I lost football games in college. I had two penalties ever in four years. One was for not being an eligible receiver and catching a ball. The other was going crazy on a ref. I was never as angry before or since when playing a football. Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk
Yeah I think it's insincere to believe these guys should be able to turn everything off and remain unaffected by this type of stuff. Just b/c they're professional athletes it doesn't mean they were gifted with special psyche abilities. They're still human. Unless they have a guy like Brady, Manning, Brees, or Rodgers at their backs whose mere presence instills confidence in them, I don't see how a game like today can't get into the collective heads of the team and rattle around for a bit.
Not only does it signal that your preparation was for naught, you get in the back of your head that there's nothing you can do. The biggest crock in sport is the "infallible referee". Not only are they allowed to screw up, but they can and do punish you for reacting. Then, the league defends the **** calls. The closest thing to an apology in recent memory is the expedited rehiring of the regular NFL officials. In no other industry save maybe financial services are employees allowed to so egregiously fail without repercussion, and really, with reinforcement. Performance reviews and maybe even fines for referee misconduct. I'd be very happy if a sport psychologist were to educate leagues on what bad calls do to players. They clearly don't understand based on the punishments for reactions. Could you imagine finishing the biggest report of your life, then the IT guy wipes your hard drive? The boss then defends the deleter while expecting you to "overcome the adversity", "suck it up" and work harder? Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk
Really feel the same way, man. If we lose a game bc we play poorly, make mistakes, etc that's fine. I watched every game the year we went 1-15 and would continue to no matter what. But when it comes to blatant fixing and the kind of **** we saw today it makes me just want to say **** this WWF **** completely. Sad is what it is.
I was ****ing FURIOUS when they called Wilson for that PI. I thought it was one of the worst calls I'd ever seen. Cost us 3 points. THEN the Vernon play happened and LOTS AND LOTS OF CURSE WORDS.
There's just no way to defend the OV one. Ya the Wilson one was absolutely awful but the OV **** is just mind-blowing. The kind of thing you see and say wow if they were gonna give them the game they could of been way less obvious about it.
and anyone who thinks otherwise just b/c these guys are paid to play the game are fooling themselves WADR to them. It's difficult for players to thwart off a defeatist mentality during games like today w/o a Brady or Manning behind you whom you know can overcome it all and pull it back together. With a 2nd year QB at the helm and your opponent scoring points at the refs' expense despite a strong defensive effort, it's easy to imagine the team as a whole feel the game slip away and not know how to fix it considering when they were "fixing it", the refs were busy taking away. Egregious is definitely the right word, and- great points. The disregard for accountability is disgusting and disturbing, unless New England was supposed to win this game, then it's another sort of disgustingness altogether. LOL ... meanwhile the NFLPA suspends Marty Magid for 6 months and fines him 25k for "actions that adversely impact his ability to serve as a Certified Contract Advisor" due to his Elvis Dumervil contract snafu.
My laptop was in my hands at the time, and the only thing that kept me from throwing it against the wall was the cost of replacing a MacBook. Had it been a remote control or a tablet, it'd probably be in pieces.
for me it was the direction his arm went. if you are trying to pull it close your arm arcs from out to in towards your body. if you are trying to push it away then your arm arcs out away from your body. which way did his arm go? I know and I know what he was trying to do. blatantly bad call...
I dunno guys. I'm looking at it on replay. And it looks to be an intentional batting of the football away. I'm not saying that's what he tried to do. But that's what it looks like he was trying to do. The refs can't read his mind. Only call what they see. And that's what it looks like. The slow-mo replay from the side at 1:30 into the NFL video is what convinced me. His arm never did a scooping motion. Now, it is possible OV was trying to corral the football, and because of the way his arm hit the ground after, he didn't get to complete the scooping motion. But it is what it is. What it looks like is him swatting the football away. Unfortunate but man, stuff happens. One of my best friends is a Raiders fan and he still curses tuck rule under his breath, so meh.
I think the batting call is one thing, but then to have it be a 10 yard penalty from the previous spot and an automatic first down. That's where you just give up and say **** it. And that's exactly what the defense did.
True. I'm just saying, on that one call. I've been babysitting 3 nieces and building 3 toy kitchens all day while watching the game so I kind of missed the game thread and all the convos
I saw the interview with Vernon postgame. He was biting his tongue hard not to rip the refs. They asked him if he was trying to bat the ball and if it was the right call and he said something along the lines of "that's what the refs called so it is what it is" but you could see it in his eyes that he was pissed. And why would he bat the ball away, instead of, you know, recovering it? He lunged after it the ball but it was bouncing away from him, therefore when he reached to grab it he hit it forward accidentally instead. No one is doubting he batted the ball, but he wasn't TRYING to, and that's all that matters. I still have no idea how you make that call. I'm not saying we would have won, but that call essentially ended the game because they scored a TD right after it.
NFL network. Deion said good call...show philbot not liking it. Deion. Ive got bad news. Prime time is now pay per view cable reruns.
I just watched it again. You have to be high off your *** to really think anyone could definitively or without bias say he was trying to push the ball away from NE. How else would you like him to try to recover that from the position he was in? He's trying to scoop it in before the pat above him gets it. Not that it should even matter since he barely gets a piece of the ****ing thing to begin with.
I just watched it again like 20 more times. He bats the ball forward, yes, but he sure as **** didn't do it on purpose. He has bigger guys trying to recover the ball so he jumps at it, and as we see a THOUSAND TIMES A SEASON while players try to recover fumbles, the ball just got away from him. He was moving and swiping his arm quickly because he knew there were Pats players about to jump in, and he knocked it forward. It was completely accidental. If intent matters, and according to the rules, it does, then it's a BAD call. Olivier Vernon, you are innocent.
