Both good reads on where the defender is in both his body position and actual field position. Both instances the defender was to the outside shoulder and at least 2 steps away. You just can't make up that kind of ground and he's hit in full stride.
Heh, on that very first play he was chop blocked. I guess the officiating in that game really was terrible (as usual versus the Pats). So we really picked up two wins- we beat the Pats and the Refs.
i have no doubt the officials are purposely favoring certain teams to affect the outcome and the Pats are one of them.
Personally, I don't necessarily agree. Seeing as Stephen Ross helps write the paychecks and would complain about something that's too obvious, I won't call bad calls intentional. But they're too predictable to be happenstance. I think officials in all professional leagues have a bias about which team is better and they give the benefit of the doubt to the team that's supposed to win. That's why (for example) we can have the ball stripped and it's a fumble but if New England had the exact same circumstance, they'll call forward progress. I've seen plenty of games where our defenders are clearly held or picked and the refs swallow their whistles. It's the subjective element of the game. With that being said, the floodgates are opening for legal sports betting in this country. I won't be surprised if we have multiple scandals regarding officials intentionally affecting results in the next year or so.
