The two national weekend games both had their outcomes determined (totally determined and changed) by bad calls.
I believe that both of them were full rig-jobs -- the most obvious and open rigging of an NFL game since the Calvin Johnson Game (Bears-Lions I, last year), and a full example of that the incompetence of the NFL replacement referees is part of what I believe to a much more dangerous reality which has several prongs:
1) The players who believe that the replacement referees are too dangerously incompetent to continue are right. Not only has the season been terminally and irreparably tarnished (The Packers can pretty much throw in the towel on 2012 -- the Patriots only aren't that far because of the abject offensive incompetence of the Jets (Sound familiar??).), the injuries and dirty hits are piling up. And as tempers continue to flare, it looks as if we might pass a million dollars in NFL official fines in-season (not counting Bounty-Gate or anything else pre- or off-season) in just three weeks.
2) Any idea that the league can fully implement a Player Safety or Player Conduct Initiative is a farcical endeavor until the thug, inner-city mentality of many NFL players is done away with. The players don't even care about their own safety, much less the safety of anyone else on the field. And this attitude carries off the field as well. Tempers are continuing to flare, and I can see frustrations with the scab refs boiling over to incidents like the scrum at the end of the farcical call last night.
3) This whole situation -- the scab refs, the crazy finishes, the close games, the fines, the farcical Initiatives, etc. -- comes back to one thing: Roger Goodell is Dictator, Godfather, and God in the NFL. This is why you won't see the regular refs coming back, short of players suing (which would bring an interesting question to the fore: We already know that the fans have no rights to having the games be fair and clean? How about the players themselves??) . This is why you will almost certainly see the better part of a half-million in fines this week, especially for criticism of the officials. Roger Goodell now believes that, even more than the 31 owners and the People of Green Bay, WI, HE OWNS THE NFL.
He truly believes, and I assert these two games as evidence, that he determines who wins and who loses. And since he considers the sport nothing more than an "entertainment product" (and more than a few of the players know this to be fact!), all concepts of fair "sport" go completely out the window.
The word is that the farcical call last night changed anywhere from $150,000,000 to $300,000,000 in bets on the Packer-Seahag game last night, depending on who you talk to. This isn't a function of a judgement or anything -- the NFL admitted today that Offensive Pass Interference should've been called on Golden Tate.
Let's not get into how much Sunday night's botched field goal call cost bettors.
But, again, as I've always said this season: THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS.
Roger Goodell has firm control of the referee situation, firm control of his "entertainment product", and firm control of the NFL right now, even as the NFL itself spirals out of control.
Don't agree with me? Let's take a look at the last plays of both games in prime time over the weekend.
Sunday Night: New England is leading Baltimore by two points. Two seconds remain in the game in Baltimore -- and Baltimore is lining up what would appear to be a rather simple 27-yard field goal to win the game.
What happens next is where it gets stupid.
Justin Tucker shanks the kick. Even straight in the middle at 27 yards, it appears to fly to the right side of the screen, past the right upright. The officials rule the kick good, to which at least one Patriot player commits a clear 15-yard penalty (though no time remains, obviously!) by taking off his helmet and charging one of the officials.
If you stop the clip at :05, it's pretty clear that kick is wide. (And, at :33, it's even clearer!) But the brother of one of the Ravens' wide receivers died this weekend, and a heroic performance could not be wasted in our "entertainment product", right?
THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS.
Monday Night: You could go back several situations on this one before we even get to the last play debacle.
Seattle fails on 4th down to get the go-ahead touchdown inside of two minutes to go.
Green Bay pulls an abjectly pitiful 3-and-out, losing three yards from their own seven to punt it back to Seattle. 46 yards, 46 seconds.
At about this point, especially if you took a look at the supposed MVP's numbers (26-for-39, 223 yards, sacked eight times, no touchdowns), you could've figured Seattle was going to win this game.
It's how they "won" it that should have everyone who claims to swear by this supposedly-legitimate "sports league" up in arms, unless, like a shithead I know from San Diego who wouldn't have two brain-cells to rub together to make flint, it seems, if it doesn't involve her Seahawks...
4th down, 8 seconds to go from the Packer 22.
Russell Wilson (and has anyone truly seen why this guy was so pimped when he went to Wisconsin in the first place?) drops back. The Pack rushes 3 (their first mistake), and, after the clock runs out, Wilson chucks the ball toward the near end zone.
Again, what happens next is where it gets stupid.
Waiting in that general area are two Seattle receivers and about five Green Bay defenders.
Whoops... Did I say five? I meant four, as Golden Tate, one of the Seattle receivers, clearly shoves one of the Green Bay defenders out of the play while the ball is in the air for ultimate Offensive Pass Interference, which the league was forced to ADMIT in a mea culpa today.
(The camera clearly catches this at the replay you can see clearly at :44.)
Then, Green Bay defender M.D. Jennings catches the ball in the end zone. Tate, who's already committed Offensive Pass Interference on the play, struggles, at this point, to try to create a "simultaneous catch" situation, so that he can get credit for the touchdown.
Here's the problem: Let's juxtapose this with another famous denial-of-NFL-reality: The Calvin Johnson Rule.
For Tate to gain "simultaneous catch", he must not only catch the ball at the same time as Jennings, but control the ball all the way to the ground, and then be able to make another legal football move while in possession.
And, as you watch closely if you keep your eyes open (hence, not be a Seattle fan!), at the replay starting at about 1:01 or so into the clip. At 1:06, you can clearly see Tate's left arm lose possession of the football while still in the air.
So, for "simultaneous catch" for the touchdown to be scored, he must have caught the ball at the same time and controlled it with Jennings all the way down.
You mean to tell me, scabs, that "control of the ball" is "simultaneous" while Jennings has caught the ball and, at best, Tate has one hand on the ball, trapping it to Jennings' two hands...
You really mean to tell me that??
THEN he goes to the ground and THEN gets the second hand back on. Two referees look at each other...
They go "Duh..." for a second.
One signals the TD, the other signals a time-out.
So why is the call on the field a Touchdown? Upheld by video? Supported by the NFL, in a statement today???
Because that's what Roger Goodell wants... Not only drama at the gun, but drama after the gun.
How do we know that the ruling on the field was a touchdown unless someone else decided it for them? It appears to me, in the clip, that one official is signalling a time-out, which would indicate an interception -- but it's immediately ruled a touchdown!
And he wants known quantities like the Packers out of the equation.
And you "Fans" swear your fealty to this "sport"?
You really should be swearing your fealty to Roger Goodell and his "Entertainment Product" motif after these two jokes.
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