[OT] NFL Playoffs - predetermined?

[stevelabny]

for the record, running into the kicker is NOT a good call.
first, it never is... it is another one of those "sissy"-calls that the NFL has instituted to prevent player injuries.
roughing the kicker and roughing the passer are personal fouls of unnecessary roughness. running into the kicker is usually momentum and harmless. why bother trying to block a kick when missing the block will cause to touch the kickers foot and get a penalty 75% of the time.
but even more so, you CANNOT throw that flag at the end of the game. ABSOLUTELY NO WAY. the games are supposed to be decided by the players, not the refs. running into the kicker is a bogus protect the player rules, and has NO AFFECT on the game.
everyone agrees that he didnt ROUGH the kicker, so you dont have to throw a flag to keep order. he also didn't affect the play at all, so WHY throw the flag? an absolutely AWFUL call.

steve

 

[schporto]

This is american football. Not the rest of the worlds football. There is no acting in american football. Well atleast there shouldn't be. I got enough watching of so called atheletes pretending and acting while watching FIFA. Hell, Nedney even said after the game that when he leaves football he is going to have to try acting!! That is called unsportsmen like conduct.

HA! OK sorry, but really? Watch a game. "Hey ref I was interfered with call the pass interference"
"Ref this bozo is holdin me common throw the flag!"
Watch the players they're beggin for the calls, exagerating the effects, everything to get those 5yds. Hell the coaches do it too. They even do it before the game. There is a meeting between the refs and the coaches before the game about calls and the coaches will say "Watch for the holding from this lineman" etc.
No acting in football? Please.
-cpd

 

[jdavis]

for the record, running into the kicker is NOT a good call.
first, it never is... it is another one of those "sissy"-calls that the NFL has instituted to prevent player injuries.
roughing the kicker and roughing the passer are personal fouls of unnecessary roughness. running into the kicker is usually momentum and harmless. why bother trying to block a kick when missing the block will cause to touch the kickers foot and get a penalty 75% of the time.
but even more so, you CANNOT throw that flag at the end of the game. ABSOLUTELY NO WAY. the games are supposed to be decided by the players, not the refs. running into the kicker is a bogus protect the player rules, and has NO AFFECT on the game.
everyone agrees that he didnt ROUGH the kicker, so you dont have to throw a flag to keep order. he also didn't affect the play at all, so WHY throw the flag? an absolutely AWFUL call.

steve

I agree with what you are saying but that doesn't make it a bad call just a bad rule (like the tuck rule that screwed the Raiders last year, right call bad rule). The problem is that you have a guy who has one leg in the air and is basically helpless being charged by 300 pound men. They decided to make any hit a bad hit, so as not to make the refs have to judge the hit. I think that if the player is actually going after the ball it should be ok if he accidently slides into the kicker, if he goes out to run a kicker over who has already kicked the ball that is different. Sometimes you just can't stop and change direction in midair when you are diving at a ball. It was the right call in the game but it is a poor rule.

 

[Saracen]

Let's put it this way, if the playoffs were fixed you'd stiull see the Jets and the Giants in the playoffs. NY is the biggest market in sports and a NY vs. NY superbowl would have drawn huge ratings.

 

[schporto]

Let's put it this way, if the playoffs were fixed you'd stiull see the Jets and the Giants in the playoffs. NY is the biggest market in sports and a NY vs. NY superbowl would have drawn huge ratings.

While it would've gotten big ratings in NYC/Jersey most of the rest of the country wouldn't have given a damn. At least give those of us who have a vile hatred of all NYC/Jersey teams someone to root for. I watch 0 minutes of the NYC v NYC world series and it was actually one of the worst rated series of all times. Raiders v Giants. 49ers v Jets. Those would have drawn a large audience from both sides of the US and hit the largest and grabbed a good chunk of the second largest.
But if you REALLY want to believe that the playoffs were fixed by the league then at least 1 of the nyc/nj teams would still be in the running. Although Philly v Bucs is a good plot line.
As for a player throwing a game, it could happen, but not by a player in his prime. And do you really think a player would toss a game when he still had a shot at going to the super bowl? Common this is a) another pay check (afaik they all get bonuses), b) more national coverage (which increases your pay for next season), c) one really damn cool thing.
-cpd

 

[Storminator]

for the record, running into the kicker is NOT a good call.
first, it never is... it is another one of those "sissy"-calls that the NFL has instituted to prevent player injuries.
roughing the kicker and roughing the passer are personal fouls of unnecessary roughness. running into the kicker is usually momentum and harmless. why bother trying to block a kick when missing the block will cause to touch the kickers foot and get a penalty 75% of the time.
but even more so, you CANNOT throw that flag at the end of the game. ABSOLUTELY NO WAY. the games are supposed to be decided by the players, not the refs. running into the kicker is a bogus protect the player rules, and has NO AFFECT on the game.
everyone agrees that he didnt ROUGH the kicker, so you dont have to throw a flag to keep order. he also didn't affect the play at all, so WHY throw the flag? an absolutely AWFUL call.

steve

Do you think the refs were right in the Giants-49ers game, when they DIDN'T toss the pass interference flag out there?

