NFL FG rule changed right after game.

[BradyFTW!]

No need to go full-on conspiracy theorist here. If the league wanted the Pats to lose, they could do it far more easily and less conspicuously. I believe that the rule was what it was, and technically it was an infraction and was flagged accordingly. It sounds like there was a lot of confusion on everyone's part, considering that Belichick had a different understanding of the rule and that it had never been flagged before leading up to that point.

And that's the real point: even if it was the correct ruling, it was a ridiculous call because they're choosing that time and that situation, 7 weeks into the season, to throw that flag for literally the first time ever. The top two goals of officiating should be consistency and making sure that you do not decide the game without overwhelming reason. In making that call they violated both of those goals to just about the maximum possible extent.

That said, yet again, we really just need to let it go. It was a bad call that decided a game, and that sucks. Next time a fan of an opposing team claims that the Pats get all of the calls, this is yet another instance that you can point to that proves them wrong. But a bad call does not mean--or even reasonably suggest-- that the NFL has an anti-Pats agenda. We've benefited from enough calls over the years to make that theory provably false. Furthermore, if you do believe that the league has an anti-Pats agenda, then you should probably just stop watching the NFL altogether, because what's the point of watching a sport that you honestly believe is fixed?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Getting OT here but if a year ago someone had told you that the gov't is collecting and possibly reading all the emails sent, you'd have laughed them off as a conspiracy theorist. Now they don't seem as crazy with the NSA revelations....

Maybe you would have, but anyone who's been paying attention has known that that's been going on for years. Not just suspected: known, because there's been evidence of it all over the place that they haven't even really been trying to hide. If you'd told me a year ago that the NSA is monitoring everything that I do on the internet, I would have said "... well, yeah. What do you think that enormous facility in Utah is for?"

So no, this isn't a conspiracy either. It's a rational actor acting rationally (albeit in bad faith). If you could similarly pose a set of circumstances in which the NFL would have good reason to put the fix in against the Patriots, reasonable people might listen to you. But you can't, because any miniscule advantage that the league might get from fixing games against an individual team is massively outweighed by the consequences of this information going public.

The NFL has almost nothing to gain and a ton to lose by overtly fixing games. It's ridiculous to even propose that it's happening without *far* more compelling evidence than "a ref made a strange call that I don't agree with at the end of the game."

Seriously, let's not do this whole song and dance. Anyone who's crying conspiracy over this just sounds like a Jets fan.

 

[upstater1]

Maybe you would have, but anyone who's been paying attention has known that that's been going on for years. Not just suspected: known, because there's been evidence of it all over the place that they haven't even really been trying to hide. If you'd told me a year ago that the NSA is monitoring everything that I do on the internet, I would have said "... well, yeah. What do you think that enormous facility in Utah is for?"

So no, this isn't a conspiracy either. It's a rational actor acting rationally (albeit in bad faith). If you could similarly pose a set of circumstances in which the NFL would have good reason to put the fix in against the Patriots, reasonable people might listen to you. But you can't, because any miniscule advantage that the league might get from fixing games against an individual team is massively outweighed by the consequences of this information going public.

The NFL has almost nothing to gain and a ton to lose by overtly fixing games. It's ridiculous to even propose that it's happening without *far* more compelling evidence than "a ref made a strange call that I don't agree with at the end of the game."

Seriously, let's not do this whole song and dance. Anyone who's crying conspiracy over this just sounds like a Jets fan.

I don't think that official was in on any conspiracy.

as for the NFL front office, I do believe they are tilted toward the Jets. We've already gone over this in this very thread. I think it would be hard for you to deny what people witnessed with NFL people celebrating a Jets victory over the Patriots a few years ago, or the various ways in which filming signals on the sidelines was treated by the NFL. Goodell and Ray Anderson in particular.

I think the ref made a bad call but I don't think he shares Anderson's bias.

 

[flasox27]

I don't think that official was in on any conspiracy.

as for the NFL front office, I do believe they are tilted toward the Jets. We've already gone over this in this very thread. I think it would be hard for you to deny what people witnessed with NFL people celebrating a Jets victory over the Patriots a few years ago, or the various ways in which filming signals on the sidelines was treated by the NFL. Goodell and Ray Anderson in particular.

I think the ref made a bad call but I don't think he shares Anderson's bias.

I fully agree with you concerning the Commissioners office. As for what prompted the Ref to make the call then when ignoring it when the Jets committed the same penalty on a previous kick means he is either incompetent or biased and should never officiate another Pats game like Ben Dreith.

 

[VJCPatriot]

the people responsible for the online stuff realized they had outdated or wrong info up in articles etc. and changed it after the game.

Mystery solved

The fix is ON! Goodell Jets win. Mystery solved.

 

[flasox27]

The fix is ON! Goodell Jets win. Mystery solved.

unfortunately, I put more credence in your version than the other. Funny how the NFL office was unaware of the error for seven weeks and suddenly makes the change after it appears the ref's made a mistake that cost a team a game.

 

[letekro]

This thread has done a lot to confirm my long-suspected belief that most people are morons. Some clown called up NFL radio with this nonsense earlier today and Scott Pioli absolutely destroyed him.

