Another game lost due to referee bias

[Oh_Canada]

Sorry but the constant daily and weekly whining Threads/postings from Cowboy fans complaining how Espn, NFLN, the refs, the league etc are in some conspiracy against Dallas is ridiculous...

Not about conspiracy to me, it's about getting it right.

 

[tcc0808]

I'm just listening to Mike and Mike and they can't understand how the officials missed all the cheap shots/punches thrown by Odell Beckham. Dean Blandino is a Giants fan and they needed the win. Its probably as simble as that. Anyone who watched that game had to see the NFL/referee bias right there, Dez would have been thrown out in the first quarter for sure.

Dean Blandino being a household name is a bad thing.... Officiating has been very inconsistent as of late and seems to be getting even more so.

In terms of the Decker fumble.... I had to go look at the rulebook and after reading these two lines:

Item 1. Player in Possession. A player is in possession when he is inbounds and has a firm grip and control of the ball with his hands or arms.
(3) If a player has control of the ball, a slight movement of the ball will not be considered loss of possession. He must lose control of the ball in order to rule that there has been a loss of possession.

I still think it was a fumble and argued this case with my family.. to which my daughter said "If it was Dez who did that would it still have been a fumble.... to which I replied 'You're Grounded'"

In case you all didn't have it, link to the 2015 rulebook: http://uaasnfl.blob.core.windows.net/live/1807/2015_nfl_rule_book_final.pdf

 

[SultanOfSix]

Absolutely horrible and inexcusable reffing on those two plays.

The first one was clearly a fumble. No ifs, ands, or buts. Nothing can excuse such an atrocity.

The second one was more difficult to see so that is at least slightly more excusable.

Why people still think refs actually call games fairly is beyond me. They've been shown to be consistently inept or consistently biased.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

Jerry Jones in his post game presser said that "we are not playing good enough to get calls".

Basically insinuated that if you are a scrub team like we are, you don't get the benefit of the doubt on close calls. He then kinda caught himself and said that he was not saying the calls were wrong or biased, but the cat was already out of the bag at that point.

So you want to know why we didn't get the fumble calls?

Because the Jets are in the playoffs and we are looking at a top 5 pick.......that is why we didn't get any calls last night, per Jerry

So the "whiners" are right after all.

 

[Ashwynn]

This thread conveniently leaves out the totally botched horsecollar call that directly lead to Cowboys points

yeah that was a good one. I sat there and laughed at the replay knowing that was no horsecollar and said "bout time a phantom call goes the Cowboys way".

 

[Avery]

No one will be complaining about these calls when draft time comes around.

 

[bb721]

I'm just curious, what possible reason do the referees have to be biased against the Cowboys? Do the get paid some sort of year end bonus that goes up relative to the number of games the Cowboys lose? What's in it for them?

 

[Doomsay]

Both fumbles that we recovered should have been allowed to play out (all turnovers are reviewable now and the officials have been instructed to let them play out) and even the first one by Eric Decker was initially ruled an fumble and recovered by Dallas. But no, some official on the opposite side of the field comes in and talks the referee into changing it to "down by contact". Jason Garrett now has to use his challenge and because it was ruled "down by contact" on the field the play stood, If it had been called a fumble it would/should not have been overturned either. The same thing basically happened on the Jets game winning drive when Ryan Fitzpatrick fumbled. These bad calls were a 12 point swing in the final score.

If it was just this game I could overlook it, But it has been happening now since early 2014 when nearly every potential turnover was ruled in favor of the opposition and not allowed to play out (we lost quite a few defensive TDs last year because of this). If you watch the Steelers or Giants they almost always get these benefit of doubt calls in their favor. This officiating bias has cost us more than a few games this year and just contributed to what has become a dreadful season.

Good point - I've noticed this changing of the initial "rule on the field" by refs away-from-the-play to the Cowboy's detriment on a number of occasions this year. I saw it in the Pittsburgh game as well.

Huge difference between overturning and confirming the play as called.

We did get a huge benefit from that non-horse collar though.

 

[Everson24]

I'm just curious, what possible reason do the referees have to be biased against the Cowboys? Do the get paid some sort of year end bonus that goes up relative to the number of games the Cowboys lose? What's in it for them?

The majority of NFL owner hate Jerry Jones and what he stands for. Ever since he made the deal with Nike back in 1995 we seem to have become the new Oalkand Raiders and Jerry has become the hated Al Davis. The main difference now is the league is set up for parity and and we cant overcome bad calls like the 70's and 80's Raiders could.

