The call noone talks about I wouldn't go as far as to say the games are fixed but let's face it. The NFL is a business and everytime money is involved, organization, companies etc. don't mind to do some dubious things. Here are some things to think about: The *Pats play their last game of the season on NFL network A 'perfect' team sells very good, either you want it to go undefeated or you want it to loose, no matter what, people will watch it. Can you imagine the money the NFL will make with the 18-0 *Pats facing the 17-1 Cowboys with their two overhyped poster childs? The relationship between Kraft and whoever is the comissioner. I have no clue what this guy does and I really don't want to know, but no way A. Davis and his team would have gotten away in the same way. They manipulated games, they won Superbowls because of it and the tapes just get destroyed without a word? Please, it's so obvious that something stinks when it come to the NFL and the *Pats. A perfect season helps the the league to downplay the past since the *Pats proved they can do it without cheating. (which is not true, but that's a different story...) Again, I don't think they fix games, but I have seen to many *Pats games to totally deny that they get more second chances then any other team if they need it. And here I want to mention a call noone is talking about. The 4th & 6. Brady scrambled for a first down, so they didn't need help, but there was a penalty on that play, too. A nice penalty to call if you want to give them some help, illegal contact. So in fact, the *Pats got a holding on 4th & 5 and an illegal contact on a 4th & 6. Watching so many *Pats games, it just seems to be the way it is, but it never feels right. I know we are Dolphins fans and I went to boards of the Steelers and the Bengals, fans who definitely can't stand the Ravens. They also think the same way we think. Actually, fans of 31 teams do and I'm pretty sure, more teams than just the Ravens agree with their fans.
for all the conspiracy theorists.....answer me this: If the fix was in, how did they let it come down to that 4th and 1 where Brady got stopped...only to be saved by a Baltimore timeout? If they don't call that timeout....it's ballgame. End of story. Let me guess.....Rex Ryan was in on it too.
You make no sense???????? Your argument goes agaimst the same things you are trying to point out. Yes the Pats had a dumb mistake on 4th and 1, and what was the result they kept going and got the first down and won the game. Luck is a bunch of BS that loosers make up to cobver their own shortcomings, life hands you good with bad, is up to you to make something out of it, that is the difference between winners and loosers. Why is it so hard to admit that those guys never gave up and won the game period? I guess some people need some supersitious reason to justify things that happen in and around their lives. Just deal with it.
I have NO idea what you are talking about there? But I guess what you are saying that there is no such thing as luck then? When some schlub wins the Lottery....he's not lucky? I never said that luck was the ONLY reason that the Pats won. Sure the Pats never gave up, yes there were things that happened that were a result of execution and desire and preparation, etc. And yes they won the game. Why is it so hard for you to understand that they also had their share of luck. You don't think the Patriots themselves feel lucky that Baltimore got that timeout in? Cause if they didn't.....it's over.
Why is it that if a Defensive Player is off sides, the Offense has a "free" play to determine the out come and then decide if they want the play or the penalty but when the Offense False starts its automatically a done deal. The rules should be changed so that a false start play is continued and the Defense gets to decide whether or not they want the penalty. Just looks like another example of the league favoring Offense over Defense.
There’s a movement afoot, fueled by the whining of the Baltimore Ravens following Monday night’s 27-24 loss, that the league will stop at nothing to ensure the Patriots finish the season 16-0. The Ravens are outraged over the Pats being saved by two penalties, a timeout and a favorable instant replay review to escape with victory when the Ravens had the game won a half-dozen times in the final two minutes. The postgame analysis focused on the Pats getting lucky, which they certainly did, as well as how curiously they benefited from every call down the stretch. “That was a travesty,†fumed Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle. Added wideout Derrick Mason, “When NBA teams were playing (Michael) Jordan and (Scottie) Pippen and the bunch, it was hard to beat them because everyone was on their side. That’s the way it is now. You’ve got Brady and the bunch, and it’s hard to beat them.†Mason’s intimation has been amplified by national pundits claiming the league wants the Pats undefeated going into the final regular-season game of the year. Their quest for 16-0 then would be broadcast by the fledgling NFL Network, which owners such as the Pats’ Robert Kraft are pushing as the future cash cow. And just like that, a conspiracy is born. At the risk of sounding like a yahoo . . . please. The Patriots aren’t 12-0 because of any conspiracies and they’re not 12-0 because of luck. They’re 12-0 because they’re that much better than everyone else. If the league is indeed conspiring in their favor, it’s a marked about-face from the opening of the season, when commissioner Roger Goodell drilled the Pats with the harshest penalty in history, fining coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000 for spying on the Jets and also taking away their first-round pick in the 2008 draft. It takes a real grassy knoll theorist to believe the NFL is instructing its referees to rule in the Patriots’ favor. Let’s not forget that just a month ago the Pats were on the opposite end of the flag disparity against the Colts, hit with 10 penalties for 146 yards against just four for 25 for Indy. “(The league) put the crown on them,†Ravens corner Chris McAlister said. “They want them to win.†Then there’s the whole idea of luck. Did the Patriots get lucky at the end of the Ravens’ game? Abso-freaking-lutely. How many teams in history get stuffed on fourth down three times in the final 90 seconds and win anyway? But luck had absolutely nothing to do with their first seven victories, and very little to do with the five since. Fans breathing a sigh of relief following Monday’s pulsating victory should remind themselves of one fact - this is what the Patriots do. Long before they decided to annihilate every team in their path, the Pats made their name and legacy as one of the greatest clutch teams in history. The closer the game, the more likely they’d come out on top. That they still had it in them should be of little surprise, not with Tom Brady still leading the offense, and Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi manning up for the defense. “I’ve been in a lot of crazy ones,†Bruschi said. “When it gets like that, you draw upon your resiliency as a team. I know we’re a resilient team. I know this through our past victories. That’s who we were, and who we still want to be.†If they benefit from a little luck along the way, so be it. But to suggest there’s any more going on is just plain ignorant.
