09-18-2016, 08:42 PM
(09-18-2016, 07:18 PM)Roland Wrote: Where is the ball in the first picture? That's their issue. You can't see it, so you can't prove that it was still in his possession. Yeah, you intuitively know that it must be, but you can't prove it and the assumption is that the call was right. The real problem here is that if they don't clearly see the ball out before he's down they should call it down by contact and then let replay reverse it if they get it wrong.
Similarly with Uzomah touchdown, if we had challenged I don't think they'd have over-turned the call because you could not see clearly that his knee didn't touch the end line.
But this is part of the problem. It's not a "conspiracy" it's just the natural result of the media feedback loop. If they make those questionable calls in favor of the Steelers on the field how much media attention is it going to get whether they're right or wrong? Crickets. I'm actually surprised anyone found a story to quote about it from outside of Cincy. You can bet it won't have much legs on TV.
If they make those calls in favor of the Bengals and then they're wrong how much media attention is it going to get? It's 24x7 "Steelers were cheated" on every network for a week.
Sadly this is just the way it is and nothing is going to change it unless you shut the Steelers out of the playoffs for a decade so that all the bandwagon fans in "Steeler Nation" go out and finds a different team with a black jersey they can buy. That, or move the Bengals to some big market town.
To these calls you can add all the egregious holding, Pouncy's false start, and Mike Mitchell torpedoing everyone with his helmet the way he always does.
All that said, the Bengals still need to play better. Some of the new pieces have not come together. Give them those two calls and maybe they drive for what woulda shoulda coulda been a winning touchdown, but with the kind of play they need to win this division it wouldn't have been an issue.
exactly. Unclear fumbles, Int's etc should always be called in a manner on the field to where they will be reviewed. The Boyd play was called a fumble, hence making it subject for review, they just got it flat wrong. As far as the TD, if a player clearly has possession of the ball and may have gotten 2 feet or 1 knee in how can any ref call no TD with certainty. Any possible TD should be ruled as a TD to assure the play will be reviewed and the correct call will be made. The constant rule changes to " protect the players and the integrity of the game" are in fact calling the integrity of the game in question. Is it rigged? im not sure about a NFL wide conspiracy but the NFL is doing a great job to make it possible for Refs and an elite few to effect the outcome of games. Getting outright unwatchable.
