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I’m not the conspiracy type...but

There are questionable calls every game, and always will be. Football is too fast and too physical to get everything exactly right. But, none of these calls were that terrible. You can make a case all of them were correct, and probably make a case they were incorrect. Even the Jack recovery, if not blown down, would have been reviewed and it is possible they would say he was down by contact. He clearly was in contact with Lewis when they were going to the ground, so it would have had to have to been determined if there was contact when he actually took possession of the ball.

Hard to say that there were questionable calls in favor of Jax when there was only one penalty called against the Pats and it appeared every Jax infraction was penalized..
 
Totally agree, (not with the Jack fumble though, he wasn’t touched at all while down, and only went down going for the ball).

Nonetheless, those types of bad calls are made every game or at least every Sunday during someone’s game.

The thing that is different here is that the Jags never had one questionable call go their way, and didn’t get obvious penalties made against them called at all. NE had 1 penalty callled against them. In a game where you call the “questionable” ones against one team, you have to do the same going the other way....that’s the frustrating part of it to me. There was no balance whatsoever.

Lowest amount of penalties called against a team in the playoffs since 2011. Think about that, all those questionable calls that were being made, but the refs only called one against NE...lowest in 7 years for all playoff games.

Conspiracy or no conspiracy, that’s just not right.

But there is no rule that penalties have to be even. Sometimes, one team commits more penalties than the other team. And I don't think there were that many questionable calls. I think the PI is the most questionable, but I also don't think it was obviously wrong either.
 
Hard to say that there were questionable calls in favor of Jax when there was only one penalty called against the Pats and it appeared every Jax infraction was penalized..

Jacksonville only had 6 penalties, it isn't like they were penalized all game long. And the delay of game was totally on Jax, no excuse for that out of a timeout. The Church hit on Gronk was clear as day, the PI on Ramsey late in the game was obvious. So of their 6 penalties, I just rattled 3 off the top of my head that were clear as day (and I don't remember the other 2 other than the PI).
 
Jacksonville only had 6 penalties, it isn't like they were penalized all game long. And the delay of game was totally on Jax, no excuse for that out of a timeout. The Church hit on Gronk was clear as day, the PI on Ramsey late in the game was obvious. So of their 6 penalties, I just rattled 3 off the top of my head that were clear as day (and I don't remember the other 2 other than the PI).

I'm not suggesting Jax was underserving. I suggested that the Patriots were equally deserving.
 
I thought that one could go either way, but I don't understand why people think it was so obvious that they think there is a conspiracy. At best it was debatable.

I agree it’s a debatable call, problem is PI can be a 50+ yard penalty in the NFL.

So while what goes for PI has changed, the cost/reward remained the same.
I’d like to see it changed to 15yds.
 
I'm not suggesting Jax was underserving. I suggested that the Patriots were equally deserving.

Where? I mean it is easy to say that, but again, at least 3 of Jacksonville's penalties were obvious, and 1 borderline (and I wish I remembered the other 2 but I don't). If they Patriots were equally deserving then what plays were missed where they knocked out a receiver with a helmet to helmet? Or had a delay of game out of a timeout? Or miss played an underthrown ball and tackled the guy two seconds before the ball was there? I was for the Jags, but there is a reason the Patriots have been winners for a decade and a half, and it is precisely because they don't do stupid things and make the stupid mistakes that other teams do.
 
Jacksonville only had 6 penalties, it isn't like they were penalized all game long. And the delay of game was totally on Jax, no excuse for that out of a timeout. The Church hit on Gronk was clear as day, the PI on Ramsey late in the game was obvious. So of their 6 penalties, I just rattled 3 off the top of my head that were clear as day (and I don't remember the other 2 other than the PI).

The Pats one penalty (a holding call on the kick-off) was the fewest penalties in a playoff game since 2011 - when (guess which team)....the Pats had one penalty against the Ravens. The Pats are simply that good. That offensive line was able to keep the likely defensive player of the year Calais Campbell to 3 tackles without a smidge of holding....
 
