Replacement Refs: Why We Haven’t Reached the Breaking Point

Don’t Blame the Replacements

I understand that these replacement refs are not very good. They tend to be very intimidated by coaches, players, and home fans when making calls. The very best of them may have some Division I College Football reffing experience but those appear to be few and far between. The majority of them seem to be former high school, Division III, and/or Junior College refs, heck there’s even a former Lingerie Football League referee in the mix (yes, seriously). But these refs did not ask to be here. They were put here because of a bad situation. Can you blame them for taking the opportunity to ref in the NFL, regardless of whether or not they have the credentials to do so?