For once in my life, I believe in a conspiracy

Did anyone watch the MNF game last night? Did anyone see the refs hand the Seahawks at least 14 points due to questionable penalties?

Check this article out, and then tell me why all of a sudden in teh second half of the game the refs took control and made sure the spread got covered?

http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=96617&tid=27&t=1


1. A defensive holding call where the defender never even touched the WR. Next play, TD.

2. A roughing the passer call where the ref said the defender "went for the head". The defenders hand clearly touched the QBs back. Totally bogus, and it kept a drive alive. It would have been 4th and 10 and a sure punt situation but instead it was an automatic first down inside the 35 yard line. keep the GB defense on the field longer, TOUCHDOWN.




DISCUSS, especially the article. Smells mighty fishy to me.

Regarding #2, they've been making that call ALL YEAR. I hate it, they've gone too far in protecting the QBs, but I've seen that same call made in virtually every game I've watched this year. Even when it is wholly not their fault, when a defender gets within two yards of the QB's head, it seems, they've been calling the personal foul.

Again, I agree it was a bad call - but I view it as wholly consistent with a league that is requiring that bad call be made across the board.

Besides, what's the motivation for the conspiracy? Isn't Green Bay a much bigger draw nationally than Seattle? Would you rather watch Favre have potentially a last crack at the playoffs, or Hasselback? Green Bay could be 5-6 with an outside shot at the wildcard.

Besides, there's been so much confusion about the injury situation for the three key players - will Favre be able to grip the ball, how will Hasselback do in his first game back, is Alexander back at full-steam - that the fact the line moves dramatically prior to the game doesn't mean much to me. It could well be people acting on word that Hasselback looked to be 100% in practice, for example, or bad info coming in that Favre might not be able to suit up (or that he would suit up and not be able to hold onto the ball). Now, I don't know how dramatically lines tend to move prior to a game, but when you've got the two starting QBs with major questions about their health, and a decent possibility that one of them might not be starting, well, that's the kind of game where you would expect there to be a ton of volatility in the line.

I am SO SICK of the roughness calls. I can understand the helmet to helmet thing and driving guys into the ground, but this is getting CRAZY! They way it's going, QBs are going to be wearing flags soon

rdwj said:

I am SO SICK of the roughness calls. I can understand the helmet to helmet thing and driving guys into the ground, but this is getting CRAZY! They way it's going, QBs are going to be wearing flags soon

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I'm not crazy, am I? They've been making that call about once per game, it seems.

I'm wagering that next year, all QBs will be wearing red, "no-contact" jerseys.

the_bird said:

I'm not crazy, am I? They've been making that call about once per game, it seems.

I'm wagering that next year, all QBs will be wearing red, "no-contact" jerseys.

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That seems about right - and it's not just the QB. I saw one called this week where it was called to protect the running back out of bounds. The defender was IN THE AIR when the guy stepped out.

Besides, Green Bay lost the game in the first half, when they didn't take advantage of all of Hasselback's miscues. If they took care of business, it wouldn't have been an issue.

My Packers got screwed!!

End.Of.Story.

Its called karma. Did any of you see the refs hand the steelers the super bowl last year? Anyone remember the opponent? Oh yeah, it was the Seattle Seahawks. Refs make bad calls all the time, sometimes for your team, and sometimes against.

I have to agree, one thing the league refs are is consistently bad. Anyone remember the Thanksgiving day game a few years that went into overtime? During the coin toss the Lions' opponent called "tails" but the ref said he called "heads", and they went with it. The NFL refs nead to be full time paid refs, not part time, and they need to be held accountable.


Edit: the opponent was the Pittsburgh Steelers and the year was 1998.

Interesting:

The Seahawks have a 9-1 record under Mike Holmgren when Corrente serves as referee. Holmgren was 0-2 in replay challenges in those games; opposing coaches were 0-3. Corrente's crew has assessed 51 penalties against Seattle in those games, compared to 78 against the opponents. Corrente officiated the only Seahawks game under Holmgren in which zero penalties were assessed against Seattle; that game was a 29-3 victory over Dallas at Husky Stadium in December 2001.

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I was going to post my opinion that the fix was in last night on the ffb thread but I was too damned tired. Yup- the Pack got hosed.