The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Down 24-14 midway in the 3rd quarter, the Houston Texans received an early Christmas present from the refs. Tailback Justin Forsett was tackled after a 7-yard gain, but then got up and extended that for a club-record 81-yard touchdown run. The refs didn't blow their whistles and even though Stevie Wonder was rumored to having seen Forsett's elbow and knee touching the ground, the refs called it a touchdown. Having seen quite clearly that Forsett was down, Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz angrily threw out his challenge flag. Since every touchdown is reviewed upstairs, this was not necessary. In fact, due to a ridiculous rule, Schwartz's throwing of the challenge flag resulted in the play not being reviewed by rule and the team getting penalized 15 yards. This all resulted in the Texans closing the gap to 24-21 and with it, the entire complexion of the game. The Lions had trouble getting focused both offensively and defensively, and before they knew it, Houston had ...

While, in light of me fighting a cold, I knew I should have gone to bed early last night, but for some reason, I had a gut feeling that the end of the Monday night football game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks was going to be one to remember. As seems to be typical, my gut was right.  Like many others, I have been rather critical of the replacement refs, but it didn't truly feel as if the referees had genuinely cost a team a game. There were a couple of games they potentially could have decided, but there wasn't that one game yet which stood out from the rest and provided such an uproar from players, fans, coaches and the media alike, that it basically demanded the league work something out with the regular officials. After Monday night's game, there can't be any questioning that potential consequence anymore, for the officials blew the game for the Green Bay Packers. It should be noted that I'm not a fan of either Green Bay or Seattle. Actual...