NFL and Seahag Video Journal -- How the League Made Seadderal "Champions"?

(Source:  Brian Tuohy News of Note page on his newly-redesigned website.)

Three videos from YouTube caught Brian Tuohy's eye a week or two back, giving a window into how the Seadderal Seahags and their 12th Man Cult "won" this year's Super Bowl in a clear demonstration of "What would you give for a championship?"

To give you an idea of just how deep the bullshit ran, I bring you, first, this very short video:




Richard Sherman is mic'ed up for Seattle vs. Washington, as is common practice for national broadcasts.

Marshawn Lynch (#24) says to Sherman:  "I think we can take this to the Super Bowl.  I know that."

No harm there.  Seattle was one of the favorites, and they honestly believed they could go all the way.

The issue is Sherman, who then immediately tells Lynch he is mic'ed, at which point Sherman attempts to nix the conversation.

Lynch didn't swear (until AFTER Sherman reveals he's mic'ed), and, in saying that he felt the Seahawks could go to the Super Bowl, didn't appear to say anything which indicates a problem otherwise.

So why does Sherman tell Lynch that he is mic'ed, trying to immediately nix the conversation?

The second video is significantly longer.  It is 15 minutes in length, and the Bay Area Comcast Sports Network has already tried to debunk this video.

It is a belief on the part of one 49ers fan that the fix was, in fact, in for the Seahawks.




Note the first thing the video says, because it's a contention I've held for a while now.  I'm not exactly 100% sure it started with the 9/11 Cheatriots (if it didn't, it started earlier than the last 15 years), but the big difference between this NFL and the earlier days(of Paul Hornung, the Namath Guarantee, Len Dawson, etc. and so forth and so on)  is that the league itself now has taken/is taking the action to ensure given outcomes, rather than players in business for themselves.

• Play One (1:03 of the video):  2:38 to go in the first quarter, San Francisco leads 3-0, Seattle's ball, 1st and 10 on the Seattle 36.  Wilson goes back, play-action, no one close to him when he fires the ball down the middle and his receiver gets pole-axed in what almost appears to be a high-low double-hit.  The flag comes in.

The video calls it shoulder-to-shoulder, and the replay at about 1:21-1:24 shows he's right..  It's a clear dirty hit, almost certainly penalizable and fineable (he was not fined, though) on San Francisco's #31, Donte Whitner (who, after his antics earlier in the year, certainly wasn't going to get any favors from the league).

The problem here is a common way the NFL rigs games:  Even if there's a call that can be made, the call they announce is NOT the call that actually occurred.  It certainly could've been 15 yards under most interpretations of "defenseless player", as it appears Whitner and another player execute a "Double Gousel" or somesuch on the Seattle player.

What it was NOT was what they called:  Helmet-to-helmet.

• Play Two (1:40):  Second quarter, 10:13 until halftime.  For the moment, the 49ers have scored a touchdown to go up 9-0.  As with all scores in the NFL, the play is automatically reviewed.  Anthony Dixon was ruled to have scored a touchdown as he leapt through the pile to get the ball to the end zone.  The reverse replay appears to show he's short, but nothing definitive.

The rule is simple:  For a call to be reversed, there must be unquestioned video evidence, and it appears neither angle shows where the ball is.  Intuitively, you would think Dixon was short, but do you have unquestioned evidence that was the case?  (He was touched by a Seattle lineman in flight, so he would be downed by contact.)

If not, the call must stand:  Touchdown.

The call is reversed.  4th and goal.  On the basis of WHAT irrefutable evidence, since you see the ball in neither angle, no one knows.

The call makes no difference on it's own balance:  San Francisco does get the touchdown (and Dixon does score it) on 4th down.  10-0 San Francisco.  But the video maker makes the point to file this one away.

• For a second reason as well:  San Francisco lost their best offensive lineman on the 4th down play to a season-ending injury.

Mike Iupati had to be helped from the field after the touchdown.  Broken leg -- broken fibula.

• Third play (3:01):  About :35 to go in the half, San Francisco leads 10-3, Seattle ball, 3rd and 8 at the SF 40.  Wilson, from the shotgun, is in trouble.  Russell Okung is claimed to have held a San Francisco rusher from getting to Wilson, which would've led to a far worse 3rd down.

Holding on every play, people.  If anything, again, file this away for a pattern.

• Fourth play (3:35):  Next play, 4th down.  San Francisco's Carlos Rogers commits a clear unnecessary roughness violation after the ball goes past Golden Tate, shoving Tate into the down marker after the ball went past them.

This is one I actually have to say benefitted San Francisco.  The ball is not dead until it hits the ground.  Rogers shoves Tate just as the ball hits the ground, should've been a live ball foul, 15 and a first down for the Hags.

Again, a key component of the play is missed.  The play was ending, but not over.

