NFL=XFL! Let's move on to the next season!

[fisticuffs]

Alright guys, why are we complaining about the Steelers winning the superbowl? Yes, we all know that the refs were dreadful on super sunday, but we need to get over it and move on! I would be mad if the Broncos had won the superbowl, becasue clearly that game was one of the most horrific officiating I have ever seen! However, our Pats beat the "superbowl champs" in the regular season in Pittsburgh, which also doen't mean a damn thing. So if it means anything to anybody, we beat the team that won it all! The Steelers earned every right to be there. They won every game on the road and beat the best of the best, except for the Broncos. Can't we recall a playoff game that the Pats played poorly? Does the '02 Oakland playoff game ring a bell? Or '04 playoff game against the Titans? Come on guys, teams are always going to struggle sometime after such a long hard fought season, it happens. Steelers are the champs, get over it! There is always next season!

And one more thing. If the NFL doesn't clean up it's act, and I mean really get their **** together and hire full time refs and make EVERYTHING reviewable, will help determine the victor instead of a flawed winner (BRONCOS). If the NFL continues to try to help teams they want to see win (Colts) the NFL will loose lots of fans, including me, because win I watch games you can tell now who the NFL wants to win by seeing the way the refs manage the game! Once again, I think the Steelers earned their rings.


Oh yeah this just in....Once again the NFL and the media wants the Colts to win the superbowl for whatever reason and will try even harder to make this happen. (palamalou interception overturned)

NFL is looking alot like XFL......Bring back the 90's when everything was fair!

 

[ClosingTime]

Bring back the 90's when everything was fair!

I'm not going to pretend the officiating is great and that some rules need to be clarified to help the officials out, but if you think it was any better in the past, you are sorely mistaken. If you go back and watch those games, even playoff games you can pick out missed calls, borderline calls, bad calls and egregious calls.
Things is, fans seem to have forgotten that its all part of the game. There is a saying I heard when I was a kid watching and playing sports as a kid over 20+ years ago (yikes), "you have to play well enough to overcome bad bounces and bad calls."
I wonder if kids are being told this today by their parents or whether they are following Holmgren's example.
(BTW, fist, nice post. None of my tirade was directed at you.)

 

[Pats726]

There always have been bad calls...and teams always have to over come them..but is the trend of officiating going downhill?? There are bad calls and then there are ones that question the whole premise. I agreee the NFL has a LOT of cleaning up to do..

 

[brdmaverick]

I was thinking about ClosingTime's response, and he does make a point in that there have been bad calls throughout the past few postseasons (or at least controversial). In each of the past few postseasons there have been some glaring calls that have had great influences on a bunch of games. Here is a minor look back...........

2005 season:
PIT at IND T.Polamalu interception overruled by replay
NE at DEN horrific pass interference call against Asante Samuel
(remember, I'm only going with the big ones here, I know there
were a ton from this game)

2004:


2003:
CAR at STL Panther's field goal kicker makes the game winning field goal in OT, but it got called back due to a lame penalty. Panthers managed to pull on the victory in a second OT.


2002:
NYG at SF No pass interference called on the last play of hte game (a botched field goal attempt). refs waived off interference because the guy being interferred was not eligible (NFL later acknowledged that he was)

PIT at TEN Al Del Greco misses a what would be the game winning field goal in a tie game. The refs bail him out with a lame 'roughing the kicker' call.

2001:
OAK at NE Tuck rule. I think the right call was made, but it was still controversial and some still see Pats as 'tainted' champs.

maybe you guys can help add more

 

[Michael]

Then why do all the bad calls seem to go one way? Did the Donks get any bad or questionable calls at key times in the game? Did the Squeelers get any bad or questionable calls at key times in the game? No. In fact they only received 3 flags the entire game. They got 2 false starts in the first 5 minutes and one offensive PI in the 2nd quarter on a a nothing play and THAT IS ALL THE ENTIRE GAME. While Seattle got a questionable offensive PI call that took away their first TD ("When you think of a push off THAT's not what you think of" -Madden), A holding call where there was none ("I don't see holding there" -Madden), A bogus personal foul on Hasslebeck ("We think this is a bad call" -Michaels "That was Hasslebeck just making a good play and getting penalized for it" -Madden) and that's not all of them. Pittsburgh had a horse-collar tackle not called, a delay of game not called, evidently they never held (amazing). If you want to believe the NFL "wants" the Dolts to win you have to believe they wanted the Squeelers and Bettis to win.

