football season is here!!!!!!!!!! (2 Viewers)

[Louis Badolato]

George,

You hit the nail on the head, the Refs have been brutal all year. In addition to the brutal no call that decided the Eagles game (what the hell is incidental contact, anyway?), a bad no call on an obvious delay of game put the Ravens in position to kick the winning fieldgoal against the Titans in the Divisional round, and the roughing the kicker personal foul penalty at the end of the first half of the Steelers-Ravens game was also totally bogus. The Refs also blew the call in the first half of the Cardinals-Eagles game, when the kickoff landed in bounds, was untouched, then the Eagles player went out of bounds and was hit by the ball in the forearm on the bounce. The Refs put the ball where it hit the Eagle out of bounds at the 24 yard line, but under the rules, when a kickoff hits a player who is out of bounds, it is a penalty for a kickoff out of bounds, and the ball is placed at the 40 yard line.

I really think that the old men who are Refs need to be replaced by younger guys who actually played in the NFL and have the eyesight and athleticism to actually keep up with the speed of the plays. That's how they get officials in the NHL. The only issue is making sure a former-player does not ref games involving his former team.

 

[tdubel]

George,

I agree with much of your analysis, with one exception - the replay overturning of the touchdown. Last year you would have been absolutely correct, but in the offseason they changed the rule to say that when you catch a ball and go to the ground, you have to maintain possession until you come to a complete stop. The Steeler receiver, apparently unfamiliar with the rule change, rather than cradling the ball for first and goal and the 1/2 yard line, tried to stretch the ball out for a touchdown. The ball hit first, before his knee, and came loose. Under the new rule, that is an incomplete pass every time.

Louis,
you are correct, I think what the Steelers argued was that his free hand hit the ground and contact so he was down by contact before the ball, but no matter, that rule is just idiotic, should have never changed.

The dropped passes made the game real tight. Also, Ward I expect will be healthy, he is a big difference to that offense. I am hoping George's analysis is correct about the Super Bowl. It would be neat to win a 6th one.

TD

 

[Warrior]

Louis,
Kudos to you for knowing all of these changes, my head is spinning trying to keep up with the constant changes. The problem is there are too many ticky tack rules "if this happens, it's so and so, but if the moon is full, the sky is dark, it's in a leap year, then it's this", it's nonsensical.

Also, contact beyond the 5 yard line is illegal, period, end of story, the Cardinals guy mugged the iggles reciever. But, like you said, they could interpret it as "gee, the Cardinals defender was falling down, contact was incidental, no penalty".........it's all BS IMO, too many and I mean WAY too many games this year came down to a blown call, in no other sport do you see so many blown calls.

Getting back to the Super Bowl, as long as the Steeler secondary controls Fitzgerald (a tall order, but their secondary is awesome, they all hit like trucks), the Cardinals are toast. They can't run the ball and Boldin is a two year old crybaby................

 

[Spitfrnd]

Louis,
you are correct, I think what the Steelers argued was that his free hand hit the ground and contact so he was down by contact before the ball, but no matter, that rule is just idiotic, should have never changed.

....

I think it is a good rule. In this case, the ball was coming out as he hit the ground anyway but I see nothing wrong with requiring the ball to be in control until the player has stopped moving. The Steeler's were just wrong about the hand, it is not a body part that counts for that purpose.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Louis,
Kudos to you for knowing all of these changes, my head is spinning trying to keep up with the constant changes. The problem is there are too many ticky tack rules "if this happens, it's so and so, but if the moon is full, the sky is dark, it's in a leap year, then it's this", it's nonsensical.

Also, contact beyond the 5 yard line is illegal, period, end of story, the Cardinals guy mugged the iggles reciever. But, like you said, they could interpret it as "gee, the Cardinals defender was falling down, contact was incidental, no penalty".........it's all BS IMO, too many and I mean WAY too many games this year came down to a blown call, in no other sport do you see so many blown calls.................

I completely agree on both points. The rule changes have gotten ridiculous - any contact with a quarterback's helmet is automaticly a 15 yard penalty for roughing the passer, as is falling on the quarterback when you sack him. There are a million ticky tack rules added or deleted every year, it nearly impossible to keep up with them all, and most are stupid.

