The fix was in today? Yes or no

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

I have...and that example supports my position, not yours.

That was one guy, not coordinating with anyone else but trying to affect point spreads on his own because of gambling debts. And the story came out and we know his name. You get how that supports my point that big conspiracies don't hold, right? Instructions to officiating crews, many people involved, etc.

One guy, on his own, and the story came out. Headscratcher that you cited that, I should have.

edit: @letekro beat me to it.

The NBA and the NFL are businesses. They exist to make money. The people running them don't understand anything else. To them, "integrity" has no inherent meaning; it's just some buzzword to keep suckers like us watching. The owners, coaches, players, refs all make a good deal of money for participating in a game--they are invested and have no interest in "exposing" anything.

Believe what you like. It's your time.

 

[DaBruinz]

But there always are

Then why wasn't it called?

 

[DaBruinz]

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.

They didn't have 9 days of prep. They ran things as normal.. They were off until Monday..

 

[DaBruinz]

Semi Off Topic: Has anyone seen a play blown dead because the Refs weren't ready??

Yes. It's happened before.. To the Patriots with Brady as the QB..

 

[archstanton543]

Yes. It's happened before.. To the Patriots with Brady as the QB..

"The ball was not made ready to play" thing is still a running joke with my friends and I.

 

[DaBruinz]

To be fair, the refs weren't on the field for the pre-game altercation.

The NFL always has officials on the field when the players are there. They may not be wearing the Zebra Stripes, but they are there.

 

[Big Bucks]

I'm more worried about teams tanking games due to owners owning things like Fan Duel and Draftkings.

You got to ask how many people loaded up of Patriots players on those games, same last week with the shutout of the Texans, we were the Texans yesterday... but there has been other games, other teams with strange results.

What got me more than anything about yesterday's performance was how laboured and slow the team was. The commentary team said so quite a few times, little urgency showed in the 4th QTR in particular, had thought the Microsoft surface and headsets had gone down. Something seemed to be up with the whole thing and when that happens and so isn't the norm you have to wonder on everything.. thing is the trust with the NFL is lower than it should ever get, which doesn't help things.

I think there has been a good 6 or 7 games this year where the norm seems to have taken a massive turn in the opposite direction from what occurred the previous week.

 

[archstanton543]

The NFL always has officials on the field when the players are there. They may not be wearing the Zebra Stripes, but they are there.

I said refs not officials.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

You should look up "conspiracy" in the dictionary because Donaghy was not a conspiracy. He was acting alone, for his own benefit. He had some vague uncorroborated accusations about the league that his lawyer submitted to the court in an effort to reduce his sentence. i will always believe that something funny went on with Lakers Kings, but that could have been officials acting alone. There is no evidence that the league ever fixed anything or was involved in any other type of conspiracy.

Is that you, David Stern? Until Goodell came along, I never thought any sports commissioner could "out crooked" that guy.

 

[Schmo]

The poll should be:

What kind of fan are you?

1) entitled.

2) having an understanding of what good football is.

I know I'm a little bit of #1, but I'd like to think I'm more #2

 

[Rob0729]

The refs have been awful in every game this year. I watched some of the Denver/Jacksonville game yesterday and I saw an awful one sided officiated game.

There were two times that the Broncos wrapped Jameis Winston around the ankles. The first time, they let the play go even though he was in the pocket and in the grasp and tons of defenders around him. It resulted in a strip sack. The second time he could have had the ability to throw down the field and at least get rid of the ball since he was out of the pocket and they blew the whistle right away.

Another time, a Broncos defender clobbered Winston a good two seconds after he got rid of the ball and there was no flag.

Another time a Jag defender got past the o-lineman blocking him and had a clear shot at the QB (I can't remember which one) and the o-lineman grabbed his hand and was holding him from behind in a blatant illegal holding. No flag.

I don't think the refs were in the fix in that game. I do think the refs unfairly have different rules for Winston because he is a big QB and can take hits more (same thing happens to Roethlisberger and other bigger QBs). But it does show how bad and sometime how incredibly biased (although not intentional) the officiating is in this league.

