Of the 17 referees on the NFL’s payroll during the 2017 season Mike Ditka Jersey , four of them have now left. Does that leave the NFL with a referee problem?
It’s a fair question to ask as the 2018 season approaches. While the departures of Ed Hochuli and Jeff Triplette had been known for months, the bang-bang retirements of Terry McAulay and Gene Steratore in recent days, reportedly to work at NBC and CBS respectively, is jarring. And the moves raise legitimately questions as to whether something has gone haywire with the NFL’s officiating department, whether more referees will leave, and whether the replacements will be good enough.
Six years ago, the Commissioner stridently boasted that replacement officials would perform as well as the locked-out black-and-white-stripers who wanted more green than the NFL would give them. Reality proved the Commissioner quite wrong, culminating in the embarrassment that was the Fail Mary.
Three days after the Seahawks beat the Packers thanks to a blatant case of offensive pass interference on the game’s last play, the “A” team was back, led by the swagger of Steratore, who’s Thursday night strut for a Browns-Ravens game let everyone know that, indeed, there’s a palpable difference between the best officials in football and those who aren’t.
With Steratore now gone (along with McAulay Allen Robinson Jersey , Hoculi, and Triplette), the NFL will be facing a real test. And the stakes are higher than ever, since there will be actual, legal stakes on the games.
And it could have been worse. Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com reported that Clete Blakeman also auditioned for the NBC gig that went to McAulay. If ESPN hadn’t hired Triplette (who already had retired, and who many fans won’t miss), maybe Blakeman would have gotten one of the three recently-filled network gigs.
And maybe now the report that the NFL nudged ESPN to hire Triplette makes more sense. Maybe it wasn’t about helping Tripllette; maybe it was about helping the NFL not lose yet another referee as a new season approaches.
And maybe the NFL now needs to worry about possibly losing more referees after the coming season concludes.
WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III spent most of their football careers going head to head.
The two high-profile Texas prep stars were both recruited by Stanford, finished one-two in the 2011 Heisman Trophy race, went first and second in the 2012 NFL draft and were the top two vote-getters in the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year balloting.
Now, the 28-year-old quarterbacks find themselves in an odd place — rooting for each another’s comebacks.
“You know it seems like the combine was just yesterday,” Griffin said after the first of two joint practices on the final weekend of training camp.
“He’s always going to be the geeky guy and I’m always going to be the guy who wears the goofy socks.”
Maybe those sentiments sound strange coming from two guys who were supposed to join the long list of memorable rivals.
But fate, as it sometimes does L. P. Ladouceur Jersey , changed everything.
Instead of becoming fierce foes, Griffin and Luck developed a mutual admiration for each another’s work. They respect one another so much that Luck even took a moment during a brief stoppage at practice to jog over and give Griffin a hug.
“He’s a really good guy. He’s a Texas guy, so we have some links there,” Luck said earlier this week. “I got to know him at the Heisman and then the combine and draft. I’ve always been a big fan. Our families got to know each other a fair bit. I’m excited to see him.”
Much has changed since these two last threw passes on the same field, six years ago in one of the few highly anticipated preseason games, pitting the seemingly can’t-miss prospects.
Luck was considered the polished, establishment guy, who learned the game from his NFL-playing father, who was groomed in Stanford’s pro-style offense had a resume that resembled Peyton Manning’s.
Griffin was the flashy new guy with plenty of upside, legs that were supposed to be as difficult to stop as his arm, who could make any offense high octane and who took home four of college football’s most prized trophies in 2011.
Both began with a bang.
Luck led the Colts to the playoffs each of his first three seasons, made the Pro Bowl each year and helped lead the Colts one step deeper in the playoffs each successive year, culminating with an AFC championship game appearance following the 2014 season.
Griffin countered by leading the Redskins to their first playoff appearance in five years Chase Daniel Jersey , drawing praise from President Barack Obama and making the Pro Bowl as a rookie.
Then things suddenly went awry.
Griffin sprained a ligament in his right knee in December 2012, but was cleared by doctors in time to return for the final two regular-season games and the playoff game against Seattle. During the fourth quarter of the loss to the Seahawks, Griffin’s knee gave out and he wound up needing surgery for two torn ligaments and a torn meniscus.
“I don’t think about the past because otherwise I can’t stay in the present,” Griffin said. “I’m a football player. If they tell me I can go, I’m going to go.”
He was never the same. Since starting 9-7, he is just 6-19 as a starter.
Griffin lost the starting spot in Washington three times over the next three seasons and finally signed with Cleveland in 2016, where he spent most of the season on injured reserve with a fractured bone in his left shoulder. He still holds the distinction as the most recent starting quarterback to lead the Browns to a victory on Dec. 24, 2016.
The Browns released Griffin in March 2017 — before he collected a $750,000 roster bonus — and he was out of football all of last season.
“It was hard, very hard,” Griffin said. “But the Ravens gave me an opportunity and I’m here to make the most of this opportunity.”
Luck, meanwhile, dealt with other obstacles.
He injured his right shoulder in the third game of the 2015 season Richard Dent Jersey , ending a starting streak of 57 consecutive games.
Luck finished his fourth pro season on injured reserve with a lacerated kidney, played through the continual pain in his right shoulder in 2016 then opted for surgery on a partially torn labrum in January 2017. The recovery cost him all of last season.
The Colts missed the playoffs all three of those years and now he’s finally back, looking to find his pre-surgery form.
“I know he was just hurting,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “When you miss that much football, you start questioning everything. For him to be back out here has to be a joy for him.”
Luck will continue lining up behind center for the second joint practice Saturday and likely for more than a quarter in Monday night’s game.
Griffin, meanwhile, is trying to restart his career by winning a job behind Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco and first-round draft pick and Heisman winner Lamar Jackson, meaning Griffin and Luck could be watching each other’s comebacks.
“I’m always root for quarterbacks,” Griffin said. “I really hope he (Luck) comes back and not just to the level he was before but to the level the Colts expect.”
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