Awful Officiating Recap

There were two calls during Sunday's Vikings/Packers game that were missed:

1) Adrian Peterson not getting a pentalty for removing his helmet in the endzone after scoring the game winning touchdown.

2) Aaron Rodgers called for intentional grounding in the endzone resulting in a safety.

Starting with Peterson, the NFL admitted Wednesday that a pentalty should have been called so that led Imig over at TBL to take a look at just how lucky the Vikings have been this season:

• In their 3 point win over the Saints in Week 5 (MNF), the officials failed to flag the Vikings for a facemask on what proved to be a Reggie Bush lost fumble. They also deemed Adrian Peterson down by contact on a fumble in which he wasn’t actually down. The gaffes led to at least a three point swing, which means, at worse, the Saints and Vikings should have been playing for overtime.
• In their two point win over the Lions in Week 6, the Officials handed 42 yards to the Vikings when Leigh Bodden was flagged for pass interference. Ryan Longwell kicked a game-winning 26 yard field goal soon after. Not to mention Dan Orlovsky ran out of bounds in the end zone. That two pointer could be considered the difference, though that’s not luck on the Vikings so much as shear stupidity on the Lions.
• In their one point win over the Packers, Adrian Peterson avoids a 15 yard penalty. Mason Crosby’s 52 yard field goal try sails wide right - and would have been good from 37. I’ll concede that Mike McCarthy’s playcalling inside two minutes was atrocious, but I won’t concede that the Vikings aren’t lucky.

On to the Rodgers safety, PFT made this observation during last night's Jets/Pats game:

Facing a stiff rush from the Patriots during Thursday night’s game, Favre essentially turned his body and whipped the ball to no one. He wasn’t outside the pocket, and the ball didn’t make it near or beyond the line of scrimmage.

But there was no flag.

The official explanation was that the ball was tipped. Replays suggested otherwise.

Even the officials are mesmerized by the great Farve. He's invicible!

Speaking of last night's game, if you watched the end, you will surely remember a bad holding call on Mike Vrabel on a key 3rd down for the Jets. There was no hold, and Collinsworth actually made this comment... "If that's holding, then I was assulted during my career". As for the call, even though it was bad at the time, it didn't affect the outcome of the game. If the Jets kick a field goal there, there is no way the Patriots go for it on 4th and 1 from the 16 with 8 seconds to go. They would have simply kicked the field goal and instead of being tied at 31 heading into overtime, the game would have been tied at 27. Regardless, a bad call has to be pointed out and not excused.

One note from the NBA last night. Via basketbawful:

Joey Crawford: Joey strikes again! The ref with the infamously itchy whistle-finger hit Kenyon Martin with a flagrant 2 foul, which means an automatic ejection this season. Good call? Bad call? Ridiculous call? I'll let you be the judge.



Martin was understandably indignant after the game. "It's basketball, man -- it's a contact sport. It's not bowling or table tennis." No, it's certainly not. Fans can actually stay awake through most NBA games (assuming the Spurs aren't involved). What made the call even more ridiculous is that Dahntay Jones and LeBron got into a shoving match earlier in the game...and nothing was called. Not even a tech. Ah, NBA officiating: A model of inconsistency.

Somewhere Tim Duncan is smiling.

Giants... Disciplined

In Peter King's MMQ, he notes that the Giants are acting a lot like the Patriots in how they have bought into their coaches coaching styles. One example is the discipline that the Giants have shown during their three playoff games. King says:

In the playoffs, the Giants have turned the ball over once in three games. They're plus-five in turnover differential. They're plus-eight in penalty differential; they've committed 14 to their foes' 22

Just to give you an idea how that compares to the Patriots, so far in their 2 games they have been called for 8 penalties (for 93 yards).

So... the per game pentalty average in the playoffs is:

Giants - 4.67
Patriots - 4

For the Patriots however, having a Jeff Triplette crew officiating one of your games is an advantage. As we have discussed here before, Triplette is one of the leaders in calling the fewest amount of penalties during a game, especially for a home team.

It will be interesting to see who the officiating crew is come Super Bowl Sunday. But if these trends continue, don't expect a lot of yellow hanky's laying on the field on the evening of Feb 3rd.

As for the game itself, I think the Giants have a better chance than what most people are giving them. Over at PFT, they compared Eli to the Tom Brady of 2001. Could this be the beginning of something special for Peyton's younger brother? Will Peyton soon become known as "Eli's older brother"? If you recall, the Tom Brady of 2001 was up against impossible odds when his Patriots team were heavy underdogs in the Super Bowl that year when they matched up against the "Greatest show on Turf" St. Louis Rams. You know how that turned out, could this be the year the Giants do something similar.

Is the NFL helping the Pats win?

There has been some talk this year about how the league is supposedly helping the Patriots win a few games. The reason the league would help them is because an undeafeted team brings more interest which translates into higher ratings, MUCH higher ratings...

TThe top 4 watched games of the year were all Patriot games:

Highest rated NFL games in '07.
20.1: Patriots/Colts (11/4/07, 4:15 PM CBS)
19.1: Patriots/Giants (12/29/07, 8 PM NFL Network, CBS, NBC)
18.4: Patriots/Steelers (12/2/07, 4:15 PM CBS)
18.0: Patriots/Cowboys (10/14/07, 4:15 PM CBS)

Now listen, I am not one to typically buy into the idea of a conspiracy theory. I used to work with a guy who thought every game, every race, every sporting event imaginable was fixed in one way or another. Some of you may think he has a point, but I tend to trust the integrity of the leagues, and most importantly the players themselves. In this case, however, I believe the ratings for the AFC Championship game would be so astronomically effected if the Pats were upset this weekend, that I wouldn't be surprised if there were some shady calls being made during the game Saturday night.

Consider what is on the line for the NFL and CBS:

Colts @ Pats - would easily become the most watched game of the year!

Ok scenario:

Chargers @ Pats - still strong ratings, but slightly off what could have been

Frustrating scenario:

Jags @ Colts - starting to lose interest already

Worst cast scenario:

Jags @ Chargers - who cares

If the Pats make it to the Super Bowl at 18-0, and they are playing anybody but Seattle - it should be the most watched Super Bowl, perhaps ever.

Officials have the power to directly control the outcome of the game, and based on what recently happened in the NBA, we have to believe that no game is safe from the possibility of a "fix". Plus, they can always fall back on the "we're just human" excuse.

So the question remains... would the NFL really encourage the officials to make calls in favor of the Pats and Colts? I honestly doubt it... but with all that money on the line, could you possibly blame them?

Here's hoping for a clean game with no questions for concern come Sunday and Monday morning.

Enjoy the games!