You know the NFL is funny these days. Every aspect is broken down and examined ad nauseum with every answer and every move questioned. It is a win right now league and rookies are supposed to make a big impact even as fans forget about the other young players on rosters poised to make a jump in production. Every expert has their sleeper draft picks, and every year many of those guys don't pan out either.

The Bounty Scandal seems to be a black eye for the Saints, while the league is able to side step any responsibility, but to me , I hold the league office responsible, and the official review for allowing the play to continue for three years... or longer. For the media to rip the Lions during the Saints Sunday night game as the dirty team, especially in the Suh backlash and won't go back to that game and apologize or at least revisit what happened..... Could the Saints dirty tactics have helped bring out those mistakes in our young players? ... still can't explain Nate's PIs tho

anyways I digress... Today I saw where the NFL says they can use replacement refs and it makes me go hmmm...

more after..

The Officials on the field are the keepers of the game. They do have a very difficult job, and some are quite remarkable at it. These men regulate the play on the field, and keep things fair. They also are in the primary position to keep things safer. They can hear the chatter between plays, they may know when guys are getting angry or arguing with each other. With all that responsibility .. how can the NFL be diminishing their importance?

I don't know how effective the bounty system was for NO. I have yet to see any stats showing how many people were injured, or with all the film available from games.. any footage of these dirty hits and cart offs. The Vikings/NO game is often cited, and it did look like Favre took a beating but not many flags were thrown. The NFL doesn't release how the refs have been graded, so we won't know if the refs missed calls or not.

Anyways, with this added attention to player safety and keeping the game clean , it seems odd the NFL wouldn't make sure it had a deal in place to keep it's best and most accomplished refs working. As a player, I might feel a little less safe with replacement refs working the field.

Where is the media in covering this? Aren't there a ton of questions to be asked, especially in light of these other issues surrounding the game right now? While players are ruthlessly scrutinized, and coaches too- owners and the office seem to get a big pass.

I'm a little of a conspiracy guy.. but that makes me go hmmm.... what does the NFL really care about? the fans who get blacked out of games they can't afford to go to, when everyone knows we can see it still for free on the web? is it player safety? keeping the game clean? it just makes me wonder.