Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
I don't think the league is trying to elevate a team like the Cardinals. It's just a bad missed call and not part of your conspiracy.
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I generally don't think there's any conspiracy, I just think the refs are occasionally incompetent often enough to massively impact the way the football year ends up going.
For example, the officials in the Steelers / Cardinals game just apparently became confused about what down it was... That one isn't consequential but if you accept the premises that:
1. Every week there will be multiple, clearly wrong calls that range from "arguably impacted the outcome of a game" to "almost certainly impacted the outcome of a game";
2. There are so few games in the NFL each season that changing the outcome of a couple each week will significantly change the standings; and
3. A win or loss that shouldn't have been can easily lead to a team making or missing the playoffs, or ending up in a matchup that's much more favourable or unfavourable than otherwise,
... Then the reffing is an unacceptably significant influence on the outcome of the season, before we even GET to the playoffs. Hence why I sort of tongue-in-cheek say "fake sport" all the time - the way a season goes is to an alarming degree not in the hands of the players and coaches.
I still watch, because it's fun and getting to see plays like the Anthony Richardson one is entertaining, but you have to take the whole thing with a grain of salt, IMO. Anyway it annoys the hell out of people in this thread when I complain about reffing and point out every time major, game-altering calls get made so that's all I'll say on the matter unless people really want to do this argument again.
