The Officiating....Not Good....

I'm not going to sit here and say that the Pats lost because of the officials, but we are just not getting the benefit of calls and at some point at the end of the 3rd quarter, I realized that I am getting "conditioned" to bad calls that are constantly going against the Pats.

Also, wasn't the head ref of last nights game the same guy who completely screwed up the playoff game in Denver last year? Is that rubbing salt in the wound or what? Is this the NFL's idea of a joke?

I am sadly coming to the conclusion that despite our national fan base and popularity, the NFL is tired of one team winning the SuperBowl repeatedly and will prevent us from getting within sniffing distance of one for the next few years. Its great for us when we win, but not good for the balance in the NFL and ultimately, not good for business.

When the NFL allows for road teams to play as aggressively as they want while tempering the home team enough from getting home field advantage, it would seem the writing is on the wall. The NFL has tired of our winning ways and wants to see others succeed. Thats good news for the Bengals. They are generating excitement and will benefit hugely for that from the NFL.

There were a few bad calls like the Kevin Faulk being held one but it didnt matter the penalties would have offset. The defense let up big plays and stunk.

The officiating was not the main reason the Pats lost (those would be, inability to stop Denver on 3 & Long and unable to move the ball consistently on offense) but it was a factor. You know it's bad when the crowd is chanting "Bull-sh*t".

Some of those pass interference and roughing the passer calls were iffy at best. The offsetting penalties not resulting in a re-kick.

Even if some of those calls went the Pats way, I don't think they would have won. Madden, in a rare moment of clarity, was right. They played with no emotion resulting in a big, fat "L".

Kdo5 said:

There were a few bad calls like the Kevin Faulk being held one but it didnt matter the penalties would have offset. The defense let up big plays and stunk.

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But it only takes ONE bad call to change the outcome of the game....For example Warrens personal foul roughing the passer.....That was a bad call....Plummer got hit a millisecond after releasing the ball. It's the type of hit that Brady takes Every stinkin week and NEVER gets that call. It seems like we have been getting called for offensive pass interference every week since last year.

There is not a balance of calls with the Pats. They have to beat the other team while overcoming the referees. And I know that we have done that many times in the last 5 years but at some point it starts getting ridiculous.

I hate the rule where the receiver has to catch the ball and make a "football move" before it can be ruled a fumble. The tight end caught the ball, took three steps and got jacked. The Pats should have been given the fumble recovery. Not that the officials blew that call but it's a bogus rule. The guy had control and a turn over at that point could have turned the game around. I wonder if officials seem to give Shanahan more benefit of the doubt.

It just seemed that whenever there was a flag that it was on the Pats. At one point they were throwing so many flags I thought they were gonna flag the guy for puking on the field.

FloridaPatsFan said:

But it only takes ONE bad call to change the outcome of the game....For example Warrens personal foul roughing the passer.....That was a bad call....Plummer got hit a millisecond after releasing the ball. It's the type of hit that Brady takes Every stinkin week and NEVER gets that call. It seems like we have been getting called for offensive pass interference every week since last year.

There is not a balance of calls with the Pats. They have to beat the other team while overcoming the referees. And I know that we have done that many times in the last 5 years but at some point it starts getting ridiculous.

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The officiating was very 1 sided last night, and who's to say it didn't cost us the game? If those calls were evened out, we may have "won ugly" even though we were outplayed at the LOS.

These are the ones right off the top of my head:

- the bogus Samuel PI call, when both players had a right to that spot

- the Denver fullback fumble that was ruled no fumble even after he took a step after catching and before the hit. That could have been the game-changer right there.

- the 30-yard PI call against Sanders. Very ticky-tack.

- the missed hold/tackle on Faulk on that attempted screen pass

- on the same play, the bs offensive PI on Caldwell, who was 20 yards downfield attempting to block for the screen pass

- the offsetting penalties (2 againt Denver, 1 against the Pats) that negated Faulk's great punt return, leading to a re-kick with much worse field position. Yet later in the game, offsetting penalties on another punt led to leaving the ball at the point of return. Something wasn't right in all that.

- the PI that wasn't called on the Pats last drive, I think it was Gabriel that was hit before the ball arrived, a low pass in front of the Denver bench.

The officiating was real bad, but no, it was a different head official than in last year's playoff loss - that was Triplett.

Bargod said:

I hate the rule where the receiver has to catch the ball and make a "football move" before it can be ruled a fumble. The tight end caught the ball, took three steps and got jacked. The Pats should have been given the fumble recovery. Not that the officials blew that call but it's a bogus rule. The guy had control and a turn over at that point could have turned the game around. I wonder if officials seem to give Shanahan more benefit of the doubt.

It just seemed that whenever there was a flag that it was on the Pats. At one point they were throwing so many flags I thought they were gonna flag the guy for puking on the field.

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Damm, another one that I forgot. The NFL changed the rules this past offseason specifically so plays like this would be allowed to continue.

So that is two bogus PI calls, an obvious hold on Faulk not called, a non-hold called on Light that negated a 15 yard gain, a BS roughing the passer and two times where the play should have been allowed to continue where NE recovered fumbles.

The Patriots were pretty bad, but the officials were far worse.

40yrpatsfan said:

The officiating was very 1 sided last night, and who's to say it didn't cost us the game? If those calls were evened out, we may have "won ugly" even though we were outplayed at the LOS.