• Fifth play (4:44):  About 9 minutes or so to go in the 3rd quarter, game is now tied 10-10.  1st and 10 on the San Francisco 28.  This is briefly shown on NFL Films "All-Access Cam", and the FOX analyst says openly that Byron Maxwell of the Seahawks gets away with a hold on this play, but Michael Crabtree hauls it in anyway for a gain of 22 to midfield, on a drive which would yield San Francisco's final 7 points.

Again, file it away.

• Sixth play (5:10):  17-10 San Francisco, 6:29 in the third, ensuing kickoff.  Doug Baldwin gets 69 yards on the return to the San Francisco 33 -- that is, if you ignore a fairly blatant illegal block in the back (which the video maker says happens on effectively every long return).

This one's obvious.  Definitely push in the back to block him out of the way at the point of attack.

• Seventh play (5:42):  Still 17-10, ensuing drive from the kickoff return, Seattle is 3rd and 12 at the SF 22.  Wilson goes back to pass, and you don't see the angle very clearly at all, but the blitz gets to him and he dumps it off to an open wing for fourth down.

The rule on grounding is the quarterback, for his protection, can dump the ball out if he's outside the pocket -- outside the tackle box.

The ball appears to be on the near hashmark.  You're looking at the far end of the tackle box, which appears to be just inside the far hashmark (5:48).  When Wilson dumps the ball (6:24), he's between the hashmarks with distance to go.  Grounding, easily.  And it appears as if the FOX broadcast fouls up the angle rather severely to make it less obvious.

As a result of the no-call, Seattle gets a field goal for 17-13.

• Eighth play (6:35):  After a three-and-out on the next series, San Francisco kicks back to Seattle, where Chris Maragos creams the punter, and only gets called for running into the kicker.

If that's not roughing the kicker...  Maragos actually appears to target the lower part of the plant leg of the 49er punter, who was injured on the play and eliminated from the game.

So, not only is it Seattle's ball, and the penalty being declined, but now San Francisco is without their usual punter.

• Ninth play (7:49):  Next series for Seattle, 2nd and 5, Seattle 43, about 2:10 to go in the 3rd.  Marshawn Lynch is credited with a 6-yard gain and a first down.

He got nowhere close to even the 5 to gain for the first down.  It almost appears as if he should've been given 4 yards and a 3rd and 1.

Watch at about 8:13, from the first contact.  Lynch appears to be a yard-plus short of the first down, but the ball is actually spotted that, by the unofficial marker FOX provides, he almost is given two full yards more than he probably should've. FOX actually calls it third down, but the far side official, who had no angle on the ball whatsoever, puts the ball an entire ball-length past the unofficial marker.

• Tenth play (9:40):  The game-winning touchdown.  But the video maker wants you to see the game clock.  On the end of the play on 3rd and 22, 14:47 remains in the 4th quarter and it almost looks as if the official blowing the play dead doesn't know what to do.

After a Seattle timeout, 13:52 remains when the ball is snapped for 4th and 7, which would result in the final touchdown.

Do the math.  55 seconds have elapsed from when the last play was dead to the timeout being called.  In such a situation, the play clock begins at 40 and begins immediately at the end of the play.

The play clock was actually run properly to when it reached 17 seconds.  At that point, for some reason unexplained, the play clock was reset to 40, ran out, and THEN a time out was called by Seattle before the winning touchdown.

This was the play in which PEDte Carroll was convinced and talked out of the long field goal, and to go for the six.

• Tenth play, part two (10:33):  So it is 4th and 7 after the time out for Seattle, still down 17-13, 13:52 to go in the fourth, ball on the SF 35.  Video maker zooms in before the snap, and it should be obvious to everybody why.

Neither the tackle nor the guard on the far side of the field is even close to the line of scrimmage.  That's an illegal formation, and a blatant one which basically tips where the quarterback is probably going to buy time.

There was another problem here.  It is claimed the official blew the whistle (which would've been incorrect) once a 49er stepped into the neutral zone.  Should've been the prototypical "Free Play", but the whistle caused a number of the 49ers to stop.

• Eleventh play (11:03):  Now they're going to look at the play clock again.  11:12 to go as Colin Kaepernick gives the 49ers 3rd and 1 at the SF 34.  Delay of Game called at 10:36, 36 seconds later.

3rd and 6?  Sack, fumble, and the only reason it didn't turn into Seattle points was a fumble at the San Francisco 1.

Actually, two fumbles.

• Twelfth play (12:54):  Ensuing possession, 8:54 to go.  3rd and goal, SF 10.  This is the play everyone talks about.  Javon Kearse fumbles at the 1, San Francisco recovers.  Clear on the replay.

Or was it?  Instead of Bowman clearly holding the ball, they rule Marshawn Lynch recovered, 4th and goal at the 1...

... where Seattle fumbled it away.

But it's clear that the league was making few pretenses about who they wanted in the Super Bowl from the NFC.

And, once they got there...

A third video that got yanked by the NFL, as Tuohy proposed the other two would, talking about some weird body language and tackling in Met Life Stadium.

But please go ahead and tell us we're all fooling ourselves.