Goodell Factor

[Sicilian]

The Panthers game I can excuse (well, not really, but I can rationalize it at least), by saying it was a home town call, and the refs shrunk under the pressure of letting that call cause a loss for the home team.

The Jets call was fishy then, and is even fishier now that they haven't called a formation or procedural flag on any FG since then. Right call technically, came at a VERY strange time.

 

[PattieswinSB]

I've never disagreed more with a post in all my years on here.

Let's rehash this. One, that penalty has been only called once, in OT of the Patriots game. Two, the NFL head of referees is on a video explaining the rule right before the season, and in it he says, you can't push from the second-level. Clearly, he told the teams this. Three, the Jets had done the same thing in the game and there was no call. Four, the call changed the result of the game. You couldn't be more wrong about this.

You also can't compare the PI in the Browns game to the Panthers game. Why? Because a flag was thrown. It was picked up. Why? Well, the refs right after the game issued a statement saying that they determined the ball was uncatchable. Well, they got the rule wrong. The NFL the next day said that the ball was not uncatchable but the call stood because the player did not interfere but that possibly holding could be called. In other words, the refs directly contradicted the NFL, and the NFL admitted that IF the flag had been picked up because it was uncathcable, it was a bad call.

These were two egregiously bad calls that changed games, and when you see announcers and the whole football world spend many hours discussing the call, you know things are really bad.

You are *****ing about the refs yet you forgot that we won the game vs the Saints when the Refs missed a clear hold.

 

[PattieswinSB]

There is no ref conspiracy against the Pats. Stop with the loser talk. Leave it to the other teams. Was there a conspiracy in all the games this year when we had 0 or 1 penalty? Do you mean to tell me that Goodell conspired to be against us by allowing us to go a whole game without a penalty? Commissioners don't engage in conspiracy theories to screw certain teams.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I believe there is a hometown bias in officiating (the "If I make this call, will I make it to the car before the fans lynch me" factor). Can it hurt a visiting team in close games? Sure.

You don't have to merely believe it. It's been proven. (See the chapter about it in the book Scorecasting, for example). In all sports the officials favor the home team at a statistically-significant level. But it's not "Cr*p, will I get to my car alive??" (not these days anyways). Rather, it's from the intrinsic aspect of human nature to follow the crowd. The presence of the crowd exerts an unconscious psychological pressure on the officials that results in them unconsciously/subconsciously favoring the home team, especially on bang-bang or grey area calls.

 

[DocHoliday]

I don't know why people think the league wants to screw Brady in favor of PM.

Brady is just as big of a draw, just not with the same crowds of people. Having the jet setting Tom Brady win in the world's Capitol and being crowned best ever is just as lucrative than appealing to middle America and its beer downing, cousin diddling, wrangler wearing mouth breathers of PM fans.

 

[upstater1]

You are *****ing about the refs yet you forgot that we won the game vs the Saints when the Refs missed a clear hold.

LOL, Saints fan, complaining about a hold

 

[upstater1]

What is astounding in this thread is that fans are calling me a conspiracy person when the two main things I've said were printed in the newspapers. The Spygate thing with the Jets was a news story on ESPN.

The Ray Anderson incident when the front office was cheering on the Jets was seen by Boston media and printed.

These aren't conspiracies, people, they are stories reported in the news media!!!!

Unreal.

 

[Get it shawtaay]

You don't have to merely believe it. It's been proven. (See the chapter about it in the book Scorecasting, for example). In all sports the officials favor the home team at a statistically-significant level. But it's not "Cr*p, will I get to my car alive??" (not these days anyways). Rather, it's from the intrinsic aspect of human nature to follow the crowd. The presence of the crowd exerts an unconscious psychological pressure on the officials that results in them unconsciously/subconsciously favoring the home team, especially on bang-bang or grey area calls.

And if the Pats' execution was more consistent in two or three games, it would be the Donkeys coming to the Razor, where WE have the home field refs. But we're going to have to face their refs because they took care of business better than us in the regular season. You create your own luck.

Complaining about calls (and bad ones rub both ways) is loser talk. We had ample opportunity to get ONE STOP vs. Carolina before the non-call. A game is 120 snaps give or take and every single one can be the lone difference between winning and losing.

This game isn't going to come down to any calls. Its going to come down to whether or not our guys, many of them unknown quantities, can come in, stare down a well-oiled machine, and play like champions. I think they have it in them.

 

[upstater1]

And if the Pats' execution was more consistent in two or three games, it would be the Donkeys coming to the Razor, where WE have the home field refs. But we're going to have to face their refs because they took care of business better than us in the regular season. You create your own luck.

Complaining about calls (and bad ones rub both ways) is loser talk. We had ample opportunity to get ONE STOP vs. Carolina before the non-call. A game is 120 snaps give or take and every single one can be the lone difference between winning and losing.

This game isn't going to come down to any calls. Its going to come down to whether or not our guys, many of them unknown quantities, can come in, stare down a well-oiled machine, and play like champions. I think they have it in them.

Games come down to one call all the time. It's absoutely against reason and fact to say they don't. Championships come down to one call too!

