Football thoughts - week 19
 

One thing that has stood out to me in the post season is the refereeing. Especially in the defensive backfield. I know refs supposedly don't want to decide the game. But not calling a mugging, a grab on a jersey, holding down the field is deciding the game.

And it is really bothersome when the calls are off balance, namely vs one team. KC has themselves to blame for allowing Tennessee to make a comeback. But the refs may have let the window stay open a little longer than it should have been. Then the Titans got it in reverse the next week vs the Pats. You hear all the time " Bad calls happen all the time". True, but the law of averages say it should happen both ways. It's a terrible look when one team has to endure official incompetence.......


......Anyone think the replay officials have been reminded about the "indisputable evidence" clause in recent weeks?......


......Mike Mularkey thinks he's loyal. That's why he left the Titans instead of making changes to his staff. He's not loyal. He's stupid. I know you may not want to fire a close colleague. But once it's made clear a couple of coaches have to go, or everyone will go, it seems like you would show loyalty to the remaining members of your staff and help them keep their jobs. Now everybody is looking for work........


........The story is Big Ben & Todd Haley had a personality clash. If the reports are true, it's silly on both parties part. But especially Haley. From what I've read, Haley is, in a word, "intense". An "in your face" type of coach. When you have a talented player, your job as a coach is to adjust in the best way that gets the most out of him. Not everyone responds to a profanity laced tirade. Others need to get their butts kicked every once in a while. When you see your player is chafing under your style, especially if it involves yelling, how hard is it to be nicer to another human being? It's a sorry show seeing a productive tandem broken up because they couldn't just try to get along during work hours.......


........My favorite video of the Minny Miracle. Put on your earphones & just listen to the stadium. The volume from TV doesn't do the moment justice......


......So far in the playoffs, I'm 2-2 each week. I'm predicting the Patriots & Vikings this Sunday. I have to say the way Minny won last week has got me nervous. To me, it is kind of hard to get the hormones pumping early in a game after a miraculous buzzer beater the game before.......


.....What happened to Rich Kotite?

Refereeing is very inconsistent. Not just game to game, but in the same game as well, that's what aggravates me. It's hard for players to adjust when they don't know what is expected of them.

They need to go back to the old rules for DBs vs WRs. Don't call anything other than an obvious hold. The way it is now they can call a foul on just about every play if they wanted. And seemingly pick and choose at random.

I can’t see the Jags beating the Patriots, I hope they do because the Patriots bore me. I’ve watched the NFL through the 49ers, Cowboys, Broncos, Redskins winning it in quick succession but those teams even though they’d beat my Packers somewhere along the line didn’t bore me, the Patriots do that’s why I hope the Jags win but I can’t see it. Patriots win.

The Eagles and Vikings game is closer to pick but I can’t see anything but a Vikings win, bit of a scare last week against New Orleans but personally I think the Saints are a better team than Philadelphia. Vikings win.

Personally I hope I’m wrong on both games as I’d like to see a Jacksonville/Philadelphia Super Bowl but I’m thinking it will be a Vikings/Patriots Super Bowl with the Patriots winning it, oh joy :rolleyes:

ps

I’m actually just looking forward to Oct 14 when I get to tick 2 more NFL teams of my watch live list.

Cobra, your Mularkey bit is dead on point. Nice job.

I certainly hope so. My personal take on review is that plays should only be overturned if the call on the field was clearly incorrect. Stop micromanaging the game.

3-1 last week on winners, 2-1-1 vs the spread... 5-3 for the playoffs on winners, 5-2-1 vs the spread...

Brady's health is the big question in the Pats/Jags game, but I'm taking the Pats to win regardless. When the spread was 9 1/2 (and no Brady injury) I woulda taken the points. Now that it's 7.5, I'm going with Brady being healthy and giving the points... As for Vikes & Iggles, I think it's a tossup, so I'm definitely taking Philly +3, and picking them to win simply because of HFA. But I think I'd slightly prefer to see Minny vs NE in the Big Game.

While I agree in principle, I think the problem is in determining exactly what is and what isn't clearly incorrect. As an example, I can line up right now about 10 buddies who thought Jesse James scored a TD vs the Pats a few weeks ago, and 10 other buddies who thought it was incomplete.

Which makes it disputable. Which means the call on the field stands. That's the way the system is supposed to operate.

Which may, or may not, make it disputable... depending upon who's doing the looking ;)

We should be looking forward to a Jacksonville and Philadelphia Super Bowl if it weren’t for officials.

Wait... you think the officials caused the Jaguars to lose that game? For real?