I also think "incidental contact" it is a stupid rule. How often do you see a wide open receiver tripped but no call on the grounds of "incidental contact". As things stand, receivers mug DB's and get away with it, while DB's just have to disguise their contact as being the result of losing their footing and they get away with it as well. You want to call pass interference fairly its pretty simple - whichever player, receiver or DB, who initiates contact past 5 yards gets flagged.

 

[Spitfrnd]

I think incidental contact is alright; two players running next to each other will definitely contact each other many times in a play. The rules are not very pro receiver as it is. Since only the receivers know where they are going, a strict view of contact down field would favor them even more.

I thought I would add this depressing (for Redskin Fans) statistic I just came across. The Redskins are now one of just three franchises that have been in the league the last 17 seasons and have failed to advance to a conference title contest. The others are the Bengals and the Lions. Great company. Before this season, the Cardinals were the fourth so maybe there is hope or does lightning really not strike twice.

 

[jrsteel]

George,

I agree with much of your analysis, with one exception - the replay overturning of the touchdown. Last year you would have been absolutely correct, but in the offseason they changed the rule to say that when you catch a ball and go to the ground, you have to maintain possession until you come to a complete stop. The Steeler receiver, apparently unfamiliar with the rule change, rather than cradling the ball for first and goal and the 1/2 yard line, tried to stretch the ball out for a touchdown. The ball hit first, before his knee, and came loose. Under the new rule, that is an incomplete pass every time.

I thought that rule meant if you jump up and catch the ball and you come down and land you have to maintain possesion. Like if you land on your back and the ball comes out then it's incomplete. But Holmes took 3 steps with clear posession and then reached the ball out and it came out when he hit the ground. He already had posession. Under the refs interpretation I guess you can run 70 yards with a pass and if the ball comes out when you hit the ground it's incomplete.

 

[Spitfrnd]

Interesting, I didn't see three clear steps with control.

 

[Warrior]

Then why is it ok to fumble the ball when you hit the ground after breaking the plane of the goal line. It looked to me like that is what happened, he fumbled after crossing the plane of the goal line and the ball hit the ground.

The rules are a complete FUBAR, can we all agree on that? Here's hoping a blown call does not ruin the Super Bowl, although I doubt if a blown call will decide this game, I think it will be a Steeler blow out. How ironic is it that a 9-7 team in one of the worst divisions in football got not one but two home playoff games including hosting the NFCCG vs another 9 win team.

Football has really become a watered down sport with no real great teams it seems; of the twelve playoff teams, two had nine wins, one had 8 and I am pretty sure if I am not mistaken of the group, 8 of the 12 had below 500 records just last year, one of which was a dreadful 1-15. Not to mention both #1 seeds and one of the two #2's got knocked out of the playoffs.

What a down year...........

 

[jrsteel]

Then why is it ok to fumble the ball when you hit the ground after breaking the plane of the goal line. It looked to me like that is what happened, he fumbled after crossing the plane of the goal line and the ball hit the ground.

The rules are a complete FUBAR, can we all agree on that? Here's hoping a blown call does not ruin the Super Bowl, although I doubt if a blown call will decide this game, I think it will be a Steeler blow out. How ironic is it that a 9-7 team in one of the worst divisions in football got not one but two home playoff games including hosting the NFCCG vs another 9 win team.

Football has really become a watered down sport with no real great teams it seems; of the twelve playoff teams, two had nine wins, one had 8 and I am pretty sure if I am not mistaken of the group, 8 of the 12 had below 500 records just last year, one of which was a dreadful 1-15. Not to mention both #1 seeds and one of the two #2's got knocked out of the playoffs.

What a down year...........

I read an interesting article on CNNSI.com about bad teams getting in the playoffs. It blames it on having four team divisions. The last time the NFL had this setup was in the late 1960's. The year of the Ice Bowl game both the Packers and Cowboys were 9 win teams. The Colts had won 11 games but didn't make the playoffs because they didn't win their division. For some reason they were in the same division as the Rams who had 12 wins. The setup with 3 divisions per conference would let less bad teams in the playoffs. But I agree the NFL is watered down. They could get rid of a couple of teams. Also free agency kind of ruined all sports.

