Clete Blakeman assigned as ref to AFCCG

[RedSleevesPinkStripes]

The Deflategate ref is officiating Patriots-Chiefs and we’re sure Boston fans will handle this well

I saw this on msn sports. I am surprised no one here picked this up.
So the Pats have to beat the officials and the Chiefs...sounds fair.
Don't be surprised if you see some shenanigans out there Sunday night.

Not good news: Clete Blakeman has been assigned as ref to AFCCG

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Right or wrong, I don't like his crew. A little home cooking is possible.

Blakeman won't have his normal crew. Playoff games feature "all-star" crews of refs that didn't work together in the regular season but that individually got high grades.

 

[farn]

Hope he measures every single ball. K balls, NE balls, KC balls....

It is going to be cold Sunday night. And I want the world to see how defeated every single ball will be.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Deflategate wasn't caused by the refs. It was caused by the NFL front office (345 park ave) and the cry-baby Ravens.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Deflategate wasn't caused by the refs. It was caused by the NFL front office (345 park ave) and the cry-baby Ravens.

Not really the Ravens as much as the Colts.

The Ravens told the Colts that something was maybe fishy with the kicking balls in their game vs. NE.

Indeed something WAS fishy with the kicking balls: a crooked NFL person was taking the balls out of play and selling them on the side. The Ravens didn't know WHAT was going on, and wrongly suspected it was the Patriots that did it. So they were wrong to blame the Patriots and wrong to talk to the hyper-paranoid Colts about it. But they did have a beef, just not with the Pats. So I call them the little deflategate liars.

It was the Colts, the Big Deflategate Liars, that then launched the sting operation with a willing partner in the NFL office.

 

[1960Pats]

I don't get why this is considered a bad thing. The Pats won with this crew before.

 

[dannydyn]

How about this: Go out there, play your all-balls, lights-out game, clean of penalties and moronic mistakes, and just FCKING WIN!

GO PATS!

 

[Dorito Dink]

Why do people say Clete was deflategate? He wasn't; that was Walt Coleman and it wasn't the refs fault (other than utter incompetence of not actually writing down the PSI levels - they just "recalled" they were all around 12.5.) Always funny to me that the investigation didn't just end there - they had no proof whatsoever that the balls were at 12.5. It's the officials job to verify, Walt didn't write it down, only that he could recall they were "around" 12.5. If they were 12.2 or 12.3, that's still not illegal by the Pats, it's the officials job to make sure they're 12.5. Those small outliers could have been further proof of why 1 or 2 of the footballs just barely fell outside the range of the IGL, or could have been attributed to the amount of time the balls were kept inside vs. outside after prepping them. So much inconsistency and lack of standardization in the handling of the balls yet they took every "worst case" variable and painted the picture that the Pats were guilty. Still disgusted by that sham but i digress

Anyway, Clete will not be the reason we lose if we do on Sunday. If the Pats show up like they did this past Sunday and avoid their shyte play on the road, they will be going to the Super Bowl. I have faith the Pats pull it out, especially with the weather as i think it works in our favor. The officials generally let the boys play in the playoffs (aside from when the game is a blowout and they want to keep audience engaged - see Pats Chargers this past weekend) so as of now, not worried about Clete and Co.

 

[Belichick8384]

So you don't think the Pats can win so you're getting the excuses ready now. Ok then.

 

[sb1]

I think Blakeman’s crew is also DPI flag happy which might be a problem in this game.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Honestly i would not focus too much attention on the ref.

We "only" have to play an AAA game @ Arrowhead...

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Please let some weird ref ruling happen that is by the books but favors us and has people howling in outrage for months. It's one of my favorite post season traditions.

I want NE to win the game on a fair catch free kick FG after the clock expires during a KC punt.

 

[dannydyn]

I think Blakeman’s crew is also DPI flag happy which might be a problem in this game.

What "crew" are you talking about?!?

This is the playoffs, not regular season. It's an all star group of refs and judges. Neither collection of officials has any past record as a collective unit.

 

[Brandon Manning]

Clete Blakeman NFL Official Statistics | Pro-Football-Reference.com

The Patriots games officiated by Blakeman:
2008 at San Diego - Patriots got their butts kicked
2008 vs Arizona - Patriots win
2010 at Cleveland - Patriots got their butts kicked
2011 at KC - Patriots win
2012 at Seattle - Patriots lose a close one due to clock mismanagement an bad pass defense
2013 at Carolina - Patriots get legitimately screwjobbed by the refs
2015 vs Dallas - Patirots win
2015 at NY Jets - Patriots let Quincy Eneuwa run all over them
2017 vs Jacksonville - Patriots win
2018 at Detroit - Patriots get their butts kicked

10 games, 1 of which was impacted by bad officiating. I would attribute the Patriots tendency to lay a total stinker in Blakeman officiated games to random chance.

Did he ref the Eagles Saints game? Because Saints fans were livid with whoever the refs were.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

I want NE to win the game on a fair catch free kick FG after the clock expires during a KC punt.

I would LOVE to see that happen.

In fact, vs. Atlanta in SB 51 I was begging for it before the punt that Edelman caught at the 35.

I bet Bill would have tried it from his own 45 (65 yard FG, but the kicker can take a long run-up and the defense must stand ten yards back from the line of scrimmage, so a low trajectory is just fine.)

Some day! One of my favorite obscure rules!

Bill Belichick passed up an opportunity to end Super Bowl 51 in the weirdest possible way | Boston.com

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I would LOVE to see that happen.

In fact, vs. Atlanta in SB 51 I was begging for it before the punt that Edelman caught at the 35.

I bet Bill would have tried it from his own 45 (65 yard FG, but the kicker can take a long run-up and the defense must stand ten yards back from the line of scrimmage, so a low trajectory is just fine.)

Some day! One of my favorite obscure rules!

I still think he should have tried it in SB51, even where Edelman caught it. The only risk would have been a return of a short kick for a TD. So you tell Ghost that his primary goal is to make sure it goes deep into or through the EZ, and then secondarily to try to put it through the uprights.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Some day! One of my favorite obscure rules!

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Crosby ALMOST nailed it, into the wind, off grass. At most 2 yards short.

I know BB knew of the rule, I just wonder what his cut-off was, 65 or 70 maybe, but not 75

 

[sambam94]

the problem with football and the refs is that they can change the course of a game with a simple holding call..1st and 10 turns to a 1st and 20. Or a 3rd down key stop...nope, a flag for illegal contact. They can do this at any time and turn a game around..so easy to fix a game,

 

[Redman443]

bad news: since 2009 we are 4-6 when playing an opponent in the postseason that we played in the regular season.

Wins:
2011 vs denver
2012 vs houston
2016 vs houston
2016 vs pittsburgh

Losses:
2009 vs ravens
2010 vs NYJ
2011 vs NYG
2012 vs ravens
2013 vs denver
2015 vs denver