The Refs and this “rigged” league

[Big Blitz]

Haven’t seen the tape - but I GUARANTEE on half those Maye roll outs a D lineman is getting mugged.   

[jethro_tull]

Hochuli as an official sucks, big time.  It's like he studied the fine print in the rule book and brought out these obscure calls just to screw the Bills.  Such a jag.  

[phxbacker]

I'll have to go back and review but

it seemed like the Bills penalties gave pats first downs after stopping them, 3rd and 5 ... D holding etc...
it seemed like the Patriots penalties were all additional yards after a first down was obtained. facemask, late hit etc...

 

I said to my daughters before the game that i bet the NFL wants a more competitive AFC East and they will find a way to give the Pats a win.

[paulmm3]

Shawn Hochuli hates the Bills and officiates as such. It is what it is.

[LarryMadman]

In the game of football and especially at the highest level, the NFL refs could call a penalty on every single play of every single game played. That said for one team to have an excessive amount to their opponent on any given sunday is wrong and screams of an axe to grind an agenda or other illegal things going on. Penalty amounts per game should pretty much be equal week in and week out.  

Edited 1 hour ago by LarryMadman

[PromoTheRobot]

27 minutes ago, Just Jack said:

Not sure how true this meme is...

 

 

There was a caller on the Bills pregame show who came off sounding a little Looney Tunes, but was warning everyone of this very thing about Shaun Hoculi. Are you still crazy if you're right?

Edited 1 hour ago by PromoTheRobot

[Ethan in Cleveland]

21 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

 

I think it was one of their TEs that twitched a tiny bit.

Correct they showed it on replay.

 

No conspiracy.  They played better. They are coached better.  Can't fault the refs when Palmer lines up and leaves Brown uncovered. It is a HS level mistake.  We got the calls in the 4th quarter and just like magic people stopped complaining about the refs.

They missed PI on the defender who had Coleman's jersey, and the Bernard hit on Maye could have been a no call but he did hit his head with a glancing blow.    

 

And the off-sides against their defense was a bit of a gift too as Brown was late in jumping. The Patriots player did not make contact and was already back onsides when Brown touched him.  Could have easily been called against Brown.  

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

25 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

 

I think it was one of their TEs that twitched a tiny bit.

it was so minor though. I have no idea how the line judge even saw it.

[boater]

The refs did not throw that interception in the Red Zone, so I'm not going to put the loss on them.

 

The penalties were appropriate for both teams. The Bills were sloppy.

[CincyBillsFan]

41 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

You will not convince me otherwise after that joke last night. 
 

The network (thus the league) had its narrative ready and did everything they could to make the team that lost at home to Vegas and Pittsburgh relevant again.  
 

Robert Kraft was in attendance.  Is that normal for him on road games?
 

You will not see a playoff game with 11 TOTAL penalties let alone 11 on one team.  Yea they threw some on NE in the 2nd half but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t “fix it” later.

 

 

THEY THREW A FLAG ON THE FINAL KICK RETURN.  That was just in case we returned it for a TD.  

 

Holding calls that were beyond questionable and will NEVER be called in January.  
 

Our WRs NEVER are interfered with.  Amazing considering how much man we see.  
 

NE never held on ANY passes - did I miss one?   
 

 

This isn’t a “blame the refs” for the loss either.  You can take it that way but we had a chance to win.  Then Shakir got mugged and the network did a great job showing why that wasn’t a DPI.  Total joke.  
 

Not a blame the refs.  You just won’t convince me when this league needs something done for a team it will get done.  
 

 

On the one hand your post is tin foil hat material, but then again a lot of tin foil hat material in all walks of life is coming true now a days.  One thing for sure though is that the NFL wants an AFC East fight between the Bills, and their national audience, and the Pats with their shrinking but still large national audience.  A competitive race between the two benefits the NFL far more then a run away Bills division title.  Beating NE last night would have come close to locking up the AFC East after only 5 weeks - a terrible look by a league that worships at the altar of PARITY.

 

And talking about non calls, in what Universe was that not grounding on Maye in the 1st half?  You know the play and it was amazing that it wasn't called.

 

 

[mjt328]

If the Bills had won last night, they would be 3.5 games ahead in the AFC East... and 2 games ahead of pretty much everybody else in the AFC.

By the first week of October.  With a very easy schedule the rest of the way.

 

The NFL benefits by drama and important matchups.  They don't just heavily promote the teams people love, but also ones that people hate and badly want to lose (Cowboys, Patriots, Chiefs).  That's what makes people watch.  Not one team running away with it before kids have even picked out their Halloween costumes.  

 

I've never claimed the NFL is totally scripted.  But you can see lots of evidence that refs are used to help nudge things in a particular direction.  And it usually doesn't take a lot.  Bad calls don't make people stop watching (because we are all addicts), and in many cases they get us talking more after the game is over.

 

[Thurman#1]

54 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

You will not convince me otherwise after that joke last night. 
 

The network (thus the league) had its narrative ready and did everything they could to make the team that lost at home to Vegas and Pittsburgh relevant again.  
 

Robert Kraft was in attendance.  Is that normal for him on road games?
 

You will not see a playoff game with 11 TOTAL penalties let alone 11 on one team.  Yea they threw some on NE in the 2nd half but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t “fix it” later.

 

 

THEY THREW A FLAG ON THE FINAL KICK RETURN.  That was just in case we returned it for a TD.  

 

Holding calls that were beyond questionable and will NEVER be called in January.  
 

Our WRs NEVER are interfered with.  Amazing considering how much man we see.  
 

NE never held on ANY passes - did I miss one?   
 

 

This isn’t a “blame the refs” for the loss either.  You can take it that way but we had a chance to win.  Then Shakir got mugged and the network did a great job showing why that wasn’t a DPI.  Total joke.  
 

