MattM

People shouldn't give it a rest until we get an answer. The League and the relevant officials should be held accountable. End of story, particularly on something as blatantly bad as that call.

O'Leary's book brings up Doug Flutie's radio interview quote that during his Patriette career he once picked up another's QB helmet and was shocked to hear the booth seeming to keep talking to the QB well beyond the League-mandated cutoff point. This interview took place right after Spygate and apparently when approached on it afterwards Flutie decided to clam up about it with "no comments". The book also links to other articles that discuss how right after Spygate the League found that Patriette headsets had two frequencies/channels instead of the League-mandated one, which may explain how they were doing what Flutie seemed to be alleging.... Rod Marinelli and Jack Del Rio have each accused the Cheats* of this (headsets at Gillette going out on key plays late in a game) in the past

If you want to see how the "pros" do it, watch a New England* game--why, they never commit penalties. Twice this year already they've gone 60 minutes without a single penalty (called against them, that is)....

Uhh, sorry, but Atlanta also had extra time off, as someone else above noted. Ask any coach and I'd bet he'd tell you you want to limit the number of times you play a team who has extra rest. It's just common sense...

You watch a lot of football. Honest question, how often does that happen? I'd wager that happens pretty rarely based on my experience (but then again, a lot of the games I've watched have been Bills games, where the refs wait two minutes after a play to call Aaron Williams for illegal contact when the replay clearly showed he never touched a single person on the play, so my experience may be a bit different than most fans'--particularly Pats* fans). As noted above, someone else researched that the FIRST time NE* did that earlier this year, because it seemed like such a rare feat. And if I recall correctly, that's what their evidence/reasearch showed, too.

Someone else did that recently here the first time the Cheats* did it this season--very rare as any football watcher could tell you (at least anecdotally)....

And Dierdork just gushed about the fact that the Cheats* had no penalties all game in their 3 point win over a 2-9 team. Second time this year. Give me a break.....

Wouldn't it have been nice if we could have kept J. Bell?

Correct on the last part, but not quite right on the first part--if they lose to the Broncos tonight, they'd need to lose two more out of the last 4 games before falling to the Bills in Week 17. That would put us both at 9-7--not sure about the tie breakers beyond that, but head to head would be even. They have the Ravens and Fins and Texans and Browns in those other 4. I'd say that at least the Fins and Birds could possibly beat them. Not saying this is happening, but it's not completely impossible, especially if they should lose tonight. The tougher part is obviously us stringing together 5 wins, including against them at home in Week 17. The chances of all of this happening--probably less than 2-3%....

Personally, like the two members of the NFL Competition Committee who told a NYT reporter in 2008 "it's one team, really, over and over again" that (a) in the case of what the reporter was told, was the team others accused or suspected of cheating in various ways and (b) before Monday Night's game got the game changing calls or no calls late in the game over and over and over again. Funny co-in-ky-dink is that it's the SAME team! Who'd have thunk it? The Cheats* have gotten more ref favoritism over the last ten plus years than about the rest of the NFL combined, IMHO. I've asked their fans for years when they've lost a game on a late controversial call going against them, because we can all name about ten (literally) that went their way that way. Finally this season they'll be able to answer! Again, personally, my eyes really got opened in the AFCCG in 2004 against the Colts when on near successive plays Marcus Pollard was obviously and repeatedly held by a Pats* defender who literally had a fistful of jersey all in clear sight of a ref, who threw no flag. I had that one on the DZR for a while and was just amazed at how Pollard's neck jerked back violently each time he was held while the ref stared right at the play....

The difference in the NFL doesn't seem to be statistically significant. What I'd love to see is someone with "all 22, all angles" access watch and analyze games and determine what gets called on who vs what should have been called on who. A pipe dream, I know, but I have my suspicions as to what that would show....

