There have been a few posts about Peterson getting away with illegal contact or PI in the game Sunday…
But I wanted to make a separate theead to illustrate how the Lions were flagged 6 times on AO alone… yet Peterson didn’t draw 1 flag despite very handsy coverage.
Here is the first play I will highlight…
because it was a 3rd and 2 to go at the 22 yard line…
and a penalty called here could have changed 3 points into 7 points.
Never understood people who think officiating doesn’t matter. When the Rams were in STL there were times I was real close to being done with the NFL. I remember a game where we started Austin Davis and he had a great game against the Cowboys and the refs litteraly stole a win from us with constant phantom calls. We had no chance.
Now that the Rams are in LA I notice even more how biased the officiating is. I’m glad we get the calls now but it’s not the way I want it to be. I love football and want a fair game.
Edit:
I had to go back and check the box score of that game. We had over 100 more penalty yards then the Cowboys. Still one of the worst officiated games I’ve seen. Always on 3rd down it seemed too giving the Cowboys anouther chance.
Richard Sherman and the Seahawks basically bragged that they would just grab on every play because they knew the officials wouldn’t keep calling it. I wish AO had got the same kind of treatment. Or at least had some of the penalties even out with Peterson. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen five penalties called on one defensive back at a game before. I’m going to guess that that has never happened to Dallas, or Green Bay, or the Steelers. Not saying that by the letter of the law they were not holds or pass interference, but damn, you have to call it both ways if you’re going to be that nitpicky with one player.
I think Green Bay gets the biggest help from the refs of the teams you’ve named, on a consistent basis. And as biased as it might seem on paper (like TJ Lang’s sudden spike in holding penalties) its even worse when you get into the details of the game. Green Bay gains the most benefit from calls and non-calls.
A random example is a game where they got penalized 5 times to the other teams 6 penalties. That looks close, doesn’t it? The devil is in the details. The Packers first penalty came on a meaningless play to end the half where the other team had no time to actually benefit from it. The next 4 penalties were all on the same drive with the Packers on defense. It was the 4th quarter and the Pack were up 3 scores. So the game was already over. The Packers on the other hand had several drives extended with penalties on the other teams defense on 3rd down where the Pack didn’t get a 1st down on their own. There is ALOT of that garbage in Packers games. And defensive holding/illegal contact downfield has been the refs favorite weapon of choice for years when teams stop the Packers on 3rd down. Its gotten to the point where I look for a flag every time a team gets a 3 and out on them.
That was my biggest issue with the Vikings game. Peterson was able to play one way and AO was forced to play differently. I get a few calls here and there but this was ridiculous.
I’ve been saying exactly this for awhile. Context is everything. In fact I think they look to “even it up” with calls that don’t matter. You can’t go by the box score.
this is why it’s getting hard for me to watch the lions. the philly game was terrible with non calls especially grounding. the washington game was called evenly in that the refs let stuff happen, let them play on both sides. Minny the holding was egregious and not calling the minny secondary for the same thing they were calling detroit for is obvious favoritism.
a team cannot come back from that repeatedly happening, because it gives an auto first down every time. what can a defense do besides get exhausted, thinking they got off the field BUT NO.
Honestly imo (pure speculation), I suspect once the betting odds are place (say Lion +6.0) and they jump out in front, the referees are notified so they can gradually curb the outcome.
Pat Peterson could have be flagged 75% of the time
I think it is simply the fact that it was Patrick Peterson on one side and AO on the other. Guys like Peterson will almost always not have those penalties called.
100% agree, that’s what I think happens as well. And now you can place bets during the game, and the odds changes as the game progresses. They don’t decide the outcome of win or loss per say, it’s all about point spread manipulation. Vegas and all these betting apps need to ensure profits. Essentially everything the NBA ref who went to jail explains in his book. This is why I don’t gamble.
As soon as we had a 10 point lead, that’s when they really started hitting the Lions and AO with the penalties. AKA getting the Vikes back in the game, it’s also good for TV ratings to have close games, not just gambling.
The game is really in the refs hands at the end of the day in football, there is holding and illegal contact on almost every single play somewhere on the field, it’s just a matter of when they call it and when they don’t.
The refs do that a lot I’ve noticed. The penalties will be one sided all game until the very end when it’s in hand for that team. Then suddenly they’ll get 5 penalties that don’t matter to make things look even.
I think we should start a website called RFF referee fundamental focus.
Grade every ref every play. I think every fan would log in after every game. and imagine how often it would be referenced in arguments on posting boards
The holding the Vikings got away with was just insane. It was even beyond packers levels because the packers usually have more talented lineman. No team would have had a pass rush against the Vikings Sunday with that being allowed.
I love that idea. Chart penalties across the league for every team. When they happened a what impact they made on the game. I’ll bet it would show the incredible bias we all know exists. If the site got big enough to draw attention eventually the court of public opinion would force the league to take action.
Or the people in Vegas would have you “removed “ as site owner. Lol