These are the ones right off the top of my head:

- the bogus Samuel PI call, when both players had a right to that spot

- the Denver fullback fumble that was ruled no fumble even after he took a step after catching and before the hit. That could have been the game-changer right there.

- the 30-yard PI call against Sanders. Very ticky-tack.
- the missed hold/tackle on Faulk on that attempted screen pass

- on the same play, the bs offensive PI on Caldwell, who was 20 yards downfield attempting to block for the screen pass

- the offsetting penalties (2 againt Denver, 1 against the Pats) that negated Faulk's great punt return, leading to a re-kick with much worse field position. Yet later in the game, offsetting penalties on another punt led to leaving the ball at the point of return. Something wasn't right in all that.

- the PI that wasn't called on the Pats last drive, I think it was Gabriel that was hit before the ball arrived, a low pass in front of the Denver bench.
The officiating was real bad, but no, it was a different head official than in last year's playoff loss - that was Triplett.

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1) It wasn't ticky-tack! It was obvious offensive PI! The receiver gave Sanders a two-handed shove!

2) One the Denver punt, their penalty was prior to the punt. On the NE punt, both penalties were after the kick. Odd, isn't it? That Denver would benefit from their own penalty? But it is still right. One other thing, with Denver's facemask penalty and another unnecessary penalty on a punt that ended up on the five, Denver was penalized a total of 2.5 yards for two personal fouls.

3) Damm, another one that I forgot.

Bargod said:

I hate the rule where the receiver has to catch the ball and make a "football move" before it can be ruled a fumble. The tight end caught the ball, took three steps and got jacked. The Pats should have been given the fumble recovery. Not that the officials blew that call but it's a bogus rule.

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We were screaming at the television for BB to challenge that call. Under the new rule it is reviewable. I thought it was worth the shot at changing the momentum of the game.

Murphys95 said:

We were screaming at the television for BB to challenge that call. Under the new rule it is reviewable. I thought it was worth the shot at changing the momentum of the game.

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I don't believe that this is accurate. Under the new rules the officials were supposed to let the play happen, then let the challenges fly.

Once they blow the whistles there is nothing to challenge, as the after-fumble portion of the play wasn't allowed to develop.

Why Jerry Austin is still allowed to call games is beyond me. He has screwed up so many games over the past few years (Patriots and others.) Anyone remember the Miami coin toss? He can't even get simple things right.

Kdo5 said:

There were a few bad calls like the Kevin Faulk being held one but it didnt matter the penalties would have offset. The defense let up big plays and stunk.

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There wouldn't have been a penalty on Caldwell if Faulk hadn't been tackled. Caldwell did what he had to do, block the receiver downfield after Faulk caught the ball.

upstater1 said:

There wouldn't have been a penalty on Caldwell if Faulk hadn't been tackled. Caldwell did what he had to do, block the receiver downfield after Faulk caught the ball.

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But it was a bad call even if Faulk didn't/couldn't catch it. Otherwise, any incomplete screen pass would have those penalties, as there are always guys downfield blocking. That was a ludicrous call - it was bad enough they missed the hold on Faulk, but then to pile on with that call was amazing.

Oswlek said:

1) It wasn't ticky-tack! It was obvious offensive PI! The receiver gave Sanders a two-handed shove!

2) One the Denver punt, their penalty was prior to the punt. On the NE punt, both penalties were after the kick. Odd, isn't it? That Denver would benefit from their own penalty? But it is still right. One other thing, with Denver's facemask penalty and another unnecessary penalty on a punt that ended up on the five, Denver was penalized a total of 2.5 yards for two personal fouls.

3) Damm, another one that I forgot.

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1) yeah, I'd kind of forgotten that the receiver pushed off

My seats are 2 rows in front of the Visiting radio announcers. We were screaming at them after some of the weak calls and one guy in their booth was just laughing about it. The guy next to me was getting more and more agitated about the laughing so a cop came down and motioned for him to cool it.

Oswlek said:

I don't believe that this is accurate. Under the new rules the officials were supposed to let the play happen, then let the challenges fly.

Once they blow the whistles there is nothing to challenge, as the after-fumble portion of the play wasn't allowed to develop.

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Here's the verbiage for the new rule: Down by contact calls may be reviewed by instant replay. Previously, a fumble was not reviewable if the ball carrier was ruled down by contact. If the ruling of down by contact is changed, the ball belongs to the recovering player at the spot of the recovery of the fumble.

In other words, the players no longer "play to the whistle". Last night's play was blown dead, but should have still been reviewable under the new rule.

Jeff F'in Triplette was the ref for the January Denver game, not Austin.

Is everyone forgetting about the NO FUMBLE call in the third quarter. HUGE PLAY, that didn't go our way. But we didn't deserve to win.

All of these bad breaks/calls are becoming a blur of referee blunder that goes on game after game. It's to the point that I'm becoming numb to it, and that is what really shocks me when I think enough about it. Half the time, I'm yelling at the TV for BB to throw the challenge flag.....and it never comes. Even the guys in the booth calling the games are questioning the calls and that is a "broadcast boo-boo". But they are usually ex-players who can see what bad calls are and by nature are second guessing it.

But thanks for all your points about what I feel is killing the Pats....The refs.

They simply are not going to let us play our style of football.....the style that brought championships to this great city.

There is no excuse to Pats loss. Excuses are for others.