Tu-Toned Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 (edited) Are you kidding? Not one word you wrote has a single ounce of anything to do with the Bills or evidence the NFL is rigging games...the title of this thread "Is the NFL rigged"...not does Goodell make suggestions to Mike Vick. I ask you what does the NFL gain by helping the Bills lose? There is no other discussion here going on, its about whether theres a conspiracy, rigging, fixing, etc against the Bills. Again, the NFL is one of the most valuable properties on Earth. But to you, it makes sense, and financial sense, for them to make sure the Bills lose? Geezus now I have heard it all. This team sucks because it sucks, not because the NFL wants us to suck. The QB sucks, the coaches suck, the OL sucks. Thats THE ONLY REASON we suck. The NFL doesn't make money with teams sucking, the more competitive then the more watched they are, the more merchandise they sell, etc. And Miami is not some little pet of Goodells...they haven't been main stream relevant since the Bills last were and they still aren't close now with literally no marquee brand players. I will bet everything I have and love in this world against $1 from you that Goodell isn't having secret meetings plotting against the Buffalo Bills. ESPECIALLY in a year where us doing good would actually be VALUABLE POSITIVE STORIES in a year marked by negativity for the NFL. Only a Bills fan would think this to be true. Now, if someone wants to make a case that certain players get more calls, certain players are on a shorter leash, certain teams get away with more...then fine, but that is NOT rigging which is pre planned manipulation and cheating. In fact, that is more of the human element and is present in EVERY single sport on Earth. I can even accept that the possibility of Refs acting for their own benefit exists like what happened in basketball. But to sit here and say the NFL rigs games, and more specifically, rigging them against the Bills is so ridiculous its practically comical and everyone should have a tin foil cone on their head. You guys act like Goodell has a burner phone and called a ref in a secret ear piece during the game and said "Heres your chance, call it intentional grounding". Seriously, this board is out there sometimes. Like I said, you are too far gone, your vehement argument makes mine easier. I say possibly manipulated and you say not even remotely influenced. You are trying to convince people, actually I think that it is more yourself, that a multi-billion dollar business doesn't discuss or strategize on ways to maximize profits? OK, gotcha, please reinsert head in sand! I have to believe that what Vick said about what Goodell did, is absolutely true, and if that is the case, you have to ask yourself why? If your conclusion is that Goodell just had the best interest of the player in mind when he did that, then there is absolutely no hope for you, and you are buying the Brooklyn Bridge, slowly, one small piece at at time. Edited November 15, 2014 by Tu-Toned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
first_and_ten Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 The worst call was a Non Call at the end of the Houston game. It still infuriates me and it was over a month ago. In light of the new No Contact beyond five yard emphasis; Woods is running up the seam and the defender is jaming him with one hand on his shoulder, causing his upper torso to be twisted, for 20 yards. EJ(Mr. Can't hit the broad side of a barn according to some of you) throws the correct pass, a perfect pass, where Woods either leaps and catches it over the CB or draws the PI. As the screen follows the ball and we see Woods enter the screen the CB has BOTH his hands on Woods' shoulders and has his back to the ball. HOW THE HELL DID THEY NOT CALL THAT PI!!!!!!!!!!!? We win that game if they make that call and EJ has another nice 4th qtr comeback to his young career AND we don't have to suffer through MR. Fools Gold/Capt. Mediocre Orton. UGGGG I saw it and totally agree with you. They have been calling ticky-tack calls on our cornerbacks at times and they don't call this obvious penalty. It's seems as if this new crackdown on illegal contact has just given referees more room to screw up the games and be more of an influence on the outcomes.If it's a penalty , call it, Period. On another note, I think all interfence calls should be a 15 yard penalty unless it's absolutely blatant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BilLions Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Here is the thing: if fans are really serious in their crusades against the NFL and its officials, they should compile a dossier of the questionable calls made over the years agains the Bills, noting the officiating crew on hand as well as the critical nature of the calls in question (i.e., how they affected the game). Do this, and then present your results to the league (or a seedy plaintiffs' attorney or media rabble-rouser). Otherwise this is just more hot air. Do the homework and come back to us. Why would you suggest it's only one officiating crew? Just a simple list would do. One of the local news reporters should have done this by now. I get taking the high road and not blaming refs for all the Bills issues but you cannot be a fan