31 replies to this topic

[Ravens2006]

It was 2009 or 2010 I think... Ravens at Patriots regular season game... Terrell Suggs trying to get to Brady, starts going to the ground and literally BRUSHES the side of his leg. Didn't hit him, didn't move him in any way, just lightly brushed the outside of his leg a little bit on the way to the ground. Brady turned and looked at the head ref and made a "WTF" motion, and the ref nodded at him, pulled out the flag and threw it.

A couple years later in SB 47, Flacco got hit late FULLY out of bounds after a throw away on 3rd down at the goal line. This was the same play that the 49ers LBs literally grabbed and held Pitta trying to release on the snap, right in front of the back judge, who among his top responsibilities is looking for that in that situation. Not a little tug or quic arm bar, just blatant hold. No flag on either foul. Call either one, and it's a fresh set of downs from inside the 1, and the drama of those final minutes is less compelling.

Inconsistencies are real. If the stats on this head ref are true, they seem to defy normal statistical variance. Inconsistencies that impact one team over the other aren't excuses, they're reasons. I just think it's important to not confuse an excuse with a reason.

Time will tell if the concern is unfounded...

[mdrunning]

That was my thought.  And it's occurring on KC boards as well.  This is the first time I remember fans complaining about bad calls that cost them a game before the game was played!

I'm sure the NFL wouldn't mind the extra publicity Taylor Swift would bring to the Super Bowl (like she or the NFL need it), but the thought that the league would somehow try and rig the championship games (and by extension, the Super Bowl) in order to get "their" teams to the big game is insane. I have never believed that any game, Super Bowl or otherwise, has ever been compromised. 

 

I've seen various claims of this or that Super Bowl being rigged and I've always dismissed it as not amounting to a hill of beans. There was an article a few years ago of Marshall Faulk claiming that the Pats-Rams Super Bowl was fixed. Baloney. You're just ticked because your team was favored and didn't win. Or Bubba Smith's claim years after the fact that Super Bowl III was rigged. I've always thought that one got some traction, at least in these parts, because Colt fans didn't want to believe that their team could have lost to a bunch of upstarts under any other circumstance. In a strange way, it almost provided a sense of redemption because had the game been on the level, we'd have kicked their asses.

 

Since the days of Pete Rozelle, the NFL always tried to get fans to follow the league as a whole and not just their favorite team. That creates interest in the championship regardless of who the two teams playing in it happen to be. 

[TwentyThirtyFive]

It was 2009 or 2010 I think... Ravens at Patriots regular season game... Terrell Suggs trying to get to Brady, starts going to the ground and literally BRUSHES the side of his leg. Didn't hit him, didn't move him in any way, just lightly brushed the outside of his leg a little bit on the way to the ground. Brady turned and looked at the head ref and made a "WTF" motion, and the ref nodded at him, pulled out the flag and threw it.

A couple years later in SB 47, Flacco got hit late FULLY out of bounds after a throw away on 3rd down at the goal line. This was the same play that the 49ers LBs literally grabbed and held Pitta trying to release on the snap, right in front of the back judge, who among his top responsibilities is looking for that in that situation. Not a little tug or quic arm bar, just blatant hold. No flag on either foul. Call either one, and it's a fresh set of downs from inside the 1, and the drama of those final minutes is less compelling.

Inconsistencies are real. If the stats on this head ref are true, they seem to defy normal statistical variance. Inconsistencies that impact one team over the other aren't excuses, they're reasons. I just think it's important to not confuse an excuse with a reason.

Time will tell if the concern is unfounded...

Close games are very often fully decided by ref calls/noncalls. Its a big issue with this product.

[jamesdean]

The main thing that bugs the crap out of me is the lack of accountability for these crews.  Maybe the NFL has a hard time finding people to officiate and train or maybe they just don't care and consider it a low priority as far as the final product goes.  Who knows.  It's like meteorologists- they can be wrong pretty much every day in their forecasts and never have to worry about losing their jobs.  We all watch these games and some of the calls are outright laughable.  I still believe offensive holding is intertwined with some kind of quota that has to be met each week.  Simply because you can throw that flag on every damn play.  There's always someone holding.  If it was me, I wouldn't even bother unless someone was tackled to the ground.  And you know certain quarterbacks(Lamar isn't one of them) get preferential treatment with roughing the passer calls.  Officiating is just too involved and impactful.  

