Was on the Phone with Boston During the Game

[remdak]

Guess what the line was for the game? Patriots -6

I am not sure of your point here. Patriots won by 4, so if you bet on the Cowboys you would have won. Or did you mean something else?

 

[Polkton31]

Why did the refs let Baltimore beat the crap out of the Patsies?

Not sure about the whole conspiracy theory, but... the refs would've had to throw double digit bogus flags to keep the Ravens from winning that game. I think what the OP was saying is, in a close game, the Refs can, and do, influence the outcome one way or the other. I don't think they go into the game saying, "Ok, we're going to cheat to make sure the Cowboys lose". Having said that, I'm also not going to dispute the bad calls and the possibility of making a close game swing in the direction they want it to.

 

[shabazz]

Yes. I remember Clay Matthews taking like 4 steps and diving at Romo's knees after he had released the ball and no call. Remember the gnats game in '15 where Romo took a late shot in the back on the game winning drive? It hurt Romo but he played through it. Then when they played the e-girls he was driven into the ground and broke his collarbone. Did they make the rule about then about tackling QBs and putting all their weight on them? No! It took Rodgers getting driven into the ground by Barr the exact same way then they made that rule...

 

[Carson]

You guys need to all calm down.

Brady was upset and the officials made it right. They gave us 1 second, to score a touchdown 85 yards away in a monsoon.

Take that Dallas fans

 

[InTheZone]

With a business associate who is a huge Pats fan - but, a reasonable one and a genuine student of the game. When Dallas had the ball with 2:38 left, a full compliment of time outs and needing to score a TD to win - I made the remark that, "If Dak wants the money, all he's gotta do is go win it."

My friend said, and I quote; "There's no way the league will allow that to happen. The refs will see to it that Tom gets this win. It's been going on for years up here and we all know it. It's to the point where it's almost embarrassing." Three plays later the phantom tripping call -

His next remark was .. "See, I told ya. Dallas couldn't have come in here with a Hall of Fame team and won. It's really not any fun watching them play here in Foxboro .. the outcome is a foregone conclusion."

I officiated many seasons at the NCAA level and left because pressure was applied to, "ensure we had a good, entertaining game." I'll just leave it at that. I've always felt like the pros were above that because it's all about the money with no pretense but, it seems now there are other things at play ... personal agendas, manipulating outcomes for whatever reason.

After 53 years .. I'm just about done.

Now, I don't care what you think about this post as to its validity or my friends sincerity or whatever - all I'm doing is relaying an actual conversation.

Pressure came from where? Not doubting you.

 

[X550i]

I am not sure of your point here. Patriots won by 4, so if you bet on the Cowboys you would have won. Or did you mean something else?

I was replying to a post how gambling can influence games. Officials by their calls can shift huge money one side to another.

It’s not that officials want to see one team win over the other, but there is a seed for corruption when this kind of money is involved.

 

[morasp]

The NFL has turned into pro wrestling with the difference being wrestling may be more entertaining and definitely less frustrating.

 

[Creeper]

Two tripping calls, both bogus, in the same game against the same team should set off the light bulb above every fan's head. That didn't happen by accident. There have been 9 tripping calls all year and 2 of them were called in one game. In fact, the Cowboys were called 3 times this year for tripping, 1/3 of all the tripping calls in the league. Smith, Frederick and Zack Martin have all called for tripping. Were the refs asked to look out for tripping by the Dallas offensive linemen? This would be a very Belechick thing to do. And given his stature, refs would listen. I have no info about this but 2 tripping penalties in one game is just too coincidental.

 

[Rayman70]

I don’t know about a fix but I thought it was odd how vehemently Pereilla was arguing the tripping call with Troy.

mobsters run the league at the top from NY..like Don Corleone.

 

[links18]

So, I guess Aikman isn't in on the conspiracy? Or were his protests part of the charade? Controlled dissent?

 

[BoysForLife]

I live in Michigan. If you talk to 10 lions fans up here, 9 of them will tell you that the 2014 wildcard game with the disputed pass interference call against Hitchens was a “rigged” game. Are they right? Would we be saying the same if that call had gone against us?

Look I’m not disputing that the tripping calls were terrible. They were clearly phantom calls that were blown in horrific fashion. I also don’t disputed the Pats get more calls than any team in the league other than possibly the Steelers. The league has their favorites, it’s pretty crystal clear and I don’t even think it’s debatable so I agree with you on that

End of the day though we are talking about two penalties that didn’t happen anywhere near the red zone on a day where all we could muster was three field goals total.

