Sunday, January 21, 2007

Congrats Coach Dungy and Coach Smith

Exciting times. For the first time in history an African-American Head Coach has made it to the Super Bowl. In fact not only one has made it but two have made it. So in reality in two weeks we will see the first ever African-American Head Coach win the Super Bowl. Nothing against Lovie Smith (who is a great coach, what he has done with the Bears is amazing), but I really hope Dungy wins it. Dungy is my favorite coach in the NFL and finally he has reached the Super Bowl after constructing Tampa's Super Bowl winner only to be canned the before the season they won it in.

Now I must say that the Colts-Patriots games was one of the best I have seen this year. I didn't get to watch the first half, but the second half was amazing. I must give credit to Peyton Manning for keeping his cool and leading his team to victory. Congratulations Peyton, now I beg you please do not choke against Chicago.

Now everyone knows from my earlier post that I was cheering for the Patriots and Tom Brady. Deep down I wanted them to win, but I really wasn't emotionally tied to them winning the game like I would be to a Vikings game. There were some questions I had about the officiating in this game. Three plays come to mind (Now I am not saying that NE should have won this game because in every game there are questionable calls, but some of these baffled me to no end).

1. The Saturday fumble recovery for a touchdown. It was a correct call, don't get me wrong on that. What I found amusing was the line judge who came in. If you were watching the game closely he came running down the line as players were scuffling to recover the fumble. What went largely unnoticed was his initial actions as he was running down the line. The Line Judge was pointing to the ground with emphatic up and down motions which signifies the player was down, but once he got up to the pile around the recovery he looked down and then emphatically signaled Touchdown. Now he got the call right as the CBS review showed, but I really have to wonder if a NE guy would have recovered it if he would have called touchback?

2. How in the world was Hobbs flagged for pass interference on that Manning to Wayne in the end zone pass. Yes, he never looked back, but he also never touched Reggie Wayne. Now, I guess I can understand the officials call because that was a quick play (although I was sure without the slow motion instant replay that Hobbs never touched Wayne), but the emphatic approval of the call by Simms and Nantz drove me crazy. How can they say that is obvious pass interference, they had the benefit of seeing that Hobbs never touched Wayne. By Phil Simms account any defender should be called for pass interference if they have their back to the QB are close to a WR and the ball hits them. Seriously that was a crappy call, but an even crappier analysis of the call by the announcers.

3. Now the phantom interference call wouldn't have been that bad if Reche Caldwell hadn't of been mugged by the defender on the Patriots drive later in the end zone. It was obvious in real time that the defender got to Caldwell before the ball did and that the ball was catchable since Caldwell got a hand on it. What was Simms analysis on that one. The officials determined that the contact did not have an effect on the reception of the ball. What Phil? How in the world would the contact not have had an effect on the ability of Caldwell to catch the ball especially since he got a hand on it, and correct me if I am wrong, but isnt the new rule that hey aren't supposed to contact the WR and the only excusable contact would be incidental contact or contact where the defender was making a play to intercept the ball and had a play on the ball. The Indy defender had his back to the QB and clearly got to Caldwell before the ball did. Bad call.

Either way, I dont blame the officiating for the outcome of this game. The Colts just played better and deserved to win. However, as ProFootballTalk mentioned in their live blog, could Jim Nantz suck up to the Colts any more than he was that game. It was obvious through all of the second half that he was pulling for Manning and the Colts. Tom Brady has been demystified. Had he lead NE to victory with 54 seconds left I would have wrote this whole blog about reasons why the HOF should start to make his bust right now. I already think he is a HOF but that would have solidified it for sure.

2 Weeks until the Super Bowl. Go Colts and Tony Dungy!

19 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:36 PM

    you haven't even mentioned the roughing the passer call where manning barely got his helmet touched. half the distance made the last touchdown way easier.
    not that I wasn't rooting for peyton...

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  2. The reason I didn't mention that was because I missed the review. They only showed it once and never commented on it much beyond that (mainly because I believe Simms and Nantz were rooting for the Colts) so I didn't feel I could comment on something I didn't really get to see. I caught the review barely and didn't see much to warrant pass interference, but didn't pay close enough attention to really comment on it.

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  3. I think the Pass interference penalty you referenced was accepted so easily because it was "faceguarding" which I thought was illegal (I know it is in some levels, such as flag football and possibly NCAA) but I can't find the rule that says so. Basically, faceguarding, when a penalty, is considered pass interference and is called when the defender doesn't look for the ball, but just sticks his arms out and the ball hits him--that play was text book face guarding.

