I Cannot Make This Up...

The GF actually told me before the game yesterday that there was some sort of arrangement for the Pats to lose. She was convinced of it and kept saying the NFL wasn't going to allow it and the Pats had agreed to go down. This morning she's telling me she wishes she'd bet money on a Pats loss, and now I wish she had too

And considering an Eagles TD catch was actually ruled a TD catch instead of being overturned like every other recent one against the Pats, and the Brady fumble wasn't disallowed '01 playoffs-style, and I'm seeing a lot of yammering about an illegal formation on another Eagles TD, maybe she was right, hmmm...

Wouldn't surprise me. Obvious great pains were taken to have a controversy-free SB and woo back lost fans.

HalCHorn wrote:Wouldn't surprise me.  Obvious great pains were taken to have a controversy-free SB and woo back lost fans.

Her line of reasoning was that enough people were sick and tired of the Pats winning all the time that the NFL would make sure behind the scenes it wouldn't happen yet again to turn people off. I disagreed since the NFL had given every indication it was absolutely clueless on how to win back/stop losing fans. I still feel that way, but the Pats lost like she said and the officials clearly weren't about to nullify any TD catch by the Eagles like they'd been doing to previous Pats opponents so I'm happy

I'm also convinced the NFL made sure the '01 Pats would win or at least reach the Super Bowl to take peoples' minds off 9/11 (because they're the Patriots, see?) and it wound up spiraling out of control and creating a monster.

I still won't be watching though, and I suspect neither will a lot of other people once the same players start acting the same way next season along with the same old officials' utter and complete incompetence, the concussion thing and how the league is still ignoring it, etc. Those problems aren't just going to disappear even if the Pats somehow do.

I wouldn't be surprised. That Jags game was totally setup. the way the Jags were playing has to be a setup.

No setup at all. The Jags lost becuase they were outcoached and have a crap passing offense. They were afraid to blitz in the second half so Brady picked them apart, and the Pats completely shutdown their running game and as expected Bortles couldn't pick up the slack.

And Sunday? No conspiracy theories. The Pats lost because the Eagles made more plays down the stretch - simple as that.

Upon reflection I do believe the officials were under orders to throw as few flags as possible and to not overturn anything. I also believe said orders were a direct result if the league knowing how it would look if any TD catches by another Pats' opponent were overturned because surviving the ground, etc. In other words, the playing field for all intents and purposes really was leveled.

Now that the NFL has showed that the officials can indeed stay out of the way in a big game, I'm wondering what the approach will be like going forward.

DolFan 316 wrote:Upon reflection I do believe the officials were under orders to throw as few flags as possible and to not overturn anything. I also believe said orders were a direct result if the league knowing how it would look if any TD catches by another Pats' opponent were overturned because surviving the ground, etc. In other words, the playing field for all intents and purposes really was leveled.

Now that the NFL has showed that the officials can indeed stay out of the way in a big game, I'm wondering what the approach will be like going forward.

Penalties were way down throughout the postseason in general, not just the Super Bowl. It was...refreshing. Penalties can be a fine line..sometimes it's better to just let them play, but the blatant ones of course have to be called.