Our defense played well enough that 14 points would’ve won us the game. Instead all we scored was 9

While those calls certainly didn’t help, the way our offense played the odds are still low that we would have gone down and scored touchdowns on those drives . Our offense was an abominable bag of dog crap yesterday and that’s the reason we lost the game. That and maybe one of the worst special teams performances I’ve ever seen by any NFL team, ever

 

[Northern_Cowboy]

We need a new subform called "Conspiracy theories zone" LOLOLOLOLOL

 

[DallasEast]

I don’t know about a fix but I thought it was odd how vehemently Pereilla was arguing the tripping call with Troy.

The conversation was irregular given both Aikman and Pereira were looking at the exact same replay. Aikman inferred Frederick moved his leg because the defender was bullrushing. An offensive lineman always resets his stance unless he has stonewalled and locked up his man while blocking.

Happens every game from seventh grade up. Yet, Pereira counters Aikman's observation by interpreting there was a penalty because Frederick lifted his leg. Well, Pereira was correct. That is what Aikman said also but Pereira made his counter statement based on intent.

Intent is only applicable if a foul was committed. Pereira watches the video, says Frederick tripped the guy but never sees their legs contact each other. And Pereira was adamant a foul was committed.

Some people actively dismiss what happened in favor of what the team did not do to win the game. That is equally disturbing. Here was an example of an ex-NFL official making and defending his position, claiming a foul occurred when it did not occur. Guess who likely shared Pereira's stance? Answer: the current official who threw a flag for a foul he did not see either. And some people either think that is okay or could not care less if officials see stuff that isn't there.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

This attitude and lack of integrity in life is why sports has become a joke.

Well said,,, I would add that this problem is being visited upon many of our institutions and it's so bad that many are not even trying to hide it anymore. It's in your face and they don't care.

 

[HowardC]

So, I guess Aikman isn't in on the conspiracy? Or were his protests part of the charade? Controlled dissent?

They didn't start putting ex-refs in the booths until the officiating got so terribly putrid. We don't know who is in on it and who isn't.

 

[Sage3030]

Yes. I remember Clay Matthews taking like 4 steps and diving at Romo's knees after he had released the ball and no call. Remember the gnats game in '15 where Romo took a late shot in the back on the game winning drive? It hurt Romo but he played through it. Then when they played the e-girls he was driven into the ground and broke his collarbone. Did they make the rule about then about tackling QBs and putting all their weight on them? No! It took Rodgers getting driven into the ground by Barr the exact same way then they made that rule...

To be fair.... it wasn’t Roy Williams breaking Musa Smiths leg that got the horse collar rule installed. It was the next one, on TO that did it. Musa missed two years. TO was back that year in the Super Bowl. That one seems to at least follow precedent.

 

[Northern_Cowboy]

Last time i checked the Refs are still using the same tools to ref games that they used 50 years ago (mainly their eyes except for plays that can be challenged). We (the fans) on the other hand are the benificeries over the years of better cameras with better lenses, more cameras at games, HD etc, that allow us to see things up close with much better angles and sharpess than what refs may be able to see with just their eyes. There are no conspiracies and nobody is out to get us, we just get to see things up close now and we get to dissect every single aspect of a play that refs have half a second to determine in a game. For the most part they get almost everything right. Stop being crybabies and realize that we lost that game not because of the refs but because we got outplayed and outcoached

 

[HowardC]

To be fair.... it wasn’t Roy Williams breaking Musa Smiths leg that got the horse collar rule installed. It was the next one, on TO that did it. Musa missed two years. TO was back that year in the Super Bowl. That one seems to at least follow precedent.

The point is that Romo rarely got roughing calls compared to other QBs. If I remember correctly it was like 10 to 1 with Rodgers compared to Romo regarding roughing the passer calls.

 

[Quickdraw]

I think fantasy football has some role in the outcome of some of these games.

 

[SlammedZero]

There is no fix. Just favoritism by the NFL. One that that can be fixed is a football game. Then have color commentators and people like Mike Pereira get paid to lie to people's faces about these types of calls.

Not only is it embarrassing to the league. But its also embarrassing to people who believe that there isn't any type of favoritism that exist in the NFL. Dez Bryant's non-catch and these two phantom calls are just proof.

This is how I feel. A full on fix would be an awfully large wheel to keep in rotation without squeaks. Favoritism, however, could definitely slip under the radar. I've never been a conspiracy theory kind of guy with the NFL but even I'll admit I've seen some calls that leave me scratching my head in wonder.