Can it get worse

[SoCalEaglesFan]

The officiating in the Championship games was terrible. The non call on the PI in the Rams/Saints game was about the worst call in memory. ( Maybe the no clear recovery nonsense in the Eagles-Cowgirls was worse, but I don't think so.)

Will the officiating be worse in the Super Bowl?

This is a big problem for the NFL. Players work so hard and risk or get serious injury and to have the season end thanks to incompetent zebras in ridiculous.

[bobbyuk]

It was worse because of the magnitude of the game. However, Shannon Sharpe got it right—some coaches like to prove they’re smarter than everyone else—and Payton is king when it comes to that. How else to explain, why, with 2 minutes left, on the Rams 20, and the Rams only have 2 timeouts left wouldn’t you run the ball, have the Rams use their TOs, kick the FG and leave them with only 30-40 seconds.

[slag]

I like that the league lets them play in the post season without all the flags even if that call was a manifestation ... I'd rather have that happen than watch a flagfest shitshow like we often suffer in the regular season.

[art vandelay]

That was a blatant missed call, but I think the helmet-to-helmet aspect was the worst part. In real time, you could make the case that the ball looked uncatchable by the time the defender got there.

Otherwise the officiating wasn't that bad yesterday. There was a phantom roughing that went in favor of Brady, but I understand why it was called, and the Chiefs still had plenty of chances to stop the Pats after that.

[slag]

Cha ching.

That play real time was bang-bang ... and, when it happened, I didn't have a WTF moment.

Then, in slo-mo it looked terrible ... but refs don't have slo mo eyes.

[art vandelay]

That play will lead to a lot of talk about whether or not PI should be reviewable. That probably won't happen (at least for now), but I could see making helmet-to-helmet contact reviewable. They say they care about player safety...

[slag]

Fuck that ... games are too damn long already.

Not to mention that replay generates plenty of controversy in how replay officials view something.

[RSE]

I don’t know. The immediate response from the crowd at the moment of the hit told me they saw interference.

[slag]

I might have had the same reaction if I didn't hate that smirking chipmunk like I do ... but even with that bias I think I would have had more of a "boy, do the refs blow" moment, when the play was run real time, if it wasn't so bang bang.

[art vandelay]

I think that's just how home crowds react.

[headknocker]

I might have had the same reaction if I didn't hate that smirking chipmunk like I do ... but even with that bias I think I would have had more of a "boy, do the refs blow" moment, when the play was run real time, if it wasn't so bang bang.

In real time with the initial camera angle I thought it was a bang-bang close call. When they showed it from the other angle, particularly in slo-mo, it looked like a horrific non-call. I know all of us would've been going ape-shit if that happened to our Birds. Don't get me wrong, I was pulling like hell for the Rams but the Saints got screwed, IMO.

However, I have to agree that I didn't understand why in the hell they were throwing the ball in that situation anyway....made no damn sense. That's not the time to be aggressive as the clock's your ally. It's essentially common sense but common sense was thrown out the window when the Falcons absolutely blew the SB to the Pats. You have to scratch your head sometimes with coaching decisions.