NFL a mess after shame in Seattle; thanks Goodell -- you, too, regular refs

When they come back, and they'll be back within days -- right? -- don't cheer the NFL's regular officials. Don't clap your hands. Don't even smile at them. They don't deserve it, because they're the problem here. Them, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Both sides. Awful.

We didn't need what happened Monday night in Seattle to know this has to stop, though apparently we needed what happened in Seattle to send us past the breaking point. After the most implausible ending imaginable -- actually, it wasn't even imaginable; as Packers coach Mike McCarthy said, "I've never seen anything like that in all my years in football" -- NFL players and fans erupted Monday night in a sea of shock and anger that sounded a lot like this:

Bring back the real refs, and do it now.

It will happen -- in time for this weekend's games, right? -- but don't let your relief look anything like appreciation, because neither the NFL Referees Association nor the NFL commissioner will deserve gratitude when this stupid labor impasse ends.

The NFL is so wealthy it can afford to pay the officials gobs more than it does. Last season the average salary for a game official was nearly $150,000, and the NFL could afford to double it. And then the NFL could afford to double that. The NFL is printing money as fast as it prints tickets and TV listings and souvenir cups and licensed apparel and parking tags and ... you get the point. The NFL is loaded.

And the regular refs know it, which is why they were seeking big-time money for part-time work. And then when the labor impasse reached the blinking point and neither side blinked, the NFL locked out the officials -- and the NFLRA responded by trying to take down the whole damn league.

NFL refs oversee the officiating of several of college football's BCS conferences -- and made it clear to officials in those leagues that working as replacement refs would jeopardize their careers. Officials from other major-college conferences joined suit in a show of solidarity, forcing the NFL into a choice between two extremes: (A) Give the NFLRA what it wants; or (B) cancel games.

The NFL went with (C):

Hire officials from Division II and III, high schools, even the Lingerie Football League.

Hilarity ensued, although it's not really funny. People have had a big ol' laugh at the expense of the replacement referees, though this isn't their fault. In theory, yes, these specific replacements allowed the labor impasse to continue by agreeing to work, saving the NFL schedule.

But that's only a theory. In reality, had these specific replacements refused the work, other potential officials would have been offered the job. Were they all going to turn down the chance to make lots of money to stand on an NFL field and officiate a game? No. Of course not. That's not realistic, so don't be ridiculous and blame replacement refs for this mess. They were never the problem. They tried to be the solution, and it hasn't worked out.

Which brings us to today, or rather, to Monday night -- when Packers safety M.D. Jennings intercepted Seattle's last-second pass in the end zone, only to see a replacement ref rule it a touchdown after Seahawks receiver Golden Tate got his hands on the ball and kept them there as he and Jennings lay in the end zone. Well, one replacement ruled it a touchdown. Another signaled for a touchback, which would mean Jennings had intercepted it and was down in the end zone.

To replay we went, and the touchdown was upheld, but that didn't provide clarity. Was possession of the ball on a simultaneous catch even reviewable? In the immediate aftermath of the play, some said yes; others, no. The NFL released a statement Tuesday that said, yes, possession of the catch was reviewable because it happened in the end zone -- but somehow concluded, "The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video ... and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review."

Not reviewable was the blatant offensive pass interference committed by Tate, a push-off of Packers cornerback Sam Shields that the refs missed.

"This should have been a penalty for offensive pass interference, which would have ended the game," according to the NFL's statement. "It was not called and is not reviewable in instant replay."

Ah.

That statement explained what happened and why, but it didn't tell us what we wanted to hear. At this point, NFL fans and NFL players -- hell, even NBA players -- want to hear just one thing:

The lockout is over -- the regular refs are back to work.

And maybe we'll hear that soon. Within days, right? Whenever the regular refs return, officiating mistakes will continue to happen, mystifying mistakes that change games and affect careers. For a week or so we might even tolerate the mistakes -- because at least the right officials will be making the wrong calls.

But soon enough we'll be booing the real refs, and it will sound beautiful. Hell, I'm booing the real refs right now. Booooo for you guys, and boooooo for Roger Goodell as well. The NFL is in chaos -- and this is your fault.

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Thanks to a down year, Packers have a cakewalk to the Super Bowl

The Philadelphia Eagles were officially eliminated from the playoffs before the first quarter ended in their game against Dallas. The Dream Team is dead.