The fumble was recovered the Jags player was untouched so should have been allowed to run the ball in for a TD, no way was a Patriot going to stop him but the official blew his whistle which was the only way he was stopped from scoring. Jags would have still been in front when they got the ball back at the end needing to run the clock down then taking a FG instead of having to score a TD. Yes for real!

First off, if you have to point at one play as the reason a team lost, then you need to go back and look at a whole lot of other plays that had an influence on the outcome.

And what makes you so confident that the Jaguars player would've taken that ball all the way back for a touchdown? It's easy to get up off the ground and start running real fast when the rest of the players have stopped playing because they heard whistles.

Please don't sink down to the level of blaming the officiating for the outcome of what ended up being a pretty good football game.

1) It was a blown call simple as that.

2) I can’t think of a penalty thrown against the Patriots that wasn’t warranted, as most of the Jags penalties were warranted.

3) Look at the replay there wasn’t a Patriot within yards of him, in fact the nearest was Fleming an OT who even he would admit he isn’t catching Jack who had at least a 5 yard start on him with blockers.

4) If Jack had been allowed to score your talking Jacksonville being 27-10 up with 13 minutes left, totally different game.

And why is it sinking down to a level when officials make a mistake? If a blown call changes a game, you could see Jacks reaction on what he thought. I’m betting he’s happy as Larry this morning that he isn’t playing in a Super Bowl a chance that may never happen again in his career all because a ref may have changed the game something that should be down to skill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOX-IymctMY

There's a lot of if and other speculative conjecture in your statement.

And if you watch it all in context, you'll see that Jack's reaction is because he must think that the referees are calling the runner down by contact. Because after he shows his displeasure, he starts doing the turnover signal and then celebrates when the referees signal that it was a turnover.

And you saw the play on your TV at full speed when it first happened and definitively knew that it was a fumble with no contact between Jack and the Patriots player and that without the whistle it was an automatic touchdown going back the other way?

Maybe I should take my leave of this thread now because I think it would be pointless for me to continue the discussion.

He does have a point. That blown call was a big play in the game. If he doesn't score, he comes damn close to it. Also keep in mind that many of the players stopped before the whistle because it looked like he was down.

I'm not saying the Patriots would have lost as a result. All I am saying is that was a bigtime blown call that could have changed the course of the game in a best case scenario. But what uk says IMO is most likely true. A TD early in the 4th. No other realistic way to look at it.

You can't just say no matter what the refs do, and no matter how they mess up that they cannot change the complexion of a game. Of course they can.

Patriots had one penalty called on them. Last time a team had one penalty called in a conf championship game was 2011. Patriots vs the Ravens. Hmmmmm

The first Jags PI, the one after the Gronk hit, was questionable IMO. I thought it was indicative of the way refs have been this postseason. Normal hand fighting & contact you see every game that every once in awhile gets called for some reason while muggings are sometimes ignored. You don't know what is legal & what isn't. The 2nd PI was on point as was the helmet to helmet on Gronk.

I think we could all take the Jags flags if the Pats had a couple more penalties themselves. It's hard to contemplate how NE could not have committed one violation on offense or defense for 60 minutes. The company line is "you can't zero in on one play" or "bad & missed calls happen every game". True. But since that is so, why does one team always seem to never suffer from that happening? The law of averages says what goes around comes around, karma, yin & yang yada, yada, yada. The Pats seem to never post game have occasion to rip the zebras. The only one I can remember was when Luke Kuechly had a PI reversed, giving the Panthers a win over NE. Otherwise, the Raiders, Steelers, Colts, Ravens, Jags etc all have tales of refs giving the Pats a break.

Hmmmm.......

Hmmmm.......Part 2

Not sure how you wanted me to word it. “Jack should have been allowed to continue” it’s only one word changed. What actually gets me about the play is why not play the advantage, Football is the perfect sport that you can let a play continue as if it is called back you know the exact time it should go back to, you also know the exact spot it should go back to. I see no reason to blow an early whistle unless it’s 100%. Not sure why you would take leave, the main thing about following sport is having a discussion.

To emphasize your point, years ago the refs were given a memorandum to be slow about the whistles to avoid situations like that.

The league suspends the best player in the league and takes away two important draft picks and then conspires to give them favorable calls?
That does not smell right at all.

Everyone acts like it is an NFL conspiracy. There doesn't have to be an organized, conscious, planned agenda here. It can just be the normal every day prejudices all human beings have. I don't believe the NFL front office has mandated the Pats win. But are there Belichek/Brady fans among the officials? Do the zebras assume a disciplinarian coach would have disciplined his players to commit zero penalties? Could be. Just like college refs assume a flopping dook defender must have drawn the charge.