After watching the game Sunday, the voices got louder and louder as the game went on...or it might have been the alcohol.
I imagined this conversation....
"Hello Paul, it's me Roger, Roger Goodell. Well, Tags, it seems you left me with a heckuva mess. The Patriots have been exposed as cheaters and now a few people are questioning the intergrity of the league, especially the Super Bowl. Coming after the Steelers/Seahawks fiasco, I don't know what to do".
"Listen Rog, it's easy. Simply have the Patriots win every game big. People will forget the cheating and talk about their greatness."
"How the heck can I manage that?"
"Again, it's simple. They have talent. They'll win a lot of games without a problem so you only have to help them a few times."
"How can I help them?"
"Stick one of our house officiating crews in for their big games, that'll insure a win with usually just a couple of bogus holding calls or pass interference or even some boundary calls. Teams usually don't win 12 on 11 games."
"But won't people get suspicious when all the Patriots games are so one-sided with the officiating?"
"No, see that's where the genius in the plan is. Most fans don't watch the Patriots every week, they only watch whatever team they pull for so they won't notice the pattern of the Patriots' games. Put our other house crew, just make sure you flip Ed and Mike around, on the tougher opponents' games a few weeks before and have them flag everything. Then the team will get a reputation as being an undisciplined, penalty filled squad and the game against the Patriots won't be viewed as an anomaly."
"Wow, thanks Tags, I knew you had this down to a science."
"No problem Roger, I'll tell Bob K that you've got his back at our poker game on Wednesday".