Tony Romo injured his hand and watched. It wouldn't have mattered if Romo played. The Cowboys are an average team and it would take a Christmas miracle if Dallas was a factor in the playoffs ... if they even make the playoffs.

The Eagles were supposed to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys were supposed to be contenders. Yet here they both were on Saturday -- the Eagles eliminated and Cowboys possibly without Romo and on the verge of missing another postseason. Well, that could happen since the Giants will be favorites against Dallas in next week's fight for the division crown.

And the Green Bay Packers sit atop this mess of an NFL, a league crammed with the pedantic and the downtrodden and the pretenders, and must feel pretty damn good about their chances.

With the postseason taking shape this is what we know about the NFL now ...

There is one great team in football (the Packers). There is one good team (the Saints). There are three slightly above average teams (the 49ers, Patriots and Steelers). Ninety percent of the rest are spectacularly average. The remaining are pain-inducing putrid.

This is your NFL. Where the average and the ugly rule the sport which gives one team the clearest path to a championship we’ve seen in a long time.

The Packers have a cakewalk to a second straight title. An absolute, all-time cakewalk. If they lose on Sunday it's because they sit large numbers of starters or are bored. No team in the NFC can touch them. Not the quarterback-challenged 49ers. Not the mistake-prone Cowboys. Not the multiple-personality Giants. Not the Lions who average 40 personal fouls a game. Not the Saints who will likely have to play in Green Bay in late January (good luck, dome team).

A healthy Packers team would beat this Cowboys group by at least two touchdowns; They already did that last year to Atlanta.

Not counting strike years, the Packers possess the easiest road to a Super Bowl in maybe the past 20 or 30 seasons.

I know what you're going to say. The Packers just lost to the lowly Chiefs. But that was more a function of the tremendous weight that is going for an unbeaten season than anything else. (And if I see the word "blueprint" associated with that Packers loss one more time ...)

The AFC would have an even more difficult time trying to stop Green Bay. Who's going to beat them? The defenseless Patriots? They already hammered the Steelers in the Super Bowl. The Texans are down to their ninth-string quarterback, that defense is extremely overrated and they just lost to Indianapolis. The Ravens are capable but schizophrenic. The Broncos don't have enough firepower.

Joe Namath, the former Jet, summarized the Giants-Jets game -- and maybe this season -- with this sarcastic tweet: "And these two teams will probably be in the playoffs ... What do ya think of that?"

Not much.

The Packers have an easy path to the Super Bowl because, with one exception –- the Saints –- the remainder of the league has disintegrated around them. This season, the year of the lockout, will not go down as one of the best in league history. Indeed, quite the opposite.

While the NFL lockout has been blamed for everything from Sarah Palin to the budget deficit, as we look back it's clear the lockout did have a profound effect on quality of play. I believe it is a big reason why the Eagles fell apart and quite possibly the young Tampa Bay Buccaneers (coach Raheem Morris will likely be fired). Look at Saturday's games and you see the ugliness. The Jets talked and talked and then lost embarrassingly. "It's time to shut up, fat boy," Giants player Brandon Jacobs told coach Rex Ryan, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

The Raiders tossed two interceptions and had ten penalties in the first half alone but still won at Kansas City. Running back Tim Tebow threw a pick-six against the Bills as he becomes who we thought he was. The Patriots struggled at home with the Dolphins.

Basic fundamental football was dead this season, and Saturday's games were a microcosm of that.

There was amazing athleticism but the lockout eroded any semblance of team consistency, which is why this year there was so much unpredictability and losing on teams where there shouldn't have been.

The Packers, for whatever reasons, were the exception.

There are two aforementioned teams that maybe on their best of days could put a scare in the Packers. The Patriots' defense has been ranked last in football but any team with Tom Brady can make an argument. The thing about the Patriots is something New England guard Brian Waters said after overcoming their 17-point deficit against Miami: "We never panic."

The Giants are also interesting to watch. They've beaten Goliath before.

Maybe they catch the Packers on a bad day but it's doubtful. If the Cowboys somehow beat the Giants and get in they'd only be playing for the right to lose to Green Bay down the road.

Most likely just like everyone else.

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