Offside Number 76 Posted July 13, 2013 Posted July 13, 2013 OT - Did Wade Phillips have the worst special teams in the history of the franchise or what? Ridiculous. He did have one of the best defenses, though, which is why they should have kicked that ball out of bounds.
Orton's Arm Posted July 13, 2013 Posted July 13, 2013 No Theismann doesn't. You're hearing things you want to. He says "that looks like a lateral" like five times. Did you watch it on mute? Everyone thought it was a forward pass initially and then EVERYONE agrees it's not after looking at the replay a few times. And dude, where his feet are having nothing to do with anything. All that matters is the path the ball travels. Look right at 2:13-2:17, the ball is clearly AHEAD of the 25. You're right, it is inconclusive. I think if it was ruled a forward lateral, it's probably not overturned. That's kind of the point. But you cannot sit here and tell me that the ball clearly travels forward. I think it's pretty damn clear that it travels as laterally as humanly possible. Which is a legal play. As I stated previously, I think the best analogy is tie goes to the runner in baseball. If the ball goes pretty much on a straight line, it's a lateral. That's what me, Theismann, Patrick, Maguire, Phil Luckett and every objective person that's ever looked at it saw. If you watch more clips on youtube, even Tim Russert says "we were robbed" but he's kind of smiling and you can clearly tell he knows in his heart that it was the right call. I just re-watched the replay. Man, that was a heartbreaking play. This time around, I paid very close attention to the ball, while ignoring everything else. I froze the video on the frame from the instant the ball was released. In that frame, the ball looked like it was about two feet in front of the 25 yard line. Then I froze the video again when the ball was caught. In that frame, it looked as though the ball was less than a foot in front of the 25 yard line. Also, your "tie goes to the runner" analogy is relevant. My sense is that the correct call was made. I hate saying that, because I still remember the sense of triumph I felt when Rob Johnson and the offense regained the lead with just 16 seconds left. I wish they'd kicked the ball out of bounds. Then the fate of the game would have been in the hands of our strongest unit (the defense), not our weakest unit (kickoff coverage team).
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 13, 2013 Posted July 13, 2013 The Sabres ended up losing their top 4 defenseman by the end of that series. I believe that McKee, Paetsch, Numinen, Tallinder, and Kalinin were all out by game 7. Had the Sabres been healthy, I believe they would have won the Stanley Cup that year. Despite the rash of injuries, they barely lost to Carolina 4 games to 3 and Carolina went on to defeat Edmonton in the finals, 4 games to 3. AND... Weren't the 'Canes up on the Oil 3 games to 1... Or was it 3 games to zip? To quote Roby, BFLO easily "buggy whips" Edmonton IF healthy on D. Well, IMO...
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