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Where? I mean it is easy to say that, but again, at least 3 of Jacksonville's penalties were obvious, and 1 borderline (and I wish I remembered the other 2 but I don't). If they Patriots were equally deserving then what plays were missed where they knocked out a receiver with a helmet to helmet? Or had a delay of game out of a timeout? Or miss played an underthrown ball and tackled the guy two seconds before the ball was there? I was for the Jags, but there is a reason the Patriots have been winners for a decade and a half, and it is precisely because they don't do stupid things and make the stupid mistakes that other teams do.

Or they appear not to do stupid things that cost penalties because the refs fall for the Patriot mystique and want to party with Tom Brady and Giselle after the game. At least 34 did...lol
 
The Pats one penalty (a holding call on the kick-off) was the fewest penalties in a playoff game since 2011 - when (guess which team)....the Pats had one penalty against the Ravens. The Pats are simply that good. That offensive line was able to keep the likely defensive player of the year Calais Campbell to 3 tackles without a smidge of holding....

I don't understand this argument. This is essentially suggesting that there should automatically be a certain # of penalties called on a team each game.

Campbell was credited with 47 tackles all year according to profootballreference, so 3 is right on par with his season stats. He is a pass rusher, not a tackler. Plus, Brady was pressured quite a bit and sacked 3 times, so I am not sure how strong that argument is.
 
There are penalties on every play, some are called and some aren't, and some teams always seem to have less. To say that since penalties weren't called doesn't mean they didn't happen.

Officials have the "option" of calling penalties, such as holding on the OL....happens every play....illegal contact by defensive players....happens on every pass play....

The question is why do some teams get penalties called and others don't?
 
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I had zero care as to who won; I neither like nor dislike either of the two teams. If that play happens with a team that I do care about - say FSU or the Bucs - my thoughts can pretty easily be summarized like this: If my team is on offense, it's an obvious pass interference that must be called. If my team is on defense, the ref is an idiot if he doesn't let the players play.

If I was the ref, I'd have thrown the flag & called it pass interference.
 
There are penalties on every play, some are called and some aren't, and some teams always seem to have less. To say that since penalties weren't called doesn't mean they didn't happen.

Officials have the "option" of calling penalties, such as holding on the OL....happens every play....illegal contact by defensive players....happens on every pass play....

The question is why do some teams get penalties called and others don't?

But Jax only had 1 holding (and one that was declined). So it isnt as if the refs were calling holding all day long or anything. All of their penalties were pretty clear, except the 1st pass interference I think could have gone either way. The 2nd PI was obvious, the hit on Gronk was obvious, delay of game obvious, illegal shift obvious, false start obvious. I am just having difficulty seeing where everyone things the officials were egregious.

What I dont get about this, is that, this wasnt a crew that seemed real eager to throw flags unless they had too, and most of the penalties that were called, were pretty obvious penalties.
 
But Jax only had 1 holding (and one that was declined). So it isnt as if the refs were calling holding all day long or anything. All of their penalties were pretty clear, except the 1st pass interference I think could have gone either way. The 2nd PI was obvious, the hit on Gronk was obvious, delay of game obvious, illegal shift obvious, false start obvious. I am just having difficulty seeing where everyone things the officials were egregious.

What I dont get about this, is that, this wasnt a crew that seemed real eager to throw flags unless they had too, and most of the penalties that were called, were pretty obvious penalties.

You missed the point, why were some called and some not? This is not an isolated incident. I saw NE DL line up twice in the neutral zone and it was uncalled. And the recovered fumble where they called it a fumble, in which they are instructed by the league to let the play continue, they didn't. And obviously this isn't the first time.

I find it hard to believe that people think that officials don't have bias, as if they are machines and not people.
 
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I agree it’s a debatable call, problem is PI can be a 50+ yard penalty in the NFL.

So while what goes for PI has changed, the cost/reward remained the same.
I’d like to see it changed to 15yds.

I'd argue the opposite - that all levels of football should return to the penalty of it being a spot foul. The college rule of it being a 15 yard penalty skews the cost/reward drastically in favor of the defense, essentially making it a no brainer that if there is even a remote chance that you're getting beaten that you grab the receiver.
 
