So you guys know the reason the officials suck IS NOT the NFL or Goodell its the refs union.
I agree with most of your post, except for this part. Goodell and the NFL has watered down the game so that an incidental swipe on a QB's shoulder pad can now be interpreted as roughing the passer, and they've made all kinds of rules to favor the offense at the expense of the defense. The latter is a trend that goes back to the 1978 rule changes, and I while I agree with some of those, I think in recent years (and
especially in Goodell's tenure), the pendulum has swung way too far.
The other thing they are doing, in the name of safety, is trying to use the rulebook to take all of the physical risks of playing the game out of it, and that is further reducing the quality of the product on the field across all 32 teams. The concern about player's health post-career is legitimate, but at the same time you have to simply accept that there are occupational hazards that can't be eliminated by changes in the rulebook. They have gone too far in trying to do so.
Before players enter the league, they should have everything spelled out for them. Here are the health risks of a career in the NFL ... brain damage from high speed collisions, limbs not functioning properly, etc., etc., ... do you still want to play?
I find it ridiculous the way they have watered down football with this stuff, it would be like changing boxing so that you are not allowed to punch a guy in the head.
I once heard some state about society in general (but this applies to football now) is that it would be nice if we could find a happy medium between Sparta and Oprah. Right now the NFL is moving much more into the Oprah direction.
You take all that, which is the NFL's/Goodell's doing, and combine it with the ref's union you discussed, throw in all the subjective rules that are hard to interpret and easily twisted, and you've got a recipe for a sh!tty product and one that is open to malfeasance to boot.