A friend of mine is claiming that the penalty differential in the AFC championship game - the Jaguars accrued far more penalties - shows the referees were biased. I have heard this fallacy repeated in the media as well.
Has someone gone over the Jaguars penalties to show nearly all of them were entirely clear cut? I’m looking for a self-contained analysis refuting this to show my friend.
The only potentially controversial ones I think were the first PI on the Cooks play and the early whistle on Jack in the Dion Lewis fumble recovery.
In the case of the fumble recovery, Jack was down while touching Lewis, so that shouldn’t be controversial. In the case of the first PI call, a good video should clear it up, and even if it doesn’t, I personally think it’s appropriate for referees to call more strictly against a team who just injured an opponent's star player by an intentional personal foul. Otherwise players will try and injure each others' stars no matter the penalty.
So a list of clear explanations and videos would be helpful.
On another note, I’m concerned by the persistence of this idea that the refs are biased for the Patriots, which we saw several times at the end of the regular season even in the face of clear video evidence. Constant repetition of unsound theories does make them credible to many; and Goodell and the NFL are highly sensitive to public perception. So I would like to see this latest anti-Pats meme clearly, simply, and decisively refuted.
Has someone gone over the Jaguars penalties to show nearly all of them were entirely clear cut? I’m looking for a self-contained analysis refuting this to show my friend.
The only potentially controversial ones I think were the first PI on the Cooks play and the early whistle on Jack in the Dion Lewis fumble recovery.
In the case of the fumble recovery, Jack was down while touching Lewis, so that shouldn’t be controversial. In the case of the first PI call, a good video should clear it up, and even if it doesn’t, I personally think it’s appropriate for referees to call more strictly against a team who just injured an opponent's star player by an intentional personal foul. Otherwise players will try and injure each others' stars no matter the penalty.
So a list of clear explanations and videos would be helpful.
On another note, I’m concerned by the persistence of this idea that the refs are biased for the Patriots, which we saw several times at the end of the regular season even in the face of clear video evidence. Constant repetition of unsound theories does make them credible to many; and Goodell and the NFL are highly sensitive to public perception. So I would like to see this latest anti-Pats meme clearly, simply, and decisively refuted.