[PrimeTime]

Agreed. Just say you're nervous if you're nervous, nerves and concerns are fine. The tinfoil stuff is hard to take seriously. The officiating may play a role, it's a tough sport to call and lots of subjective calls that can go one way or the other. But its not preordained to go against the Ravens. That's ridiculous.

 

Tinfoil? No need to be pejorative.

 

All the things the Warren Sharp wrote about are factual. Yes, the calls themselves (holding, for example) are subjective but Shawn Smith's crew clearly shows in bias in how they call games. Then, that bias ends up favoring road teams. There's nothing tinfoil about it. It all has happened.

 

As for me, I'm not scared. The Ravens are clearly the better team I think they win by double digits. That doesn't belie the fact that the assignment of Shawn Smith to this game is certainly interesting.

[hallas]

Tinfoil? No need to be pejorative.

 

All the things the Warren Sharp wrote about are factual. Yes, the calls themselves (holding, for example) are subjective but Shawn Smith's crew clearly shows in bias in how they call games. Then, that bias ends up favoring road teams. There's nothing tinfoil about it. It all has happened.

 

As for me, I'm not scared. The Ravens are clearly the better team I think they win by double digits. That doesn't belie the fact that the assignment of Shawn Smith to this game is certainly interesting.

 

Sharp limited the detailed reporting to 2023, which is a huge outlier even for Smith.  It's true that over his career he has favored road teams, but not to the degree Sharp is suggesting.  The home teams he's officiated in 2023 have been bad.  It's maybe a 3-5% swing compared to the average home field win rate.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Theyd all prefer KC wins. I dont think they are gonna straight up rig the game but we are gonna have to beat them soundly

[Mackus]

Tinfoil? No need to be pejorative.

 

All the things the Warren Sharp wrote about are factual. Yes, the calls themselves (holding, for example) are subjective but Shawn Smith's crew clearly shows in bias in how they call games. Then, that bias ends up favoring road teams. There's nothing tinfoil about it. It all has happened.

 

As for me, I'm not scared. The Ravens are clearly the better team I think they win by double digits. That doesn't belie the fact that the assignment of Shawn Smith to this game is certainly interesting.

 

No, it doesn't show clear bias.  It just shows stats with little to no context.  We have no idea if the stats show bias or is just a coincidence or perhaps not even an anomaly without further investigation.  Just simply being the crew that calls the most penalties against the home team or against the road team doesn't tell us a lot, because someone has to be that crew.  If they are dramatically more over a large sample when taking into account the tendencies of the teams they've officiated, that would probably begin to tell us something.  But we know none of that.  

[TwentyThirtyFive]

This is not the time for Mackus logic and reasoning

[85Knight]

Now that's funny. I'm in the middle on this issue because coaches do give teams scouting reports on officials in every sport and there are definitely tendacies. But these conspiracy theories, especially the Taylor Swift ones, are a bit over the top. Now the color of the Super Bowl insignia somehow is linked to who the winner is supposed to be.

The second I find out that this is rigged is the second I won't waste anymore time watching the NFL. As for now I'll stick to the on the field stuff and as I see it they might need to make up atleast 14 pts to overcome the beatdown the Ravens are gonna put on the Chiefs anyway. If KC can't stop the run this game might get ugly.

[bmore_ken]

The NFL assigned Shawn Smith for the AFC title game. Some interesting (and disturbing for Ravens fans) data on home/road splits.

https://www.sharpfoo...-trends-impact/

Take the refs out of the game. I say this to every fan bitching about calls.

[mdrunning]

Tinfoil? No need to be pejorative.

 

All the things the Warren Sharp wrote about are factual. Yes, the calls themselves (holding, for example) are subjective but Shawn Smith's crew clearly shows in bias in how they call games. Then, that bias ends up favoring road teams. There's nothing tinfoil about it. It all has happened.

 

As for me, I'm not scared. The Ravens are clearly the better team I think they win by double digits. That doesn't belie the fact that the assignment of Shawn Smith to this game is certainly interesting.

If you look at enough splits, there's always something to make hay over. As Warren Sharp demonstrated, it's good for content, but it doesn't provide much in terms of prognostication.