Conspiracy Theorists

[ryan23945]

[quote name='hawkprey' timestamp='1301601678' post='660592']
What about the conspiracy of the NFL reducing the role of special teams to keep the Chargers on top of the AFC West again? I'm the one spearheading that notion, so don't question me.
[/quote]
hey alls fair in love, war AND conspiracies

[ed.s52]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1295283654' post='612594']
I usually ignore rants about 'the refs are out to get us'. Let's face it, they are human and mistakes will happen. Heck, back in week one we actually benefitted from a very questionable flag (thrown on Braylon for roughing the kicker).

But this game really got my mind thinking about things.

Just over the past three years alone, three of our games versus PIT resulted in a Steeler victory in which a flag played a huge factor in the end result.

Then I think about our games against other teams. For example, our other divisional rivals. In the same time span, not a single one of those games against CLE or CIN were significantly affected by officiating. All in all, our games against those two teams are about as evenly officiated as can be expected, controversial flags are rare and when they do occur they seem to balance out and are never a game changing event.

Then I look over the years ... How many times have the Steelers won games (not just against us) that were influenced by a very questionable flag?

I have to wonder why it is that we have so many games decided by controversial flags when we play PIT, yet our games against other division rivals are uneventful, despite the same ref crews.

Is it a conspiracy?

I'm not so quick to brush that theory off anymore.
[/quote]

Yea we always get questionable calls in the PIT game that doom us.

But, recently we've had a bunch of awful calls in the Cincy games and I'll never forget that game that we WON (although not officially) against the so called undefeated Patriots

[flynismo]

[quote name='ed.s52' timestamp='1301770718' post='661187']<br />Yea we always get questionable calls in the PIT game that doom us.<br /><br />But, recently we've had a bunch of awful calls in the Cincy games and I'll never forget that game that we WON (although not officially) against the so called undefeated Patriots<br />[/quote]


that game against the Pats, as fired up as it gets us to think about, was undoubtedly my favorite football game ever.

Lead changes, drama, controversy, an insane but heartbreaking finish...that was some WWE shiz right there lol

[RL52TheGreatest]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1301836908' post='661439']
that game against the Pats, as fired up as it gets us to think about, was undoubtedly my favorite football game ever.

Lead changes, drama, controversy, an insane but heartbreaking finish...that was some WWE shiz right there lol
[/quote]
It was definitely an awesome game and one of my favorites. I'm still mad at Rex Ryan though for calling that timeout at the end. We had them Rex, WHYYYY???!!!

[ravens13]

Of course I don't have any absolute proof and I agree that there is a possibility of fixing in any sport. Maybe it's the nature of the sport but the nfl has too many judgement calls, but again there is no easy fix for that. What I really object to is that the referees cannot be questioned about anything. They only answer to the almighty nfl, and have an appointed spokesman to rubber stamp ANYTHING that they do.

As far as the nfl coming down hard on cheaters, the patriots were fined. I might be wrong about this, but I'm not sure anything else was done, and the fine was probably only because of public pressure. If you want to see a league coming down hard on cheaters look at Serie A. I may not be comparing apples to apples here, but the patriots were fined for taping secret information and Juventus were relegated and stripped of their title for being involved in the match fixing scandal back in 2006. For those who don't know, Juventus are one of the most popular teams in Italy and "won" the championship that season.

Imagine if the nfl determined that the steelers bought off the referees in the 2005 superbowl and then proceeded to throw them out of the league for a year or two and strip them of the title.
No...I can't imagine that either, they'd probably just bury the evidence with the patriot's spygate tapes.

[berad]

Patriots were fined $250K, Belichick was fined $500K, and the Patriots lost their first-round selection for the 2008 draft.

The Broncos, this past season, were fined $50K along with McDaniels being fined $50K. In that instance, the Broncos and McDaniels never saw the tapes [i](allegedly)[/i] but failed to report the tape, and the employee who filmed it, to the league.

The penalties in the NFL are not retroactive. That doesn't accomplish anything.

[Free Agent]

I don't like the referees as much as anybody, but it's not fair to insult them. They can't help being blind.

[font="Impact"]TWEEDLE DEE TWEEDLE DUMB[/font]