    I just have no idea if it's actually considered pass interference by the NFL.

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  4. From what I ascertained in my searches faceguarding used to be a penalty but now isnt and that pass interference has to include physical contact, but I could be wrong and I am sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong.

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  5. Unsure about the faceguarding as I mentioned earlier, but the play just seems absurd. It begs the question of at what time does the defender have to look back at the QB? If a defender has been beet by a WR and is running to catch up and the ball is thrown in the air and he notices the wide receiver looking back towards a ball so he jumps in the air and happens to hit the ball is it pass interference if he never looks back? That is essentially what happened, there was no contact with the WR and better yet the ball hit his lower left elbow which was hardly that high up in the air.

    I just beleive it was a blown call, but I did look at the NFL rulebook on NFL.COM and it looks like it could be a PI call, but there really isnt wording to say clearly one way or another.

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  6. I missed the fourth quarter as my son was being born. Consider this: Fox was born into a world where Peyton Manning has ALWAYS been a great playoff quarterback. He'll see the world so much differently than the rest of us.

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  7. Anonymous11:20 AM

    The officiating was blatently pro colts. The same type of officiating happened last playoff season against the Broncos. I love a good game, but the 18 point come back was made easier by poor officiating. The Patriots should complain. You always get some bad calls, but game altering calls are unacceptable. There were many pass interference calls that should have been called against the Colts; this was a tough loss!

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  8. Oh, the poor Patriots. The referees don't like them. Poor babies.

    After years of their fans bitching about every other team's fans bitching about the refs, I hope Patriot fans obliviously bitch about the refs.

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  9. Let me add one further point: Peyton Manning completed passes in that game that I'm not sure another current NFL QB could complete. Several of his completions to Dallas Clark just made me go "wow." He is uniquely talented--I just don't think any other QB is in his league right now.

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  10. Let me just make clear the fact that I am not saying that the officiating cost the Patriots the game. I am saying that some of those calls just baffled me how they happened.

    I still feel the Colts played a better game at least in the 2nd half (I missed the 1st half due to other obligations). Fact is Brady had a chance to do teh improbable and came up short something I expected of Peyton Manning on their drive.

    The Colts won and they deserved to win, now they better kill the Bears or I will forever cheer against the Colts and Manning.

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  11. Anonymous10:32 PM

    Faceguarding is pass interference. You must make a play on the ball and if you are face guarding without even looking back, pass interference. Don't be a baby! Patriots get every call every other timie and nobody complains. THey get called for a legitimate pass interference and you think they got screwed. I suppose Duke gets screwed every time they lsoe too?

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  12. I figure fans of one fanbase are no better or worse than fans of any other fanbase when it comes to complaining about officiating.

    But considering the contempt that Patriot fans hold Raider and Colt fans for their past "whining," it's clear how hypocritical fans can be, too. After the Denver loss last year, it was the officials. And I'm guessing ( haven't been around to see enough reaction) after losing to the Colts it's going to be the officials.

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  13. Somebody anonymously needs to read every comment. I am not a Patriot fan. I admit that I kind of wanted the Patriots to win, but as I have told Vegan Viking that was mainly just because I wanted the next two weeks to be discussions about Tom Brady not Peyton Manning.

    And if one read my comments I looked to find out about faceguarding, but couldn't find anything explicit. I am a Viking fan Mr. Anonymous and no I don't feel that Duke gets screwed everytime they lose. If you read my post about Duke Basketball you would realize that I am honest about the ability of the team I follow. This year the team is going to have to work hard and step up if they hope to do anything in the ACC and Tourney (if they make it)

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  14. And if you read my post closely, you would notice that I thought it was a crappy call, but I could understand the refs calling it, what I couldn't understand was Simms and Nantz. And then if you read further the comments and post you would notice that I have said the Colts deserved to win because they played a better game. Pay attention before you make assumptions about me "whining" about how the Patriots got screwed. I did not say they lost the games because of these calls nor did I say that they should have won the game.

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  15. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

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  16. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

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  17. I move Vegan Viking that you strike that quote from your weblog interactions. I found it on at least one of my other blogs and I think it was on my Xanga one at some point. If you are going to kill overused cliches then I suggest you kill your overused quote.

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  18. I even used it twice here!

    If I overuse Shakespearian quotes, it is only because the rest of the English speaking world underuses them. As long as I have my Shakespearian quotes, I could be bound up in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space.

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  19. Anonymous9:43 PM

    Looks like I may have touched a nerve?

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