

How about Steven King's Randall Flagg?

Always have to like a Stephen King's The Stand connection

[Coffeedrinker]

For those that don't think the refs throw more flags now.  Check out this site

 

It has tracked the average penalties per game for each team since 2003.  back in the early 2000 it seemed for the most part the low end was in the low 4.x and the high end was in the upper 7.x.  2005 was an outlier year with a few teams in the 9s and 8s.  But the NFL average was is the high 5.x to low 6.x per team.

 

Since 2015 when the low end is not in the mod 5.xs and the high end in the upper 9s with an average in the low to mid 7.x per team.

[luckyBatistuta]

1 hour ago, lollygagger8 said:

Wait until the Colts game tomorrow and they sack Brady and get called for roughing the princess 

 

So just like any another day then 

[Reality Check]

On ‎10‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:33 PM, Hoose said:

Just a question here: I know many Colts fans will agree with the idea that way, way too many flags are being thrown in the Colts games we've all watched. But honestly, the onslaught of penalties is ruining the NFL game for me, and I assume for many other fans around the country.  No one can return a kick without a flag being thrown. On almost every contested pass play, you expect a flag. Sack the QB, and the odds of a flag are better than 50%.  Holding calls on the O line seem to be dramatically on the rise. I just HATE the direction this is headed. The Refs now dominate the key moments on any given Sunday. The game I love is getting almost unwatchable. 

 

Can the League please, please get a professional group of referees employed? I know the billionaire owners want to avoid a referees' union, but I have to believe that the quality of the calls would be dramatically better with a full time staff of refs. With a business this large and profitable, to employ a group of weekend warriors to ref the games makes little sense....especially with the advent of technology and the replay. Fix this NFL. Please. 

More flags = easier for refs to influence the outcome of a game = BAD for the game.

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 9:01 AM, Coffeedrinker said:

For those that don't think the refs throw more flags now.  Check out this site

 

It has tracked the average penalties per game for each team since 2003.  back in the early 2000 it seemed for the most part the low end was in the low 4.x and the high end was in the upper 7.x.  2005 was an outlier year with a few teams in the 9s and 8s.  But the NFL average was is the high 5.x to low 6.x per team.

 

Since 2015 when the low end is not in the mod 5.xs and the high end in the upper 9s with an average in the low to mid 7.x per team.

Great info... Thanks!!!

[ColtsBlueFL]

On 10/2/2018 at 9:33 PM, Hoose said:

Can the League please, please get a professional group of referees employed? I know the billionaire owners want to avoid a referees' union, but I have to believe that the quality of the calls would be dramatically better with a full time staff of refs. With a business this large and profitable, to employ a group of weekend warriors to ref the games makes little sense....especially with the advent of technology and the replay. Fix this NFL. Please. 

 

They have already begun this. There are 24 full time Refs this year, up from 21 last year.

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/08/30/nfl-will-have-24-full-time-officials-this-year/

 

[King Colt]

On 10/3/2018 at 7:21 AM, lollygagger8 said:

Wait until the Colts game tomorrow and they sack Brady and get called for roughing the princess 

Truer words were never given.

[Four2itus]

On 10/3/2018 at 5:22 AM, NannyMcafee said:

its great to make things safer, but when there are too many rules to count, and a flag is thrown every other play, it takes away from the game for me. Long pass play? I’m waiting for a flag back at line of scrimmage to pop up. I wait for a flag every time the colts get a first down. The more rules you add to a 60 minute time clock the more flags we are going to see and the NFL is showing no signs of slowing down. 

 

lingerie football is more physical than the NFL these days.    

 

The NFL is making itself irrelevant in today’s society. 

Soooo....it's the flags or the referee's fault....not the players who are going to push the rules till they realize it's hurting their team?

 

And the bolded statements are simply false in the extreme...

 

[NannyMcafee]

38 minutes ago, Four2itus said:

Soooo....it's the flags or the referee's fault....not the players who are going to push the rules till they realize it's hurting their team?

 

And the bolded statements are simply false in the extreme...

 

 

I don’t think they’re an extreme. The NFLs ratings have been going down consistently the last several years. Just because you have the opposite opinion doesn’t make my statement false. 

 

As for lingerie football i ball I was making a joke and being sarcastic. 

 

You can only be so perfect when playing football. The more rules you add the more flags there will be. It’s not rocket science. The NFL rarely does away with rules. They only add more to the current rule book. 

 

My post was a bit exaggerated. And it was intended to be so. But that doesn’t make what I said false. 

 

I suppose you are one who thinks millennials have no discipline or respect for anyone else but themselves therefore the “flood of flags” is all a result of undisciplined players. 

[Four2itus]

1 hour ago, NannyMcafee said:

 

I don’t think they’re an extreme. The NFLs ratings have been going down consistently the last several years. Just because you have the opposite opinion doesn’t make my statement false. 

 

As for lingerie football i ball I was making a joke and being sarcastic. 

 

You can only be so perfect when playing football. The more rules you add the more flags there will be. It’s not rocket science. The NFL rarely does away with rules. They only add more to the current rule book. 

 

My post was a bit exaggerated. And it was intended to be so. But that doesn’t make what I said false. 

 

I suppose you are one who thinks millennials have no discipline or respect for anyone else but themselves therefore the “flood of flags” is all a result of undisciplined players. 

Actually, I still feel that the NFL making itself irrelevant in today's society is false. It may have experienced reduced viewership through broadcast TV and live participation, but its popularity is vast. There is a very large chasm between reduced popularity, and irrelevant. 

 

To the bolded, its the players who stretch the rules as far as they can....and beyond, that cause the flood of yellow flags. When football began, I'll bet that it wasn't designed with defensive players clothes lining people, but someone started doing it, it created too many injuries, and then here comes a rule. I watched throughout the 80's & 90"s, and I witnessed more and more players leaving the ground, essentially launching into defenseless receivers using the crown of their helmet....more, and more, and more, and more. Then, here comes another rule. 

 

I am trying to point out that it is always the refs fault, always the rules fault, but never the players who overplay the rules, creating more rules. 

[Dark Superman]

That flag on Michael Bennett for roughing the passer honestly made me sick.