Refs playing favorites?

[MattM]

Alphadawg--name me a game the Pats* lost late in the game on a controversial call or non-call. And by "controversial", I mean League-wide controversy, not just to Pats* fans. We all here can name a whole bunch just against us, from "just give it to them" to the garbage PI calls this year to my favorite from about 6-7 years ago (remember the "inadvertent whistle" as Nate had a pick 6 taken away among many other 1-way atrocious calls that day?), not to mention the Tuck Rule, the AFCG against the Colts that necessitated a rule emphasis change the next season or another favorite, the Monday nighter against the Ravens during the "undefeated season", etc. If truly random this would even out, no? Why doesn't it seem to then? I don't feel the League is trying specifically to screw the Bills via officiating, but I have noticed a pro-Pats* bias in just about all things, from schedule-making to officiating. Reminds me of "Animal Farm"--all animals are equal, but some animals seem more equal than others....

[Alphadawg7]

Alphadawg--name me a game the Pats* lost late in the game on a controversial call or non-call. And by "controversial", I mean League-wide controversy, not just to Pats* fans. We all here can name a whole bunch just against us, from "just give it to them" to the garbage PI calls this year to my favorite from about 6-7 years ago (remember the "inadvertent whistle" as Nate had a pick 6 taken away among many other 1-way atrocious calls that day?), not to mention the Tuck Rule, the AFCG against the Colts that necessitated a rule emphasis change the next season or another favorite, the Monday nighter against the Ravens during the "undefeated season", etc. If truly random this would even out, no? Why doesn't it seem to then? I don't feel the League is trying specifically to screw the Bills via officiating, but I have noticed a pro-Pats* bias in just about all things, from schedule-making to officiating. Reminds me of "Animal Farm"--all animals are equal, but some animals seem more equal than others....

 

I get this is how you see it, but I just don't see it and it happens to all teams. And don't bring up the schedule, because we frequently have one of the easier schedules in the league. Besides, the schedule is about the last place anyone can ever claim anything as the divisions and teams you play are pretty much set every year on a rotation and its not the Pats fault if in the year they are scheduled to play said team that said team is a poor team. Just like its not anyones fault if the year any team is scheduled to play a specific division and that particular division is either weak or strong that year...doesnt matter, thats the year they are set to play division.

 

If you want to talk some examples, the first one that comes to mind is the big win last year against NE. We should have certainly lost that game, in fact, Fitz did everything he could to make sure we did late in the game when he threw a deep ball that was about 10 yards under thrown and easily interecepted no where near the WR. The play got overturned because of an unrealted PI call on the D that had no impact on the outcome of that play. We went on to score as the ball was then placed near the goal line for what was the go ahead final score. If they were favoring the Pats, that play certainly doesnt get called and I can think of countless times that kind of PI away for the factor of the play does not get called...but they called it and instead of Fitz being the donkey of the game and losing it on a horrible pass, he ends up being a hero thanks to the refs giving us another chance.

 

It goes both ways man...I totally understand the ones fans dont agree with sting, linger, and anger people but the truth is I have seen many calls in our favor that I thought shouldnt have been or were at least ones that could go either way. Just like I have seen tons of calls go against us that I thought shouldnt too.

 

And to answer your question, yes I have seen the pats get screwed by the refs in key points of games, including times this year and in big games. How about when Brady got nailed for a safety in the end zone during the SB for a pass he threw away? They didnt have to call that, it was close, but they did and it was a huge call and the right call. The reality is that Pats fans say the same thing you do about the refs...so do Giants fans, Packers fans, Bengals fans, Browns fans, etc etc...everyone thinks the refs always favor their rivals because the games against the rivals are so much more emotionally charged and those plays sting and linger so much more. But at the end of the day it all balances out...at least IMO.

 

I hate the Pats as much as the next guy, but I just don't see team biased with them or any team to a degree that is significant IMO.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Alphadawg7

[MattM]

I get this is how you see it, but I just don't see it and it happens to all teams. And don't bring up the schedule, because we frequently have one of the easier schedules in the league. Besides, the schedule is about the last place anyone can ever claim anything as the divisions and teams you play are pretty much set every year on a rotation and its not the Pats fault if in the year they are scheduled to play said team that said team is a poor team. Just like its not anyones fault if the year any team is scheduled to play a specific division and that particular division is either weak or strong that year...doesnt matter, thats the year they are set to play division.