Not a blame the refs.  You just won’t convince me when this league needs something done for a team it will get done.  
 

 

 

 

We won't convince you? Fair enough.

 

That this narrative makes sense? Not nearly so much.

[Sweats]

It's beneficial for the league to have NE compete in the AFCEast.......no one wants to tune into to see the Bills smack the pants off everyone in our division every week.

It puts far more money in the leagues pockets when the Bills actually have someone to compete against in our division.

[Big Blitz]

10 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

We won't convince you? Fair enough.

 

That this narrative makes sense? Not nearly so much.

 

I’ve got a mountain of evidence circumstantial and real that says it absolutely happens and it did last night.  
 

Doesn’t mean that’s why we lost as we had chances.  
 

It means they absolutely had an agenda and it worked out for NE and the league.   

[billieve420]

I am not going to make a big deal about the Refs. Everyone knows they suck don't put yourself in a situation where a call or multiple calls can cost you the game.

[TC in St. Louis]

Hochuli sucks.  His record doing Bills games proves it.  1-6?  Are you kidding?  I think somebody from the league called him at. halftime and told him to stop doing what he was doing.  It got better in the second half, but his calls did cost our team in the first half.

We lost the game largely because we turned the ball over.  And Drake Maye made some crazy plays under a lot of pressure.  

But the first half officiating was atrocious.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

1 hour ago, Big Blitz said:

You will not convince me otherwise after that joke last night. 
 

The network (thus the league) had its narrative ready and did everything they could to make the team that lost at home to Vegas and Pittsburgh relevant again.  
 

Robert Kraft was in attendance.  Is that normal for him on road games?
 

You will not see a playoff game with 11 TOTAL penalties let alone 11 on one team.  Yea they threw some on NE in the 2nd half but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t “fix it” later.

 

 

THEY THREW A FLAG ON THE FINAL KICK RETURN.  That was just in case we returned it for a TD.  

 

Holding calls that were beyond questionable and will NEVER be called in January.  
 

Our WRs NEVER are interfered with.  Amazing considering how much man we see.  
 

NE never held on ANY passes - did I miss one?   
 

 

This isn’t a “blame the refs” for the loss either.  You can take it that way but we had a chance to win.  Then Shakir got mugged and the network did a great job showing why that wasn’t a DPI.  Total joke.  
 

Not a blame the refs.  You just won’t convince me otherwise that when this league needs something done for a team it will get done.  
 

 

I still want to see the offensive PI called on Shakir that they conveniently forgot to show a replay of. I knew by the end of the 1st quarter the Bills weren’t winning ****
 

The penalties called on the Patriots later in the game were irrelevant because they were already in the lead. The refs just had to keep the Bills head from getting above water. 
 

The most telling penalty was the holding call on the last kick off return (were the Bills the only one holding?) If the returner got it out to the Bills 40 then there’s actually a chance Allen could rifle a pass to someone out of bounds for 20 yards to give Prater the chance to kick a 60+ yarder. 
 

The Bills are always near the bottom in penalties. Did they just forget how to play this game ? I’m not buying it. That game was heavily swayed in the Patriots favor. They gave them every opportunity to win it. Hochuli and his father are notoriously terrible. And both never favor Buffalo. 

[billsintaiwan]

I hope Joe West doesn't have any children who want to ump.

 

Hochuli wants to be really involved in the game. Completely shite quality in umpires or referees.

Edited 54 minutes ago by billsintaiwan

[bigK14094]

1 hour ago, Breakout Squad said:

The officials were atrocious. I’m still too raw about that game so I’ll leave it at that. 

Yes, some of the worst officiating I have seen in many years.  (a Bills fan since the 60's btw)  Hasn't been that bad since the 80's imho. I gave up the NFL for a few years because the officiating was so bad back then.

[finn]

I'm looking forward the referee report on Buffalo Rumbings. He does a good job breaking down not just the number and type of call but also the timing and "harm" inflicted. 

 

Of course the refs are putting their thumbs on the scale. Do people really believe that when billions of dollars depends on the outcome and it's so, so easy to influence the final score, that everything is kosher, nothing to see here? If so, no wonder the world is going to hell. Wake up, people. At least don't carry the league's water by pointing out how our team played badly and didn't deserve to win. How can any team overcome a dozen penalties, flags thrown not when there is a foul but when the refs think it's a good time to throw one? Holding is an especially effective penalty, a real drive killer. You kill enough drives, and that alone will tip the balance, as happened last night. 

 

And think of how easy it is to get away with. It all depends on the refs' subjective judgment. Plausible deniability is all the league needs. But they go further, crushing anyone in the NFL community--players, coaches, GMs, broadcasters, anyone--who dares to object or criticize the refs' performance. Did you see the replay of Shakier being mauled before he could catch a pass? You didn't last night because it wasn't shown, naturally. Did you hear Collingsworth pointing out how bogus the calls were against McGovern, or how the DB dragged down Coleman before ball arrived? No, because he can't do that without risking his job. 

 

What I find unsurprising but still sickening is even the fans of the defeated team do their part, shouting down anyone who points out the obvious and lamenting the "sloppiness" of players committing phantom penalties. I'm not claiming every game or even most games are fixed, just the ones the league thinks need to be manipulated. For whatever reason--and it always has to do with money--the league decided it didn't behoove them to allow the Bills to be 5-0. They were not going to win last night, or at least the refs were going to tip the scale enough so that the odds of winning were very long indeed. The same will happen in the playoffs if they choose a winner ahead of time. 

 

It's such as shame, because it's a great game, in part because the balance is just right. But that close balance is absurdly easy to tip. With that temptation on one side and bottomless greed on the other, what do you think will happen?

 

Flame away. Let me see how eagerly you do your assigned part to enable the corruption.