I find it odd that the only time we seemed to get some favorable calls is when we were the only team to take a chance on signing Micheal Sam. It was noticably suspicious to me. I also knew when the Blandio photos of riding the Jerry Jones party bus showed up on TMZ we were not going to get to the NFC Championship game.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Sorry but the constant daily and weekly whining Threads/postings from Cowboy fans complaining how Espn, NFLN, the refs, the league etc are in some conspiracy against Dallas is ridiculous...

ESPN doesn't have a conspiracy against the Cowboys.

They have just turned the landscape into a fanboy culture. And most of them are not fans (or former players) of the Cowboys. And as Rick Reilly (ESPN employee) freely admitted, when in doubt...write something negative about the Cowboys. It is sure to garner readers.

NFLN isn't as bad. Although I would advise against them using the ESPN model because ESPN's ratings and revenue are dropping off at an alarming rate. I think people are fed up with the fanboy culture at ESPN because sooner or later...it rears its ugly head against their team. Again, no conspiracy because it does happen to other teams....but, it happens far more with the Cowboys because of how its structured.

I wouldn't be surprised if the refs had a bias against the Cowboys or any team. It's human psychology and after the Tim Donaghy situation in the NBA...it seems that there is some belief in pro sports leagues that refs are above reproach and none of this stuff is tightly investigated by any league. I think we can agree that the Cowboys are fiercely despised around the league. So, what's to stop a ref...who works part time at his job (and often times they have bigger paying jobs)...to let their bias against a certain team influence their calls?

The league showed some serious bias against Dallas with the cap penalty for the uncapped season contracts. This has been shown in various ways as other teams doing the same exact thing as Dallas and the fact that it was more or less admitting collusion. So if there's a conspiracy out there, I would say that the league has shown to have one out of all of the entities you listed. The others could easily be pointed out to have a bias against Dallas.



YR

 

[Miller]

I've seen the Cowboys get numerous breaks in games this season. Phantom PIs, etc to keep them in games, etc.. Yet these threads keep springing up. Why would the league, who would love to have their top franchises and the love/hate with fans, at the top of the heap, conspire against Jerry....especially since he is one who has had the Goodell's back? Please stop.

 

[Direwolf63]

Refereeing has been atrocious this year.

But that's not why this team is 4-10. To focus on the refs is missing the point.

 

[Sage3030]

Only thing that bothered me about the refs in this game was not calling roughing the passer on the Jets D.

On Moore's first pick,while a horrible decision on his part, he was hit in the head not once, but twice, by defensive lineman. The first one he ducked under, the defenders hand hit his helmet. As he released the ball, he was hit in the face. The first one, fine. The second one? Throw that flag.

 

[lostar2009]

The last fumble was a fumble. How they failed that is a mystery to me.

Yeah we did get hose some this game. Cowboys been playing against the officials for some years now.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Bad call or not. I don't think its going to matter anyways. If there's a bad call Garrett won't argue and the Jones boys will agree with the NFL. Like they did with Bryant's "no catch" ruling.

If the coach and FO can't stand up to the best interest of the team, why should we?

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Both fumbles that we recovered should have been allowed to play out (all turnovers are reviewable now and the officials have been instructed to let them play out) and even the first one by Eric Decker was initially ruled an fumble and recovered by Dallas. But no, some official on the opposite side of the field comes in and talks the referee into changing it to "down by contact". Jason Garrett now has to use his challenge and because it was ruled "down by contact" on the field the play stood, If it had been called a fumble it would/should not have been overturned either. The same thing basically happened on the Jets game winning drive when Ryan Fitzpatrick fumbled. These bad calls were a 12 point swing in the final score.

If it was just this game I could overlook it, But it has been happening now since early 2014 when nearly every potential turnover was ruled in favor of the opposition and not allowed to play out (we lost quite a few defensive TDs last year because of this). If you watch the Steelers or Giants they almost always get these benefit of doubt calls in their favor. This officiating bias has cost us more than a few games this year and just contributed to what has become a dreadful season.

I'm going to buy the game day officials Xmas presents.

