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• Tuesday, February 7, 2006 09:54 AM

  NFL's Problem

  You're right, they do have a problem with the perception of the refs and it is a huge one. Even during the game, people weren't talking about the lackluster play of both teams or the fact that Holmgren doesn't seem to know what he's doing once he gets to the big game, they were talking about how bad the refs were and how one sided the calls seemed. I was at a party in NJ, few real fans for either side and there were three tvs in three different rooms. People in all three rooms were saying the same thing: What is wrong with these refs?

  The bad call on Hasselbeck's tackle only cemented the myth, the ref's poor performance lead up to it. They need to be more decisive and they need to get rid of Instant Replay if they're making iffy calls in the theory that it can always be overturned.

  This said, why won't the NFL release the entire rulebook? Why do the rules need to be so complicated in the first place? The discussion yesterday about the pilon, breaking the plane and is it a catch never would have happened if the rules were clearer in the first place. Now I know, catch rules take precidence over plane rules, but I wasn't the only one confused.

  And calls like the holding call bringing back the pass to the one are a big problem. If there's holding on every play and it can go either way that easily, maybe the definition needs to be changed. Earlier in the game there was a holding call on Seattle and they had a really good shot of it for the replay. The O-Lineman was pushing the Defender when the defender slipped to the right of the O-Lineman and slid down so his facemask got jammed on the O-Lineman's bicep. To me, the Offensive player looked for all the world like he was trying to push, his hadn was nowhere on the guy, but because his arm bent and the Defensive player slumped down like he was trying to limbo under the arm, it became holding.

  The rule needs to be more specific somehow or the refs end up deciding who wins on whim every game.

  —Lynx Read Lynx's other letters
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