 

[lancer]

Jrsteel is talking about 1967. That year the Colts went 11-1-2, the same as the Rams. The Rams won the title on the basis of head to head point differential with the Colts. The Colts and Rams tied in their first regular season meeting, then met in the last regular season game. The Colts were 11-0-2 and the Rams were 10-1-2. The Rams won the game and the title while the Colts went home. It was a tragedy for a teenage Colts fan like me. The playoff system has always had problems when more than 2 teams are involved. -- lancer

 

[Warrior]

Thanks for the information JR and Lancer; Lancer, could you do me a favor and break down the divisional set ups at the time and how the playoffs shook out that year; amazing that two one loss teams did not make the finals, let alone the playoffs for one and two 9-5 teams met for the title.

I also remember the year the Dolphins were undefeated, they had to play the AFCCG at Pittsburg, something about the divisional winners "taking turns" hosting the AFCCG.

What utter nonsense; football is Americas game, yet a real FUBAR at times.............

 

[lancer]

Warrior - in 1967 the NFL consisted of two conferences, Eastern & Western. Each conference had two divisions. East - Century Division, 1-Cleveland 2-NY Giants 3-St. Louis Cards 4-Pittsburgh : Capitol Division , 1-Dallas 2-Philly 3-Wash. 4-New Orleans West - Coastal Division, 1-L.A. Rams 2- Balt. Colts 3-San Fran. 49ers 4-Atl. Falcons : Central Division, 1-Green Bay 2-Chi. Bears 3-Detroit 4-Minn. Vikings . The Rams @ 11-1-2 played the Packers @ 9-4-1. Green Bay won. Cleveland @ 9-5 played Dallas @9-5. Dallas won. Green Bay beat Dallas 21-17 for NFL championship then went on to beat AFL champion Oakland in Superbowl 2. -- lancer

 

[jazzeum]

George,

Further to Al's comment, this was before the merger had taken place between the old AFL and the NFL when the leagues were still separate or the Browns, Colts or Steelers had moved. If memory serves me correctly, the NFL title game was the Ice Bowl, a real classic.

 

[lancer]

Yeah, that was the Ice Bowl, played in the great outdoors when men were men and meese were meese. -- lancer

 

[sammy719]

Well fellows this thread is coming to a end, sadly as my Ravens did

but we have to pick our Superbowl winners, as much as I hate to admit it, I see the Steelers winning big, trust me no bandwagon fan here, I just think with that defense and the time they have had to prepare for the Cards offense it will be along day for Kurt and his boys.

Steelers...31
cardnals...16

Hoping this time next year I'll be picking the Ravens to win it all!!!...Sammy

 

[Combat]

These are not your grandpappy's Steelers. The Cards have a chance besides I'm sick of the whole Steeler mania. That god awful Steeler song on the radio here in PA. Kurt Warner is the story of the year - the bionic man. He was finished with the Rams. A human tackling dummy/fumbling machine with a badly broken thumb who could barely grip the ball. His comeback is a great story plus he seems like a decent fellow and not some egomaniac athlete. So I'm going Cards 34 Steelers 20. This will also payback the folks in St. Louis for taking the Rams from LA and then winning the Super Bowl.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Its hard to pick against a defense like the Steelers. There is only one way the Steelers lose without turning the ball over several times or something crazy like that: The Cardinals find a way to keep Warners uniform clean. If Warner has time to throw, the Cardinals could win. If the Steelers D does to him what the Giants D did to Tom Brady last year, the Steelers win going away.

My prediction: Cardinals, who should have lost every playoff game, find a way to keep Warner off the carpet long enough to win 17-14.

 

[Capitolron]

STEELERS !

Steelers 27

Cards 17

 

[tdubel]

Its hard to pick against a defense like the Steelers. There is only one way the Steelers lose without turning the ball over several times or something crazy like that: The Cardinals find a way to keep Warners uniform clean. If Warner has time to throw, the Cardinals could win. If the Steelers D does to him what the Giants D did to Tom Brady last year, the Steelers win going away.

My prediction: Cardinals, who should have lost every playoff game, find a way to keep Warner off the carpet long enough to win 17-14.

Louis,
Key part of your post is if the Steelers D shows up and plays to its ability, if that happens, game will not be close. Right now, to me, Cards offense hinges on Fitzgerald.

Combat,

Don't you just love that song, these Steelers may not be as good as the 70s, but they still have quite a few standouts - Ward, Big Ben, Pola. IF they play their game, its not close on paper. As always, it's like boxing, every team has a puncher's chance.......any given Sunday....

TD