The Refs "Fixed" the London Game...

With the number of penalties called on us you could think the refs were actively screwing the Phins. But if you watch the game, the Phins were really that bad. Going back to the yets game they have looked like a replacement team from the strike year. They are just playing stupid football right now.

 

The refs were way too penalty-happy that game (killed the flow of the game), but they didn't specifically target the Dolphins. Saints had 8 penalties for 71 yards and Dolphins had 11 penalties for 90 yards. And there were 5 more penalties called that were either declined or were offsetting (2 on the Saints, 3 on Dolphins).

That's a LOT of penalties for an NFL game (the average is between 12-13 and they called 19 + 5 declined/offsetting).

Dolphins have only themselves to blame for losing to the Jets and Saints, especially when the defense did its job.

 

There were at least 3 calls that I wondered where the actual penalty was. Some brutal calls that did not need to be called for sure.

 

I actually noticed that the penalties against us increased more after gase chewed out the refs after the pick penalty on stills.

I think the refs got mad that gase called them out like that and decided to pay him back. Refs can be vindictive SOBs.

 

It wasn't the penalties for me. It was the 4th and 1 call by the Saints and they didn't get the first. Refs measured the spot and gave them the first anyway. After that, I knew the game was over.

 

Not the first time we've had a Saints/Fins game with questionable refs.

 

I think that was coincidence, in that the refs seemed like they were calling the game the same way they had up until that point. Here's the game:

The penalty you speak of on Stills was with 4:01 remaining in the 2nd. Gase chews them out as you say, then Cutler gets sacked and we punt the ball. Next time we have the ball the first two plays are penalties (that's what you remember). But those were valid penalties I think.

First one is a face mask on Tunsil (start at 1:14:25) and the second was holding on Fasano (start at 1:15:25). As you can see the refs aren't making that up.. just being ticky-tacky.

I actually thought that the opposite of what you're suggesting happened. First Gase chews them out, but that apparently has no effect. But then we start to hear boos! And guess what? After those boos there were no more penalties in the 1st half, and only 2 penalties in the entire 3rd quarter.

Problem is the refs went back to their ticky-tacky ways in the 4th so maybe the effect of the boos wore off by then haha!

 

If the game had actually been close, I might have had an issue with some of the ref’s calls. Yet the Dolphins scored zero points against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. That had absolutely nothing to do with the referees, it had everything to do with the fact the Dolphins were terrible on offense last week.

Blaming the referees for the Dolphin loss last week is ridiculous. The Dolphins lost because they played terrible and it is as simple as that.

 

Agree that the Phins lost mainly because of their own ineptitude and disinterest, not because of the refereeing. I would not go so far as to say it's 'ridiculous'. Some key calls by the zebras definitely influenced major inflection points in the game.