 

[TX Cowboy]

NO don't blame refs for the loss this isn't their fight this is our inability to structure a team with the proper
foundation and like the house of cards it's built upon..it's eventually going to fall without any resistance

 

[Miller]

This was on MMQB. Sherman has a good take on it. I think its been bad overall and the weekly blaming of refs is comical since I think we have had 3-4 games where we got lucky with refs calls just keeping us in it

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/21/nfl-week-15-tyrann-mathieu-injury-odell-beckham-panthers-giants

The last word, for now, on officiating
My thanks to Robert Klemko and Emily Kaplan of The MMQB for their detailed analysis on the state of NFL officiating. And to Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman, writing one of the best pieces in his three-year part-time columnist role for The MMQB. (Richard, you’ve got a future in the media.) Hesuggested an eighth official, a simplification of the rulebook, and a re-positioning of the officials on the field.

• THE OFFICIATING CRISIS: Worse than Ever, or Just Louder Critics?

But what Sherman wrote that resonated with me was this: “To the fans who are still losing their minds over bad calls, I have one thing to say: Relax. Officiating NFL games is one of the hardest jobs in professional sports, and that’s why the replacement refs were yanked after three weeks. These days, with high-definition TV and rule experts on television and social media, everyone thinks he’s an expert. Everyone seems to know the rules and how they’re supposed to be called, and everybody can get the call right from the comfort of their own home, lying in bed. But in the heat of the moment, very few of us could get it right.”

Did you watch the Monday night game last week? In the Giants-Dolphins game, Eli Manning threw to Odell Beckham on the right side of the end zone, and Beckham stretched out for the ball, tried to get both feet in, and then attempted to secure the ball as he fell to the ground and slid way past the boundary.

To anyone watching, it was close. To me, and to the officials on the field, the immediate thought was: He didn’t get both feet inbounds, and he used the ground to secure the catch. So, then we saw the replays. One Beckham foot was clearly inbounds, and the new pylon-cam on ESPN spied a clear inch of green grass between Beckham’s other foot and the wide white stripe. So yes, both feet were legal. Inbounds. Now for the act of making the catch. Beckham caught the ball, fell to the ground and slid—and if the ball barely moved a millimeter from the time he hit the ground to the time his slide stopped. It appeared clear to me that Beckham did not use the ground to secure the catch, and that the catch should be good. That’s the way it was ruled on review. Touchdown, Giants. Another play for the Beckham highlight loop.

My point: People will yelp about the officials getting the play wrong. But there is no human watching that game on the biggest hi-def TV ever invented, or watching in real time where the officials stood, feet away from the act, who could be remotely sure whether the ball was caught legally for a touchdown. The vast majority of people, I would guess, saw the play and said, “No way. Incomplete.” No matter how many rules are put in place to clarify the act of a catch, or the act of nearly anything in a pro football game, there are going to be holes. And officials will err. It’s just the way it is and always will be.

• FOUR WAYS TO FIX OFFICIATING: Seattle’s Sherman offers his suggestions

Now, I do think what I mentioned on NBC Sunday night—that the league is on a fast track to make one official on each of the 17 officiating crews a full-time, year-round employee—is a good thing. It’s progress. And it may be that one day all officials will be full-time. But understand that the bang-bang nature of so many plays will ensure that no matter how much tape officials watch and no matter how many practices they work and no matter how many tests they take on the rules, there is very little you can do to make the game be played, live, in super-slow-motion. And that’s the only way officials can be anywhere close to perfect.

There still will be human error, the kind, in my opinion that allowed Beckham to stay in Sunday’s game when he was clearly out of control and did enough to be ejected. Why wasn’t he? I don’t know. It should have happened. It’s just another example of mistakes made under the white-hot lights of a big game. We’ll see if a full-time official on each staff—or more, eventually—will cut down on the flaws.

 

[Hook'em#11]

Huh, I would have thought the 4 INT's would have had something to do with it. lol

Hahaha.. Kinda what I thought too.

 

[bb721]

The majority of NFL owner hate Jerry Jones and what he stands for. Ever since he made the deal with Nike back in 1995 we seem to have become the new Oalkand Raiders and Jerry has become the hated Al Davis. The main difference now is the league is set up for parity and and we cant overcome bad calls like the 70's and 80's Raiders could.

I find it odd that the only time we seemed to get some favorable calls is when we were the only team to take a chance on signing Micheal Sam. It was noticably suspicious to me. I also knew when the Blandio photos of riding the Jerry Jones party bus showed up on TMZ we were not going to get to the NFC Championship game.

I didn't ask you about the other owners, I asked about the referees and what reason they have to be biased against the Cowboys. Are you trying to say that the owners are instructing the referees the purposely influence the outcome of the games in favor of the Cowboys opponent? And you think something like that can happen without one disgruntled ref blowing the whistle and exposing this massive conspiracy? Not even a ref who is no longer in the league and has nothing to lose?