I guess we are both circling the wagons, becuase I dont understand what you were trying to say????? By the way a "schlub" winning the lottery is not a matter of luck, it is actually a science that uses computational statistics and probability, combined with actuarial science, which applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risks, at the end all this information will in turn guarantee that the lotto works. The winner is chosen through something called random selection, that would be your "schlub" winning the lotto. Lottery in most parts of the world is a huge business, with huge profits. I DONT believe in luck, as much as I hate the PAts they earned their victory and that is that. Now if the refs were making bad calls, that is a whole new ball game. I think the Pats feel that they won another close call and it's all pretty good. It seems that they dont buy into that theory about trap games and not being the underdog. I think they like being the kings and they dont care if any of us likes it, we just have to deal with it. It's like the guy that is always talking crap and he tells you if you dont like it shut me up, otherwise deal with it! Someone (I hope it's us) has to go up and slap them silly and send them home crying unitl then we just have to deal with it.
I think the major disconnect in our line of thinking is that you don't like the word "luck". You say say "life hands you good with bad, is up to you to make something out of it" That to me is a description of luck right there....you're gonna have your good luck and your bad luck. A loser to me isn't someone who acknowledges luck, but someone counts on it OR blames it for EVERYTHING. Also, I am actually in the business of working with Lotterys, so I know exactly how they work....and the guy who walks into the Quickie Mart with a dollar and a dream and actually wins.....is DAMN LUCKY!! That SOMEONE will win the Lottery, is not a matter of luck, and that the Lottery will make huge profit for the state/government, is fact, but to be that person, you are lucky, and nothing else.
All I'm going to say is will somebody PLEASE find out who it is we've got to pay and how much it's going to cost to fix just ONE game for the Dolphins this year, I know vs the Patsies would be too expensive so how about the Jills. I got fifty on it.
General comment... I am astonished at the amount of people who seem to refuse to give it a moments thought that NFL games can and have been fixed. I am not saying the Ravens game was fixed or not. But to think it cant or never has been done is ridiculous. We dont live in a fairy land of unicorns and goodness for all mankind. We live in a greedy, manipulative world with Lies and Corruption. I am sorry if it shatters your sense of fairness in competition to think that games are fixed, now and then , but its a reality of life in all sports. It happens. Its sucks...but it happens.
Well I have read everyone's posts in this thread. Now I am not the one that will scream conspiracy or the NFL refs have been bought, I will question a play or 2 at the end of this game that should warrant further investigation... However subtle the plays were that were called as penalties, in 99% of the games, and this game as well, teams are not penalized for such... I do believe that there is a bias to see the next undefeated team and the PATS are the closest ever to doing so... And just like the "Non-existant Quota" that every officer of the law must meet, there are certain expectations for sporting games that need to be met... Has anyone looked at the fact that had the Ravens beat the Pats straight up would have cost 30 times more than the Ravens beating the spread for the bookies? IT was the same thing with the Eagles game as well!!! Just a thought!!!
No....no games are never fixed...never....really... Afterall, take tonights game... The Giants just completely forgot how to play football after 3 quarters....it's a totally natural occurance!
i have never seen a more crooked bunch of refs every time they play, this is pay back for the cheating scandal to them, they got caught cheating which the league does all the time and were going to blow the whistle on the NFL being fixed, so the league is doing every thing they can to pay them back
If you see the play again Brady slowed doen because he heard the whistle blow. He even said it in a press conference, that he still would have gotten the 1st anyway.
this has the be the worst thread of the year the pats did get some calls in the end of the ravens game. but the ravens got just as many calls in the first half. look at the colts game. indy got a bunch of calls in that game. and they got their fair share of luck stop hating on the patriots just for the hell of it
One thing I'd like to know is, When exactly was the ceremony first scheduled, to honor the alumni of the 72 Dolphin team, during halftime for our game against the Ravens? It seemed somewhat timely, and thought they were just honored last year? I'm not sure if the home team has to notify the league of these events early during the offseason, or if Shula maybe made a heads up call, 72 hours in advance, with the idea this would be a good time to make an appearance, and provide the initiative of a little 16-0 presense, for the current 0-13 team to consider, before simply conceding to 0-14. Looking back, I see no other reason why they suddenly found a way to make plays.