Which call got the refs the most flak, not calling pass interference or call the running into the kicker?

PS

 

[stevelabny]

Do you think the refs were right in the Giants-49ers game, when they DIDN'T toss the pass interference flag out there?
PS

but see, that's different. pass interference HAS to be called, because it actually is a defnder interfering with an offensive player making the play. its a penalty that DIRECTLY affects the outcome of the play.

running into the kicker DOESN'T. the kick is already away, the outcome isn't changed. the rule only exists to protect the kicker, and if anyone tells me that he put the kicker in danger on that play, I will tell them they're wrong.

if a late-game or overtime penalty will have a direct effect on the play, it HAS to be called. if a late-game or overtime penalty is a personal foul that is potentially dangerous (facemask, helmet-to-helmet, unnecesary roughness, throwing a helmet) it HAS to be called. if it's nonsense (running into the kicker, any form of taunting) it should NOT be called.

but of course this isn't even the biggest problem in the NFL. the biggest problem is the "inadvertent" whistle when a player appears to be down by contact and the refs blow the play dead. replay will clearly show a fumble, but because the play has already been ruled dead, it can't be challenged. UGH.

steve

 

[jdavis]

Well the director of NFL officials came out and said that he had reviewed the play with the roughing the kicker penalty and that it was ok, but then when asked about the time out that the Seelers were trying to call but were ignored, he said he hadn't had a chance to look at that yet. Both of those happened on the same play. And these people are supposed to be rigging the games? This guy apparently can't watch for two things in one play, on video a day later, and he is the head of officials. How could they decide who was going to win ahead of time and make it look real and keep it secret.

 

[Storminator]

but see, that's different. pass interference HAS to be called, because it actually is a defnder interfering with an offensive player making the play. its a penalty that DIRECTLY affects the outcome of the play.

running into the kicker DOESN'T. the kick is already away, the outcome isn't changed. the rule only exists to protect the kicker, and if anyone tells me that he put the kicker in danger on that play, I will tell them they're wrong.

if a late-game or overtime penalty will have a direct effect on the play, it HAS to be called. if a late-game or overtime penalty is a personal foul that is potentially dangerous (facemask, helmet-to-helmet, unnecesary roughness, throwing a helmet) it HAS to be called. if it's nonsense (running into the kicker, any form of taunting) it should NOT be called.

but of course this isn't even the biggest problem in the NFL. the biggest problem is the "inadvertent" whistle when a player appears to be down by contact and the refs blow the play dead. replay will clearly show a fumble, but because the play has already been ruled dead, it can't be challenged. UGH.

steve

I'm of a different opinion. If its a penalty, call it. If you don't want to lose the game on a penalty, don't blow plays at crucial times. Penatlies aren't optional. The rule doesn't say "such and such is illegal UNLESS it's a tight playoff game, OR the penalty wouldn't affect the outcome of the game..."

What if running into the kicker isn't called, the kicker gets hurt, and the next series the Titans can't kick a field goal because their kicker is in the locker room? Does hitting the kicker matter now? Should the refs ask the guy if he's hurt before throwing a flag?

The Steelers should have played some D in the 4th, then it wouldn't have mattered. But they didn't, and they lost.

PS

 

[Celebrim]

Someone is a Steeler's fan I take it?

Seriously, the big problem with any conspiracy theory is that it requires so many people to be involved in a conspiracy in order to make it work, that the evidence should have long ago turned up. How much are you going to pay players to wreck their careers? How are you going to be sure that at least one player/referee you approach isn't going to spit in your face and go immediately to the press? How are you going to be sure that players aren't going to start black mailing you afterwards? And most importantly, why would you risk it given the huge downside? Consider the black eye that a player strike gives a sport. Now magnify that by about 20 times if the league is caught fixing games.

On other topics, rating are lower than ever at a time that salaries are larger than ever and owners are demanding more money from the fans than ever. All the mainstream sports are getting creamed by video games, RPG's, X sports, and an increasingly unatheletic youth. Sports cards are being creamed CCG's. Baseball in particular is getting creamed by youth soccer, and football is feeling the pressure too. It isn't coincidental that the NFL is running a high rotation of sentimental youth football ads. I hope you enjoy these playoffs, because the future doesn't look that bright for major league sports.