Mike Pereira on NFL officiating clinic 2014.

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 6h
Interesting day at NFL officiating clinic. Biggest point of emphasis for 2014..Illegal contact and defensive holding. More offense!

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 6h
Last time the NFL had this as a major emphasis was 2004 and the number of illegal contact fouls went from 79 to 191.

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 6h
The League average last season was 48 points per game. I think that was an all-time record. How about a littlle balance.

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 6h
NFL says they are offsetting this emphasis with an emphasis on calling offensive pass interference. Not an even trade in my opinion.

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 5h
Honestly, I don't remember there being so many points of emphasis. Also, false starts, taunting, and others. I cover more later.

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 5h
Btw, officials were shown many plays regarding illegal contact and defensive holding. How many Seahawk plays???. None.

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 5h
VP of Officiating Dean Blandino and his staff did a great job today of telling officials clearly what is expected of them. 13 new officials

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 5h
That is it for me, tonight. Tomorrow is another day here at the officiating clinic. Will spend most of my time in Instant replay meetings.

I found Mike Pereira's tweets insightful; discussion worthy.

This stuff could really drop Seattle down a rung. They mess with the receivers as much, if not more than the Super Bowl Patriots. They are the most penalized team in the NFL. Could also mess with the Broncos a bit. They were called for 132 penalties last year for second most. New England Patriots were penalized 75 times, for comparison.

If (and this is always a big if) the refs call games more closely, I believe that will go in New England's favor.

Pereira's point about 2004 is encouraging. Bill Polian's competition committee whining was for nothing. The Patriot's won their third Super Bowl that season.

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 5h
Btw, officials were shown many plays regarding illegal contact and defensive holding. How many Seahawk plays???. None.

Prepare for now Patriot Browner to "suddenly" become a bad DB because of penalties and Revis to "decline" because of holding/PI calls. Manning's quest for a 2nd ring has been mandated by the league!

A defensive team wins the Lombardi, the league's golden boy finds his #1 opponent has just signed two very physical corners, and there's suddenly a huge emphasis on illegal contact and defensive holding.

I couldn't be more shocked!

Deus Irae said:

A defensive team wins the Lombardi, the league's golden boy finds his #1 opponent has just signed two very physical corners, and there's suddenly a huge emphasis on illegal contact and defensive holding. I couldn't be more shocked!

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Really hard not to connect these dots like this. And then equally hard not to get more cynical. Grrrr.

Deus Irae said:

A defensive team wins the Lombardi, the league's golden boy finds his #1 opponent has just signed two very physical corners, and there's suddenly a huge emphasis on illegal contact and defensive holding.

I couldn't be more shocked!

Click to expand...

No kidding. Manning gets killed in the Super Bowl after 2 straight weeks of the media/league anointing him the greatest of all time and then the Patriots sign the best corner in the league? If you didn't see this coming you haven't been paying attention for the past decade

The 2 times Manning has been embarrassed in big games by a defense the league has come running to try and help him out.

Just to add to the cynicism, funny they do this after the Patriots assemble an all world secondary.

PatsSox363804 said:

No kidding. Manning gets killed in the Super Bowl after 2 straight weeks of the media/league anointing him the greatest of all time and then the Patriots sign the best corner in the league? If you didn't see this coming you haven't been paying attention for the past decade

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Yep, definite pre-emptive strike.

I don't blame anyone for looking at this stuff cynically. It's hard to argue why this is happening.. but like I said, the Patriots won it all last time Manning got a league mandated boost.

Tweetgate....new "penalties" aimed directly at the Patriots new defensive backfield acquisitions...Dog Killer holding Joke-A-Paloozas....any word of Goodell's decision involving "pushing the pile"? will that be a Patriot exclusive penalty like last season again this year?

Kraft is blind to the dire threat right in his face, this scumbag Weaseldell.

Yeah. Sure. This is alllllllllllllllll one big conspiracy to help Peyton Manning. Because the Patriots don't have an all-world quarterback who will also benefit from tighter calls in the defensive secondary.

I assume that most of those changes are based on a number of plays that were sent to the league by various coaching staffs last year. With the rise of the Seahawks defense and their copycats, I can see multiple coaches sending in scenes every week.

And if defensive holding et al was among the most frequent culprits then there are only two ways to deal with that. Either you enforce the rulebook in a stricter manner, or adjust the rules to make some of the stuff that has been going on legal.

I guess we now know what the league decided to do..

You guys missed the big one:

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 5h
Honestly, I don't remember there being so many points of emphasis. Also, false starts, taunting, and others. I cover more later.

There are too many emphasises expect none to be enforced well. The key word is "well." Expect capricious calls.

lurker1965 said:

You guys missed the big one:

Mike Pereira @MikePereira · 5h
Honestly, I don't remember there being so many points of emphasis. Also, false starts, taunting, and others. I cover more later.

There are too many emphasises expect none to be enforced well. The key word is "well." Expect capricious calls.

Click to expand...

Yup. All these 'points of emphasis' will lead to confusion and inconsistency. So ... no change.

Elite QB Brady will benefit. Riiight! The non-call on Gronk's mauling in the EZ comes first to mind.

I'm with the crew here predicting continued capriciousness in these judgement calls.

It's not just Patriots fans who are cynical about this, either:

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?p=10756437#post10756437

If they are going to make pass interference even more of a point of emphasis than it already is, they absolutely have to move to the college rules and make it a 15 yard penalty. Too many games were affected by very questionable pass interference calls last year and I am not talking about Pats games (although they benefitted and were hindered by some bad PI calls that went against and for them).

In fairness to Manning, I doubt this has anything to do with him spitting the bit in the Super Bowl. Any point of emphasis is usually thrown out in the playoffs. That is why the paradigm switches from offense in the regular season to defense in the playoffs.

Besides, I didn't think there was that much illegal contact and holding by the Seahawks. They were knocking receivers at the line and pressuring Manning.

SB39 said:

Yeah. Sure. This is alllllllllllllllll one big conspiracy to help Peyton Manning. Because the Patriots don't have an all-world quarterback who will also benefit from tighter calls in the defensive secondary.

Click to expand...

Yeah. I agree.
I'm not sure why anyone who believes the league is trying to help Manning and/or hurt the Patriots would bother to continue to watch any games.

Not that I agree with direction they are trying to go with these point of emphasis calls, but I'd just stop watching if I thought this was league designed to help a certain team/player and hurt the Patriots or any other team.

TPL said:

Yeah. I agree.
I'm not sure why anyone who believes the league is trying to help Manning and/or hurt the Patriots would bother to continue to watch any games.

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I've asked that question many times. The day I believe that the league itself is favoring certain teams will be my very last as a fan or follower of that league.

It baffles me why people who believe that are still fans.