OK, we all know the situation in the NFL and officiating is an inexact science but I'm going to focus my comment on the Seahawk-Cardinal game. For those of you who missed it, here's the backround on it:

(CBS/AP) GLENDALE, Ariz. - Replacement officials in Sunday's game between Arizona and Seattle made a mistake by awarding the Seahawks an extra timeout in the closing seconds.


Seahawks coach Pete Carroll called timeout with 30 seconds left, but the officials had announced two plays earlier Seattle used its last one when receiver Doug Baldwin was injured.


After huddling, then meeting with two different people from the sideline, the officials determined the previous stoppage had been on an incomplete pass, so the Seahawks were not charged with a timeout.


Under NFL rules, teams are required to use a timeout for an injured player in the final two minutes, whether the clock is running or not.


The mistake didn't end up having an impact on the game; Seattle failed to score on four plays inside Arizona's 6-yard line as the Cardinals held on for a 20-16 win.


"It was my error," referee Bruce Hermansen said in a statement. "We gave them (Seattle) the additional timeout because of the incomplete pass stopping the clock before the injury occurred. When in effect, the clock has no bearing on the play at all, whether it's stopped or running, we should not have given them the additional timeout."


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-...extra-timeout/

Now I saw it live and let me re-cap it. They granted a timeout after Seattle ran the ball up the middle on 1st and goal from about 8 yd line with 0:30 left. As the article states, they already had announced that Seattle was out of TOs. Then they huddled and talked extensively with "the booth" as the Cardinals were yelling that the 'Hawks were out of TOs. There was a saignificant delay. Finally the head ref announces that Seattle was awarded a TO here because they incorrectly ruled earlier that they be charged with an injury TO because that play was on an incomplete pass.

So my question is this: after consulting with people "upstairs" who supposedly had access to a rulebook, how did they get this call wrong? As the article above states the ref admitted after the game that he was wrong and the injury TO should have been charged regardless of whether the clock was stopped or not.

I get that bad judgements are made in the heat of the moment and split second decisions sometimes need to be made but that's not what happened here. In this case the refs had time to consult and come to a sound decision. Given all that, they still blew it which leads to my question:

Why should this ref be brought back for any more NFL games? He should be gone and sent back to do college div 2, 3 or wherever he came from. This sort of egregious error is inexcusable