Unofficial 2018 NFL season thread

[homer]

The guy that lined up in the neutral zone for KC needs to look over his shoulder for a while.

[MrTPlush]

The guy that lined up in the neutral zone for KC needs to look over his shoulder for a while.

 

Nah, KC fans are just happy to be relevant for once. It’s like us last year...hard for us to get mad at anyone no matter what mistake they make.

 

I’m surprised that wasn’t be talked about more after the end of the game etc...they literally won the game on an INT for something irrelevant to the play to pull it right away.

[OldHeidelberg]

That was a Bostick move for sure. Wow. I guess the Pats had 3 timeouts so could have got the ball back with 40 seconds or so and no time outs but still, that was like a 98% win probability at that point. Guessing KC fans are going to have tough nights sleep like us in 2014.

[RollieTime]

The NFL overtime coin toss continues to be the weirdest thing in all of sports. I am sure they will fix it someday, at this point I think the college style shootout is the best solution. Everyone is gassed, end it quick and give both teams a fair shot.

 

I agree in that I think both teams should get an opportunity to possess the ball regardless of the outcome on the first possession. Having it end without the other team getting an opportunity has never really made much sense to me.

[LouisEly]

Saints were flat out robbed.

By their coach. If Payton runs the ball three times, instead of trying to get cute on first down and throwing and incomplete pass, that doesn't happen. They have the same short field goal, and the Rams get the ball back with less than a minute left and no timeouts.

[RobDeer 45]

What a day of NFL football. That was fun!

[NievesNoNO]

Saints were flat out robbed.

By their coach. If Payton runs the ball three times, instead of trying to get cute on first down and throwing and incomplete pass, that doesn't happen. They have the same short field goal, and the Rams get the ball back with less than a minute left and no timeouts.

 

Agreed. There was some pretty good entertainment going on and all most people want to talk about is what calls were missed. Yes, the officiating could always be better; maybe at time it SHOULD be better. I'm just surprised more people don't care about the players and coaches making the MILLIONS of dollars making multiple mistakes throughout the game.

 

It's the American way to blame somebody else though.

[KeithStone53151]

The guy that lined up in the neutral zone for KC needs to look over his shoulder for a while.

 

Nah, KC fans are just happy to be relevant for once. It’s like us last year...hard for us to get mad at anyone no matter what mistake they make.

 

I’m surprised that wasn’t be talked about more after the end of the game etc...they literally won the game on an INT for something irrelevant to the play to pull it right away.

 

At least in this case it was a legit and correct call. He was definitely lined up offsides. Not calling that PI against the Rams is just awful. Despite this specific call being correct, the Patriots had probably 5 or 6 truly headscratching calls go their way.

 

And in the surprise of the year, the big markets get all the critical calls and the officials basically hand them victories they don't deserve. This happens time and time again in all major sports, yet nobody is supposed to see a consistent pattern and wonder why?

[FVBrewerFan]

Play along, what would you like changed? Here's what I have:

 

1) Eliminate IR. Won't happen, so here's the rest:

2) IR should take place in controlled environment, not by a ref looking at a surface out on the field.

3) This would include refs looking real time at every play at multiple angles and they could throw a "virtual flag" if something is missed.

4) Everything can be reviewed. But still limited to the two challenges per half, but then all TO, scoring plays, and last 2 minutes officials review.

5) OT- Each team gets one possession, then proceed with current rules.

6) Illegal contact, def holding, etc. penalties on defense are not automatic 1st downs.

7) PI- 10 or 15 yd penalty, not spot of the foul.

8) Roughing QB- add 5 yard incidental, no automatic 1st down.

9) What is a catch? It is a catch unless there is clear evidence player didn't have control of the ball.

10) Pick plays- determine what is legal/ illegal and call it consistently. Actually, a rule change saying basically anything goes within the 1st five yards of scrimmage is worth looking at. Would get rid of a lot of ticky tack def holding calls too.

[KeithStone53151]

You certainly cannot accuse this owner of beating around the bush. Love it

 

[owbc]

Both games were tossups and the NFL playoffs are built for excruciating losses. A little controversy makes things more fun. The Packers have been on both sides of this over the years. The refs are always going to have somewhat of a say in the outcome of close games and there's nothing wrong with that, it's the nature of the sport. They will make PI reviewable and fix the OT rules and then people will move on to being outraged about something else next year.

