Why all the media attention re: officiating?

[PittPatriot]

All season long we have complained about the terrible officiating that the NFL 'kept in store' for our Pats. I thought the Indy game could have been lost just on the bad calls...but we came through. Nobody was bringing this up...maybe Bill Simmons or a hometown guy, but otherwise the National media ignored it.

Now, every ESPN reporter is bringing in the obligatory "late calls that could have gone either way" comment regarding the Patriots victory. If not that, then the timeout on 4th and One when Brady's progress was stopped. Can't we catch a break from the talking heads?!

 

[A.C Vegas]

how about on the hail mary and Jaws see Asante getting tackled I think Trieco says " they are not calling that this late" that is freaking reduclous

 

[Eugene Chung]

how about on the hail mary and Jaws see Asante getting tackled I think Trieco says " they are not calling that this late" that is freaking reduclous

It was Jaws. Tirico mentioned that Mason tackled Samuel to which Jaws said they shouldn't call that this late in the game. Pretty ridiculous.

 

[jamin3204]

All season long we have complained about the terrible officiating that the NFL 'kept in store' for our Pats. I thought the Indy game could have been lost just on the bad calls...but we came through. Nobody was bringing this up...maybe Bill Simmons or a hometown guy, but otherwise the National media ignored it.

Now, every ESPN reporter is bringing in the obligatory "late calls that could have gone either way" comment regarding the Patriots victory. If not that, then the timeout on 4th and One when Brady's progress was stopped. Can't we catch a break from the talking heads?!

What goes around comes around. This board has been full of whiners all year telling everyone how the Pats got screwed on call by the officials. Everyone is tired of hearing Pats fans cry. So when the situation is reversed and the Pats get some breaks on calls.....people aren't going to let it go because you have been crying so much all year!

 

[speed]

What goes around comes around. This board has been full of whiners all year telling everyone how the Pats got screwed on call by the officials. Everyone is tired of hearing Pats fans cry. So when the situation is reversed and the Pats get some breaks on calls.....people aren't going to let it go because you have been crying so much all year!

Well thats another generalization, but I can see how people feel this way, big time, the backlash.

I don't think the actual team has cried at all and I don't think a big chunk of Pat fans cried.

However I completely feel that way towards the constant crying by that group of fans. Go to the game time thread, lol, they wanted a hold every play, well, there is a hold every play, both ways.

Anyway, no disrespect, but I completely see why they'd get this backlash. Again, I never blame or point to officiating in any game, ever. There are too many things you can control to win, no reason to cry about officiating.

 

[ATippett56]

The NFL officials have been terrible this season and that includes non-Patriot football games, as well.

 

[xmarkd400x]

I guarantee you that non-OPI call would have been made if that play was a TD.

 

[FrontSeven]

how about on the hail mary and Jaws see Asante getting tackled I think Trieco says " they are not calling that this late" that is freaking reduclous

He meant that the game was over, moron.

 

[speed]

The thing is that the officials clearly got the calls right here.

Its not like you could compare the ridiculous Moss offensive PI penalties or the phantom PI penalty against the Colts to anything that happened here. What was the worst call that was made here? The holding on 4th down where the Ravens player clearly is grabbing Watson 10 yards downfield? Or the TD catch that even if it was reversed, the Pats still would have had 1st and goal from the 2.

All this backlash is fueled by the fact that everyone wanted the Pats to lose. thats all.

"Clearly" is always subjective thats the issue, so its never "clearly".

You can point out bad calls and non calls in all games, its that simple to me.

I actually did see someone on the game thread acknowledge the "clear" block in the back on that long LM dump off pass.

There was a big deal on here about a Pats player getting his helmet knocked off in the Colts/Pat game and the first picture I see the next day in the Indy Star is a Colts player with his helmet (or hat as my wife calls it) ripped off. I mean its all subjective. I never ever never blame officiating. Its food for victim type thinking.

I'm just making an observation here that I agree its a backlash for all of the complaining done before.

 

[sieglo]

I guarantee you that non-OPI call would have been made if that play was a TD.

Really? There weren't any flags on the ground from what I could see.... And for all the official knows there is still a second left on the clock.

Brady had it right: For three quarters the calls and the luck went the Ravens' way. Then it changed. It tends to even out. (Unless you're playing the Colts, of course).

 

[speed]

The NFL officials have been terrible this season and that includes non-Patriot football games, as well.

