09-15-2021, 01:18 PM
It's really reputation more than market size. A team's reputation is built by the media and benefits from a large market but even more so by a large national following. If your reputation is that you're a bad team or a dirty team I think that affects the way the game is called. You don't get the benefit of the doubt.
Reputation-wise the Vikings had been above the Bengals. Maybe it's a wash now with the Bengals resurgent but I don't see it influencing anything.
The fumble was a typical bang-bang call that was probably wrong on the field and just couldn't be overturned because there was no clear view. It happens all the time. We gifted them a touchdown through stupidity and got a field goal back with a little luck. Que Sera, Sera.
As for the rest of the penalties, it's stupid to suggest they had anything to do with bias. Most of them were not even arguable: false starts, alignment errors, blatant grabs. Not a lot of room for interpretation.
Reputation-wise the Vikings had been above the Bengals. Maybe it's a wash now with the Bengals resurgent but I don't see it influencing anything.
The fumble was a typical bang-bang call that was probably wrong on the field and just couldn't be overturned because there was no clear view. It happens all the time. We gifted them a touchdown through stupidity and got a field goal back with a little luck. Que Sera, Sera.
As for the rest of the penalties, it's stupid to suggest they had anything to do with bias. Most of them were not even arguable: false starts, alignment errors, blatant grabs. Not a lot of room for interpretation.
