Fake not Fiction

After watching the Divisional Playoffs and both Championship games, I've had enough. I've been whining like a baby all season about how the officials are manipulating this great game and now ....well...it's Official...no pun intended.

Did anyone else notice the lack of major penalty calls the last 2 weekends? I saw holding, mugging, roughing, H2H, late hits, early hits, and hits after the whistle. But NO flags.

But wait, there's more...!! Did anyone notice how the Steelers were called for every infraction in the wild card game? Sure, they made those penalties. (Except of course the two hand touch by Harrison on Tbone.) But why did the Steelers get called and the rest of the league can play without rules?

Because...that's why! "Studio Football" That's what it is! The seasons, the games, the playoffs, the whole thing is pre-determined. And the officials will control the game, not the coaches, not the players, not the nobody elses...just the officials and the NFL.

I don't want them to stop "picking on" the Steelers. If they commit a penalty, throw the flag. I just want to see real games, and I don't see that anymore.

I don't like Studio Wrestling because it is too fakey for me. And I don't like Studio Football for the same reason.

That's just me, though. There are plenty of people that DO like Studio Wrestling.

 

The one non-call that stood out to me was after a pass, Manning got hit then driven into the ground with the entire weight of the defender ( I think it was Aldon Smith) as he left his feet to drive his entire weight on Manning. I had no problem with the hit as it was just after the pass, but he deinitely made sure to drive Manning into the turf with his entire weight. There was no flag, but I could not help but think if that would have been Harrison the flag would have been in the air before the hit even.

That said, I do not believe in the grand conspiracy, but it obvious that there were many less penalties in the games this weekend -- could it be we are seeing the better officials now? It seems the league made an effort to have the officials really try to explain calls.

 

I didn't watch much of the games this weekend, but in the probably 20 minutes of the Ratbirds/Cheaters game I could stomach, I heard the announcers say that it was obvious the refs weren't calling stuff. As I recall, they framed it to the effect of "this is the playoffs, so they're going to let the players play real football". Stupid.

 

I thought it looked like they decided to not call many penalties.

I don't think I saw one holding penalty even though I saw jersey pulling, hugging, tackling, and strangling done by offensive linemen. It seemed like the offenses were allowed to do almost anything. That is the way it is. They like offense these days.

Blocking in the past thirty or so years has pretty much gone from what I knew as blocking, to pushing, and now grabbing and holding. I guess they like high scoring games and that is part of making it happen.

 

I had an uncle who was a professional wrestler. He used to come out into the audience before the matches started and tell my dad who was going to win each match. Dad would then go around placing bets.

I asked a current pro wrestling fan how he could watch that crap, knowing the obvious fakery. He said "when you go to the movies, don't you enjoy the fight scenes? You know those fights aren't real, don't you?" Gotta admit he had a point there.

The NFL has a golden egg laying goose and they're going to milk it for all they can.

 

Well, I am glad they pick the Steelers to win so often.

I don't watch ESPN or other TV sports shows, what is the story line for this year. Is lesser Manning going to win due to the injury to better Manning? Should I bet on the Giants or is there a Brady greatest ever story line?

 

In the 2 championship games on Sunday, the 1st offensive holding call wasn't called until the 4th QTR of the NFC game. That's 7plus quarters of football without a linemen getting a flag for holding. In the divisional round, I heard, on ESPN, that a total of 5 offensive holding calls was made for the 4 games... 4 of those 5 calls was in the Giants/Packers game..

 

better bet heavy on robert kraft's dead wife.

 

i know the exact play you're talking about from the giants/niners game. reminded me of harrison's hit on fitzpatrick. would have definitely drawn a flag if it were 92 driving eli into the turf.

there was another play in that game where a niner hit a giant fullback or tight end helmet-to-helmet that didn't draw a flag but would've cost 92 a game and about $50,000.

in spite of the roughing the passers, the helmet-to-helmet's, and everything else, the lack of no holding calls in 92's favor is what drives me bat**** crazy.

then again, james probably has himself to blame for kicking the hornet's nest and assaulting the queen bee.

 

You know what stood out to me that no one talked about? The PI on Ike Taylor in the Denver game. To begin with, I don't believe it was a foul because the receiver ran into Ike. Ike was on the outside, Thomas running a streak on the inside, and the ball was thrown way outside of Ike. Thomas located the ball first and drifted to the sideline and ran into Ike, who has the right to be there. After I saw the replay, Ike sorta hit his arm in a way that I would agree could be a ticky-tack PI penalty, even though it was very minor. So I may not like it, but I understand it. Even though I still disagree based on the fact that Thomas initiated contact. So it's a bad call, but those are somewhat common when it comes to PI. BUT what the announcers failed to mention on the air, (and I didn't see any of this coming from the Steelers either, but they didn't show Tomlin) is that the ball was completely and 100% UNCATCHABLE!

At the time Ike touched his arm, the ball had already arrived and was sailing a good 3 yards over both their heads. That's not the same as if he did it 3 seconds before the ball got there and the ball was overthrown by 3 yards, because then it's a "who knows" thing, like maybe the receiver could have gotten to it if not for the PI. In this situation, we KNOW he couldn't get to it, because the ball was already out of reach! It was not only high, but also very much outside of Thomas. He wouldn't have caught that if he'd been left uncovered on the play.

I think Ike may have been trying to convince them it was uncatchable, but I'm not sure. The signal for that is to wave one hand over your head with your palm facing your hair, but he sorta put both hands up and shook them. He might have been saying it out loud to the refs, I don't know. On this play, one ref threw the flag, but the ref closest to the play did not. Clearly one ref said it wasn't PI. They had a conference and then announced it was. It was a 32 yard penalty that led to the Broncos' final points, a field goal to give them 23. Without the penalty, it would have been 3rd and 8 in their own territory.

I don't think the topic ever came up that the ball was uncatchable. If it had for the refs, it would have been waved off immediately. It sure didn't come up on tv. I don't believe they dropped this rule, did they?

 

I agree, they should stop calling PI on poorly thrown balls. The worst are when the receiver has a couple steps on the DB. The pass is underthrown and the receiver stop and the DB necessarily runs into him. These are often the longest penalties called in a game. It should be changed to "good pass interference" with the current rules and no penalty for a bad pass (like uncatchable) or make it a 5 yard penalty. These penalties can be momentum changers just because the QB threw it poorly.

On the play against Ike, I also think he turned to look for the ball. I am not complaining, we still had a chance to win in the end and overcome everything that happened but we didn't.

 

Harrison was lasso'ed on the same play. They "missed" that one, but called the PI on an uncatchable ball. It was one of the few times I lost my cool and began yelling this year. Dropped a few F bombs within earshot of the kids on that play too. Not good.