Frankly, I'm surprised we don't hear about this every weekend: some drunk, frustrated father humping a crappy 9-to-5 and living his life vicariously through his son, storms the field after the game to confront the officials and administer a much needed beatdown. That's how he rationalizes it, anyway.
(I'd suggest watching the whole thing, but if you're only interested in the awkward confrontation, skip ahead to the 1:45 mark.)
In any case, Stafford and Sanchez will start Sunday in New Orleans and Houston as the NFL season finally gets under way after what seems like an eternal offseason.
There are other QB story lines the first week (although folks often forget there are 21 other guys on the field).
Not to say I didn't need the break, because it was nice, but not filing a quasi-weekly Zebra Report left a void in my writing life. With all the recent attention being paid to rule tweaks -- most of which are just guidelines -- in recent days, though, I figured we'd dust off TZR (initials! How cool are we?) and give a little spin on what this means between the lines.
As a refresher, I am a high school back judge with nine years of experience. I'm obviously not qualified to critique the NFL officials, but I'm much more qualified than those who have never officiated at all. The looks at officiating here are simply from the perspective of a high school official, and in no way do they reflect the actual opinion of the NFL officials.
There's nothing easier than ripping the refs. Across all sports, bashing the officials is a time-honored tradition. "Kill the umpire!" is a line in Casey at the Bat, for goodness' sake. Nobody should pretend that Ed Hochuli is the first guy to blow a call and get torched for it.
Six weeks ago, the 2008 Chargers were effectively done. They were 4-8 after having lost at home to the Falcons, and worse, division rival Denver held a three-game lead with four games to play. Well, we know how the final month of the regular season played out: the Power of Norval Eugene compelled San Diego. The Chargers won out, finished 8-8, and the cherry on top: they smacked around the Broncos in what amounted to a Week 17 play-in game.
The Chargers, not content to just get to the postseason, kept hope alive against the Colts, many people's favorite to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl next month. And while the records suggested that Indianapolis would come into Qualcomm Stadium long enough to hang 30-plus on a suspect San Diego defense before making its way to Tennessee, it didn't happen. Never got close, really. Sure, the Colts had won their final nine games to finish 12-4, and the Chargers backed into the playoffs, but there are a couple things worth considering.
Four months after blowing a call that handed the Denver Broncos a win over the San Diego Chargers, Ed Hochuli has been rewarded by the NFL with a playoff appearance, working today's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins.
The NFL gives playoff assignments to officiating crews based on the way they performed during the regular season, and CBS announcer Phil Simms reported that the league actually rated Hochuli and the six other officials on his crew as the best team of officials in the league.
And although that won't sit well with Chargers fans, it's really not a surprise. Hochuli has long had a reputation for being a firm but fair ref, and just because he was very wrong on one very big call, that doesn't make him a bad referee. If he's been judged by the league office as the league's best ref, he belongs in the playoffs.
FanHouse's resident referee will chime in quasi-weekly with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report. Matt Snyder is a high school official with eight years experience. While this is like a third-year resident critiquing the work of a world-renowned surgeon, it's still better than someone who has never worn the stripes.
Before I go getting all sentimental, we have a few plays to check out for this week.
1. The Bears got jobbed on a spot in their game on a third down. It appeared it should have been about a yard and a half or even two yards to gain for a first down. The spot ended up being about a half yard short of the line to gain. I have no problem with the officials, because in fast motion it appeared the receiver wasn't touched before rolling forward for just over a yard. Plus, due to positioning circumstances, they'd be in a huge hurry to get the exact line. Those are tough. My problem, however, lies in the replay rules. The Bears were not allowed to challenge the spot because the Texans didn't gain a first down.
No, it isn't really a controversy, but it probably isn't making Ryan Grant sleep that well.
The running back for the Packers has had a mediocre year by his accounts yet still had a chance to trigger bonuses in his contract for finishing top-five in yards for all NFC running backs, as well as for going over 1,250 for the season. Grant had it, but a challenge and subsequent instant replay (by Ed Hochuli, nonetheless) brought the 80-yard touchdown back and left Grant 35 yards short of Matt Forte.
The bonus in his contract would have been worth $1.35 million, but Grant finished sixth in rushing, with 1,203 yards on the season.
"Yeah, that's the way the ball bounces," Grant said. "I told (running backs coach Edgar Bennett), 'If we were playing in your day, that's a touchdown. No replay.'"