You missed the point, why were some called and some not? This is not an isolated incident. I saw NE DL line up twice in the neutral zone and it was uncalled. And the recovered fumble where they called it a fumble, in which they are instructed by the league to let the play continue, they didn't. And obviously this isn't the first time.

I find it hard to believe that people think that officials don't have bias, as if they are machines and not people.

Seriously? You saw them lined up in the neutral zone twice (which how do you even really tell that on the TV, the angle isnt a straight line), and this is evidence of a conspiracy or bias or something? When you play the Patriots, it is about the 4th quarter, we have seen it time and time again. And quite frankly, the Jags were not good at all in the 4th quarter, or the 2nd half for that matter. They simply got beat by a more experienced and better team that didnt make mistakes.
 
Last year, the NFL wanted to give New England the Death Penalty, and now they are in cohoots to let them win. Now that is one of the greatest turn arounds in sports history!
 
The DB initiates the contact and rides the WR out of bounds. Like I said in the game thread yesterday, switch the uniforms and Jag fans would be calling for a flag.
Definitely rode him out of bounds, and in the second half Bouye flat out grabbed Cook's arm on a long pass, wasn't called.
 
I don't care for the Patriots as much as the most people but Jacksonville flat out played to lose that game.

For starters, in the 1st half, got the ball with 55 seconds and two timeouts and Jax takes a knee to run out the half. When you are playing the champs at their stadium, you have to try and get a FG there.

Fourth quarter- Every 1st down snap they had in the fourth quarter was a run out of the shotgun formation. If we saw that, don't you think the Patriots figured that out? Every 2nd down snap in the fourth quarter was a pass attempt of at least 20 yards. Why not try and get into third and manageable? Also, numerous times in the fourth quarter, Jax snapped the ball with more than 5 seconds left on the playclock including some with 13+ seconds on the playclock with a running game clock. All this while they had the lead in the fourth quarter.

The moment was just too big for them. They are young and will be back and learn from this game.
 
As a Jags fan I don't think that the refs cost us the game, but they certainly didn't help. We knew going in that the refs would likely favor the pats on questionable calls. Our coaching staff didnt have good time management in the last few minutes of the first half and they didnt make enough adjustments in the second half to win the game. In the regular season our D was only penalized 5 times for PI. I dont have a problem with the calls on the Jags, but my only issue is that there are penalties on most plays and its doesn't make sense that all of them are called on just one team. Amendola head-butted Gipson in the 3rd quarter right in front of a ref and nothing was called.
 
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One day Brady and Belichick will leave the league and we'll get a new 70's (Dolphins/Steelers) 80's (49's/Denver) 90's (Dallas/Buffalo) and on and on and on. We'll get a new bad guy to hate.
 
One day Brady and Belichick will leave the league and we'll get a new 70's (Dolphins/Steelers) 80's (49's/Denver) 90's (Dallas/Buffalo) and on and on and on. We'll get a new bad guy to hate.

Dan Patrick talked about this last week. You never heard anywhere near this much complaining about Michael Jordan's Bulls, Joe Montana's 49ers, etc. As Dan Patrick points out, this fatigue is unique to the Cheatriots.

 
Dan Patrick talked about this last week. You never heard anywhere near this much complaining about Michael Jordan's Bulls, Joe Montana's 49ers, etc. As Dan Patrick points out, this fatigue is unique to the Cheatriots.


I disagree with his opinion. I recall much complaining about the Dynasties. It was just regionalized or limited to the school yard (in my case) because we didn't have the wonderful interwebz to broadcast Jim from Newark's youtube evaluation of the game film. We hated the 49ers and new they cheated. And most of my friends were unhinged when Jordan pushed off Byron Russell to make his "last shot." We just didn't care about the Jazz and their cheating ways.
 
Amendola head-butted Gipson in the 3rd quarter right in front of a ref and nothing was called.
The Jax DB said that happened but unless you were in the stadium and focused on those two, you didn't see it. It was not caught on the broadcast so no one knows if it actually happened, the context or egregiousness of the action.
 
