Baker Mayfield's amazing comeback sticks a fork in the Raiders season!

OH MY GOD!!! Baker Mayfield - on the Rams for just 2 days - just led a 98 yard TD drive in under 2 minutes to defeat the Raiders 17-16. The Rams had been down 16-3, and Baker put the team on his back and kicked ass...helped out, not surprisingly, by bad Raiders penalties. Just a gutsy performance by Baker. Say what you will, but the guy has heart. He looked great on the last two drives.

And that pretty much ends the Raiders season.

I was literally just about to PM you about this!!!

McDaniels HAS to be fired before the sun rises, doesn't he?

Of course Mayfield won't get any credit because he's white and not woke, but still.

Now I'm even MORE nervous about the game Sunday night, knowing a 2 TD lead with under 4 minutes left seems to almost be a guaranteed loss lately!

JMP wrote:OH MY GOD!!!  Baker Mayfield - on the Rams for just 2 days - just led a 98 yard TD drive in under 2 minutes to defeat the Raiders 17-16.  The Rams had been down 16-3, and Baker put the team on his back and kicked ass...helped out, not surprisingly, by bad Raiders penalties.  Just a gutsy performance by Baker.  Say what you will, but the guy has heart.  He looked great on the last two drives.

And that pretty much ends the Raiders season.

Were those penalties legit? I'm already seeing people accusing the NFL of game rigging, although I have no idea why they'd waste their time rigging it in favor of the rotten Rams with a QB the media may hate even more than Tua Punishment for daring to beat the darling Herberts, maybe?

EDIT: Or it could be this reason and if so, that's legit frightening...

https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/1601070940997443584?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

It's the Raiders - you know the Raiders penalties were legit! Seriously - there were just a couple of key Raiders penalties at the end, and they were the correct calls. If anything, I saw some bad calls against the Rams throughout the game.

On the drive to make it 16-10, the Rams had a few penalties and the Raiders had an offsides on 3rd and 4 to keep the Rams drive alive.

On the winning drive, the Raiders had a pass interference (legit) and a stupid unsportsmanlike conduct - Jerry Tillery knocked the ball out of Baker's hand, well after the play ended. That's a legit penalty, and a typical boneheaded Raiders move.

JMP wrote:On the winning drive, the Raiders had a pass interference (legit) and a stupid unsportsmanlike conduct - Jerry Tillery knocked the ball out of Baker's hand, well after the play ended.  That's a legit penalty, and a typical boneheaded Raiders move.

Maybe that's against the letter of the rules but I've never seen or heard of that particular action being flagged before. Have you? Does this actually happen a few times every season? Am I just missing something?

I do know that Maxx Crosby ought to sue Rob Havenstein for assault after being grabbed around the neck multiple times. Yes, I'm serious. As blatant a series of uncalled holds as I have ever seen. I'm now VERY scared that this exact same thing--or worse--will happen to the Fins Sunday night. And was the Akers scoring run even reviewed? I'm STILL not sure he broke the plane. For one thing after the pileup was cleared he was lying there with the ball a good 6 inches away.

Hell, even Mike Freaking Florio is calling out the blatant refusal to call holding!!!

DolFan 316 wrote:

Maybe that's against the letter of the rules but I've never seen or heard of that particular action being flagged before. Have you? Does this actually happen a few times every season? Am I just missing something?

I do know that Maxx Crosby ought to sue Rob Havenstein for assault after being grabbed around the neck multiple times. Yes, I'm serious. As blatant a series of uncalled holds as I have ever seen. I'm now VERY scared that this exact same thing--or worse--will happen to the Fins Sunday night. And was the Akers scoring run even reviewed? I'm STILL not sure he broke the plane. For one thing after the pileup was cleared he was lying there with the ball a good 6 inches away.

Hell, even Mike Freaking Florio is calling out the blatant refusal to call holding!!!

The 'knocking the ball out of the hand' penalty is part of the league's focus on taunting this season. An OL on the Rams was also flagged last night for saying something (not sure what) to a player on the Raiders. It's definitely a point of emphasis this season.

Yes, the Akers TD was reviewed - all scoring plays are reviewed. There was a very long pause between the TD and the extra point, so it definitely took some time for the officials in New York to make the final decision. I thought it was a TD, but regardless, the ruling on the field was a TD and there was no video evidence that definitively showed that the ball didn't cross the line.

The non-holding calls were bad, but that happens in every single game - and, several holds were called on the Rams OL too. It sucks, but it's just the way it is. The Rams had a long play called back last night on a totally bogus hold that wasn't holding by any definition. It definitely wasn't a one-sided officiated game like Dolphins-49ers. Like I said, if anything the Rams got screwed more than the Raiders IMO.

That said, I am ALWAYS worried that the Dolphins will get screwed with calls and non-calls - because they do every single week.

The TD Pass to Win the Game was a Beautiful Throw , Don't understand why the CB was Playing Press but didn't Bump the WR and the Safety stayed in the Middle of the Field.

finskev wrote:The TD Pass to Win the Game was a Beautiful Throw , Don't understand why the CB was Playing Press but didn't Bump the WR and the Safety stayed in the Middle of the Field.

Yeah, that was an awful defensive alignment on that play. Baker said they were expecting zone, but as soon as he saw the man on man up top - with a rookie covering Van Jefferson - he knew where he was throwing the ball. Perfect pass.