and think the Bills do not get hosed on a weekly basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 What a bunch of cry baby's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finn Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I don't think the owners are rigging the game, but the game is not as fair as most people think. First, refs are in fact biased because they're human and are subject to the same pressures everyone else is. You can find a persuasive account of how in a book called Sportscasting. Second, some NFL refs may be corrupt. I'm not claiming it's true hands down, but corruption in the World Cup tournament is so endemic that you can't rule it out in the NFL. These NFL guys are not full-time refs, and like everyone else they're susceptible to blackmail and other persuasive measures. When huge money is on the table, integrity is not high on everyone's list of values. I'm sounding cynical, but I think the only factor holding back big-scale corruption is fear of losing the whole enchilada: big greed is trumping small greed. For now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Here is the thing: if fans are really serious in their crusades against the NFL and its officials, they should compile a dossier of the questionable calls made over the years agains the Bills, noting the officiating crew on hand as well as the critical nature of the calls in question (i.e., how they affected the game). Do this, and then present your results to the league (or a seedy plaintiffs' attorney or media rabble-rouser). Otherwise this is just more hot air. Do the homework and come back to us. I did just that about the Walt Coleman crew in this year's annual Pats* game multiple BS calls going one way thread. On an IPad here, so will only summarize. If you look at his Wikipedia page's list of controversial calls you'll see they list like 7 calls, including the Tuck Rule and the Colts-Pats* AFC CG in 2004 when the Cheats* DB's were given free reign to mug Colt receivers. Add to that the "just give it to them game" against us in 1998 that he also called (which quite oddly did not make the WP list--very odd since it was so bad that Ralph Wilson and Andre Reed were fined for comments about the replay-obviously bad, possibly to the point of crooked obviously bad, reffing), and you have 3 of 8 controversially bad calls by that crew in favor of one team, a team with a proven history of cheating, and suspicions by other League folks of worse behavior (headsets going out at Gillette, extra frequencies on their headsets, etc). The odds of that happening naturally since there are 32 teams to be in favor of are on the order of 1% if you do the math. I'm not surprised that things like this don't get media coverage since where the NFL is concerned there's really no such thing as independent media--they ALL have their hands in the cookie jar that is the NFL money making machine, either directly (like all the major networks) or indirectly, like the media outlets that generate clicks by NFL stories. Oddly, if a story like that were to be broken, I'd expect it to be TMZ or their ilk for just that reason. For ex., I'd just love to know how Matt Walsh is doing 5 plus years out. If he's living in a $2m house out in Hawaii on a $60k a year golf pro salary, that would tell me something...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 What a bunch of cry baby's. Who are you speaking of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Who are you speaking of? 95% of the posters on this thread. The Bills lost, the NFL is fixed Waa Waa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 95% of the posters on this thread. The Bills lost, the NFL is fixed Waa Waa. Read my post. I don't claim the NFL is fixed, but the officiating is poor. The Bills may have lost, and maybe they're not good enough to overcome bad calls, but they've been hosed more than a couple of times this season and it's bull ****. I don't know why ahyone would defend the league, or particularly Walt "I !@#$ my mother" Coleman on any of this. I can forgive calls like the attempted unnecessary roughness call on Williams? when he went head first into a sliding Alex Smith and didn't make contact. I can forgive a missed PI call. But some of these calls, like PI where no PI occurred, or false start where no false start occurred, that end drives for the Bills or sustain drives for the opposition substantially impact the flow and outcome of the game. It's one thing to watch the team lose, it's another when you're waiting for them to shoot themselves in the foot, they don't, but then some dickless ref makes a call that causes the same result. It happens far too often and it sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Like I said, you are too far gone, your vehement argument makes mine easier. I say possibly manipulated and you say not even remotely influenced. You are trying to convince people, actually I think that it is more yourself, that a multi-billion dollar business doesn't discuss or strategize on ways to maximize profits? OK, gotcha, please reinsert head in sand! I have to believe that what Vick said about what Goodell did, is absolutely true, and if that is the case, you have to ask yourself why? If your conclusion is that Goodell just had the best interest of the player in mind when he did that, then there is absolutely no hope for you, and you are buying the Brooklyn Bridge, slowly, one small piece at at time. Why don't you just answer Alpha's question. How does ensuring the Bills lose (by surgically timed flags) make the NFL billions? Or even a single dollar more? Or answer my question--why would Goodell will Vick, a marginal player at best, on Philly? How does that help anyone in particular? