The NFL released a statement on Monday showing support for their replacement officials, after a weekend of criticism from media, players and coaches across the league.
"Officiating is never perfect," the statement said. "The current officials have made great strides and are performing admirably under unprecedented scrutiny and great pressure. As we do every season, we will work to improve officiating and are confident that the game officials will show continued improvement."
The NFL's replacement officials appeared to be at least minimally competent during the first week of football, but Week 2 saw things start to quickly fall apart as officials began to lose control of multiple games across the league.
Sunday began with an official being pulled from his game because of his hidden fandom of one of the teams. Officials appeared close to losing control in the Eagles and Ravens game and the Rams-Redskins affair featured more of the same: blown calls and an officiating crew that seemed to have no ability to gain control of the game.
Andrew Sharp of SBNation.com notes that the NFL doesn't care about the perception of the officiating and doesn't need to, considering the ubiquitous nature of the league itself.
The players and teams are more vocal than ever about the level of officiating in NFL games this season; how long before the NFL and the real referees reach an agreement is still unknown.
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