The NFL may have a problem

[upstater1]

First, I want to state that I did not have a problem with the refs last night. I think they did a good job.

But the Chiefs employed the old, "They can't call everything" strategy, and it worked. It doesn't work for the Raiders a lot. It works sometimes in basketball. But when the refs become cognizant that they've called 10+ penalties against you, and it just doesn't seem to bother the penalized team, well they have to stop. This is a televised game, entertainment. No one pays to watch the refs.

The Chiefs grabbed wide receivers, they held every play, tackled players without the ball, and the refs were helpless to stop it. This doesn't explain how the Patriots gave up 3 long bombs. It does explain Hunt's late long run. It also explains the Patriots WRs being neutralized, and also partly it explains Brady's bad night. Gronk was getting grabbed constantly. Arms were being grabbed constantly.

Even on offense, the Chiefs TEs were grabbing Patriots by the jersey and driving them back, then turning around for a TD. Like OPI doesn't even exist.

Again, don't get me wrong, the Patriots have employed this strategy in the past. So have the Ravens.

BUT, the NFL has a problem if this is how the games are going to be. Flag after flag is not going to deter anyone, especially if it's working. You're better off giving the Patriots 10 yards than allowing them to execute their offense.

 

[chasa]

yeah it sucks because it looks like brady had a ****ty night, but when he was on target for a bunch of long throws and they were all DPI, that doesnt show up on the stat sheet.

None of that matters tho because there are legit holes at every level on defense.

 

[Kontradiction]

LMAO.

 

[ausbacker]

The thing that frustrated me the most last night (push aside the coaching and the collapse) was there appears to be one rule for Gronk and one rule for everyone else. I like tough, dominating D but there's a fine line between playing tight D and clearly mugging a guy after the snap.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

The thing that frustrated me the most last night (push aside the coaching and the collapse) was there appears to be one rule for Gronk and one rule for everyone else. I like tough, dominating D but there's a fine line between playing tight D and clearly mugging a guy after the snap.

On Gronk's TD drop that was called back my problem was that in slo-mo review on my TV, he was held twice while running his pattern.
Shoulda been 5 yards & a 1st down. 14 point swing. Bothers me more as an indication going forward.

All said, Patriots EARNED their loss.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

No excuses, Gronk got dominated by Berry so started whining for flags, beat man coverage and stop complaining.

If the refs aren't calling it give him a little push back.

 

[The Brandon Five]

On Gronk's TD drop that was called back my problem was that in slo-mo review on my TV, he was held twice while running his pattern.
Shoulda been 5 yards & a 1st down. 14 point swing. Bothers me more as an indication going forward.

All said, Patriots EARNED their loss.

Kelce had a catch that clearly touched the ground. Called complete. Inside two minutes so it should have been reviewed.

 

[The Brandon Five]

The thing that frustrated me the most last night (push aside the coaching and the collapse) was there appears to be one rule for Gronk and one rule for everyone else. I like tough, dominating D but there's a fine line between playing tight D and clearly mugging a guy after the snap.

Right, the first KC TD was clearly a result of the TE blatantly pushing the defender away (not just extending one arm to disengage).

 

[Boomer B]

Why do we have fans now sounding like Colts fans in 2004. "It's not fair, Law holds on every play".

We got beat. No excuses.

 

[brdmaverick]

Why do we have fans now sounding like Colts fans in 2004. "It's not fair, Law holds on every play".

We got beat. No excuses.

I was thinking the same thing.........count me as one of the rare people that actually likes refs that allow defenses to, well, 'play defense'. Honestly I thought even some of the calls that they did make against the Chiefs were somewhat ticky tacky....but that's fine....there are going to be some bad calls/non calls. I actually liked that they let them play.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

First half it seemed like there were an unusual number of misses for Brady to Gronk, Cooks, and Hogan. Every time a pass went flying outside someone's catch window, they were looking around like - uhh did you see the defender holding my arm/jersey?!

Hopefully a lot of that was just a sign of guys who haven't been at game speed together for long enough. I'm not worried. I'm also not trying to blame refs for whatever. KC took a ton of penalties and still dominated the 4th quarter - that's pretty much the story of the ballgame - not the refs.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Holding, pushing and grabbing happens on every play. If the refs called everything games would last 122 hours.

With that said the hold on Adam Butler was something else. He was practically being given the Heimlich.

 

[Sciz]

It was known beforehand that this crew would call fewer penalties than average, but it's unfortunate that we have to do ref scouting reports like that instead of getting consistent results.

 

[mosslost]

First, I want to state that I did not have a problem with the refs last night. I think they did a good job.

But the Chiefs employed the old, "They can't call everything" strategy, and it worked. It doesn't work for the Raiders a lot. It works sometimes in basketball. But when the refs become cognizant that they've called 10+ penalties against you, and it just doesn't seem to bother the penalized team, well they have to stop. This is a televised game, entertainment. No one pays to watch the refs.

The Chiefs grabbed wide receivers, they held every play, tackled players without the ball, and the refs were helpless to stop it. This doesn't explain how the Patriots gave up 3 long bombs. It does explain Hunt's late long run. It also explains the Patriots WRs being neutralized, and also partly it explains Brady's bad night. Gronk was getting grabbed constantly. Arms were being grabbed constantly.

Even on offense, the Chiefs TEs were grabbing Patriots by the jersey and driving them back, then turning around for a TD. Like OPI doesn't even exist.

Again, don't get me wrong, the Patriots have employed this strategy in the past. So have the Ravens.

BUT, the NFL has a problem if this is how the games are going to be. Flag after flag is not going to deter anyone, especially if it's working. You're better off giving the Patriots 10 yards than allowing them to execute their offense.

They just sucked overall, all around.

 

[mosslost]

Holding, pushing and grabbing happens on every play. If the refs called everything games would last 122 hours.

With that said the hold on Adam Butler was something else. He was practically being given the Heimlich.

Pats had first half opportunity to extend their lead and blew it in multiple ways. (Gave a FG they should have got, and instead of scoring last in second half, gave up the ball to them with field position) D Sucked. O mostly sucked.

 

[JMC00]

Not sure how you don't throw a flag for Johnson's PI on Burkhead or the TE that just bulled through McCourty but call Butler and bail out the Chiefs on an underthrown ball.

Those are my nitpicks for the flags in this game. Not gonna say it was the reason Pats lost or anything.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I can't be anything other than wryly amused by Patriots fans of all people complaining about a defense executing a "dare the refs to call them all" strategy.

 

[EddardSnow67]

Fans pointing out poor officiating has nothing to do with excuses. We're fans, we don't need to make excuses. The only ones who can make excuses if they want to are the players and coaches. Nobody claimed that the officiating was what caused the Patriots to lose. Literally not one person in this thread has even insinuated that. In fact, if anything people have preemptively make it clear that they *don't* mean that for fear of getting crap for even mentioning poor officiating.

The only thing I don't like about mentioning the officiating is that let's face it: NFL officials suck ass. They're consistently bad and do their jobs with an air of confusion and anxiety. They're self conscious and calculated because they're deathly afraid of criticism.

With that said, it's still worth pointing out when they make particularly egregious errors.

 

[brdmaverick]

I can only imagine what Chiefs' fans would think if they saw this thread.......after all........

1.) They were penalized far more than the Pats

2.) STILL dominated (not just eeked by) but dominated the Pats to end the game

.........and we still want to focus on the refs. I know, many here have prefaced that we're not blaming the refs for the loss, but it still 'feels' that way.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

The NFL has a Chiefs problem.