Anyone who had any doubts about the fact that the NFL does not want the Packers to have homefield advantage in the playoffs should have had these doubts eliminated after watching the Dallas-Carolina game tonight. Previous posts discussed how the bear game was stolen from the Packers, and how the Dallas game was blatantly stolen from the Packers. Aside from stealing a touchdown from the Packers on their opening drive and giving Dallas the winning touchdown on a bogus interference call, the call on the Al Harris strip after the play was reviewed could only have been made if there was an agenda. It would be impossible to make that call in any other circumstance. The ref right on the play made the right call, another ref from across the field reversed it, and unbelievably, the replay ref upheld this. Again, there is no way the final ruling could have been made the way it was unless there was an agenda.
As I’ve pointed out for years, not only does the league steal games from the Packers, but they steal games the Packers are not involved in, which always negatively impacts the Packers. If Dallas lost tonight, the Packers would have the advantage in the battle for homefield advantage. So, let’s see what happened.
In the first quarter, in a scoreless game, Dallas has 4th and 1. They run for it, don’t get the first down, but a ridiculous spot gives them a first down at the Carolina 23. The announcers talked about what a generous spot it was, and they said he didn’t make it. Instead of a big momentum builder for Carolina, the Cowboys kept the ball and scored a touchdown. These 7 points were a gift from the refs.
With 13:18 left and Dallas up 17-10, pass interference was not called on a long pass to the Dallas 40 where the receiver was clearly interfered with and that prevented him from making the catch. The announcers talked about how bad a call this was, mentioning it numerous times during the game. Instead of Carolina having the ball in Dallas territory, they had to give it up and Dallas got a field goal. Another gift 3 points from the refs, and this doesn’t even consider that Carolina was prevented from getting points.
With 6:46 left, with Carolina down 20-10, Steve Smith caught a long pass that was called complete, and then another ref came over and called it incomplete. It was a complete pass, but the final ruling was incomplete, again costing Carolina potential points.
Cris Collinsworth and Bryant Gumbel mentioned a number of times how all these calls were going against Carolina, saying it would be hard enough to beat Dallas without all these bad calls and now they had to overcome these. They showed John Fox, Carolina’s coach, and talked about how frustrated he was with the calls.
Dallas ended up “winning” by 7, so it is obvious these calls made a huge difference in the game. For those of you who keep telling me bad calls balance out, what’s happened this year is exactly what I said would happen before the year started. That is because it happens almost every year.
1. Bear fan on January 6th, 2008 9:50 pm
In the packers’ season-ending game against the Lions the most noteworthy event of the season happened, but the fans of the packers don’t seem to have made any comments on it: no doubt they want the matter hushed up. Favre threw a touchdown pass and an official went to him with his hand outstretched in congratulations! Unbelievable. And then Favre and the jubilant official engaged in a session of handslapping. How revealing! These things explained once and for all the favoritism the officials consistently show the packers. I’m sure the league secretly reprimanded the official – not for favoritism toward the packers, which is a matter of course, but rather for letting his favoritism show so blatantly. Film of the handshake and handslapping should surely be shown before every game the packers play: people might then, at last, understand the spirit in which the packers’ games are officiated.
2. Larry on January 7th, 2008 1:27 am
Thank you for the comment, but this did not happen as you described. I did see the replay, and Favre went to the official, the official did not come to him, and the official was surprised. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Packers had so many non-starters in the game, that after Favre threw the TD pass, he didn’t know who to celebrate with, and since the official was right there, he celebrated with him. It’s very possible that Favre was congratulating the official for not robbing the Packers of that TD pass, as the officials have done at various points during the season. However, you do bring up a point where other teams could make the case that the officials say they want the Packers to win. After each pre-game coin-toss, the officials might say, “May the best team win.” This could be considered favoritism for the Packers.