Packers Daily Links: Even Obama Weighs In After Packers Loss

The President of the United State says it's time to get the referees back. That and more in today's Daily Links...

You know the game has reached epic proportions when the President of the United States weighs in. "It took the team that Vince Lombardi built, playing in a 'Monday Night Football' headliner, to put the NFL's latest labor headache — locked-out officials and their struggling, under-fire replacements — front and center for the nation," according to the Associated Press. "Even President Barack Obama, a Bears fan slogging through a re-election campaign, weighed in Tuesday, saying, 'We've got to get our refs back.'" The pressure is on the NFL to come to an agreement with the referees' union, but what effect will it have? That's anyone's guess.

More on Barack Obama comes from Packer Report.

The NFL upheld the ruling made on the field from Monday Night's game. "The NFL on Tuesday stood by its beleaguered replacement refs and their decision to award Seattle Seahawks receiver Golden Tate the winning touchdown reception against the Green Bay Packers in front of a disbelieving national television audience," writes Bob Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. An official statement released by the NFL said that the result of the game was final. It is unrealistic to expect the NFL to overturn the outcome of the game, but most fans would probably be happy if the NFL came to an agreement with the referees instead.

More on the statement released by the NFL comes from the Associated Press and the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

On his weekly radio show on the ESPN Radio affiliate in Milwaukee, quarterback Aaron Rodgers apologized to fans and took a dig at the NFL. “First of all, I’ve got to do something that the NFL is not going to do, and I have to apologize to the fans," Rodgers is quoted as saying by Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com. "Our sport is generated, the multi-billion machine, is generated by people who pay good money to come watch us play. And the product on the field is not being complemented by an appropriate set of officials. The games are getting out of control." Rodgers got his point across very clearly and handled the situation about as well as could be expected given the circumstances.

More on Aaron Rodgers comes from the Associated Press.

According to guard T.J. Lang from an interview on local Detroit radio (Lang is a Michigan native), Packers' players have considered taking drastic action in response to the ruling on the field from Monday night's game. "On the long flight back for the Green Bay Packers following the team’s 14-12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, players debated going on strike or taking a knee on every play in upcoming games if the replacement referee issue isn’t solved," writes Christy Strawser of CBS Detroit. How realistic these options are, are debatable.
More on T.J. Lang comes from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, twice and JSOnline.
Despite notable criticism of the NFL from T.J. Lang and other, Packers players apparently won't be fined.
Head coach Mike McCarthy, during his day-after-game press conference, was looking forward, not backwards. "McCarthy was intent on rerouting the conversation Tuesday from looking back on the questionable officiating of Monday night to forward at Sunday’s game against the desperate 0-3 New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field," writes Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com. There's really nothing else the Packers can do right now. The NFL won't be reversing the outcome of the game. They can only use this as motivation going forward.
Post-game analysis of the action on the field comes from Bob McGinn of the Journal Sentinel, Cliff Christl and Eric Baranczyk of the Press-Gazette and Fox Sports Wisconsin.
Columns reacting to the missed call are penned by Ty Dunne of the Journal Sentinel, Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal and Mike Vandermause of the Press-Gazette.
Former Packers running back Ryan Grant has reportedly signed with the Washington Redskins, according to Fox Sports Wisconsin and PackersNews.com.
Wide receiver James Jones may have a broken foot, according to Rob Demovsky of the Press-Gazette, but another source says it's only soreness.
Peter King of Sports Illustrated breaks down what was wrong with Monday night's blown call that cost the Packers the game.
Blog posts at JSOnline discuss the fallout from Monday's game from the perspective of the Packers' front office and NFLPA.
The Packers are now ranked seventh in the AP's Pro32 rankings.
Focusing on the replacement referees is Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel.
Packers fans, the mayor of Green Bay and the local officials react to what else? The Fail Mary at Fox 11.
Video: Josh Sitton discusses the possibility of going on strike during an interview with Jim Rome...

Brian Carriveau is the author of "It's Just a Game: Big League Drama in Small Town America," a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and an editor at Cheesehead TV. To contact Brian, email [email protected].

0 points
 

Comments (5)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Tommyboy's picture

September 26, 2012 at 12:10 pm

I'm not sure where else to post this, but man did I have an amazing weekend. My brother-in-law performed for the ESPN crew this weekend and I got to tag along. I sat in a production meeting with Jon Gruden, Mike Tirico, and the whole ESPN crew (with the pictures to prove it). That was great, but another part of my weekend was even better.