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justice Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Why can't teams challenge calls? Why do refs blow their whistles too soon after fumble recoveries and not allow the defender to run to the end zone for a TD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Read my post. I don't claim the NFL is fixed, but the officiating is poor. The Bills may have lost, and maybe they're not good enough to overcome bad calls, but they've been hosed more than a couple of times this season and it's bull ****. I don't know why ahyone would defend the league, or particularly Walt "I !@#$ my mother" Coleman on any of this. I can forgive calls like the attempted unnecessary roughness call on Williams? when he went head first into a sliding Alex Smith and didn't make contact. I can forgive a missed PI call. But some of these calls, like PI where no PI occurred, or false start where no false start occurred, that end drives for the Bills or sustain drives for the opposition substantially impact the flow and outcome of the game. It's one thing to watch the team lose, it's another when you're waiting for them to shoot themselves in the foot, they don't, but then some dickless ref makes a call that causes the same result. It happens far too often and it sucks. Oh I know theirs lot's and lot's of bad calls, been watching the game for 40 years. But to claim they always go against the Bills is down right childishness. I've seen bad calls go against all teams including the supposed NFL darlings NE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Oh I know theirs lot's and lot's of bad calls, been watching the game for 40 years. But to claim they always go against the Bills is down right childishness. I've seen bad calls go against all teams including the supposed NFL darlings NE. I agree, but the Bills, particularly this year, have been on the losing end of that equation. I'm not speculating as to the reason. It could be an unintentional bias based on the Bills having sucked for the entirety of this century, or just bad luck, or some other reason, but they've gotten !@#$ed a lot this season, and all too often it's on the very subjective, very questionable calls. Like bogus holding calls, that bull **** grounding call the other day, PI calls for good defense (that one on Gilmore was inexcusable. He made a great play and the team suffered for it.) As a fan you should be pissed off. Even if the calls are !@#$ing the other team you should get pissed off. Like I said, with bang-bang plays you're going to have a natural margin of error, but discretionary calls (especially taunting) should only be called when the ref knows for sure it's warranted and we've seen plenty of calls this year where the ref couldn't have seen the penalty because their was no !@#$ing penalty. It's one thing to miss a penaly, it's quite another to call a penalty when one didn't occur. If you didn't see it what the !@#$ are you calling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papazoid Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 rigged ? total nonsense. the closest the shield gets to "rigging" is in the way they reward referees with playoff assignments. but that is not done with the intent of hurting one specific team. having said that, there are plenty of examples where dirty individual players or referees can or have rigged a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I agree, but the Bills, particularly this year, have been on the losing end of that equation. I'm not speculating as to the reason. It could be an unintentional bias based on the Bills having sucked for the entirety of this century, or just bad luck, or some other reason, but they've gotten !@#$ed a lot this season, and all too often it's on the very subjective, very questionable calls. Like bogus holding calls, that bull **** grounding call the other day, PI calls for good defense (that one on Gilmore was inexcusable. He made a great play and the team suffered for it.) As a fan you should be pissed off. Even if the calls are !@#$ing the other team you should get pissed off. Like I said, with bang-bang plays you're going to have a natural margin of error, but discretionary calls (especially taunting) should only be called when the ref knows for sure it's warranted and we've seen plenty of calls this year where the ref couldn't have seen the penalty because their was no !@#$ing penalty. It's one thing to miss a penaly, it's quite another to call a penalty when one didn't occur. If you didn't see it what the !