The fix was in today? Yes or no

[Lavictoire]

Looked like they held Hightower without a flag on Buffaloes TD and I think that is why Bill threw his tablet after looking at the replay. Fouts always sounds anti patriots to me and on that play he kept saying that was a legal block. Seemed the refs were told to tilt the calls against us to help roger save face.

 

[AvocadoIceCream]

Jesus. That many of you buy the conspiracy?

They don't have it out for us. Deflategste is over. Move on

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

Saying the Pats will have a very hard game in Denver is not saying they suck
Denver's D is incredible and dominated the pats last year in the playoffs. Their defense looks better than last year's while the Pats D has had maybe 7 or 8 really good quarters all season....yes it's only week 4, but we can only go by what we've seen...

There's a lot of season before I care about the Denver game.

Also, last year's game means nothing for this year. If it did matter, Cincinnati should have crushed us in 2014, going into the game undefeated, looking like the best team in football, and a with a better defense than the one that held Brady without a TD the year before.

 

[meatface]

Let's leave the stupid conspiracy crap for Jets fans.

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

 

[meatface]

Not sure, but there was some awful non calls, few late hits/hits out of bounds that were blatant and they didnt flag them. One in the second half on White (I think) where he was easily out of bounds and then got shoved was so ridiculous

But there always are

 

[Tony2046]

I'm not going to complain about the calls when the team played like ****.

The Refs sucked but was not the reason the Pats lost.

 

[pheenix11]

We didn't lose because of the refs but football is a game of inches. Few here or there and that game today could have been completely different. Usually we win those battles of inches and they add up to a victory, often when others don't expect it.

Today mistakes along with some bad calls lost that battle of inches. Bad spot here, dropped pass there, missed FG, drive killing flags. A few of those go the other way and it's a completely different game.

Belichick doesn't make excuses and you have to overcome adversity but the parity in today's game often means that it doesn't take much to tilt a game the other way. And with the criminals in New York, that scares me.

 

[Schmo]

We literally dropped the ball more than the refs did figuratively.

As another poster stated, if the fix was in, that bad spot for the bills on 3rd down makes absolutely no sense.

 

[supafly]

I think too many people would have to be involved for an actual fix to be in. I don't think it's likely.

I do think the refs are more likely to go against a winning team more on borderline calls and I would expect some bias (realized or otherwise) to be shown towards the ghost stories of Belichick, but I don't believe there's anything pre-determined regarding the outcome of the game, if that's what you're asking.

Unfortunately, those borderline calls can add up, but that goes for any team who wins so often, and it's certainly nothing new for Brady/BB.

 

[Boomer B]

It wasn't the refs who continually called a passive 3 man rush that let Tyrod Taylor of all people drive down the field with ease in the first half. The game plan was ****. The game play was ****. That's why we lost.

 

[TBR]

The team played extremely poorly, but the refs made it 100x worse and tougher to overcome.

That game could've been tied or within 1 possession, if not for some horrid calls/no-calls/not being ready for a snap.

 

[letekro]

That offense could have played all day with Gil Santos and Gino Capaletti as the refs and still would not have sniffed the end zone.

 

[supafly]

It wasn't the refs who continually called a passive 3 man rush that let Tyrod Taylor of all people drive down the field with ease in the first half. The game plan was ****. The game play was ****. That's why we lost.

I think they had the usual kind of containment scheme that are seen with QBs with the ability to scramble like Taylor, Wilson, etc.

It always helps when those 3-4 guys in the trenches can create some pressure, but they had no success in that area which allowed Taylor the luxury of running the offense at his pace.

 

[luuked]

Looked like they held Hightower without a flag on Buffaloes TD and I think that is why Bill threw his tablet after looking at the replay. Fouts always sounds anti patriots to me and on that play he kept saying that was a legal block. Seemed the refs were told to tilt the calls against us to help roger save face.

