Do replacements have game admin skills?

[Editor’s note: This is our weekly entry on officiating at National Football Post.]

Few things are certain in life: death and taxes — and football officials will make errors.

If pass interference isn’t called, it is in most cases a judgment call and not a problem, so long as it is applied consistently. If encroachment is called instead of a false start, that is a 10-yard swing for the offense, but not one that profoundly alters the result of the game. These calls happen on any given Sunday, whether the flag belongs to a 20-year veteran in NFL stripes or a babyface junior-college official promoted into the breach.

The NFL has been largely happy with their replacement officials, an odd collection of retired, fired, demoted, reassigned, and green recruits. The union referees are still locked out by the league, and no progress has been made to reach a collective bargaining agreement. While the league may be pleased with the performance of the replacements, the measure of the game is not whether there was a major error during the game, but how it is being managed.

Read the full story over at National Football Post.