 

[flasox27]

This thread has done a lot to confirm my long-suspected belief that most people are morons. Some clown called up NFL radio with this nonsense earlier today and Scott Pioli absolutely destroyed him.

you mean the Scott Pioli who is on the NFL payroll. What do you expect him to say if he wants to get another job. The most benign thing you can say about the call is that the ref's were incompetent like Ben Dreith and it gets worse than that.
Its people like you that believe that no games were thrown in the NBA even after the ref admitted it. you probably think that Pro wrestling is on the up and up too. One small fact the Jets were a 2.5 point underdog which means if the Pats kicked a field goal, they not the jets would beat the spread, Remember there was no call when jets fouled the Pats on the kick to tie the game. I am wary of coincidences happening

 

[upstater1]

This thread has done a lot to confirm my long-suspected belief that most people are morons. Some clown called up NFL radio with this nonsense earlier today and Scott Pioli absolutely destroyed him.

If I had a chance to talk to Pioli I'd ask him about the Jets filming the Patriots in 2006.

 

[BradyFTW!]

you mean the Scott Pioli who is on the NFL payroll. What do you expect him to say if he wants to get another job. The most benign thing you can say about the call is that the ref's were incompetent like Ben Dreith and it gets worse than that.
Its people like you that believe that no games were thrown in the NBA even after the ref admitted it. you probably think that Pro wrestling is on the up and up too. One small fact the Jets were a 2.5 point underdog which means if the Pats kicked a field goal, they not the jets would beat the spread, Remember there was no call when jets fouled the Pats on the kick to tie the game. I am wary of coincidences happening

That's the understatement of the century.

For the record, the most benign thing that you can say about the refs is that they picked a weird time to make the correct call. I'm sure that doesn't sound nearly conspiratorial enough for you, though.

 

[letekro]

you mean the Scott Pioli who is on the NFL payroll. What do you expect him to say if he wants to get another job. The most benign thing you can say about the call is that the ref's were incompetent like Ben Dreith and it gets worse than that.
Its people like you that believe that no games were thrown in the NBA even after the ref admitted it. you probably think that Pro wrestling is on the up and up too. One small fact the Jets were a 2.5 point underdog which means if the Pats kicked a field goal, they not the jets would beat the spread, Remember there was no call when jets fouled the Pats on the kick to tie the game. I am wary of coincidences happening

Right, this is further confirmation of my original point.

 

[flasox27]

Right, this is further confirmation of my original point.

Since you referred to me as a moron, I have no compunction addressing this to you and unquestioning gullible morons which you represent. As a point of reference, I have lived long enough to see Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States lie to get us into wars that cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars, so I hardly view the statements of a paid shill for the NFL as the Gospel truth. It may amaze you that there have been cases of games being thrown in baseball, points being shaved in basketball, and players suspended for gambling on football games, so this would not be the first time something like this happened. Believe it or not, millions of dollars are gambled illegally every week whether the NFL acknowledges or not, so is it impossible for a referee who is not a full time employee of the NFL to be bought for the right price.
Even if there wasn't an outright fixing of the game, a more subtle influencing of the results are plausible. It is apparent that the commissioner and his assistant have an undisguised antipathy towards the Pats and an equivalent favoritism towards the Jets. This has been obvious in the punishment meted out to both teams since Goodell became commissioner. The referee is this game was rated one of the worst in the league and yet became the referee for the Superbowl due to the intervention of league office. Is it unreasonable to think that if he was told to watch the Pats more closely, he would to curry favor with his bosses.
As I have said before, the most benign explanation is that the referee is incompetent. However biased or bought is certainly not out of the question especially given the fact that this is the first time it was called in hundreds of placements and even BB, who I don't think is a moron, commented that the Jets used the same play without penalty.
Now I don't care if people like yourself believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and that wrestling is on the level too. As for myself, if something looks like poop and smells like poop, but the NFL tells me its ice cream, I won't be grabbing a spoon like yourself to eat it but will be making sure not to step in it.

 

[SB39]

Now I don't care if people like yourself believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and that wrestling is on the level too. As for myself, if something looks like poop and smells like poop, but the NFL tells me its ice cream, I won't be grabbing a spoon like yourself to eat it but will be making sure not to step in it.

And yet here you are, not only following the NFL, but posting to a forum about what you've observed.

The thing that I find most hilarious about the conspiracy theorists isn't their moronic proclamations, but how closely they follow a league they claim is rigged. I believe wrestling is fixed and, as such, I don't follow or discuss it one bit. And yet all these "NFL is fixed!" nutjob theorists are in here as much as anyone.

 

[Kontradiction]

you mean the Scott Pioli who is on the NFL payroll. What do you expect him to say if he wants to get another job. The most benign thing you can say about the call is that the ref's were incompetent like Ben Dreith and it gets worse than that.
Its people like you that believe that no games were thrown in the NBA even after the ref admitted it. you probably think that Pro wrestling is on the up and up too. One small fact the Jets were a 2.5 point underdog which means if the Pats kicked a field goal, they not the jets would beat the spread, Remember there was no call when jets fouled the Pats on the kick to tie the game. I am wary of coincidences happening

Why the hell do you watch a game that you feel is fixed from the top on down?

 

[flasox27]

And yet here you are, not only following the NFL, but posting to a forum about what you've observed.

The thing that I find most hilarious about the conspiracy theorists isn't their moronic proclamations, but how closely they follow a league they claim is rigged. I believe wrestling is fixed and, as such, I don't follow or discuss it one bit. And yet all these "NFL is fixed!" nutjob theorists are in here as much as anyone.

Let me clarify for the simple minded like yourself. I enjoy football and have since before you were born. For the most part like in other sports the games are on the level. This doesn't mean that if something stinks I won't comment on it. if you don't like my posts, then there is an ignore feature you can use.