 

[Absurdly Metro]

What is astounding in this thread is that fans are calling me a conspiracy person when the two main things I've said were printed in the newspapers. The Spygate thing with the Jets was a news story on ESPN.

The Ray Anderson incident when the front office was cheering on the Jets was seen by Boston media and printed.

These aren't conspiracies, people, they are stories reported in the news media!!!!

Unreal.

link please?

 

[terabthia2]

Most people don't want to admit buying into conspiracy theories, yet the fact that this thread exists without being deleted on sight speaks really bad volumes about Herr Goodell. Any other era and the OP would be dismissed as a complete kook and the thread probably deleted on sight. However, in these strange bizarre times, this thread exists and gets posts.

Sad, isn't it?

I'm not saying *I* believe this one bit, but the fact that I think it's 95% hooey instead of 100% hooey, again, speaks very badly on what Mr. Jetdell has done to "The Shield" that he supposedly wants to protect.

Now I'm going to scroll down to see if Joker has responded.

 

[Bhelmet]

The other option would be to have the Pats in the game AGAIN. Spygate gets 2-weeks of coverage again. And the REAL issue that will affect the game's outcome? Yup you guessed it. AH!!

There is no way in heck that the league wants that case brought anywhere near their BIG GAME. No flippin way they allow that to happen. 2-weeks of AH coverage! It is beyond ridiculous now. Imagine it during SB week

Go Pats!

Says more about the media if they fill 2 weeks with just AH and Spygate.

 

[Brady6]

I believe there is a hometown bias in officiating (the "If I make this call, will I make it to the car before the fans lynch me" factor). Can it hurt a visiting team in close games? Sure. Do I believe Roger is directing the outcome? No. If so, there would be no reason to watch the game. That means the NFL season is scripted, so live games mean nothing.

If there is any lesson from the games lost this year on the road, it's don't miss opportunities that might put you far enough ahead to make officiating irrelevant. I believe every road loss this year involved points left on the board that made the officiating a critical element of the game in the end. The Pats benefit from no calls at home, so it is not completely one sided. I just hope the Pats execute and avoid that concern in Denver.

I agree that there is a hometown bias as well. In my mind it’s as simple as the fact that the most people seek the approval and validation of others, officials are no different and instinctively they will do what satisfies that need.

 

[Joker]

OK, at the risk of being redundant, I'll respond with some FACTS that the Goodell apologists always ignore with their fingers in their ears.

Fact #1...I have in my possession a dozen responses to a query I sent out to members of Roger Goodell's senior high school class. The respondents, 8 men and 4 women answered one of the specific questions I put forth as to Goodell's NFL rooting interest. He was a huge Jet fan who took members of his high school team to numerous Jet home games when he was a senior. Goodell has claimed , AFTER he became commissioner and AFTER he created Spygate, that he was a Washington Redskins fan, and used his father's senatorship as his alibi. It's a total, complete fabrication on his part. WHY???

The Thursday before the Jets/NE game that advented "Spygate", Mangini signed into NFL Offices, where the commissioner's office is, at 3:30 PM on Thursday. I HAVE a copy of the sign-in sheet at the security desk obtained by request in person in 2007.The records have since disappeared/been destroyed. I'm one of a number of people who have copies.What does it prove? Nothing. It DOES Raise the obvious question...WHY was Mangini there? Who did he see? What was discussed? I say a federal grand jury should ASK him under oath, but for that to happen, an investigation into the actions of Roger Goodell since 2006 would have to be started. I believe he's involved in a RICO violation involving the owners,major advertising consortiums and the two major sports networks ,ESPN and NFLN.

In 2007, ESPN reported and Wikipedia documented Roger Goodell's work history. Both documents stated explicitly that Roger Goodell started as an intern with the NY Jets and THEN, with the backing of Leon Hess and after numerous failed attempts, was hired by the NFL. This was well known in 2007 and was discussed across the internet on a plethora of outlets. In 2008, suddenly, ESPN began reporting that Goodell worked FIRST for the NFL, then went to work for the Jets for a year and then went back to the NFL. The Wikipedia page also was edited to show THIS work timeline.Pretty odd if one takes even a few minutes to think about this. First off, who in the history of ANYTHING has ever done anything like this...I work for the NFL but no, I work for the Jets an then I work for the NFL again...what he fails to admit is that he had a THREE MONTH INTERNSHIP in the NFL offices from which he springboarded to the Jets and a FULLTIME job..it's a flimsy , preposterous put on dreamt up by the son of a life long NY SENATOR, a rich kid bully NY high school jock who's powerful daddy could have gotten him into ANY Ivy League school in the east,yet Roger Goodellstein ends up Washington&Jefferson College in Pennsylvania where he got a degree in business. Here's an excerpt from a linked article...

Goodell, Roger | Washington & Jefferson College

"As he looks back over his 24-year journey through the National Football League, Goodell attributes much of his success to Washington & Jefferson College . “The first day in Professor Salbach’s economics class he said there would be two hours of homework for each class period. I thought I’d never make it.” However, Goodell stuck with it and found that the challenge was enjoyable. “My education at W&J taught me how to learn, how to communicate, and how to work with others—the three most important skills in any job,” he says."

