Green Bay Packers Players Discuss a Radical Solution to the Referee Problem

By now even people that think football refers to soccer and hate the NFL could give a play-by-play of the infamous ending of the Seattle/Green Bay Monday Night Football game. It certainly was not the way such a hard fought game deserved to end. Whether you think the call was right or wrong there is only one thing that is clear.

The NFL needs to have the regular referees back as soon as possible.

Players, fans, and celebrities have been taking to Twitter and other social media outlets to voice their displeasure of the call and the current state of the NFL. The general perception is that the replacement referees are taking away from the game with all the mistakes they've been making each week (understatement, right?).

At first it did seem as if the replacements might be okay. They were far from perfect, but the mistakes were not too serious. It hasn't taken long for the calls to become atrocious in many cases and the mistakes so glaring that an eight-sack first half is being ignored due to a single blown call at the end of the game.

What makes the mess disturbing is that there does not appear to be an end in sight. As far as we know the two sides talked over the weekend, but still aren't even remotely close to a solution. What's the problem?

Greed.

The owners don't want to pay anything they don't think they need to, and the referees (who are part-time employees) want a bigger piece of the pie (even though they already make six-figure salaries).

It does not appear that the NFL is going to budge anytime soon. As long as fans continue to watch and buy anything and everything NFL related they are getting what they want-money. Since the refs are part-time employees with other jobs they can afford to hold out.

So where does that leave the game and fans who love it? We are up the creek without a paddle folks.

During the plane ride back to Green Bay several of the Packers discussed a radical solution to the stand-off between the league and referees—a protest. Until the referee lockout is over the players should take a knee on every play in future games. Offensive lineman T.J. Langhad this to say:

"...It's just a total embarrassment to everybody watching the game, the players in the game, it's not fun to be part of something like that. ... If it keeps going on, it's going to get ugly."

It already is ugly. It already is.