I feel there are many homers here going well out of their way to defend the call. Is it so bad to admit that we got away with one?
Actually your premise is incorrect. The Patriots DID NOT 'get away with one'. Why? Because the Patriots did nothing wrong on that play. It was the Browns defender who did not 'get away' with one. As the referee made the correct call, pass interference, as the defender interfered with the ball at multiple points during the route, including the interference at precise point when the receiver reached up to catch the ball.
What you are advocating here according to your example is, they should have let the Browns defender get away with pass interference because you felt the contact was light enough that the penalty should not have been called.
But are you an athlete on the field competing for the football, and how do you know that, the illegal tug on the elbow and arms was JUST ENOUGH to prevent Boyce from pulling in the catch instead of letting it go off his fingertips. Answer, you don't know. All you have is a general feeling of outrage, that the refs DARED to call a 'ticky tack' foul on that play.
Let me also ask you this, during that play, did you EVER see the defender turn his head and try to make a play on the ball? Answer - no not even once. The defensive back was playing the receiver only the whole way, and when he sensed he was beat he infracted the rule multiple times by clutching and grabbing at the receiver. He had NO IDEA where the ball was, his ONLY INTENT was to impede the receiver's ability to catch the ball without himself turning around to make a play on the ball. Not only by the letter of the rule but by the defender's INTENT he was trying to illegally prevent the receiver from catching the ball all the way.
And that's one of the biggest reasons I DON'T agree that it was a BAD call.
Your speeding ticket example is a bad example because there is no competitive engagement involved. Ok say you stepped on the pedal too hard, so you went 35 mph instead of 30 mph. Technically you deserve the ticket. You just wanted to go fast. But now say you pushed that pedal harder because you intended to obstruct an ambulance behind you from passing, even though it had a legal right to pass, but you didn't want to allow it to get around you. See the difference in INTENT here?
THAT is what the Browns defender did, and that's why I don't feel it was a bad flag, the obviously illegal INTENT plus the illegal action.
Consider the athletic element as well. In the pass interference, we have two athletes competing for the ball at top speed, the contact foul need not be all that HARD in that situation, to have impeded the receiver's ability to catch the football, particularly when it occurred at the exact split second moment he reached up for the ball.
In such a critical moment it is very difficult to judge how 'severe' the prohibited contact needed to be to disrupt the catch. Therefore in such a split moment decision, ALL the ref really has to go on is the letter of the rule, did the penalty occur according to the rulebook. Answer, as you have admitted, is yes, the Cleveland defender fouled the Patriots receiver in a prohibited manner according to the rule.
It is so easy for you to sit back and watch the slow motion replay and say, naah that was ticky tack, a foul shouldn't have occurred. But at full speed, of an athletic contest, where the contact impeded the catch? Who are you to judge that it was absolutely a BAD, GARBAGE call? I don't think you can say that.
I'm not excusing that refereeing crew for the generally BAD job they did that game. But focusing on that call and saying it Tainted the game is ridiculous. So what if, as some say the foul could have been called at the 5 even before they got into the endzone? You think Brady couldn't have scored from the 5 instead of the 1? That's a strawman argument.
I'm not trying to change anyone's mind abut the call. Because you've already made up your mind. What I'm saying is that there's no way in REAL TIME, full speed that you can say that's an AWFUL call by the ref that should never ever have happened. I don't think we 'got away' with one. The right call was made, the defender intended to interfere the entire play instead of trying to go up and make a play on the ball himself, and the infraction was caught and penalized.
I'm not going to lose any sleep over that play. That is a call that sometimes is made, and sometimes not, but there's nothing outrageous about it where you can say, there's no foot to stand on here, it was a phantom, made up call.