In addition, I saw a former ref on ESPN yesterday say that this case is much like a tipped ball case--once the ball has been tipped/contacted by a defender, other defenders are allowed to make contact with a receiver. Here, the ref may have thought that the DB picked the ball at or before the time Gronkowski was touched. In real time motion, that's not an unreasonable view of things. Either way, the Pats* fans need to stop crying about this (although their tears are indeed sweet!), since they've done this to so many teams over the years that I've just about lost count (although the Monday nighter against the Ravens during the 2007 season came glaringly to mind on Monday--you know, the game where every single time the Pats* seemed to be stopped on that last drive the hanky came out, usually well late).....

Until Sunday night, when the Broncos stomp them a new one on national television. That insurmountable AFCE lead is looking less so every week--too bad it's more likely the Fins or Nyets that will be able to take advantage. Even if it was PI (which I'm not so sure about), they only need about 15 more of those games to go to even the karmic score over the years. I just had visions of that Ravens Monday nighter during the unbeaten season. Every time the Pats* got stopped on that final drive, out came the hanky. Good to see it finally catch up with those Cheaters*.....

That was an awful play. Of course, since it's the Cheats* there was no flag. In fact, he'll probably get a medal from Goodell next week instead of the fine and suspension he deserves....

On the Pats* off their bye 4 straight years, the odds are about 4000 to 1 that happens randomly. What some folks also forget is that over that span we were often considered the number 2 team in the division. There have been several prior threads on that. New England* has over the years also gotten other high value games post- bye, including Miami the year after the Fins won the division and the Ravens the year after the Ravens knocked the Cheats * out of the playoffs. Notice, too, how New England* has played one team coming off a bye or Thurs game in the last two seasons, I believe, while Buffalo has played something like ten or more ( we were a big loser on the 2012 schedule, too, IIRC). As I've said repeatedly, some NFL teams are more equal than others in the League's eyes. That's becoming increasingly clear to at least some of us. I personally applaud any move by the Bills to not let the NFL get away with that. After all, who wants to root for the Washington Generals every year when the League seems to pick (and help) its Globetrotters..,,,

The Toronto series is the price paid to even HAVE a team in WNY, one of the smallest markets and one of the most economically depressed parts of the country over the last 20 years. I find it hard to believe that people still don't get that. They need that money to remain competitive in revenue, particularly when you consider things like new stadiums with more (non-shared) luxury box revenue in places that actually have corporate HQs/sponsors in their towns. The NFL is about making $ (despite its non-profit status). If you'd prefer they just leave altogether (which may still happen when Ralph dies), then go ahead and take the Toronto series away from them.... PS I was born and raised in WNY and am not Canadian, but I understand modern sports and the need to access this additional revenue stream in order to stay in WNY.

Personally, I'm glad they're bringing it up. It's the only way to make sure we don't get screwed again next year (IIRC, it's been 2 years in a row we''ve played a ridiculous number of teams with extra rest, while the Cheats*, for ex., have played one over that span, I believe (and their opponent was coming off a Thursday game to boot)....

This. That said, I get the OP's vibe here--call me crazy, but I honestly thought we could make a go of this season if we won today, considering our upcoming soft schedule and EJ potentially coming back soon....

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/01/report-incognito-under-scrutiny-for-harassing-martin/ Looks like there may have been a reason the Bills let Richie I. walk a few years back, as did the Rams. I've lived long enough to understand by now that some folks are just jerks--perhaps Incognito's one of them....

Wow--isn't he a Stanford guy, too? I guess smarts is no insulation from mental health issues. Here's hoping that he gets the help he needs....

ESPN scroll reporting Graham unlikely to play.....

Commander's Palace is still excellent--went last night with my dad after the Quarter and WWII Museum. I haven't been back in about a decade, but good to see New Orleans is still a great city. Saw tons of Bills fans here yesterday. Here's hoping we bring our team some luck!

Speaking only for myself, I read or watch others before I criticize them--I don't set up my own straw man by putting words in their mouth.....

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/20/nfl-com-article-contributes-to-confusion-regarding-rule-that-burned-pats/ Some debunking for the conspiracy theorists....