Decided to lift my self imposed NFL ban since I thought the Jags were a real bad match up for NE, and had a shot. Didn't see the 1st half, but in the 2nd half there were 2 calls that would have kept possession for the Jags a couple of plays longer at a minimum. On the Jags possession prior to the NE getting the PI call there was as a lot of contact or whatever to a Jag receiver and no call, believe it was a 3rd down too. On another series in the 4th Borytles gets hit high and low, no sack but he was folded in half. Maybe I am wrong but I thought that was a penalty and as a matter fact I thought it became a penalty because of Brady. I don't think their is any conspiracy; but it does seem like NE gets a lot of no calls.
The other thing I can't for the life of me figure out is how an organization worth tens of billions has part time officials and it is grampa at that. So you have peak world class athletes being observed by 60 y/o dudes who are in terrible shape; oh and they might have another job so this isn't their main focus.
 
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Seriously? You saw them lined up in the neutral zone twice (which how do you even really tell that on the TV, the angle isnt a straight line), and this is evidence of a conspiracy or bias or something? When you play the Patriots, it is about the 4th quarter, we have seen it time and time again. And quite frankly, the Jags were not good at all in the 4th quarter, or the 2nd half for that matter. They simply got beat by a more experienced and better team that didnt make mistakes.

Seriously...do you think that the football and camera's are stationary and never move.....it's as if you don't even pay attention to the game, more like you're waiting for the commercials.
 
Seriously...do you think that the football and camera's are stationary and never move.....it's as if you don't even pay attention to the game, more like you're waiting for the commercials.

Lol right. Nobody said cameras don't move, so I am not remotely sure where you pulled that from. I said they weren't a straight angle, not remotely the same thing. But regardless, if you are using 2 uncalled neutral zone infractions as the basis of a conspiracy, then have at it, there is probably nothing we will agree on with regards to this.
 
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The Jax DB said that happened but unless you were in the stadium and focused on those two, you didn't see it. It was not caught on the broadcast so no one knows if it actually happened, the context or egregiousness of the action.
True. However, it doesn't matter if I or you saw it. If it happened in front of the ref and wasn't called then that is a problem.
 
True. However, it doesn't matter if I or you saw it. If it happened in front of the ref and wasn't called then that is a problem.

His point is we don't know if it happened at all. Players say things all the time that aren't accurate.
 
I also think confirmation bias is happening here. If you think New England “cheats” then you are going to be looking at every little thing to confirm your theory. Question though… do other teams get looked at as hard as New England? Meaning, for those recording and pointing out missed holds or neutral zone infractions do we do that for any other team?


Alabama wins the same way that New England wins… they don’t beat themselves. New England rarely makes mistakes. You don’t see them getting sloppy and making stupid mistakes. Alabama is the same way which is why they have been so successful. New England gets less penalties because they are a well disciplined team. It is as simple as that.
 
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Yup!

And blowing a play dead on a questionable fumble are bad calls as well.

There are two obvious PI non calls for NE and one hold against Telvin Smith on the 3rd and Long that sealed the game.

It was the worst officiated game I can ever remember, and they all happened to go in favor of NE.
The steelers Super Bowl win over Seattle years back was the worst IMO. Seattle was robbed!
 
I guess Super Bowl LII just killed this conspiracy theory.

I think it proves it. All the league needed was for the patriots to make it to the super bowl. Once there they allowed it to be called fairly, and I don’t think Chris Collinsworth got the memo.

Think about it.
 
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I think it proves it. All the league needed was for the patriots to make it to the super bowl. Once there they allowed it to be called fairly, and I don’t think Chris Collinsworth got the memo.

Think about it.
I think, based on the comments of people who had a dog in the fight, "called fairly" is a matter of which side you wanted to win. I didn't care. It was a fun game to watch though. Most yardage in an NFL game, ever.

I was just pointing out that the Pats should be NFL champs again, if the refs wanted it to end that way. Plenty of opportunities to sway that game.
 
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