







The NFL's replacement referees stink. They are terrible, horrible, incompetent, of limited sight, limited mental capacity, biased and -- who knows -- perhaps even evil.

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Or at least that's the message playing out after every single snap – well, at least it feels like every single snap – when players and coaches react to the replacement referee's calls or non-calls like the official just shot their dog. There is outrage, screaming, pouting, physical intimidation, verbal assault and various forms of toddler-esque behavior.

There was, Sunday night after the Baltimore Ravens' 31-30 victory over the New England Patriots, even an enraged Bill Belichick chasing down a ref and grabbing his arm in anger, the exclamation point of a game of incessant complaining from both sides. Beichick's act will almost certainly draw a fine, but it served as the culmination of a heated day of interaction in the NFL, an inevitable act due to the way the replacement referees have been handled and accepted by the league, its players and coaches.

Yes, replacement refs make mistakes; that's without contention. It is so without contention that we'd like to suggest a simple thing:

To NFL players and coaches: get over it and yourself.

To NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: do something about it.

[Related: Jim Harbaugh cons refs out of extra replay challenges]

For Goodell, the obvious solution is for the owners and the union to make a deal. The dispute appears to be mostly over pensions, seemingly a proportionally small issue in a $9 billion industry. In the interim though, Goodell needs to do more to protect the replacement refs he hired to call the games and stop what has become a distracting spectacle.

It's been reported by multiple outlets that the league has sent a memo to teams warning them against bullying referees. But based on what we're seeing across the games, it hasn't taken. The coaches are still channeling their inner Bob Knight. And there is no word that a similar decree has been made to the players, who just never stop.

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On Sunday, broadcasters even pointed out how Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson's mid-play complaining affected him from making the actual catch that he claimed he was hampered from making. It was like a ref complaint vortex of futility.

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