I’m Not Saying the N.F.L. Is Fixed But…
I might sound like a sore loser, but after watching the game yesterday, there is something fishy about the NFL's love for the New England Patriots.
I will get to that in a minute. Let's start with the first game. I really didn't care who won between the Saints and the Rams. Both of them have only won the Super Bowl once and I have friends that root for both teams, so once the Eagles were knocked out, I really didn't care who got there.
With that being said, I do think the Saints got robbed. Not to take anything away from the Rams, but if the refs called pass interference on that play late in the fourth quarter, the Saints could have been able to run down the clock and pretty much end the game.
On a funny side note, according to First Coast News, there is an eye doctor in Louisiana that is offering free eye exams to all NFL refs. Click here to read more about that.
Now back to the Patriots. We all know the Patriots sketchy past. Where they filmed teams walkthroughs in practice so they knew what plays were coming depending on where players lined up. This came to light years after the Patriots beat the Eagles by 3 points in the Super Bowl in 2005.
I remember watching that game asking "how do the Patriots know where the blitzes are coming from"? They knew where it was coming from and they threw a screen and they were gaining 20 yards at a pop because of it.
Well lo and behold a couple years later, it comes out that they were filming the team's walkthrough and practice before the Super Bowl. Which is against the rules. Which they did get fined for. But, I believe they should have been forced to forfeit the Super Bowl wins. That didn't happen and ever since then, yeah I have a little bit of a grudge against the Patriots.
Fast forward a couple years later, they're caught tampering with footballs and denied it. Again they were found guilty and fined $1,000,000 and a couple draft picks, but again, no wins were ever taken away.
Then in yesterday's game, when the Chiefs punted to the Patriots and it looked like the ball skipped off Edelman's thumb. The ruling on the field was called a fumble and it was Chiefs ball deep In Patriot's territory.
Now when instant replay is used on a call like that, there must be indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field. Every one of the announcers that watched it said it looks like it could have hit his thumb but there is no conclusive evidence that it did not touch his thumb. So again with no indisputable evidence, the play on the field should have stood as called it should have been Chiefs ball. But somehow, the NFL awarded the ball to the Patriots.
A little later in the fourth quarter Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes got whacked in the face by a hand and they don't call it. Next possession, Tom Brady gets hit in the shoulder with a hand and they call it hands to the quarterbacks head, roughing the quarterback, 15 yards. Are you starting to see a pattern here?
Late in the fourth quarter with the Patriots trailing, Tom Brady threw an interception which should have ended the game. However, the Chiefs were called for offsides. Now I did see the side view, and yes one of the Chiefs players were lined up in the neutral zone. But, I must have seen that same thing 20 times this season and it was never called unless the player jumped before the ball was snapped. Why was it called now? Maybe because it could have ended the game for the Patriots?
To me, it seems like every time there's a questionable call it goes the Patriots' way. I'm not saying the NFL is fixed, but years down the road if someone comes forward with evidence that all the officials, or Rodger Goodell, or both, were getting money from the New England Patriots, I would not be surprised in the least.
Go Rams.
[via First Coast News]