I've been a football fan for 60 years. Watched more games than I'm ashamed to admit.
Officiating is NOT worse... in fact if anything it is better. I marvel at how these guys get amazingly close calls right the vast majority of the time. Bang-bang calls they get right nearly to a fault.
Of course they miss a few. Sometimes they are just shielded out by these dancing giants for an instant when a foul occurs that can change the game. Yes it affects the game. But just like everything else, the rules have gained an intricacy and complexity over the decades that requires more and more instantaneous judgment that even involves intent. It's easy for owners' committees to write intricate rules; it's far harder to enforce them.
The NFL has forever said that officials are part of the game. And it needs to stay that way. But these 4K cameras, with every possible angle, and super slo-mo shots that can now be interwoven to compare and stitch together several views at once are nothing an official has at his disposal in the heat of the moment. When he rules he can't replay it over and over again. It all happens in a tenth of a second.
Yes, it does seem that some teams and some players (Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers) get calls that go their way. Favoritism? I seriously doubt it. But, the Refs also know who the people come to see. They're not oblivious. And, some teams seem to get more calls go their way. But it is my opinion that this stuff seems to sort of even out over the years.
In the Seattle games, nothing was more common that for Russell Wilson to be in the grasp and then he'd just heave the ball into the air. One of two things would happen: either his guy would catch it or it was PI. And when slowed down, many of those calls were bogus. Yet, that seems to have changed lately. And now some of the calls in Seattle's favor seem to be going the other way.
The NFL officiating is amazing when you consider that these officials have to keep track of 22 rapidly moving men who are all bashing into each other, and then instantaneously judging what they do according to a rule book that is very nuanced.