It really was never a play you thought might stand. Grant rolled over a defender but was clearly down and the call came back as a 21-yard gain. No matter, it must be fairly frustrating to know that without that little red flag, Grant could probably send a few kiddos to college (or buy a pink Escalade, one of the two).
Last year Grant ran for 956 yards, so 1,203 was an upgrade. If he wants to secure that bonus for next season, he could probably improve on his 100-yard games. Grant only had four all season.
There are some important stats from last night's Chargers - Broncos game that should be remembered. Of course, there's the obvious and relatively standard "52 points and that's all that matters because it was how many the Chargers scored in a win" thing. But more importantly, how about the 38.3 points per game that San Diego has averaged against Denver with Philip Rivers at quarterback? Or perhaps "9-0", which is Norv Turner's record as Chargers head coach in December? (I know, I'm shocked too.)
But I suppose you'll blame me for giving the Superchargers too much credit; Denver, after all, had three chances (against Oakland and Buffalo, no less) to close out the AFC West and get Turner fired. Instead, San Diego kept winning, Denver kept losing and all of sudden, flex sked in hand, there was a 60 minute slugfest scheduled for Sunday night, where the winner got the playoffs and the loser got mocked for being odd man out in a horrible division.
Except "slugfest" isn't a proper description of the game. "Beatdown" or "one sided blowout by the Chargers" would be a better way to describe it. Rivers was spectacular, LaDanian Tomlinson was revived, Darren Sproles was continually elusive and San Diego romped the Broncos.
Of course, the underlying theme of this whole game -- division title and rivalry aside -- was whether or not Ed Hochuli could be redeemed from an early season botch-job at the end of these two teams' first matchup. He was, which is nice, I suppose, but it still doesn't excuse him per se.
Only in the 2008 version of the AFC West could a team enter week 16 two games under .500, and still have a fighting chance to win the division. That's the position the San Diego Chargers find themselves in, as they bring their 6-8 record into Tampa Bay on Sunday, riding a two-game winning streak in an effort to salvage what has been a rather disappointing season.
A win for the Chargers would keep whatever playoff hopes they have alive, at least until they find out the results of the Buffalo-Denver game. A San Diego win, combined with a Denver loss, would set the stage for a week 17 game (in San Diego) to decide the AFC West champion. It could be quite a party, just so Ed Hochuli isn't invited.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is coming in riding a two-game skid, both of which came against NFC South foes, leaving the Buccaneers in the middle of a free-for-all for the two NFC wild card spots. Still, the biggest problem for the Buccaneers seems to be the fact they're dealing with a rash of injuries, including quarterback Jeff Garcia and linebacker Derrick Brooks. Garcia sat out Sunday's overtime loss to Atlanta, and has been limited in practice most of the week.
Frankly, I'm surprised we don't hear about this every weekend: some drunk, frustrated father humping a crappy 9-to-5 and living his life vicariously through his son, storms the field after the game to confront the officials and administer a much needed beatdown. That's how he rationalizes it, anyway. 
Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco started a trend last season: rookie quarterbacks who started from Week One and led their teams to the playoffs.
Not to say I didn't need the break, because it was nice, but not filing a quasi-weekly Zebra Report left a void in my writing life. With all the recent attention being paid to rule tweaks -- most of which are just guidelines -- in recent days, though, I figured we'd dust off TZR (initials! How cool are we?) and give a little spin on what this means between the lines. 
There's nothing easier than ripping the refs. Across all sports, bashing the officials is a time-honored tradition. "Kill the umpire!" is a line in Casey at the Bat, for goodness' sake. Nobody should pretend that Ed Hochuli is the first guy to blow a call and get torched for it.
Four months after blowing a call that handed the Denver Broncos a win over the San Diego Chargers, Ed Hochuli has been rewarded by the NFL with a playoff appearance, working today's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins.
No, it isn't really a controversy, but it probably isn't making Ryan Grant sleep that well.
There are some important stats from last night's Chargers - Broncos game that should be remembered. Of course, there's the obvious and relatively standard "52 points and that's all that matters because it was how many the Chargers scored in a win" thing. But more importantly, how about the 38.3 points per game that San Diego has averaged against Denver with Philip Rivers at quarterback? Or perhaps "9-0", which is Norv Turner's record as Chargers head coach in December? (I know, I'm shocked too.)
Only in the 2008 version of the AFC West could a team enter week 16 two games under .500, and still have a fighting chance to win the division. That's the position the San Diego Chargers find themselves in, as they bring their 6-8 record into Tampa Bay on Sunday, riding a two-game winning streak in an effort to salvage what has been a rather disappointing season. 
