This weekend was an embarrassment to the NFL and the integrity of the game as officiating crews made several questionable calls during the playoff games. From the New England Patriots-Denver Broncos game, to the Pittsburgh Steelers-Indianapolis Colts games, fans around the league were venting on Monday morning at work, in school, newsgroups and message boards.

A great example of poor officiating happened during the Patriots game when CB Asante Samuel clearly picked off QB Jake Plummer's pass and made a great effort keeping his feet inbounds. The sideline judge made the correct call signaling the pass was caught and that there was a turnover, when the back judge, who didn't have a clear view, came in  and overruled it, calling Asante out of bounds and no catch. Patriot's head coach Bill Belichick immediately threw the red flag and won the review.

On Monday, some of the Steelers, despite winning the game, were crying foul over S Troy Polamalu's interception being ruled an incomplete pass.

To be honest, in my opinion I feel this was the worst officiated season ever in the NFL and it's time these officiating crews be held responsible in the public's eyes and not behind closed doors.

Back in 2001, Tim Polzer for NFL Insider reported that the NFL Referee Association employed about 151 members, broken down into about 119 for field duty during games and the other 32 as replay assistants who can be offered field duty during their tenure. During the year these members go to classes, camps, meetings and physicals just as the players do.

As for their pay, it's a scale depending on the amount of tenure. In Polzer's report he wrote that refs collected between $1,431 to $4,330 per game, with the lower end of the salary range going to first-year refs and the upper range going to those who have over 20 years of service. He also reported that each member of the crew chosen to ref the Super Bowl collected $11,900 for that single game.

Now keep in mind, these refs usually have career jobs outside the NFL or are collecting pensions from previous jobs. Today, with the recent union contracts and money from advertising, I'm sure the amounts the referees are getting has grown.

With those growing salaries, there also comes growing responsibility, and at times the refs don't seem to have it, which was one of the reasons why coaches voted for instant replay to be used in the game. However, after this weekend, it seems teams can't always count on the replay because the official still has the final say.

This is why I drew up a petition -- a petition that will ask the NFL to release the stats they keep on the refs and make them public on a weekly basis.

In an era where players and coaches are scrutinized by the media and fans, I thinks it's time the NFL Referees Association should fall under that same scrutiny week after week, and then maybe we can have more consistency without controversy.

Here is my petition and a link to sign it below.

To: NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue & NFL Referees
                  Association

Subject: Petition to Make NFL Referee Association’s
                         Statistics Public

We the fans of the NFL have great respect for the sport,
players and the league as a whole, but over the last couple
of years there seems to be this growing trend of NFL field
officials making bad calls. For example, this was the second
week of the NFL playoffs and at times there were some

crucial calls made/and not made that could have been
considered as momentum swings.

On behalf of the NFL fans I am submitting this official
online petition to request that the statistics for the crews
who officiate games during the season be made public
on a weekly basis. I feel if the NFL officials’ statistics
are out there for each crew on a weekly basis to the
press and public there is a chance that these crews will
better officiate the games.

As for my definition of referee “statistics” the league
could possibly use a slide bar method to show:

1) Which crews call certain penalties more or less
     than others.
2) Which crews have been challenged more or less
     by the coaches.
3) Which crews have reviewed, and their finding
    percentage.
4) An overall tally of penalties with yardage total
     called during a game.

As a true fan of the NFL I hope that this petition will
at least inspire some thought, and hopefully be decided
upon before the 2006 or 2007 season. 

Sincerely,

The Undersigned 

Make NFL Referees Association's Statistics Public Petition