Pathetic NFL Playoff Refereeing
![[Print This Post]](http://www.rantlust.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-print/images/print.gif "[Print This Post]")
This has been about the worst refereeing in an NFL playoff season that I can remember. Just when I thought my local team (Patriots) get some terrible decisions go against them, I watched the critical Colts-Steelers game and the worst refereeing call I can recall.
First about the Patriots, they did not lose their game because of the referees but because they (Patriots) made the worst mistakes at the wrong times, turning over the ball five times that absolutely killed them. However there were a few mistakes by the refereeing crew that are cannot be pardoned given the stage of the season we’re in. At the end of the first half, after the Patriots turned the ball over, the Broncos got a gift of a call of defensive pass interference (by the Patriots) that lead to the ball just a few yards from the endzone and the eventual touchdown. Anyone watching that play could plainly see that if at all, it was an offensive pass interference and the referee who threw a very late flag was way out of position to call that. The referee who was closer to the action, did not throw his flag.
Later in the game, the Broncos were later gifted a field goal that they had false started on and the referees did not call it. The Patriots were livid about that non call and it was a long field goal that barely made it through and would have had to be re-kicked from a further 5 yards out if the right call was made.
In the Colts-Steelers game, at a crucial point in the game, the Colts defence jumped offside claiming that somebody on the Steelers offensive line had moved. No flags were thrown and the referees after a conference, decided there was no offensive flinching and so no flags were thrown. However why no flag was thrown on the defence for jumping offside and making contact with the offensive line, was not explained at all. I can understand why Steeler coach Bill Cowher was going nuts.
Then came the mother of all non calls. Peyton Manning threw a pass that was intercepted by defender Troy Polamalu, who had possession, fell to the ground and then while getting back up, knocked the ball out of his hands with his own knee. Polamalu then recovered the fumble. Upon review, it was obvious to all and sundry that it was a legitimate interception. The referees however reversed the call, saying that the ball was not caught by the defender. Un-frickin-believable. If there was ever a time that one felt the NFL was gunning for the Colts making the Super Bowl at any cost, this was it.
I don’t know about the other two playoff games this weekend but watching ESPN’s SportsCenter is enough to know that the universal opinion is that the refereeing has been attrocious. Luckily for Pittsburgh, they hung in there to make it to the AFC Championship. God only knows what lies in store for calls from the zebra men for the rest of the playoffs.
I am glad the Broncos ended the Patriots run bad refereeing or not. Not because I don’t like Brady and the Patriots but because of Jake Plummer. “Jake the Snake” was the QB at ASU when I went to school there and it was under him in 1996, we reached no. 2 (losing eventually to Ohio State at the Rose Bowl). Plummer was unlucky to be with the inept Arizona Cardinals for his first years in the NFL.
Now he has a chance to move beyond the Elway shadow and take Denver back to the top.
As for the Colts, long live the Manning dynasty. One of them will win the Super Bowl in the next five years, for sure.
Jake the Snake has a history of making very bad plays in the NFL and his great play currently could be but an aberration. Let’s see how he handles an AFC championship pressure.
My own gut feel is that we’re going to see upsets in both the AFC and NFC championships next weekend. I feel the Super Bowl XL is going to pit (no pun) the Steelers against the the Panthers with the Steelers winning out. Of course there is the little matter of the bumbling referees who can change all that.
Yes, talking about college football, it’s the Gators that screwed P. Manning’s college football career, he came back for his senior year, and got screwed again:
http://snipurl.com/lmfd
And now he’s had a bad run against the best teams of the NFL for the last few years, with his record against other teams being record-breaking.
In case you missed this, here’s a write-up on Manning and his family on Time magazine:
http://snipurl.com/lmfm
My own prediction for the Super Bowl is Carolina vs. Denver and Carolina winning it. Time to organize that annual Super Bowl party. This time though, I don’t think we can expect any nip slips. And I don’t need to see any “wardrobe malfunctions” from Mick Jagger and his fellow geriatrics.
A local NFL-oriented website (with a panache for stats and leanings towards the Patriots) had this article about Peyton Manning and his annual choke job. I think that it is not that unrealistic to see Eli Manning getting to the Super Bowl before Peyton (if ever) does.
John, how come they think you’re a simp?
kinnum, I’ll take one for the team if it helps dispel the myth of the overrated Peyton Manning. That guy can’t play when the pressure is on.
By the way, that Cold Hard Football Facts web article was written last year before the 2005 NFL season began. The analysis about Manning proved true yet again this season and that article’s stats can be updated to include this current post-season.
