I’ve brought this up in a few other threads… but I want to have it in its own thread.
The Rams are getting tons of media attention. They are hosting the Super Bowl this year.
They are getting some calls in their favor… and it is obvious.
Early 3rd quarter… Rams have 6 point lead. Hicks starts getting held at 5:10 mark of video.
Brian Allen’s white glove is nearly grabbing the “9” on the back of his jersey.
Hicks moves Allen 4 yards back… and Allen’s is still grabbing same spot.
.
Here is another big play… a 37 yard pass to Higbee
Whitworth is turning the edge rusher sideways with his hand grabbing the jersey on the name plate… right in front of Stafford. Bears were only down 6 points late in the 3rd quarter when that happened.
“Bear hug” holding at 7:53 in the 4th quarter… no call.
1st and 20… after a holding call actually was called on Johnny Mundt… 5:24 in 4th quarter.
Havenstein has his arm around the head/neck area on the edge rusher.
.
There are always going to be some holding calls that get missed.
However… 4 blatant holds missed in the 2nd half of one game… is excessive.
Certainly fits the narrative of the NFL being fixed, or short of that, they love creating their storylines and drama.
I seem to go down that rabbit hole every year or so of reading what I can find on the NFL being fixed… I dunno I believe it but I do believe they create storylines or narratives and they favor the big market teams creating an uneven playing field at times.
I dunno I’ve ever seen it talked about here, maybe once in the off-season, and I’m still relatively new… has anyone else followed Alice down this rabbit hole???
I think there is clearly some shady stuff going on behind the scenes. I mean just look at the NBA refs that were gambling on the games. I’m sure there are refs in the nfl taking bribes and changing the course of games. There is just too much money to be lost in gambling without ensuring a few outcomes here and there.
I’d still expect it’s a very small percentage of the refs in on it though. But, all it takes is a couple.
I don’t know but I sure got a kick out of the Packers getting some iffy calls against them. Guess Aaron’s little stunt took him out of most loved status.
Right on you guys. I do think it’s similar across all sports in that the better teams get preferred calls. It happens in hockey that’s for damn sure! And the NBA as you mentioned. I guess I wonder where the line is for giving a good team the benefit of the doubt because they are good vs nitpicking on bad teams because they aren’t good.
I think many people here would suggest it isn’t necessarily the “better” teams that get more calls… but more calls go to the teams with national fan bases and significant media markets.
Cowboys, Packers, Steelers are the most obvious.
And … maybe now the Rams with the move to LA, new massive stadium that is hosting the Super Bowl, and home of NFL network?
I disappeared from the NBA shortly after Jordan retired, games just didn’t seem as good to me anymore. On the plus side I do watch inside the NBA to see Charles Barkley who is awesome, lol