Hightower wasn't held by anyone on the TD but he got picked within the line of scrimmage because he took a not very favourable angle. I hope his meniscus (?) issue is something that is not lingering because if he can't deal with sharp cuts as he failed repeatedly yesterday then he will be a weakness in our defence instead of a strength.

Also, the way I understood the sequence of things is that throwing the Surface tablet was BB's reaction to Cyrus taking the ball out the second time and had nothing to do with the TD. But who knows what the true catalyst was.


In terms of referee's and the fix being in. I have said it multiple times throughout years..

The biggest issue I see with refs in the league is just the lack of consistency across the board. Sometimes a reception is a catch for one group of refs and an incomplete for another. Other times you get PI calls on the slightest of touches no matter if a ball is catchable or not (see Denver vs. Bucs crew) and other times you don't. And don't get me started on those roughing the passer or unnecessary roughness on late hit calls.

And to make things worse often the very same crew doesn't even show any consistency within the same game (see last year's regular season game in Denver).

Now I understand that a lot of it is subjective based certain ref's biases but this is where the rulebook simply has to be reworked to take out as much subjectivity as possible. It is a bigger issue for the integrity of the game (tm) that the very same play can result in a multitude of different outcomes just based on who the ref is than any stickum in the world can.

I blame the league office far more for the current cluster**** of a flagfest that we have than the refs. That rulebook has become way too complicated and also gives too much leeway for refs to make judgment calls.

 

[Kontradiction]

Embarrassing.

 

[PittPatriot]

The only suspicious play was how a team could execute SO WELL in the past 3 games...but come out and sleep walk after 9 days to prepare for yesterday.

 

[MainePatsFan26]

First of all, let me make this perfectly clear. We didn't lose because of the refs today. The Patriots wasn't a good football team today and got outplayed and outcoached in all possible aspects. Congrats to the Buffalo Bills, they were the better team today.

That said, I just want to get a picture here to see if I'm becoming paranoic or not, but I had the impression that the refs had direct instructions coming into this game. The last time I saw something like that was the game on Denver last year, the regular season game.

Last year after many discussions the people who believed the NFL was not rigged, the refs that were bad, rightfully questioned something in the lines of "if you think the game is rigged why do you keep watching?". Well there might be many answers for that. Anyway, did someone that believed the game was not rigged changed his mind? I'm just curious. I think it was appropriate to revisit this subject.

No, I don't think it was rigged. The NFL, if it was going to send a message, would have rigged either the Arizona or Houston game because they had a national audience.

Having the Bills win this game to have the Patriots go 3-1 doesn't really send much of a message to anyone (other than the Bills, who get a little more swagger). The ship sailed on Goodell's "law and order" brand of arbitrary justice when the Pats started 2-0.

 

[Geezer Butler]

Biggest bag job I have seen in a long time.

Remember folks, Rodger Goodell is the guy that ratted out his entire High School class for drinking before the Prom. He is a special type of *******. This guy is an 8 year old man child that just happens to be in a huge position of power. Screw the owners, Screw Goodell.

GO PATRIOTS, WELCOME BACK TOM ****ING BRADY!

 

[DarrylS]

I do not think it was a "fix", but I do think the refereeing was atrocious..

Some games we benefit for the Ref's ineptitude, other days less so.. while still others the Refs just suck and do a terrible job. Reffing is pretty poor most games..

They did penalize, "Spirited Richie" three times though.. I cannot stand that guy.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Why do we assume it's some sinister motive? Why can't it just be incompetence?

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the Redskins "recovered" a fumble according to the refs, despite the Browns player waving the ball up in the air. Video replay confirmed incompetence.

https://media.giphy.com/media/sY56qB1Cjo568/giphy.gif
Edit: Apparently too large to embed.

The refs didn't drop the ball near the goal line or miss the FG or throw themselves into two defenders while in FG range or overthrow a wide open Amendola. We just didn't play well enough to win.