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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.I have come to despise fans who habitually blame the officials. If my team loses, it is my team's fault, not the officials. Are there bad calls? Yes. Do they land on both teams? Absolutely. Pre-game jokes and rants about the refs and the RCA Dome and all that are fine by me, but post-game I have no patience for it, barring very rare and extreme circumstances.
The Patriots killed themselves tonight. Maroney's fumble was ... well, a fumble. Pees' prissy bend-but-don't-break scheme toward the end of the game was a horrible plan against a guy who is currently—I hate to say it, but currently—the AFC's best quarterback in the clutch. Belichick's fourth down call was, needless to say, one hundred percent idiotic. I don't remember him ever pulling this hysteria between 2001 and 2006. Snapping the ball through your own end zone for a safety? Fine. But this is inexcusable.
The pass/run playcalling was just as bad. Faulk is great, but he's a situational player. With Taylor and Morris injured and BJGE apparently not a factor, Maroney is your man. Give him the ball. He will not play well with thirteen snaps. Just like in the 06 playoffs, the lack of a run game in the second half was devastating. Again, inexcusable.
So, yes, I'm very frustrated with the coaches' boneheaded management of this game. They put the nail in their own coffin.
But more than all that pin-headed BS, the pass interference call on the Pats' defense late in the fourth quarter was the singular factor in New England's loss. Twenty or thirty free yards for the Colts. From what I saw, the defender—I don't even remember who he was—his helmet grazed the receiver's shin. The flag came well after the end of the play. I have never seen such blatantly warped judgment by the officials in my admittedly short span as an NFL fan. But I have seen enough such garbage by the officials that, while I'm not going to complain speculatively about stacking the odds for or against certain teams, I am beginning to lose interest in the league as a form of entertainment. It is sickening to see this travesty of an officiating crew continually ruin games with such obviously biased calls. Again. And again. And again.
Ugh.