(And I haven't got yet to the State of the NFL ridiculousness. This one, I saw last night.)
You want to know how to win a Super Bowl in the Roger Goodell NFL?
You cheat.
Period.
Let's start with the Seahawks. ESPN reported yesterday that the best friend of the Seahawks as far as at least the games are concerned is that the Seahawks exploit loopholes in the rulebook to get away with stuff.
Anyone who watched last year's Super Farce might start with the rules for unsportsmanlike conduct, but that's not what I'm referring to, necessarily.
In David Fleming's Flem File, Fleming states what really is obvious about if Seattle were to win the game on Sunday:
"Focused on 24 PSIs of missing hot air and hype in New England, we've all missed an actual rules revolution going on in Seattle that, with one more win on Sunday in Arizona, could fundamentally change the NFL -- forever."
One of the major concerns I had about the Seahawks this year is that the league was going to "have their back" with respect to penalties.
In fact, the Seahawks, this year, were the most penalized team in the league. (144)
And the Patriots were second with 133!
The Seahawks opponents were penalized only 80 times this season, almost a penalty a game lower than the second-least team in that regard. (The Jets with 91, according to www.nflpenalties.com .)
And this after, last year, the Seahawks became the first team in Super Bowl history to win with double-digit penalties.
Last year, Seattle was #1 with 152, 20 more than #2 -- and that was DENVER!
Seattle was 4th two years ago -- 3rd was San Francisco. #1? Baltimore!
2nd in 2011 to Oakland, 8th in 2010.
So not only has Carroll's Seahawks had top-4 stats in penalties every year he's been coach except the first one, the last two Super Bowls have now had the top two most penalized teams in the league for the year (and the one before it, #1 and #3!), according to that listing.
A long-time NFL official told Fleming that the loophole Seattle was exploiting was simple: You can't throw a flag on every freaking play, or the game grounds to a halt!
Put bluntly, Seattle is cheating so hardcore that they have to get away with a number of the fouls or they'd probably be getting 15-25 flags a game.
As one example, Fleming points out Seattle was only flagged for pass interference seven times in the entire season.
But this, combined with the continuing saga of New England and eligible receivers (over the top of DeflateGate), is turning this league into a bigger farce than usual.
The NFL confirmed Thursday that a touchdown catch by a lineman in the rout over Indianapolis was also illegal for New England breaking the rules regarding eligible and ineligible linemen.
Dean Blandino (again!) noted that the Patriots' touchdown by lineman Nate Solder was illegal.
This was because another offensive lineman had reported as eligible the play before, and then stayed in the game as an ineligible lineman the next play.
This is illegal in the NFL -- the rules require that, for an eligible off-number lineman to go ineligible again and back to normal position, he has to sit a play first!
Dear God, do these refs know half of what they are doing?
If press conferences this week are any indication, the answer to that question is (if you believe the games to be legit -- har har!) a resounding NO.
The New England exploits have become so bad and so pervasive in these playoffs that the referees have stated they will have to use a new set of hand-signals to note to the defense who is eligible and who is not.
According to Pete Carroll, the officials will now show an eligible receiver of that type by pointing to him with two hands.
An ineligible receiver will get a form of the "incomplete pass" declaration with hands down around the knees.
Too bad it does not appear that even the refs know what they are doing.
As a result, it looks as if the team who is able to get away with more cheating will win this game.
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