 

[DaBruinz]

If I'm not mistaken the Bills actually had more penalty yardage in the first half. One was a very ticky tack unnecessary roughness on the offensive lineman that essentially killed their second drive (causing them to settle for a field goal when they were rolling).

Yesterday was extremely ugly, but I'd blame the Pats far more than the refs.

And I don't really even blame the Pats all that much. THey've been doing well playing with what they've had to work it, the dam was about to break at some point. All in all I say we take our 3-1 record, and be happy with the return of Brady. So few times after such an ugly loss is there such great hope (Brady).

Sorry, but Incognito's penalty wasn't "ticky tack". It's the very definition of unnecessary roughness.
Furthermore, you're ignoring when the calls were made.. The calls against the Bills weren't made when they were in key situations outside of the penalty you claim was ticky tack.

As I pointed out in another post, the Pats had numerous calls made that killed drives and had numerous non-calls against the Bills that they received..

 

[DaBruinz]

The refs have been awful in every game this year. I watched some of the Denver/Jacksonville game yesterday and I saw an awful one sided officiated game.

Denver played Tampa, not Jacksonville. Jacksonville was over in London playing the Colts.

 

[archstanton543]

Denver played Tampa, not Jacksonville. Jacksonville was over in London playing the Colts.

I was going to say. I remember watching them in the morning but I have a cold my memory's a little hazy.

 

[bobbutts]

Pasting what I wrote somewhere else.

They lost this game making big mistakes and being unable to stop Bills.

It does bother me that I have no reason to expect that the league wouldn't job the Patriots via the officials. They were shameless and sloppy in deflategate and easily won in public opinion. Anyone complaining about a pattern of non-calls or a questionable holding calls is just going to look like a brat for defending the highly successful and hated Patriots.

 

[Rob0729]

Denver played Tampa, not Jacksonville. Jacksonville was over in London playing the Colts.

Yeah, my mistake. Right QB. Wrong team. In my defense, all the FL teams suck so bad that they are almost interchangeable.

 

[Lavictoire]

Why fix this game on the field and not the two prime time games the Pats were in? Let's see what you guys can come up with...

Pats weren't expected to win those games. 4 and 0 would be a great embarrassment to the league. Clearly the refs were told to do what they did.

 

[aluminum seats]

The NBA and the NFL are businesses. They exist to make money. The people running them don't understand anything else. To them, "integrity" has no inherent meaning; it's just some buzzword to keep suckers like us watching. The owners, coaches, players, refs all make a good deal of money for participating in a game--they are invested and have no interest in "exposing" anything.

Believe what you like. It's your time.

I'm not arguing for the virtue of NFL executives. It's ineptitude and self-interest that expose conspiracies, not nobility.

 

[BradyFTW!]

It wasn't fixed. We got hosed by some bad calls, but absent some pretty compelling evidence I'm comfortable chalking that up to an extraordinary example of incompetence. This is Pete Morelli we're talking about, after all. I'll admit that the sequence of "don't give Blount the first down because of a terrible spot > don't allow the Patriots to run a play because we're too incompetent to get into position which is basically our one job pre-snap > call a penalty on the Pats" was borderline too absurd to accept, but I can buy that Morelli really could just be that ****ty at his job.

 

[Haley]

There is an odd narrative to this thread where peer pressure is used repeatedly to prevent discussion of whether or not refs can be corrupted. I find it strange that anyone would think the NFL above this after all that we've been through. And I find it more odd that discussion of this concept should be discouraged by any fan of the sport.

That said, I'm not sure if the cause of the strange calls yesterday was incompetent reffing or corrupt reffing, but I think the discussion is important to have. Anyone embarrassed by this should probably consider exactly how much they are willing to allow without holding this discussion. Should we forever turn the other cheek? Consider the case that there is actual corruption. Does it still make sense to keep silent?

Again, I'm not sure if the calls were a result of poor reffing or corrupt reffing, but I think it important to discuss and track these types of things in a league with this much money at stake.