Well, coldhardfootballfacts.com is registered to a guy in Quincy, MA. Now, they wouldn’t be big Manning fans, would they?
I did mention that it was a local (Boston area) website and that they were Pats fans. However it is not like they are making up the stats and whether or not you like Peyton Manning, their argument is based on those numbers.
From what their editor has said, part of the reason that they started the website was because they were pissed off at hack sports writers (like the Boston Globe’s Ron Borges or CBS Sports’ Pete Priscoll) who just write a bunch of crap such as inflating the Peyton Manning hype. Borges is a highly disliked sports writer here who unfortunately has a very influential position in the Boston sports media. The idiot had the gall to admit on radio he had something personal against Pats coach Bill Belichick … so can’t expect much objectivity from him when writing about the Pats and anyway, he always writes that the Colts will beat the Pats in the playoffs.
This is what happens when one reads without understanding. I missed the article you mentioned in the previous comment and didn’t tie the two together. My mistake.
About sports writers and commentators in general, I find the whole lot of them annoying especially the likes of Long and Bradshaw. The only sport in which I actually enjoy the almost (restrained) commentary is Tennis. Mary Carillo is in a league of her own and she has been doing it as far as I have been following Tennis. I wish I understood Spanish well… I would probably enjoy the Soccer (sorry reneejo) commentary from Latin America.
I can see why Bradshaw can be annoying but I actually like Terry Long’s analysis and am curious why you find annoying about him. The most annoying NFL “commentator” is hands down that idiot Michael Irvin whose consistent line of thinking is comparing any team to his Dallas team of the early 90s and then saying that his team was the best of all time.
The worst all-time tennis analyst is NBC’s Bud Collins who always picked favorites in his Wimbledon commentary. I have always enjoyed the BBC’s tennis commentary during Wimbledon because they are so knowledgeable, objective and make insightful comments on the players and the action. Pity we don’t have a choice when watching tennis here because it is always pro-American (typical I suppose). I do enjoy John McEnroe’s tennis coverage though.
Well you do understand this: GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You meant Howie Long, of course
I don’t like the silly banter between the two.
Me too. I enjoy both McEnroes. And again, did I mention Mary Carillo? Chris Evert is good too. (I might be biased here. In my pre-teens, I wrote twice to her–once addressing it to “Chris Evert, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA”– and getting autographed photographs in response.)
Yes, my bad … Howie Long
Looks like this did piss off someone badly.
That is sick if it is related to that bad call. Makes you shudder to think what extents people would have gone to if the Steelers did lose.
Do you remember after the 1994 football World Cup, how someone killed Columbian defender Andres Escobar back in Columbia after he scored an own goal against the US which contributed to Columbia’s exit from the tournament?
Can one be any more wrong? This is why I don’t gamble. Sigh!
Not surprisingly, Jake the Snake became a Fake as I had suspected. Where you could argue that the two balls he fumbled were caused by an aggressive Steeler defence, there is no excuse for those two unpressured interceptions. As a Pats fan, I’m happy that Denver played badly to lose this game because it was similar to the way the Pats played (except the Pats played a lot worse). Anyway, if any Broncos fans say that they played badly to lose the game, I will point out that the Steelers won the game and not that the Broncos lost it. It was a similar argument that they used against the Pats and so now it backfires on them.
All that aside, I am very surprised that Carolina played as badly as they did. Seattle deserves full credit because they played exceptionally well and I think it will be a good Super Bowl. I felt last week that the Steelers would win it all but now think they will be pushed hard by the Seahawks and the Steelers will just squeak by. Bill Cowher is very deserving of a SB ring.
Well done Pittsburgh Steelers, a well deserved Super Bowl victory all around. I should also add that the refereeing was not good in the game either and if I were a Seahawks fan, I would have been pissed at a few critical calls that went against them. I nevertheless will say that the Steelers played better over all, even if they started badly and Ben Roethlisberger had a terrible game.
This has to be the worst superbowl (from a game perspective) that I have ever seen. It was so boring that after the Stones’ performance, I went to the kitchen to cook for a bunch of friends instead of torturing myself further. I was told that there were some good plays in the second half.
You’re right, this was truly one of the worst Super Bowls ever. Pittsburgh made a couple of great plays that livened up the proceedings in the second half: the 75 yard rushing touchdown by Willie Parker and that gimmick play where Antwaan Randle El threw a touchdown pass to Hines Ward. The trick play was the highlight of the entire game and the big irony was that Randle El in making that throw, was given a perfect QB rating while Ben Roethlisberger had such a pathetic outing and his dismal QB rating was the lowest ever for a winning QB. I’m happy for Bill Cowher but that’s about all.