Posted on 01/21/2019 9:32:57 AM PST by Red Badger
After dramatic overtime wins, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are headed to their ninth (!) Super Bowl together, to face off against young Jared Goff and Sean McVay. But the talk today is all about an obvious, game-deciding blown call, and what the NFL must do to address an officiating crisis.
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The story this morning should be, would be, Rams coach Sean McVay taking a franchise that had missed the postseason 12 consecutive times to the Super Bowl in just his second year, and going right through the raucous Superdome to do it. The story this morning should be, would be, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s incomparable brilliance in the face of a worthy young challenger at Arrowhead.
But that’s not where we are on this Monday morning.
As has been the case, to a lesser degree, on other Monday mornings this year, you woke up today to more talk about a bad call in a football game. And you should. Because what happened in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday was as bad as it gets, the NFL’s worst nightmare come alive after a year in which the officials were criticized constantly. A terrible officiating failure cost a team a trip to the Super Bowl.
That’s no exaggeration either. There was 1:48 showing when Saints quarterback Drew Brees feathered the ball down the right sideline to Tommylee Lewis, who looked back for it, only to take a crushing head shot from Rams corner Nickell Robey-Coleman, who was on time for the hit like the Giants used to be on time for Tom Coughlin’s meetings: about five minutes early.
(Excerpt) Read more at si.com ...
The only right thing for the NFL to do is to play this game over again.
But the NFL never does the right thing.
Ever.
I have had the extraordinary privilege of being a Boston sports fan during the Bird era, Brady era, and Red Sox. I fully appreciate how fortunate I have been. I wish I could bottle and sell the enjoyment because it is amazing and awesome in that it never gets old. I would have guessed the Patriots comeback against the Falcons would never be topped for entertainment value. But I think last night did it. Brady, Edelman, Gronk ,etc. these guys are absolute freaks.
...and just like Brady, your snide replies will only add to my grin.
With all the missed/ignored calls against the Rams, and a few against the Saints, I hold that the Saints are still unbeaten at home in the playoffs (by the other team).
It was a non-call. No review.
Sports coverage draws millions of eyeballs and clicks. The media will never admit that their content is bogus or otherwise defective.
Then it was holding and still helmet to helmet. Both enough to give the Saints the first down.
Without the offsides penalty in the most critical moment of the game nullifying an interception, the Chiefs would have won 28 to 24 and the talk would have been of the bend but not break Chiefs defense. Yes, after the offsides the Chiefs defense was beat and with the overtime, they were totally beaten. New England 94 offensive plays, the Chiefs 47.
Pats... I bet even the Pats fans are tired of the Super Bowl and they won’t travel for this one. They’ll stay home. Old hat.
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See my post#62. I assure you it never grows old. I’d actually say the Belichick/Brady team is good for another 3 years. And it’s a blast every year.
And what about the interception in overtime, how was that not Pass Interference if the ball wasn’t tipped?
Meanwhile, Brees was head-slapped and no call.
The team nobody outside of NE cares to see AGAIN, vs the team nobody in LA cares to see for the first time. The marketing opportunities are endless /sarc.
And which ‘snide reply’ would that be?........................
“But the NFL never does the right thing.
Ever.”
No money in doing the right thing.
What I do know, however, is that the NFL officiating department has decided to take an interest in a more politically correct staff rather than a competent staff. This is not to say that there are not very talented officials on the field of look at thousands of plays a year and get them correct a world class speed with world class athletes -- and the game is incredibly complex to officiate. Seven officials have specific duties to look in the proper position at the proper time -- more often than not the official that is closest to the play is not the official responsible for the call. BUT, the NFL has taken a policy to promote officials based on their look not necessarily their competence. Additionally there is an old joke that when it comes to getting in the NFL, you either have a certain look, or a certain father -- as there are several officials who skipped paying their dues based on having a relative in the league. They call it the "lucky sperm club"
The consolidation of all reviews under a single official (Riveron) is also equally disturbing. It is unclear why there are multiple replay officials at the stadium, when everything comes down to a single man making a judgment. This is a bad idea -- it should return to being handled at the stadium in a certain amount of time and dealt with. Additionally, I think it would be very difficult to review every play -- and get replay involved in calling penalties. At some point you hire people on the field to do the right thing and trust their judgment, we are human as well.
The problem is that the NFL is more interested in hiring a politically correct look (including promoting women quickly) than hiring officials have have called thousands of games and have higher proficiency and scores. If it were to turn to a group of officials who work hard and are trained well, these mistakes would still happen, but far less likely.
As sports is a cross section of life, I think that this officiating department is more reflective on how our society functions placing a premium on political correct instead of competence. Such an interesting thing to ponder on a day where we celebrate someone who believed in being judged on the content of character over other traits.
It was obviously a pre-emptive quip based on previous encounters with Patriot/Brady haters.
Same play they should have been called for roughing the passer - blow to the head. (after the ball was thrown).
In general I don’t watch much football since the kneelers took over and the NFL decided to alienate much of their audience. However, I have been a Rams fan since....well.....ugh.... Roman Gabriel, Jack Snow, and the fearsome foursome. Been through Vince feragammo in the 79 Super Bowl, the Jim Everett years, the move to St Louis and back. So today I am a happy camper and the noise of bad calls is just that. Noise.
Bad calls, missed calls, no calls have been part of the game forever. Part of the game so get over it. :)
Pretty sure you can't review a non call.
Except for the part where Julian Edelman never touched the ball. Other than that...
“A terrible officiating failure cost a team a trip to the Super Bowl.”
No it didn’t. Most sports are a game of execution. Football definitely is. If you execute every time, you win. If the offense scores on every play. And the defense on every series forces them to three an out or picks off a pass or forces a fumble, they win. Pure and simple, execution.
Mahones threw 2 interceptions and had a 69.0 rating. Weak. The Patriots ran for over 330 yards. And where the Patriots made their only real mistake was trying to milk the clock in the second half and letting KC get close.
Was it a bad call? Yes. Did the officials also miss the helmet hit? Yes. But that one call didn’t decide a game. That was decided in the first half when New England ran up a coastable score even though they got stupid in the second half.
The league and the media is spending a lot of air time trying to find excuses why teams win or lose. The officials are always an easy one to justify the player aura and to also justify their absurd salaries. Blaming the officials protects the failures of the players so it puts butts in the seats. The league has been doing it for years.
rwood
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