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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Cortland Finnegan praises the replacement refs for letting players play. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The NFL\u00A0replacement\u00A0refs have\u00A0been catching a lot of flack as of late.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the\u00A0past week, one sideline ref was notified hours before a Carolina Panthers-New Orleans Saints\u00A0game that he could not report to the game\u00A0that he had been scheduled to officiate:\u00A0pictures of him donning Saints gear while tailgating at\u00A0a preseason\u00A0Saints game\u00A0had been found on Facebook.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then there was the ref who supposedly told the Eagles'\u00A0LeSean McCoy in the middle of a game that he needs him to play well for his fantasy\u00A0team.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But one player who is actually singing the praise of the highly criticized\u00A0replacement refs is the St. Louis Rams' Cortland Finnegan. His compliments may not come as much of a\u00A0surprise given\u00A0that it was Finnegan who seemed to escape from\u00A0a penalty\u00A0after bumping the Washington Redskins receiver Josh Morgan, who responded by throwing the football at Finnegan. Morgan got flagged with a penalty and Finnegan walked away without repercussion. The Rams ended up winning 31-28 in their Week 2 matchup.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;The St. Louis Dispatch&lt;/em&gt;, Finnegan said he appreciates that the replacement referees let the players play:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThey just let you play football,\u201D Finnegan said. \u201CThey let you play football out there, and that\u2019s one of those things you enjoy.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He went on to take a jab at NFL\u00A0Commissioner Roger Goodell, saying that it is because of the him that the\u00A0league's style of play has taken a turn for the worse:\"I\u00A0admire the old-school players. The [Jack] Tatums, you know, the Mean Joe Greenes. Those guys played football. . . . That was football. It\u2019s been watered down since, with the commissioner and the rules.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/si-wire/2012/09/20/cortland-finnegan-replacement-refs-rams>