I don’t believe so. They have, on rare occasions, come out later and said that an incorrect call was made, but I don’t believe that they’ve ever reversed the results of a play, much less a game outcome, due to that.
In this case, the NFL’s statement admitted that Tate should have been called for offensive pass interference, which, had it been properly called at that time, would have nullified the touchdown.
However, penalties like that aren’t retroactively called, and so, the play (and the game result) have been allowed to stand. For that matter, a number of former officials have noted that, even if pass interference did occur, on a play like that (Hail Mary / jump-ball to end the game), officials (even the “regular” officials) will rarely make a PI call unless it’s truly egregious.
Edit: it looks like an e-mail was sent out today by NFL spokesman Greg Aiello (read the second-to-last paragraph of this article), reiterating that Goodell “does not have authority to change the outcome of a game when it concerns judgmental errors or routine errors of omission by game officials.”
In short: “Sorry 'bout that, Packer fans, but tough noogies.”
Another thing that amuses me is that the players are claiming that the replacement refs are actually making the game less safe. These are the same players that are actively suing the NFL in a class action suit for game-related long-term injuries.
So, how is the game more unsafe than it was last year? The players, claiming that the safety of the player is paramount, are actively cheap-shotting each other every chance they get. They take swings at each other, they start scrums and precipitate shoving matches and near-fights, they grab, clutch, hit, claw and pull at each other, all contrary to the rules, and then they turn around and blame the officials for their plight, because like criminals they only behave when The Man is watching.
So much for integrity and concern for your fellow players. What, it makes too much sense that if the game is getting dangerous it might be something that you as a player and collectively as a players’ union might want to self-police? I love the real-world precedent this sets: I can sue the police for arresting me after the fact, because had they been watching I never would have done it, therefore it’s their fault.
This whole thing is a farce. All parties concerned are full of it.
Why isn’t the players taking their share of the blame for their own actions? [The “seeing what we can get away with” actions.]
When the coaches, players, and fans creating an atmosphere of elevated stress and distraction leads to more blown calls, why is that solely the refs’ fault?
In fairness, if you’re going to screw up, you should screw up consistently. If they change the standard for holding to require that the lineman hold the jersey with both hands, dragging the defender to the ground, while the other lineman strikes at his knees with a bully club, they should call it that way all the time for that game. Which appears to be the case, as I’ve seen them let single strikes with the club go unflagged.
Saturday Night Live had a funny skit years ago with John Goodman as an NFL referee on a TV show where audience members would ask him about the type of excrement in his head and invite him to have sex with himself.
I think they should dust that one off and either re-run it in a new episode or re-write it to fit the current situation better. Maybe they’ll get a recurring character out of it – with Kristen Wiig gone, nobody’s doing bad one-note recurring overused characters anymore.
I’m no fan of the replacement refs and certainly hope the NFL and the real refs work thing out soon.
But let’s not venerate the real refs. They can massively screw up the end of a game as well.
A few years ago, I believe it was a Monday Night game, the last play of the game, the Steelers picked up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. The real refs inexplicably ruled the play dead or something and did not count the TD. A total fiasco on the field with much discussions and whatnot.
The next day the NFL ruled that the refs were wrong and that the TD should have counted, but that they would not officially change the score of the game.
Who cares?–you might say. What’s the difference between the Steelers winning 11-10 or 18-10? A win is a win, right?
My bookie cared. Which means I cared. In fact, Al Michaels, during all the on-the-field discussions mentioned that a LOT of people cared about whether those extra points counted or not.
So, yeah, the real refs can fuck up big time also. Not just missing a call, but totally blowing a rules interpretation even after 10-20 minutes of field and booth discussions.
The refs should throw flags like yellow is the new black tonight and all weekend. They need to re-establish the game as it should be refed. This is especially true for the mauling going on in the secondary on both sides of the ball.
They should throw flags on penalties, nothing more nothing less. In the Packer game … scratch that … in the Packer fiasco, the officiating crew … scratch that … braindead monkeys … threw 24 flags for a total of 245 yards, which was more than the total yards of offense the Seahawks had. They flagged things that weren’t penalties, which hurt their credibility almost as much as the flags they didn’t throw.
Call the game right and call it consistently. Don’t throw ticky tack flags to try and get control.
To get control, you call every Technical Foul and Unsportsmanlike Conduct with rigid adherence to the letter of the rule, with appropriate escalation of consequences if necessary. That means just one warning for the first significant extracurricular scrum, and then laundry. Ejections.
Plus appropriate fines after the fact.
The game has been allowed to descend into barbarism. This will end.
ETA: I don’t think we disagree, but I want to emphasize that the refs need to re-establish sanity, and they have to be in a very vigilant and non-tolerant mindset. Frankly, expect less “no harm, no foul” and “let 'em play (offense|defense)” rationalizations. If it’s discernably against the rules, it should be flagged. Consistently and correctly, as you say.
Sadly, that may require some “examples”. I hope the players have the wisdom to see that and avoid providing those examples.