For about 45 minutes, I sat on the MNF bus before the game with my bro-in-law and Gerry Austin. Mr. Austin had nothing but time to kill, and was engaged in my questions about calls, super bowls (he refed super bowl 31, by the way) and the lockout. It was an outstanding conversation.

Then, after the game, I ran into Mr. Austin again at the Sky Lounge. Now that we somewhat knew each other, I felt comfortable throwing my bags on the ground and sighing "Gerry, help me out. I'm sad, man. I'm real sad." He replied "You should be sad. You got screwed, and more than once."

We talked for another hour. We talked with the only annoying Seahawk fan I met all night (the Hawk fans were a blast, man). To be clear, they never showed the replay at the game. So, we walked out assuming it was a catch and there was no controversy to be had (I can only assume they didn't show it because there would have been fights in the stands). Once we got to the airport, I had dozens of Hawk fans approach me and my bro-in-law, apologizing. "You got screwed man. I'm not complaining and I feel like we deserve this [referring to the super bowl they lost on bad officiating] but you got hosed" said one humbled, yet inwardly geeked out 'hawk backer.

Now, the story on that one obnoxious Seahawk fan is another great story with an amazingly satisfying response from Mr. Austin, but where the hell do I write about this? Is anyone even reading this? Or cares? I don't know, I'm still on cloud 9 after this loss. What a weekend.

0 points
0
0
PackersRS's picture

September 26, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Keep going please.

0 points
0
0
jack in jersey city's picture

September 26, 2012 at 12:54 pm

let's hear the rest of it!

0 points
0
0
Tommyboy's picture

September 26, 2012 at 02:03 pm

Man, I have so many stories from this weekend, but this is one of my favorites. Real quickly (because I missed Monday/Tuesday at work and will be up late catching up)...

So, once I got upstairs and engaged Mr. Austin in the conversation, he started going over several of the bad calls.

Now, before I rag on this one obnoxious fan who was within ear-shot of all of this, I will say that all of my interactions with Seahawk fans were great. They were sincerely outstanding before, during, and after the game. They knew the difference between raggin' on you for fun, and taking that to a level of personal disrespect. They could take it just as well as they could dish it out. Sincerely, I was impressed.

This one annoying Hawker (who somehow reminded me of Biff from Back to the Future...not for his physical presence but for his ability to clumsily fail at life)leaned in and started talking about how much the refs favored the Packers in this game. While I think it's undeniable that a few calls went in the Packers favor that weren't really there or simply omitted, I think it's hard to come away with a sense that the Hawks got screwed. The fan asked Mr. Austin about five or six different calls, and Mr. Austin refuted all but one (I can't recall the one off hand). Essentially, Mr. Austin was saying the Packers got screwed a lot outside of even the last play. Over time, Biff visibly grew increasingly frustrated. Finally, he paired a couple questions into one giant cluster of a question as if he wanted to consume his humility into one king-sized bite. He dialed up his Biffness with furrowed brows, squared his shoulders and asked Mr. Austin "Well, I was AT the game! What angles are you looking at, and what makes you think you know the rules better than anyone else?"

I perked up (I was sitting right next to the former official).

Very cordially, Mr. Austin replied "Well, I wasn't sitting in the nosebleeds, I was sitting next to Gruden in the booth, reviewing 28 different angles. Also, I know the rules because I was an official in the NFL for 27 years, including three super bowls, and now am a consultant for ESPN."

With palms up and bowed head, Biff reluctantly submitted as the aire of tension was replaced by determined squelcing of laughter. It was momentarily awkward for one and satisfying for the rest.

We then got to chat with Gerry for another 45 minutes before he boarded his plane. My bro-in-law got an inviation to enteratain at one of his upcoming parties where other NFL officials are to attend at some big golf course (I don't know golf, but evidently it's a well known course).

Just before he left though, they were showing the replay again and Biff couldn't help but elude to his uncertainty if that was not indeed a Seahawk touchdown. The bartender, who is also a Seahawk fan and handled himself with class, couldn't help himself..."Sir, with all due respect, no reasonable person can conclude that that was anything but an interception."

Biff submitted again.

Never have I felt so satisfied after a loss...especially one like this...

0 points
0
0
Jeffrey Hoffman's picture

September 27, 2012 at 12:38 pm

Awesome story Tommyboy!!!!!!!!

0 points
0
0