ChazStandard

No matter how much you hate him, no denying he got the Bronco's a ring by being just a bit less cruddy than Peyton in 2015. If not for his OT win over the Pats at Mile High then the 2015 AFC Championship Game is in NE, not Denver (and the Pats would have played in 5 SBs in a row)

Why are there trade rumours about him at all? He's been decent, and the D is playing out of its mind. Weakening the strength of the team in order to bolster the offense is a mistake IMO. Besides, I've been around the NFL long enough to know you don't play fast and loose with your depth. The DAY they trade Bennett away, suddenly Wise will turn his ankle, or Butler will tweak a hammy and just like that a position of great depth is being held together with sticky tape. I trust Brady to run a decent offence with patches more than luck with injuries.

Has his snap count been that low? He’s got like 5 sacks, hasn’t he?

I hate the call for defenceless receiver when its clearly unintentional because it’s just not fair. He was making a play on the ball, as was the WR. Any helmet to helmet contact is just as risky for him as the WR, but the DB can be penalised for it when the WR can’t. That’s not right.

It's a bit off topic, but Brady getting favorable calls for RtP is a total myth. He regularly gets the crap beaten out of him without a penalty at all. Star QBs don't get more RtP than average at all, actually - https://www.nflpenalties.com/roughing-the-passer-by-qb.php

Yeah man, the league loves the Patriots and goes out of their way to help them succeed. There's literally no evidence to contradict that theory at all.

Except actually they didn't. I feel like that's being overlooked because the HTTF penalty was the clincher, but that TD was short. It should have been first and goal from the 1.

This feels like something Patriots fans were saying circa November 2001.

Feels like there's a lot of naivety on both sides of the argument. I think everyone is talking about "rigging" as if every snap would need to be fixed, and then rehearsed like a play or a WWE set or something. I don't think a) that's feasible b)it would be worth it. Obviously there isn't a meticulous conspiracy involving every point. That doesn't mean the NFL is 100% an even playing field either. There can be preferences, and unspoken bias, and financial interests in certain outcomes - these can create pressure. Pressure can be applied, not to "rig", but to jiggle the probabilities. Turn a 50/50 into 60/40 for certain people/franchises. A message can be circulated "Mahomes is the new face of the league, it's really great for our demographics if he does well". There isn't a command, or a plan, or anything like that solid. It's just vaguely communicated that Mahomes doing well is good for everyone, this then manifests in a reluctance call holding against his OL when he's scrambling. (that's just a hypothetical example, don't jump on me Chiefs fans). I'm not even arguing the league isn't honest, but to pretend it would have to involve outright fixing on the part of every player, coach and official is asinine. The NFL is a worth billions of dollars, there's bound to be some corruption involved, from the micro the macro level. What form that takes is debateable, and it isn't an elaborate conspiracy, but it's almost certainly there a bit.

But, I mean, they literally did.

If what happened In GB tonight had happened in Foxboro...I can’t even imagine the outcry.

Rigged, no. But refs are either just way too easily influenced by the crowd, or favour certain teams. Seattle, KC and GB especially get insane officiating at home. And it’s always the same handful getting the worst - Browns and Lions have insane bad luck. Remember that time a Browns player was standing next to the ref holding a fumble he just recovered, and the refs award the ball to the other side? It’s crazy how it happens all the time.

Even the booth review was terrible too - perfectly obvious 13 was down at the 1, but just let TD stand.

His knee was down short of the goalline and he slid into the EZ, am I crazy? How is no one else seeing this?

He’s down at the 1 there, surely?