[OldHeidelberg]

Play along, what would you like changed? Here's what I have:

 

1) Eliminate IR. Won't happen, so here's the rest: I would love this but I am in a very small minority, like you say that ship has sailed

2) IR should take place in controlled environment, not by a ref looking at a surface out on the field. Yeah but I thought it was now or at least they are talking to the office for help

3) This would include refs looking real time at every play at multiple angles and they could throw a "virtual flag" if something is missed. Only within the time challenge flag window you describe below, I don't want to have to sit around after every big play waiting for some remote guy to make it official

4) Everything can be reviewed. But still limited to the two challenges per half, but then all TO, scoring plays, and last 2 minutes officials review. I don't know, refs manage to screw up replays as it is, do we really want them looking for offensive holding every play? It would almost be a free big play reversal or 2 a game if coaches could find nitpick penalties on demand

5) OT- Each team gets one possession, then proceed with current rules. I used to think this but it still gives the coin flip winner an advantage which is just stupid in a major sport event. Vikings had 2 possessions to our one earlier this year. Some version of the college shootout but make it their own. Give each team the ball first and goal at the 10 with no FG's allowed?

6) Illegal contact, def holding, etc. penalties on defense are not automatic 1st downs. They will never change rules to help the defense again, its all about fantasy football now.

7) PI- 10 or 15 yd penalty, not spot of the foul. See above but I like this idea

8) Roughing QB- add 5 yard incidental, no automatic 1st down. These are penalties that should be reviewable

9) What is a catch? It is a catch unless there is clear evidence player didn't have control of the ball. Keep it simple, I understood it a lot better before this year, now I have no idea

10) Pick plays- determine what is legal/ illegal and call it consistently. Actually, a rule change saying basically anything goes within the 1st five yards of scrimmage is worth looking at. Would get rid of a lot of ticky tack def holding calls too. Another interesting idea that probably won't fly because it would hurt offenses

[NievesNoNO]

Play along, what would you like changed? Here's what I have:

 

1) Eliminate IR. Won't happen, so here's the rest:

2) IR should take place in controlled environment, not by a ref looking at a surface out on the field.

3) This would include refs looking real time at every play at multiple angles and they could throw a "virtual flag" if something is missed.

4) Everything can be reviewed. But still limited to the two challenges per half, but then all TO, scoring plays, and last 2 minutes officials review.

5) OT- Each team gets one possession, then proceed with current rules.

6) Illegal contact, def holding, etc. penalties on defense are not automatic 1st downs.

7) PI- 10 or 15 yd penalty, not spot of the foul.

8) Roughing QB- add 5 yard incidental, no automatic 1st down.

9) What is a catch? It is a catch unless there is clear evidence player didn't have control of the ball.

10) Pick plays- determine what is legal/ illegal and call it consistently. Actually, a rule change saying basically anything goes within the 1st five yards of scrimmage is worth looking at. Would get rid of a lot of ticky tack def holding calls too.

 

Oh man... this could be it's own topic. Agreed on pretty much all the IR stuff. The way it's being used is generally against the spirit of the game, imo. It was intended to "get the call right". Flat out, it hasn't done that. Of all your items listed to me #3 would be at the top of my list. If you're going to use video as an officiating tool, then there should be real time video officials. Add to the crew or take from the current on-field crew. The product is worsened by the constant stoppages in game action.

 

Also would move your #9 up the board. This is another item that has worsened the action and flow of the game. I liked it better when the game just proceeded with what the officials determined on the field. The constant replays of half the plays and dang near stopping the game every series, trying to determine if something is a catch by whatever the NFL standard is has become nauseating. Also could be remedied by real-time video officials. And I agree, it's a catch unless it's clearly not a catch. None of this controlling the ball through the ground BS or did the ball move a fraction of a cm before the player went to the ground. All those things are completely not in the spirit of the game of football.

 

I could probably tolerate the "safety" rules if the rest of the replay stuff was cleaned up (dang it, thanks McCarthy).

[markeclipse]

What if the Saints/Rams PI fail happened at the end of the 1st quarter? Would this even be a discussion? Probably for Saints fans, but maybe not as much for national audiences.