Believe me when I say I know it's over. For me it was over when the Pats lost. I had no emotional interest in the Super Bowl. And the comments I post are not because Pittsburgh won. It's because I think there is something VERY wrong with the officiating and needs to be fixed in the worst way. It should be the top priority of the NFL. Yet they aren't even acknowledging it. And to anyone who thinks it's always been this way and people are just upset because whoever won etc. I ask them when was the last time you saw so many articles and professional sportscasters talking about awful officiating? Yes you here it from time to time from homers, but this has been the topic of articles and talking heads from ESPN and Foxsports to the local papers since week 2 of the playoffs. Is 2006 going to better or worse?

 

[Mike the Brit]

Excellent post -- a follow-up question ...

I was thinking about ClosingTime's response, and he does make a point in that there have been bad calls throughout the past few postseasons (or at least controversial). In each of the past few postseasons there have been some glaring calls that have had great influences on a bunch of games. Here is a minor look back...........

2005 season:
PIT at IND T.Polamalu interception overruled by replay
NE at DEN horrific pass interference call against Asante Samuel
(remember, I'm only going with the big ones here, I know there
were a ton from this game)

2004:


2003:
CAR at STL Panther's field goal kicker makes the game winning field goal in OT, but it got called back due to a lame penalty. Panthers managed to pull on the victory in a second OT.


2002:
NYG at SF No pass interference called on the last play of hte game (a botched field goal attempt). refs waived off interference because the guy being interferred was not eligible (NFL later acknowledged that he was)

PIT at TEN Al Del Greco misses a what would be the game winning field goal in a tie game. The refs bail him out with a lame 'roughing the kicker' call.

2001:
OAK at NE Tuck rule. I think the right call was made, but it was still controversial and some still see Pats as 'tainted' champs.

maybe you guys can help add more

How many of those bad calls were against the home team? (Leave out the Superbowl, though many said that it was like a home game for the Steelers.) My impression is that the overwhelming number went for the home side and that is what is truly annoying -- if the bad breaks go evenly through a game, so be it, but if they are one-sided because the refs can't compensate for the atmosphere and the crowd then that is truly undermining for the value of the game.

My impressions of the other sports I know, FWIW: soccer -- refs (full time professionals -- from neutral countries in international games) VERY much intimidated by the home team; rugby (refs pretty nearly full time, come from neutral nation in internationals) -- usually independent (but did terrible job in last Lions tour to New Zealand); cricket (full time professionals, from neutral nations) -- very independent with excellent rapport with (most) players.

 

[brdmaverick]

very good point about the calls going for the home teams.

In fact, I'll try to think of the worst call gone against a home team in the past few seasons. It'll probably be tough to come up with one.

 

[ClosingTime]

Yeah but Mike, that's part of what you play for homefield for. The refs sometimes are subconciously influenced by the crowd, the boos, the cheers etc. There's nothing that can be done to prevent this. It is an absolute given in the NBA that you get certain calls at home that you don't get on the road. Announcers openly admit this. Like it or not that is part of what is meant by homefield advantage. Example, another poster brought up the 2002 Pitt-Tenn game where Nedney flopped. That call ain't made if the game is in Pitt and it ended the game. In fact I would bet that if "The Tuck" happened in Oakland there is no way in hell the refs overturn that call.
The only problems I have with the officiating in the NFL is oddly worded rules that confuse refs (like the Polamalu INT). A few other things like when a ball is thrown and intercepted and the QB gets hit in the head, or otherwise roughed (is that a word?) well after the ball is released, currently the INT is eliminated and the team gets 15 yards. I think the INT should stand and the team now with possession should get penalized.
But by in large you have to realize the speed of the game and know that the refs are doing a pretty damn good job overall. You see the footage from cameras on the sidelines? Players are moving damn fast.
There will alway, alway, always be bad calls and there have always always always been bad calls. Part of the game.