Refereeing Grade: B +

[SunshineSammy]

and so it goes with every loss... Crybabying about officiating has been old for decades... We didn't lose on bad officiating,,, never mind a few non calls benefited us..

It's a loss.....

 

[Kdo5]

They were mediocre. Made some usual bad calls and no calls but it never felt slanted toward the Broncos. The refereeing didn't cost us the game. There's really no excuse...loss is fully on us.

The Amendola call was the only one which I had to roll my eyes at. That was a catch and he was down.

 

[hambone1818]

I was fine with the reffing. I was worried early, the Ryan PI followed by no call on Gronk--and both were high-impact plays, a long pass to DT and a 3rd down pass to Gronk. But after that I thought the refs called a pretty decent, pretty even game.

I can't say I agree on the Amendola catch/incompletion/fumble. I did get a kick out of the idea that if the refs overturned the call that he'd have been down before fumbling, but he never had the ball secure, it clearly moved in his hands while he was going down and I don't think he ever secured it.

The conspiracy talk is a little embarrassing if I'm being honest. Given how awful refs have been all season--for and against the Pats, for and against teams league-wide--yesterday was as good and as balanced as anyone could expect imo.

 

[brdmaverick]

They also didn't railroad the them as I expected. The Patriots didn't play well enough to win today. I'm not going to lay this one at the feet of the refs.

I agree 100%.....count me as part of the great that was afraid of some phantom calls.

In fact, not only did that happen, but in some cases we got the benefit of the doubt especially on the Manning lateral play. They VERY EASILY could have came out and said "the ruling on the field stands" but they didn't and THAT was ENORMOUS.

The Talib hold of Gronk in the endzone was not much to see. That was a hail mary-type play in which it would take a mauling to draw a flag. If I'm being perfectly honest I would have been absolutely pissed if I was Broncos fan and a flag was thrown there.

 

[brdmaverick]

I was fine with the reffing. I was worried early, the Ryan PI followed by no call on Gronk--and both were high-impact plays, a long pass to DT and a 3rd down pass to Gronk. But after that I thought the refs called a pretty decent, pretty even game.

.

Ya, I felt like both plays had the same 'type and degree of contact' and had flag on us (not on the them). I was livid at that point but from that point on if anything the decisions went in our favor.

 

[SunshineSammy]

As I pointed out before..

Was it me or when Brady was mailed and got rid of the ball it was clearly intentional grounding twice..? So the "officials are against us" mantra doesn't work..

 

[Hammer of Thor]

As I pointed out before..

Was it me or when Brady was mailed and got rid of the ball it was clearly intentional grounding twice..? So the "officials are against us" mantra doesn't work..

It is you. Every time Brady threw it away there was a receiver in the general area. Officials are told to err on the side of caution here - none of those passes you are talking about were even close to grounding (and that's part of why the grounding call in SB 46 really got some people upset). The intent of the caution in the rule is to make sure QBs don't get injured.

 

[patriot1136]

Great? No. They were not great. Saying so is just ridiculous.
They screwed the replay review of Amendola's catch. The CBS Replay clearly showed Amendola with control and his knee down on the ground while in contact with the Denver Safety.

They didn't call the egregious holding of Gronk by Talib in the end zone that kept Gronk from going up and getting a TD.

They didn't call Ward for his hold on Gronk.

They didn't call the numerous hands to the face by the Denver D that helped push Kline back on several occasions.

It's amazing to me they don't call those "hands to the face". They were obvious to me so I don't know how they miss them. I realize they want to "let them play" but some are pretty damn bad.

Also, not sure about the Talib/Gronk tangle up in the endzone. I think it should have been PI on Talib but of course they didn't show any good replays of it to tell.

 

[SunshineSammy]

It is you. Every time Brady threw it away there was a receiver in the general area. Officials are told to err on the side of caution here - none of those passes you are talking about were even close to grounding (and that's part of why the grounding call in SB 46 really got some people upset). The intent of the caution in the rule is to make sure QBs don't get injured.

No, I checked.. On two plays there wasn't a receiver remotely close.. And he was almost on the ground when he got rid of the ball..

 

[meatface]

Great? No. They were not great. Saying so is just ridiculous.
They screwed the replay review of Amendola's catch. The CBS Replay clearly showed Amendola with control and his knee down on the ground while in contact with the Denver Safety.

They didn't call the egregious holding of Gronk by Talib in the end zone that kept Gronk from going up and getting a TD.

They didn't call Ward for his hold on Gronk.

They didn't call the numerous hands to the face by the Denver D that helped push Kline back on several occasions.

I would disagree, I thought they were fine all game. That being said I really didn't understand the call for amendola, it did look clear on cbs that he both had the ball and was down.