 

There were many questionable calls yesterday, as in many games throughout the year. The Hogan catch that was upheld despite the limited possession and hitting the ground? Chiefs getting a roughing the passer for their defender hitting the QBs shoulder? How about Goff running towards the GL and getting his face masked grabbed which potentially cost the Rams 4 points? Eric Berry's coverage on Gronk running down the sideline was aggressive, and likely a PI in many people's eyes? Robey-Coleman had 2-3 other PIs that could have been thrown against him. How many offensive holdings were missed if we break down each play?

 

My point is that I believe that in most cases, this all comes out in the wash. I'm personally not a Saints fan, haven't watched many of their games... but I would be pretty sure there were a few favorable calls throughout the year that went there way to allow them home field advantage as well.

 

Now there's talk about reviewing PI plays, which seems like we're taking a bad situations and making it worse. The way PI is defined, I think you could likely chuck the ball deep and have a 50% chance of getting or reviewing a PI call. Offenses already have a huge advantage, allowing reviews of PI would be for DBs like allowing reviews of holding calls for the OL. Just a slippery slope I don't think they should go down. Let them play, and accept that judgment calls and human error are part of the game.

[jerichoholicninja]

NFL officiating is horribly inconsistent. The PI no call in the Rams/Saints game happens multiple times every week. I will say I have no idea how they could overturn the Edelman botched punt but, once again, that happens every week to someone. The fact is the Pats won and since everyone outside of Boston hates the Pats, it's clearly the NFL choosing winners. The NFL has too many rules and they are too complicated and detailed for human beings to make split second decisions on with limited eyesight on the action that is actually happening. That is what really needs to be addressed.

[MrTPlush]

Don’t forget the roughing the passer call against the Chiefs when the dude slapped Brady’s chest essentially....

 

My god the NFL has found a way to go downhill.

[LouisEly]

I'm really getting sick of this no-call pass interference on the Rams stuff.

 

It's not like this hasn't happened in the playoffs before (cough... Jerry Rice's fumble... cough).

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm really getting sick of this no-call pass interference on the Rams stuff.

 

It's not like this hasn't happened in the playoffs before (cough... Jerry Rice's fumble... cough).

 

Agreed. Instead of just enjoying the entertainment of the games people are constantly creating reasons to be upset at the NFL. I get it if you're a Saints fan but that's it. Same with the Patriots. Apparently the NFL fixes games so they win all the time. The same NFL that has fined the organization millions of dollars, taken away their first round draft picks, and suspended their Hall of Fame QB.

[OldHeidelberg]

I'm really getting sick of this no-call pass interference on the Rams stuff.

 

It's not like this hasn't happened in the playoffs before (cough... Jerry Rice's fumble... cough).

 

Man no kidding, this should have been a story for like 2 days. The refs didn't want to make a call to decide the game and ended up blowing it, the Saints could have stopped the Rams on the last drive or not thrown a pick in OT. Move on.

[PeaveyFury]

Though I agree about this one call in a vacuum, I think the discussion should continue, as this highlights the increased crappiness of officiating as more and more long-tenured crews retire. There should be a solution discussed and implemented to check and balance these things where there’s currently no recourse.

[jerichoholicninja]

Though I agree about this one call in a vacuum, I think the discussion should continue, as this highlights the increased crappiness of officiating as more and more long-tenured crews retire. There should be a solution discussed and implemented to check and balance these things where there’s currently no recourse.

 

There's only 7 refs on the field, there's no way they can see everything that happens and certainly not from the angle they need to have to see it happen. I think the solution is pretty simple actually. There needs to be one ref up in the booth watching the game on TV who can call or negate penalties in real time because he's going to have a better view than those on the field. No holding up play so he can look at it over and over like replay, just fix the blatant mistakes that everyone watching on TV can see. It seems like an obvious fix to me. However, if they were to implement something like this I can only see the NFL screwing it up and somehow making things worse.

[pacopete4]

McVay should hire McCarthy to run his offense and coach up his QB.

[trwi7]

Who would you rather start a franchise with, Rex Grossman or Jared Goff? I'll hang up and take your answer off the air.

[jerichoholicninja]

Who would you rather start a franchise with, Rex Grossman or Jared Goff? I'll hang up and take your answer off the air.

 

Neither. I'll take the 3-13 season and draft my QB with a high pick.

[pacopete4]

Find it somewhat comical that a known PED user wins a SB MVP in the same season and no one bats an eye at it.