Sometimes the officials need some appreciation

[MightyGiants]

https://x.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1734427222935474446?s=20

[TDToomer]

So now we are patting them on the back for doing there jobs correctly. The bar is really low.

[MightyGiants]

So now we are patting them on the back for doing their jobs correctly. The bar is really low.

Why are you downplaying this by pretending he didn't get bowled over?  It's one thing to stand safely and get the call right; it's another to put oneself in harm's way, get bowled over, and get the call right.

[Bob In PA]

Rich: I thought this post was about something else.

Last night, the refs did a great job with every tough call (and there were a ton of them, for and against the Giants) and IMO they got them all correct.

I do believe the rules should be changed so that the ground cannot cause a fumble under ANY circumstances. The current rule is that a guy who slips and falls is still "a runner" which means what happened last night was definitely a fumble.  Just my viewpoint.

Bob

[Uni]

Rich: I thought this post was about something else.

Last night, the refs did a great job with every tough call (and there were a ton of them, for and against the Giants) and IMO they got them all correct.

I do believe the rules should be changed so that the ground cannot cause a fumble under ANY circumstances. The current rule is that a guy who slips and falls is still "a runner" which means what happened last night was definitely a fumble.  Just my viewpoint.

Bob

"Ground can't cause a fumble" was NEVER a rule, It was a pseudo-rule Madden made up. Everyone repeated it, but it's still 100% wrong. Even the booth tried to fit the fumble in the context of the ground causing a fumble. The ground has nothing to do with determining fumbles, there is nothing to change. If you are not down by contact or giving yourself up, it is a fumble if you lose the ball.

[Bob In PA]

"Ground can't cause a fumble" was NEVER a rule, It was a pseudo-rule Madden made up. Everyone repeated it, but it's still 100% wrong. Even the booth tried to fit the fumble in the context of the ground causing a fumble. The ground has nothing to do with determining fumbles, there is nothing to change. If you are not down by contact or giving yourself up, it is a fumble if you lose the ball.

Uni: Agree. The review was to determine whether Barkley was down as a result of contact (which he was not). Bob

[LennG]

 I feel I need to chime in here, maybe as an umpire, but still an official, This talk of the official should have told Toney he was lining up offside is a bunch of crap.
We used to teach our umpires that something called 'preventive umpiring' is the way to go. On certain levels, especially the younger kids, I used to tell the catcher to go out and tell his pitcher he is balking, or just doing something wrong. How would it be to call balks on teens, who may not know any better? This is one phase of again what we refer to as 'preventive umpiring' --like why look for trouble.
That said, I would do things like this even thru High School games, but once the playoffs roll around that is a whole different story. If these teams don't know what to do and make it to the playoffs, then it isn't my responsibility to help them. This is true of all the college games I ever did. You are in college, probably playing baseball all your life and you need an umpire to tell you you are doing something wrong.
Now take this a step further, into the pros. How in the world can Andy Reed even say the referee should have warned Toney? That is completely crap. This player, Toney, has been playing football all his life, he knows where to line up, and he sees where the LOS is and where the ball is. If he is too stupid to realize this, why whould any offical help him, especially in a game of this magnitude.

[ozzie]

I agree with you 100% Lenn. I don't understand why it is the Official's responsibility to warn a player he's about to make a mistake. That's just shifting b lame if you think it's the Ref's job. And Toney wasn't just a little off, he was WAY off.
If the Official doesn't call that or warns Toney to step back, he is basically cheating Buffalo by "Helping / advising" the Chiefs. Ref's should be totally neutral and just call the game as they see it. Which is what happened.

[spiderblue43]

Barkley proved the ground can cause a fumble with his folly flop. Refs probably were stunned.

He broke the usual norm there by being tackled by the invisible turf man.

    

 

[BluesCruz]

Barkley proved the ground can cause a fumble with his folly flop. Refs probably were stunned.

He broke the usual norm there by being tackled by the invisible turf man.

    

Maybe if we rotated RBs like other teams this guy would have the stamina to keep his legs under him not behind him

Appaling.  Funny when a QB does it, but what the heck?  How could a Gold Jacket guy not keep his wits about him and his legs under him

I was nearly certain he had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

 

[Bob In PA]

Maybe if we rotated RBs like other teams this guy would have the stamina to keep his legs under him not behind him

Blues: That's a point that occurs to me during and after every Giants game, but which no one has mentioned yet.

I was waiting to see if it would come up. I'll explore the "other side of the story" on this issue.

The coaches have to learn to occasionally "just say no" to Barkley. I know they pay him a ton (hence this post in rebuttal) and the coaches know they're paying him a ton (so maybe they figure why not get our "money's worth") and he knows they're pay him a ton (so maybe the pressure of that fact is weighing on him a bit) and even if they were paying him 50 cents per game he would be that way (I know this as a Penn State fan). Barkley possesses the heart of a tiger and (like most good players) wants to be out there with his team for every snap. In other words, he's relying on the coaches to decide when to "just say no") and give him a rest.

Bob

PS. They should (and still haven't) add some more plays where Wan'Dale is at running back. At this time, so far as I know, the only time Wan'Dale plays running back is when Saquon plays QB (that one dumb-ass play they ran where they flanked DeVito out wide). It is inexplicable that the coaches seem not to have any designed to give Barkley a rest.  Wan'Dale played RB in college. Maybe he doesn't pass-block well enough or is thought not to be big enough to pass-block in the NFL, but they could still run a few plays anyway.