What kills me isn't the calls, honestly. They pissed me off, sure. But the players today cost us the win. For example, Wallace dropped a pass that would have ended up in him scoring or down at the 2. Instead, Sturgis is forced to kick a 49 FG and misses, giving NE good field position and eventually they scored. Later on down 10 before the 2:00 minute warning, Sturgis has his FG blocked. We still had 2 TOs remaining and about 2:30 left on the clock so if he made that we really could have tied it. That's just off the top of my head but missed opportunities like that are spread out throughout the game come back and haunt you.
then why did his arm curve back into his body during the whole motion? If you're trying to dive and slap it away, shouldn't the arm be going in an extended motion away from the head & body rather than curving back into it? Go through the motion yourself as if you're slapping the ball away, laying on the ground and all. The motion tells me he's trying to corral the ball, and there's no way intent could be established. Even if it wasn't slapped away, the best case scenario for New England would've been Marcus Cannon recovering it on the 32 and NE facing 3rd & 16 going into the wind rather than 1st & 10 on the 13. If the refs weren't certain, considering it was clearly impossible to distinguish intent, they should've called it a dead ball at the spot of the touch and let the game play on instead of rewarding New England for failing miserably on the play. But then again we're talking about the Patriots here.
What kills me, besides the calls of course, is holding Brady to 100 net passing yards and 13 completions and still losing. If the refs don't gift NE 13 points then Tannehill likely doesn't throw 2 4th quarter INTs while trying to come from behind, in turn leaving us not looking as bad offensively in the second half considering we did have 3 drives into NE territory. That's still not great but we probably could've turned those into some points if the refs didn't take us out of our game, and Tannehill would've subsequently ended with a modest 2 TD/0 INT day behind a ground game that amassed 156 yards and 5.0 YPC, and Tannehill wouldn't have gotten teed off on with the sacks & pressures b/c New England wouldn't have been able to sit back and expect pass. On paper it would've looked like a solid low-scoring win.
Backhand vs. forehand in tennis or ping pong. Again, I'm not saying OV was intending to do it. In fact if I had to bet money, it would be on him not trying to do it. But without trying to read his mind, it looks like he tried to do it. I don't find the call egregious. Two things that hurt. One, OV hits it back. Way back. Straight back. Two, there was a defender right next to it also reaching for the ball. If OV is the only one there and that happens, probably not called. If it goes sideways, maybe not called. But the way he swiped at it, the direction it went, the defender looking like it was a scramble between the two of them, did him in. Maybe if he dove with two arms reached out (and I know he couldn't because he was tripped). It just looked intentional. Just looking at this objectively.
I only read page one and the last one, good lord you're a passionate lot, so I appologise if I missed something, but can't a ref's call be challenged? If so, why weren't these bad calls challenged? Surely Philbin would have been told by the men in the booths that the calls were incorrect. We were all cheering here when we saw that we were actually 17-3 up. (But in our heart of hearts knew we'd still get stuffed).
by God then the next time there is a scramble for the football after a fumble like that and the ball scoots away then there better be a flag thrown, but I bet unless Brady is QB then it wont be called. honest to God I have been watching football most of my life and THAT was the first time I ever remember ever seeing that called on anyone. hmm imagine that. another obscure rule pulled out when Brady is under duress.
It's like every other year. I can't recall a game where we got the calls the Pats got yesterday, is it just me or do we have to play against the refs in almost every game?! On the other hand we can't fix our errors, like defending a tight end, hold up against 3rd and long, o-line, and on and on and on. Just frustrating when the WWE refs are against U and u´r team is unable to assemble a real team with good coaching(although the first half against NE was really good coached) and management. There is not much left from this once great franchise!
I agree on the rant, but you will be watching Thursday. This was the most difficult game to watch for me, since I started watching. Not only because we lost a game we should have won, yet again, but the calls were just awful. The Vernon play was just baffling...it makes you think the game was fixed. I have no idea how a ref can make a judgment on a play like that. IT cost us the game, no doubt.
Ya know, I was thinking about that last night. Someone in here made a post about how crazy everyone is being about this call, saying that it's always called (or something to that effect), and I tried thinking back to when I've ever see this called in my almost 20 or so years of watching football, and I just dont ever remember it. I've seen plenty of fumbles, and loose balls like this that bounce all over the place, never though have I ever seen this called.
Rule 3-2-5(g) defines illegal batting as “the intentional striking of the ball with hand, fist, elbow, or forearm.” http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Odd-call-aids-Patriots-upsets-coaches.html
That Wallace mishap wasn't a drop, looked like a miscommunication. Wallace expecting a throw inside and Tannehill threw it outside. The outside throw was correct IMO because Wallace wouldn't have gotten lit up plus less likely to be picked. Wallace did have his fair share of mistakes, don't get me wrong.
I've seen it called... but it's extremely rare. I recall most recently Hartline batting a ball out of bounds instead of trying to recover it. That was a called penalty and deservedly so. It was clear from his arm motion that he was just trying to bat the ball away from the other team. How a referee can call this who was BEHIND the play is inexplicable. I am really quite sick about this. I barely slept last night. I have to remove myself from this. It's a life changing decision. I live and breathe this sport but I can't take it anymore. I wonder if there is a place for fans to go... and get therapy. It's an addiction that I have to break.
Im not meaning to be a Douche (especially on my first post) but just to confirm you are giving up the NFL due to bogus calls and bent refs but you are looking forward to the NBA season and watching Soccer? Those two are even worse than the NFL for blatant refereeing bias. Liverpool FC being one of the biggest beneficiaries!