Guy has had a tough year, good to see him getting an audition with the Rams. I still can't understand Cleveland's decision not to wait until he is healthy and hand Watson $230M instead.

HalCHorn wrote:Guy has had a tough year, good to see him getting an audition with the Rams.  I still can't understand Cleveland's decision not to wait until he is healthy and hand Watson $230M instead.  

Mayfield has been labeled as a player with "strong opinions" which is code for "not being woke enough". That's literally all there is to it. Society has degenerated to the point where being a sexual predator is higher on the pecking order of "morality" than someone who doesn't think the way society wants.

Also, in yet another display of 2020s-level hypocrisy, the same people who cheered when Mayfield was released and who were clearly hoping he'd never play in the NFL again all suddenly became members of his fan club after the game, acting like he'd gone through some terrible Nelson Mandela-level ordeal!

DolFan 316 wrote:I'm now VERY scared that this exact same thing--or worse--will happen to the Fins Sunday night.

you mean like this:

https://dolphinswire.usatoday.com/2022/12/12/jaelan-phillips-roughing-the-passer/

i have no idea how the league justifies this as a penalty.

and now the league is more concerned with punishing Phillips for a tweet that making sure the rules are enforced correctly.

That roughing call was absolute bullshit - one of the worst calls I've ever seen, and I've seen A LOT of bad calls in my day. And the fact that the flag was thrown so late makes it seem even more questionable...like, did they get word from NY that it had to be a flag? Really makes you wonder what's going on behind the scenes. You don't need a tinfoil hat to smell an anti-Dolphins conspiracy theory.

You also don't need a tinfoil hat to wonder why the Chargers RT was never flagged for a false start, despite getting a blatantly early start on numerous plays. And when I say "numerous", I mean more than 5...possibly even double digits. No joke. Carson mentioned it during the game thread, and he was spot on.

I'm also wondering why Chargers DBs were allowed to mug Miami receivers without getting flagged - in an era when DBs can't even breathe on a receiver without getting penalized.

Call me a sore loser if you will, but there was a lot going on in that game that had nothing to do with Dolphins vs. Chargers. Yeah, we lost - but if that game was officiated in the correct way the outcome may have been very different. As I keep saying, it sucks when you have to play against another team AND the officials.

JMP wrote:That roughing call was absolute bullshit - one of the worst calls I've ever seen, and I've seen A LOT of bad calls in my day.  And the fact that the flag was thrown so late makes it seem even more questionable...like, did they get word from NY that it had to be a flag?  Really makes you wonder what's going on behind the scenes.  You don't need a tinfoil hat to smell an anti-Dolphins conspiracy theory.

You also don't need a tinfoil hat to wonder why the Chargers RT was never flagged for a false start, despite getting a blatantly early start on numerous plays.  And when I say "numerous", I mean more than 5...possibly even double digits.  No joke.  Carson mentioned it during the game thread, and he was spot on.

I'm also wondering why Chargers DBs were allowed to mug Miami receivers without getting flagged - in an era when DBs can't even breathe on a receiver without getting penalized.

Call me a sore loser if you will, but there was a lot going on in that game that had nothing to do with Dolphins vs. Chargers.  Yeah, we lost - but if that game was officiated in the correct way the outcome may have been very different. As I keep saying, it sucks when you have to play against another team AND the officials.  

You won't want to watch the Bills game then. I'll put it this way, the Fins were outplayed so badly the NFL actually didn't screw them over anywhere near as much as they were planning on...because it wasn't necessary.

I've said it time and time and time again all season--I have never EVER seen a more concerted effort by the NFL to keep one team from making the playoffs.

Oh, there's no doubt that the Bills are the NFL darlings right now. Watching their games makes me want to puke - the officiating is so blatantly one-sided, especially if Josh Allen is involved. I fully expect the officials to pull out all the stops to hurt the Dolphins' chances if they miraculously keep that game close.

JMP wrote:Oh, there's no doubt that the Bills are the NFL darlings right now.  Watching their games makes me want to puke - the officiating is so blatantly one-sided, especially if Josh Allen is involved.  I fully expect the officials to pull out all the stops to hurt the Dolphins' chances if they miraculously keep that game close.

What I've see not only in the NFL but in other sports has me seriously thinking of walking away from it all for good. It's something I'm really going to have to consider.

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:Oh, there's no doubt that the Bills are the NFL darlings right now.  Watching their games makes me want to puke - the officiating is so blatantly one-sided, especially if Josh Allen is involved.  I fully expect the officials to pull out all the stops to hurt the Dolphins' chances if they miraculously keep that game close.

What I've see not only in the NFL but in other sports has me seriously thinking of walking away from it all for good. It's something I'm really going to have to consider.

It's starting to remind me of how boxing was in the 90s, where you'd watch a fight that went the distance and it was clear as day who won - but the judges would give the fight to the guy that clearly lost.

JMP wrote:It's starting to remind me of how boxing was in the 90s, where you'd watch a fight that went the distance and it was clear as day who won - but the judges would give the fight to the guy that clearly lost.  

I'm also an MMA follower, and the UFC just had two fights exactly like that this weekend. And yes, people noticed and are making a huge fuss about it but that's not going to accomplish anything unless far more significant and drastic action is taken.

And then of course there's the midterm elections...