@#$ are you calling? I don't know about the bolded. You've never seen a bad call against a Bills opponent and thought "oh well thems the breaks" with a smile on your face? You notice more bad calls against the Bills because you follow the Bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjjr Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 It's not rigged but the calls definitely meant to sway games to keep them close, help more marketable teams/players succeed and generally give the home team advantages in key moments. It's not just the Bills...watch any game this weekend and there will be questionable calls made at critical moments that will change the game. We aren't just complaining during Bills losses either...look at that Lions game. That might be the worst of the season. Remember the famous holding flag picked up in the Chicago game with K.Williams that allowed Chicago to tie late. With all of that said....if you're really good, you win games more weeks than not. The Bills haven't been good enough in a long time to win with a few things going against them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulMan Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 If ya' wanna' see a fix. watch SB 26. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphadawg7 Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 (edited) Like I said, you are too far gone, your vehement argument makes mine easier. I say possibly manipulated and you say not even remotely influenced. You are trying to convince people, actually I think that it is more yourself, that a multi-billion dollar business doesn't discuss or strategize on ways to maximize profits? OK, gotcha, please reinsert head in sand! I have to believe that what Vick said about what Goodell did, is absolutely true, and if that is the case, you have to ask yourself why? If your conclusion is that Goodell just had the best interest of the player in mind when he did that, then there is absolutely no hope for you, and you are buying the Brooklyn Bridge, slowly, one small piece at at time. Lets try this for the THIRD time now since you can't answer a single question or post anything of any kind of relevance to the question at hand. How does the NFL profit from the Bills losing? What is it in for the NFL to conspire against them? Fact: Winning teams sell more tickets. Fact: Winning teams sell more merchandise. Fact: Winning teams pull more ratings. Fact: NFL profits from all of the above. So, since you are completely inept at answering this question, I will ask it a second time in this post. How does the NFL profit or benefit by manipulating or rigging Bills games? And don't say to help the Pats because you and all the other tin foil theorists complain about rigging against any team in the NFL we don't get a call against or lose to. In case you missed the direct question again...how does the NFL benefit from plotting against the Bills? I will bet money you don't answer this question with anything other than a blanket statement with no substance that just states "Its all about money". You don't have an answer to this question that makes any logical sense or you would have answered it already. Edited November 15, 2014 by Alphadawg7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Lets try this for the THIRD time now since you can't answer a single question or post anything of any kind of relevance to the question at hand. How does the NFL profit from the Bills losing? What is it in for the NFL to conspire against them? Fact: Winning teams sell more tickets. Fact: Winning teams sell more merchandise. Fact: Winning teams pull more ratings. Fact: NFL profits from all of the above. So, since you are completely inept at answering this question, I will ask it a second time in this post. How does the NFL profit or benefit by manipulating or rigging Bills games? And don't say to help the Pats because you and all the other tin foil theorists complain about rigging against any team in the NFL we don't get a call against or lose to. In case you missed the direct question again...how does the NFL benefit from plotting against the Bills? I will bet money you don't answer this question with anything other than a blanket statement with no substance that just states "Its all about money". You don't have an answer to this question that makes any logical sense or you would have answered it already. While I don't believe this myself, the obvious answer to that question is that it's more profitable to have either bigger market teams (Giants, Pats*, 9ers, Bears) or teams with national fanbases (Steelers, Packers, Cowboys) win than perennial small market loser franchises like Buffalo, Jacksonville or Cleveland. More fans to do the buying, often in richer demographic cities, combined with higher Nielsen ratings. Fairly simple answer. As I said, I don't myself buy that--too big a conspiracy required to do that effectively. If there is crooked officiating going on, it is much more likely to be done on a smaller scale--to help gamblers in particular games or to help a particular team which is paying the refs for such privilege.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frez Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Read the book " The Fix is in". http://www.target.com/p/fix-is-in-paperback/-/A-12230090?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=google_pla_df&LNM=12230090&CPNG=Entertainment&kpid=12230090&LID=24pgs&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=12230090&kpid=12230090&gclid=CMujvoi9_cECFQ-TaQod2ooAhQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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