ESPN on the Refs for today (link)

[upstater1]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/201...ge/1standgoal-championship/championship-round

"Leavy tends to let the players play. His 13.9 penalties a game is the ninth fewest. His 22 holding penalties tied for the second fewest. But cornerbacks need to watch out. Leavy led the NFL with 20 pass interference penalties. His games tend to be higher scoring at 48.7 points, fifth highest among officials."

 

[sieglo]

Worst case scenario.

 

[Lansdowne]

Great. Now every time Flacco heaves one to Smith, I'm going to wait for the other shoe to drop and see a flag on the play. Interesting choice of officials here.

"Not to worry, Ray. I got your back."

 

[PatsSox363804]

Remember they are "all star" crews. We don't know who from Levy's regular season crew is with him today.

 

[Double TE]

The refs cost us the week 3 game. Jones/Love sacked Flacco and they had a questionable holding call on Spikes at the same time. It was highly questionable and wrong in my opinion. On the NEXT play Flacco throws a TD to Smith. Refs DO have an impact they should throw flags if there are penalties but not questionable ones. The one in week three was utter B/S.

I'll argue that with any Pat or Ravens fan. Bring it!

 

[PatsSox363804]

The refs cost us the week 3 game. Jones/Love sacked Flacco and they had a questionable holding call on Spikes at the same time. It was highly questionable and wrong in my opinion. On the NEXT play Flacco throws a TD to Smith. Refs DO have an impact they should throw flags if there are penalties but not questionable ones. The one in week three was utter B/S.

I'll argue that with any Pat or Ravens fan. Bring it!

No question the refs cost us that game. If you remember we were up 13-0 and Mayo got called for holding on an incomplete pass to keep a Ravens drive going, a call I've yet to see from an angle where I see a penalty. So instead of being up 13-0 with the ball Baltimore ends up scoring, changed the whole game. Not to mention the absolutely atrocious call on McCourty on 2nd and 15 late.

 

[letekro]

The best news I've heard is that the wind will be a factor, which should hopefully cut down on Flacco's PI-inducing moonballs.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Remember they are "all star" crews. We don't know who from Levy's regular season crew is with him today.

Beat me to it. The only place we can be sure this will make a difference is on Offensive Holding Calls (also impacted by the Umpire) and any call related to protecting the QB. As far as PI goes, we don't know the profile of the Field, Side and Back judges.

Personally, I think this "All Star Officials in the Playoffs" system sucks. I'd rather have Team of officials who average out to a "B+" but have been together for the entire season than a bunch of "A" officials who have never worked together.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

if anyone cares at this point, Jerome Boger will be the Super Bowl referee.

 

[Big-T]

The refs cost us the week 3 game. Jones/Love sacked Flacco and they had a questionable holding call on Spikes at the same time. It was highly questionable and wrong in my opinion. On the NEXT play Flacco throws a TD to Smith. Refs DO have an impact they should throw flags if there are penalties but not questionable ones. The one in week three was utter B/S.

I'll argue that with any Pat or Ravens fan. Bring it!

Breaking Down the Officiating in New England Patriots Loss to Baltimore Ravens | Bleacher Report here's a ton of wrong calls.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/201...ge/1standgoal-championship/championship-round

"Leavy tends to let the players play. His 13.9 penalties a game is the ninth fewest. His 22 holding penalties tied for the second fewest. But cornerbacks need to watch out. Leavy led the NFL with 20 pass interference penalties. His games tend to be higher scoring at 48.7 points, fifth highest among officials."

****.


So basically, I should expect to see Ravens OL Holding our pass rushers, and then Pass Interference called on our DBs. Kind of like the first time we played the Ravens.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

The best news I've heard is that the wind will be a factor, which should hopefully cut down on Flacco's PI-inducing moonballs.

According to the weather service, the winds will be strong in the afternoon but diminishing by game time. Still, you are basically right; it will definitely be windier than last week in Denver and the "wind tunnel" effect of the open end of the stadium should work against Joe. I hope the Pats win the Toss since I'd feel better if he is throwing into the wind in the 4th Q.

 

[Rob0729]

What are we Jets fans? Complaining about the refs especially before the game has even been played is for losers.

if the Pats can't win because the refs, they have no business being in this game.

 

[BrainTrust66]

What are we Jets fans? Complaining about the refs especially before the game has even been played is for losers.

EXACTLY! Ridiculous to proactively complain about the officiating.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Breaking Down the Officiating in New England Patriots Loss to Baltimore Ravens | Bleacher Report here's a ton of wrong calls.

I know that a lot of folks believe, not without reason, that the officiating went against us unfairly in Baltimore. Problem is that that and 25 cents will get us three local minutes on a Pay Phone.

Bottom Line: today the Pats can prove that the wrong team won that game. Period.

 

[Triumph]

If NE loses they arent the best team in the AFC.

You make your own luck.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Remember they are "all star" crews. We don't know who from Levy's regular season crew is with him today.

All star ref is a bit of a funny label. It's like being the arm wrestling champ of the chess team...

Then again, at least these guys are better than the guys who got fired from the Lingerie Football League we had earlier in the year.

Still, this combination of calls concerns me. Fewer calls but lots of pass-related calls could mean lots of no hold calls on the DL + weak PI calls in the secondary. Baltimore could take better advantage of this because of their deep passing attack getting a few big PI calls.

 

[reflexblue]

The refs cost us the week 3 game. Jones/Love sacked Flacco and they had a questionable holding call on Spikes at the same time. It was highly questionable and wrong in my opinion. On the NEXT play Flacco throws a TD to Smith. Refs DO have an impact they should throw flags if there are penalties but not questionable ones. The one in week three was utter B/S.

I'll argue that with any Pat or Ravens fan. Bring it!

I'm sick of listening to how the ravens beat the pats in game three. The reffs Gave that game to the ravens, their officiating was gruesome. If not for these bottom of the barrel reffs the pats would have won by 10-14 points.

 

[reflexblue]

Remember they are "all star" crews. We don't know who from Levy's regular season crew is with him today.

That crew last week didn't exactly impress me, they looked like those imposters masquerading as reffs back at the beginning of the season.

 

[upstater1]

All star ref is a bit of a funny label. It's like being the arm wrestling champ of the chess team...

Then again, at least these guys are better than the guys who got fired from the Lingerie Football League we had earlier in the year.

Still, this combination of calls concerns me. Fewer calls but lots of pass-related calls could mean lots of no hold calls on the DL + weak PI calls in the secondary. Baltimore could take better advantage of this because of their deep passing attack getting a few big PI calls.

Yours is the best response in the thread. If you're going to allow the offensive line to hold, you counter that by allowing more contact in the secondary.

But holding + calls against the secondary = huge advantage for a long throwing offense.

The thing is, the Patriots can take advantage of this as well by throwing long to Lloyd on play action.