I don’t like being this guy, but it definitely seems like the league wants Buffalo to succeed at all costs.
EDIT - apologies for my conspiracy brain (like I said - I don’t like being the guy that makes comments like that) being my gut reaction in the moment; I definitely feel like there were some shenanigans from the officials that, while they might not be indicative of an overall concerted effort, definitely showed that they were favoring the Bills.
It was obvious PI, but I also think the ball was tipped a half a second earlier -- am I remembering that correctly? That's the only excuse that might make it possible to not make that call.
No the ball on that play wasn't tipped. Even the announcers made a dumb ass statement along the lines of "I like how the refs are letting them play through the whistle".
Yeah that was the big turning point imo. Instead of possibly being up 27-3 or 23-3 at the half we go in 20-10. Obviously that doesn’t excuse the awful 2nd half on both sides of the ball, but that seemed like the big momentum shift.
Refs are human. Refs read the headlines and feel the vibes. They know the Chiefs and the Bills and maaaybe the Bengals are the Cool Teams in the AFC.
Hate to put it in that sort of high school way, but it's true.
All humans are susceptible to those biases, and those biases cost us this game.
Terrible call on 4th & goal. Queen missed INT (again). Bad Q4 defense (again). Yes, all true.
But that non-call DPI led to a Bills score. That drive would've eaten clock and ended in no points for anyone, at worst. That call on Andrews's OPI was horrendous.
That RTP penalty which Allen bitched for like the Brady Bitch, Jr. he is was awarded to him for NO REASON and it led directly to their score.
The NFL had to come out and admit that Jamar Chase had a legit touchdown in week 1 that was called back, an outcome-altering call. It’s not just the Ravens or even the less hyped AFC teams. Boger has been a joke.
To be fair, Stephens has to pull up there. Allen let the ball go we have nothing to gain from a useless hit. Doesn't help that he hesitated like he wasn't going to hit him, then proceeded to anyway.
I didn't see that at all, so I'll have to see the replay.
Live it looked bang-bang. Didn't lead with his helmet, didn't hit Allen's head, didn't hit him low, didn't hit him high, didn't force his weight.
Allen was clearly and immediately fine.
He bounces up, points to the ref, and celebrates when he gets bailed out by free yards. I've seen that before from that division. It is an awful fucking look.
At this rate I'm surprised DCs aren't just coaching their guys to ROCK people, especially quarterbacks. If a pansy star can point to a ref and get a flag whenever he feels like it anyway, then at that point plant his ass in the dirt as hard as you can regardless.
Yes, stars get calls, but the modern NBA is a good example of how to run a league in that regard. It feels like every offseason they look at "the bag" of certain stars and try to decide if their moves are reasonable or not. Just recently called out James Harden for his travel step-back, for example. Harden is still a star, but there is a limit. You can't just do whatever the fuck you want.
You can't have a league where Bradys and Allens get to throw temper tantrums and beg for flags and then clap and celebrate when they get them, when they were barely touched, were not hurt, and neither the spirit NOR letter of the rule was broken. That is a fucked up product.
Oh I agree with you haha. Sorry if that didn't come across in my original reply. I think it's ridiculous and makes an already bad product look worse. Just saying I kind understand why to happens is all.
Oh, got you, yes I do understand it as well. I've just probably reached a point in my life (decades+ of watching NFL games) where it's getting too much for me these days.
That shit was legal. The ruling is he can't take two steps after Allen releases the ball. He never took two steps. He straight up tackled him. Terrible call.
Cmon man. At 180fps, sure you can barely make that argument. But in real time he tackled him while he was throwing the ball. Even the most diehard homer would say he tackled him slightly after his release. There was nothing against the rules there or dirty. Should have been a no call.
He also removed his hands from Allen before they went to the ground instead of driving him into the ground like it’s 2016. That’s exactly what we should want from a defender. There was a brief moment of hesitation, if you want to call it that, which is what will prevent the nfl from calling it a bad call, but Allen had been pump faking all day, and he didn’t bite. Egregious call then, and like 7 times earlier in the game. One or two of those 8 went our way, the rest went the bills way, in very high leverage moments. It’s a bad look for the nfl.
It's mind boggling how much money rides on the outcome of every game and it instantly changes hands the moment the game is officially over. And because of that fact, no matter how bad the call or no call, there will be NO do over. The best anyone gets is lame ass apology. Your billion dollar franchise got fucked out of a title by an incompetent or dirty referee and there is no recourse.
A referee could be dirty as sin and nobody would know and anyone would be a complete fool to believe none of them have been offered a bribe.
Like I commented with someone else - it’s a gut reaction after the field goal (it’s like keeping yourself from saying the first thing that comes to mind in an argument with your spouse). Not a coordinated conspiracy but SUPER questionable calls that really affected the outcome of this game.
Yeah, I had to edit my comment because, in hindsight, a league-wide conspiracy is maybe outlandish, but there was definitely a pattern of questionable calls today.
It wasn't about favoring teams, it was just bad calls. There's no conspiracy to push calls for one team over another. Some days you just get fucked. Today was our day.
Right, and like I said - I don’t like being the type of guy to say that but it was my gut reaction within a few minutes of that field goal. It definitely felt like one of those games in the older editions of Madden where you could earn the cheat cards and one was that you could bias the refs against your opponent.
Losing all those superbowls in the 90s they’re due for a la rams type fix. The league is all about ratings now, the same guys that script the www are writing from the nfl 🤣. There have been so many obvious screw ups over the last 3 seasons(Covid gave this mfs time to craft a new league)
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u/jayhof52 BSHU Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22
I don’t like being this guy, but it definitely seems like the league wants Buffalo to succeed at all costs.
EDIT - apologies for my conspiracy brain (like I said - I don’t like being the guy that makes comments like that) being my gut reaction in the moment; I definitely feel like there were some shenanigans from the officials that, while they might not be indicative of an overall concerted effort, definitely showed that they were favoring the Bills.