 

If you want to talk some examples, the first one that comes to mind is the big win last year against NE. We should have certainly lost that game, in fact, Fitz did everything he could to make sure we did late in the game when he threw a deep ball that was about 10 yards under thrown and easily interecepted no where near the WR. The play got overturned because of an unrealted PI call on the D that had no impact on the outcome of that play. We went on to score as the ball was then placed near the goal line for what was the go ahead final score. If they were favoring the Pats, that play certainly doesnt get called and I can think of countless times that kind of PI away for the factor of the play does not get called...but they called it and instead of Fitz being the donkey of the game and losing it on a horrible pass, he ends up being a hero thanks to the refs giving us another chance.

 

It goes both ways man...I totally understand the ones fans dont agree with sting, linger, and anger people but the truth is I have seen many calls in our favor that I thought shouldnt have been or were at least ones that could go either way. Just like I have seen tons of calls go against us that I thought shouldnt too.

 

And to answer your question, yes I have seen the pats get screwed by the refs in key points of games, including times this year and in big games. How about when Brady got nailed for a safety in the end zone during the SB for a pass he threw away? They didnt have to call that, it was close, but they did and it was a huge call and the right call. The reality is that Pats fans say the same thing you do about the refs...so do Giants fans, Packers fans, Bengals fans, Browns fans, etc etc...everyone thinks the refs always favor their rivals because the games against the rivals are so much more emotionally charged and those plays sting and linger so much more. But at the end of the day it all balances out...at least IMO.

 

I hate the Pats as much as the next guy, but I just don't see team biased with them or any team to a degree that is significant IMO.

 

Those calls you mentioned weren't controversial outside New England--i.e., they were good calls, both of them. The Buffalo call WAS PI and Brady was throwing to no one on that SB play--there was no one within 20 yards of the ball where it landed. The calls I mentioned outraged fans across the League because they were clearly wrong. Doesn't get much more wrong than an "inadvertent whistle" or Bernard Pollard being repeatedly held over the middle right in front of refs in that AFCG (I rewound that one over and over again to watch his shoulders jerk back while the Pats* defender on back to back plays had a large piece of his jersey squarely in his mitts, right in front of an official). My other favorite was in that same Bills game when a Pats* defender was clearly 3 feet offsides on a key sack (again, I watched over and over on my DVR and it was clear as day and offsides is perhaps the most obvious penalty to call). Remember the Giants game that same undefeated season--the first one, that is? The one where Wilfork poked Brandon Jacobs in the eye (again, front of a ref) and got nothing? Or the one where a Pats* defender clearly hit a Giant return man on a kickoff late in the 4th, G-Men down by 3 and the Giants got the 15 yard penalty (basically a 30 yard field position shift)? There are tons of these over the years.

 

Go on PFT.com or any other website that has a national following and you'll see that it ain't just us who sees this favoritism, EVERYONE sees it. They are far and away the main team mentioned as getting favorable calls all the time (along with perhaps the Steelers, largely on the Seattle SB alone, and the Cowboys perhaps get more than the average mentions).

 

As for the schedule, you're correct that WHO one plays is set. When one plays them is not, however, and so we get things like the Bills playing teams with extra days to prepare 4 WEEKS IN A ROW earlier this year, when an avg team would face that twice in one season. Or a team like the Pats* getting high value games after their bye year after year after year (either divisional or against key opponents like the Ravens--see the thread on this earlier this year, when a number of people looked at this over time and found once again and to some of us, unsurprisingly, that the Pats* got a good deal year after year from the schedule makers). Or the Pats* asking the League a few years ago to get their West Coast games back to back so they could stay out there and the League saying "ok" (since then others have done the same thing, BTW, but I believe NE* was the first to do so). On and on it goes.

 

Personally, I don't know whether there's really some kind of shenanigans going on in all of this, but I have my suspicions based on observable facts and it honestly wouldn't shock me at all if we find out ten or twenty years from now that there were in fact something untoward going on there.....

Edited December 9, 2012 by MattM