MattM

That's EXACTLY why I'm pulling for the Steelers....

And he's from Buffalo and a Bills fan to boot. I coincidentally watched a Bills game with him once at Boomers on the UWS in NY, my old Sunday joint during football season. Didn't even know who he was until he said "wow, that was some hit. Back in my day they didn't hit like that" and then spent part of the rest of the game talking about his playing time. Funniest thing was he said hands down he'd always root for the Bills over his old team, the Giants....

If anyone is surprised by this anymore, I'd just ask where you've been for the last ten years or so.....

Some S&C coaches seem to do a better job than others. Pretty good article on the Falcons' program in the NYT recently featuring none other than Coy Wire, who was raving about the effectiveness of the new methods Atlanta uses....

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy....

They need to toughen Bell up. When healthy he's an above avg LT.

How about Donte Whitner, v 2.0?

Yes--that's certainly preferable to letting him walk for nada, which is absolutely the one thing we can't do. I think Gailey did the right thing today if it was a well-laid out team rule as some here have said. I just hope that Stevie has the maturity to (a) understand this, respect it and realize he let his teammates down and (b) not let it affect his decision on where to play next year. He and Fitz have chemistry that isn't easy to replace, especially on a team that even with SJ has so many holes, including at WR2. I really hope that this offseason isn't another 2 steps forward and 3 steps back one we're recently used to....

Where's WEO? If you need any further evidence of the League protecting one team and one player, look no further than that INCREDIBLY RIDICULOUS call on Florence. That probably cost us 3 points....

Oh to have such a problem....

Pretty simple, really, nothing too complicated. Someone bribes a ref who has a weakness of some kind--drug addiction, gambling addiction, a wife/mistress who wants more than he can afford or just plain greed, for ex. Many potential culprits--gamblers (tougher to spot, since it would be about points and not outcome and "winners and losers" would float, but do it too many times at your own risk of being exposed or booted as an official), TV execs wanting a popular team in the playoffs, for ex., or a billionaire owner who can't stand losing, all come to mind. Toughest part is probably knowing who to approach without getting the whistle blown on you, so you'd need to do your homework. Not saying it has happened, but after Donaghy and the Serie A scandal (multiple team officials and refs) it is idiotic to say positively that it can't happen in football, despite what WEO says. In fact, someone about 10 years ago wrote a book naming games that were fixed, I believe. Mainly '70's era stuff. I recall reading it at lunch at a bookstore in the bargain bin, but was too cheap to buy it. Personally, how else can you explain things like watching a ref look right square at Pats* defenders grabbing Marcus Pollards's shoulder pads in that AFCCG a few years back on successive plays without a flag? Had that Tivoed and watched it over and over. He had an unobstructed view of what was clearly holding (the guy had so much jersey on one play that Pollard about had his head jerked clean off), yet no flag. How does one explain something like that benignly? Again, not saying it happened or is happening, but something that already has happened in similar sports is certainly by definition in the realm of the possible at least. Sorry if any of this has already been discussed, just catching the end of the thread here....

No, it's not your bias speaking again. "New England has been a league leader in compensatory selections since 2000, making a total of 24 since the Bill Belichick era began" as per the recent Bleacher Report article that details their picks the last decade or so. What surprises me about this is that while the Pats* often get their steals via trades (Moss, Welker, Ochosucko and Haynesworthless this year), the Pats* DO sign FA's--look at Adalius Thomas (the biggest FA of his offseason)or Roosevelt Colvin (another highly sought after FA), for ex. I'd have expected someone like the Steelers to be higher in comp picks, since they lose decent players periodically (Burress and Holmes both come to mind) and are almost never FA players. As they say in Animal Farm, "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." That about sums up the Pats* relationship to the NFL in most things, including comp. picks..... http://bleacherreport.com/articles/628363-new-england-patriots-recent-history-of-compensatory-draft-picks

Plus one.....

Of course he could make more money in LA--that's an absolute no-brainer. How many corporate suites to major multinational corps could he sell in LA vs. Buffalo (as that's where the non-shared money is)? How much merchandising could he do in LA (the second largest city in the US) vs. Buffalo? Folks who've never lived outside WNY often don't seem to understand how much "richer" other parts of the country are--by that I mean in terms both of avg. salaries (and hence avg. ticket prices) and corp. sponsorship opportunities. I love WNY and am glad I grew up there, but there's tons more money to be made elsewhere these days and Ralph should get some credit for staying there despite this.....

Yeah, he's an absentee owner just out for the most profit he can haul in. Ohhh, wait, the guy spent most of the last 30 plus summers in WNY at training camp and could have probably nearly doubled his money moving the team to LA. He may not be competent at running the team, but I personally suspect his heart's in the right place. I also personally suspect that he gave up running this team at anywhere near a microwavel a looong time ago. Want someone to blame for the penny-pinching ways? May want to look at those around Ralph first, namely those whose pockets get lined with the Littman-saved loot....

I'm watching the Cheats*-Tebow game and, no surprise here, the refs are doing their utmost to protect the Cheats*....

Too little, too late....

You're conflating the two ideas--in the first, all it takes is getting to one official in the gambler, one off game case. That could (and has, in the NBA) been done before. In the second, it would admittedly take a wider conspiracy, making it less likely, but something similar to it has also happened--see the Serie soccer scandal in Italy. In that case, they found that certain officials were being designated to ref certain games and said refs were on the take, as was the assignor. That one was indeed a league-wide scandal. Not saying it's happened or is happening here, but it's ridiculous to categorically say it couldn't happen in the NFL, when it has in fact happened in another major league....

On the corruption point, doesn't have to be the League--all it takes is $, and there are plenty of potential sources for that. Everyone from gamblers (most likely) to networks to the League to specific owners. Any of them has the $ needed to do this..... Name me a game the Pats* lost on a bad call/no call late in a game from the time of the Tuck Rule to their SB loss. They won MANY that way during that span (Raiders, Colts, Texans, Ravens, Bills games all come to mind), but I've yet to hear they lost one that way during that period....

Now that's funny....

Lee Evans, anyone? He could stretch the field at least....

WTF was that no call--give me a break. The guy with the best view called a penalty and the WAIVE it OFF??!!

Plus one...

Anyone else see the end of the Skins-Cheats game? Skins score a TD with about a minute left to tie the game, but wait, what's that? A hankie, you say? Offensive pass interference you say? CBS, of course, doesn't even show the replay (I'm always suspicious when they do that) (and yes, there was plenty of time to do so). Earlier in the game, our friend London Fletcher nails Brady as while he's still up and gets hit with a roughing penalty--even the announcers were all over that call. Seems like the more things change, some things remain constant. %#&* New England*.....

I agree that he's looked good at times, but he needs to stay on the field. Can't help the club from the tub, as they say. In addition, he really needed to catch that pass that hit him in the hands in the red zone today....