I have to say this about Patsfans...for the most part , there are a host of regular posters and contributors with , to me, OBVIOUS formidable intellectual capacities. We have professionals from all walks of life that argue back and forth here. We have medical professionals, lawyers, businessmen, statiticians with masters degrees...on and on..as well as the normal Joe Pats fans that all join in the day to day goings on. Now I ask all of you, the person leading a multibillion dollar a year enterprise such as the NFL shoulkd possess a number of attributes and qualifications wouldn't you think? Yet here we all are, captive to the ministrations of some rich kid, entitled clown sporting a generic business degree from a Pennsylvania college....right, I'm buying in 100% alright. A C minus GPA after four grueling years? Move him right into the commissioner's office at
National Football League, 345 Park Avenue, New York, NY I say!! Why fool around with any other candidates?

Last season he orchestrated the Ray Lewis Farewell Super Bowl...this year it's the Peyton Manning Deification Tour....oh I can't take it!!! Will Peytie come back for ONE more year after he "wins" THIS Super Bowl. Stay tuned....

 

[Tunescribe]

With any luck, Goodell will freeze to death begging for help after his car gets stuck in a snowdrift en route to the Super Bowl as oblivious Patriots fans stroll by him in their snow shoes and parkas.

 

[SB39]

I hate to be another Debbie Downer here but does anyone really think the Pats have a chance to win a close game? They will need to blow the Donks out of their own building in order to win this game. There is no way the league will allow the Pats to win if they can help it.

Follow me here. The poster boy for the NFL is PM. The SB is in NYC. This is a HUGE deal for the league that values it's image above all else. They need to have PM in the big game.

The other option would be to have the Pats in the game AGAIN. Spygate gets 2-weeks of coverage again. And the REAL issue that will affect the game's outcome? Yup you guessed it. AH!!

There is no way in heck that the league wants that case brought anywhere near their BIG GAME. No flippin way they allow that to happen. 2-weeks of AH coverage! It is beyond ridiculous now. Imagine it during SB week?

So expect another mind numbing officiated game. Look for the yellow flag on a late drive by the golden boy. Sorry folks but unless they blow em out I don't thin the league allows a Pats win.

Sorry for the negative waves man but I had to vent.

Go Pats!

So what you're saying is the league will manipulate one team to beat the other, violating the very essence of sports and risk the total destruction of the league (because people will not watch fixed games) thereby making the value of their franchises drop from about $1 billion to about $0...?

Yeah I gotta say I don't buy that theory. This is a Patriots board, not a Ravens board.

 

[SB39]

As illogical as it sounds, the answer to the OP's question is YES!

I mean, the losses to the Jets and Carolina were highly unusual. They happen in the NFL. But the Jets loss especially was bizarre.

If even one of those two bizarre ref decisions doesn't happen, then the Patriots are hosting the Broncos at Foxboro this weekend.

Yeah, those 2 losses were the only bizarre games the Patriots played this year. In fact, they were the only bizarre games in the entire league this year. Yup. Just those two. Because bizarre things never happen naturally.

 

[SB39]

New England is a much better draw in NY in the cold for the Super Bowl since one of the teams is going to be from the left coast.

For TV purposes, Denver-Seattle is two small media markets.

New England is a bigger, East Coast media draw, and brings the whole Evil Empire/Golden Boy story line.

I understand what you're saying, but this is the NFL and the Super Bowl, not the World Series or Stanley Cup. It is a national phenomenon regardless of the participants. It isn't a situation where they need a big market team to generate ratings; they get the ratings no matter what.

 

[SB39]

I've never disagreed more with a post in all my years on here.

Let's rehash this. One, that penalty has been only called once, in OT of the Patriots game. Two, the NFL head of referees is on a video explaining the rule right before the season, and in it he says, you can't push from the second-level. Clearly, he told the teams this. Three, the Jets had done the same thing in the game and there was no call. Four, the call changed the result of the game. You couldn't be more wrong about this.

You also can't compare the PI in the Browns game to the Panthers game. Why? Because a flag was thrown. It was picked up. Why? Well, the refs right after the game issued a statement saying that they determined the ball was uncatchable. Well, they got the rule wrong. The NFL the next day said that the ball was not uncatchable but the call stood because the player did not interfere but that possibly holding could be called. In other words, the refs directly contradicted the NFL, and the NFL admitted that IF the flag had been picked up because it was uncathcable, it was a bad call.

These were two egregiously bad calls that changed games, and when you see announcers and the whole football world spend many hours discussing the call, you know things are really bad.

Sure thing, bro. The Patriots are the only team that ever has bad calls made against them. Every single other game in the league was perfectly officiated this year.

When did this forum morph into the Steeler Country forum?

 

[SB39]

You have Stockholm Syndrome courtesy of Mr. Guudellson.

Here's a question the rigged conspiracy theorists never answer:

If you're so sure the game is rigged, why are you watching?