This I completely agree with, in most every game I've seen, you see poor calls. Winning challenges are running rampant.

 

[patchick]

I guarantee you that non-OPI call would have been made if that play was a TD.

I had the same thought. If it's a pointless flag that would just get the crowd's hopes up for a moment, forget it. If they actually score, throw the flag late. Could well be.

Sure made Boller's stats look better though! That was 1/4 of his total passing yards.

 

[speed]

I guarantee you that non-OPI call would have been made if that play was a TD.

I thought the same thing. I think that is a completely designed play the league will show to the refs now to make sure it doesn't happen again. The guy (Mason?) mugged held and pushed 2 guys (Samuel and another defender) to get the other receiver open.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

He meant that the game was over, moron.

I don't see how it matters a.s.s wipe

You call the game correctly. Why should Boller get an extra 50 yards passing when clearly Asante was tackled on the play to allow the catch?

I don't care if the game is effectively over or not. It made it look like Balt ALMOST won the game with that play, when in reality, they threw up a sure INT that turned into a near TD by an obvious penalty.

 

[speed]

Just to put the whole clearly thing in perspective and the subjectivity about it. Here is a post from the Indystar by a Colts fan on the opposite side of the spectrum.

Interesting to me because you have the Pats fans who blame every bad play on officiating and here is the way other side of that.

Keep in mind this is the same crap, Colts fans hear from other teams fans.

Dude kinda bashes my point of view that the officiating is just bad period.

I'll delete this if its deemed instigating or inappropriate.
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Originally Posted by LarryBirdPATS
The refereeing in this league has been crap all year and, yet again, I think both teams can gripe about calls and non-calls from last night.
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Posted by Detroit Colts

No. Shut up. STFU. The game didn't not happen that way.

Stop acting like it did.

Your team just got handed a victory. 100% completely handed a victory. The holding call on Winborn was bogus, you do not call a ticky tack holding call on 4 and 5 with the game on the line. Never. Ever.

The Gaffney catch was bogus, the ball is clearly rotating on its axis as he transfers from one hand to another...that's not possession, that's not a touchdown.

Thomas ripped Boller's head off not 10 feet in front of the official. No call. Moss runs directly into Rolle, PI on Rolle.

Shut up. Enjoy your victory and stop trying to "spin" this into a "refs suck all over" BS becuase that is not what happened. Your team is very, very, very good, but last night they won the game due to the biased efforts of the refs.

Orchestrated? Of course not. But the bottom line is they got most if not all of the calls. Don't insult our collective intellegence and act like it happened any other way.

 

[mdhprime]

The one officiating detail that always sticks out to me in a game like this is the lack of holding calls. The Ravens gave up no sacks and had a good running game, but holding was never called once??? I think that is what Vrabel went off on at the end of the game and probably accounts for some of the Ravens success on offense. I am not making excuses for the Patriots front seven....they played poorly, but I do not think the officiating was equitable for the first three quarters of the game.

 

[upstater1]

Well thats another generalization, but I can see how people feel this way, big time, the backlash.

I don't think the actual team has cried at all and I don't think a big chunk of Pat fans cried.

However I completely feel that way towards the constant crying by that group of fans. Go to the game time thread, lol, they wanted a hold every play, well, there is a hold every play, both ways.

Anyway, no disrespect, but I completely see why they'd get this backlash. Again, I never blame or point to officiating in any game, ever. There are too many things you can control to win, no reason to cry about officiating.

The fact is, if the offensive linemen are taking down defenders (we're not talking hand holds, but tackles) then that defense isn't going to stop anyone. The Dolphins will beat the Patriots and Colts back to back if allowed to hold and tackle all day. This is how unheard of teams slay the giants in college. The refs stop calling holds and crackbacks.

 

[speed]

The fact is, if the offensive linemen are taking down defenders (we're not talking hand holds, but tackles) then that defense isn't going to stop anyone. The Dolphins will beat the Patriots and Colts back to back if allowed to hold and tackle all day. This is how unheard of teams slay the giants in college. The refs stop calling holds and crackbacks.

Thanks for the response.

And is it believed that the Ravens held and crackbacked most of the game and was not called for it, while the Pats did not have the same uncalled infractions?

If that is your opinion, I respect that, I just never ever believe in it being one sided over the course of a game and never ever believe it should be an excuse.

I bet there is a similar discussion to this on the Ravens board, right now. How the Ravens were done wrong by officiating. Who's right?