As someone that doesnt watch sports except for golf, I've heard many times in the past from coworkers that they think football/basketball is staged.

Great response, that could very true and should be brought up more here. I would look at the highest rated teams and look into the background of what refs were used.

That ref was fired, and somebody sued the league after that blatantly rigged playoff. I'm paraphrasing here, but the court ruled in favor of the league, since the NBA claims to be entertainment, not a sports competition. The NBA is held to the same competitive standards as the professional wrestling... but at least people KNOW that's scripted.

I tend to believe most games are not outright staged but so many of these teams are so close even a statistical favoring by the refs of a few percent can throw things in their favor especially as it adds up over a season.

I think nba/nfl is staged/rigged to a large extent. In the NFL, it's not so much the bad calls but more so the no-calls. The team they want to win, they let get away with a lot more. Usually it's more so with holding calls or no-calls on the offensive line since that's what the viewers notice the least.

The players find out quick which way the referees are calling the game and take advantage of it if they can. In both the NBA/NFL the players, coaches and owners are not allowed to publicly criticize the referees so it's all swept under the rug like it doesn't happen.

One referee in the NBA even went to prison for fixing games..

That would be another way people could do it. Like I told OP maybe this should be brought up more to point out another thing that's going on in America.

Staged: leagues scripting.

Fixed: Individuals making money by cheating Vegas.

Makes a lot of sense. Wonder if players will ever come out and talk about it.

Lotsa conflation of terms in these NFL posts. Lotsa NFL posts recently.

Players are last on the list of "fixable" entities. Those are refs/ups. NFL players dead last on the fixable list. Most NCAA sports way easier to fix, and NBA and MLB easier to fix than NFL.

While the league playing favorites with key franchises qualifies as Sky Blue, News at 11!, there isn't the level of scripting these threads indicate. And if there is, they are not talking to the players about it!

NBA much more "scripted" than NFL. NBA loves them some Lakers/Celtics. I can't watch NBA since 2002.

It all comes down to $$$. Am I going to watch a basketball game that is 92-71 in the 4th quarter? Is the League going to make more money if the series goes 5 games or 7 games? Is Lebron going to the Lakers a coincidence -- my guess is they play the Warriors in the third round this year.

​

Money rules all.

Great post OP! I've noticed that as well. There was one play in particular a couple of MNF's ago. A punt return that was returned for a TD was called back for holding, and they sped into a commercial break rather than showing the hold- very fishy especially for a "foul" that straight up reversed the outcome of a play.

The thing is, there's "holding", or "illegal hands to the face", or a slight tug or pull for "interference" on every fucking play. The refs can greatly enact control over a game by continuing or impeding a drive.

A couple more I've noticed:

• They really try to avoid showing the crowds, especially the higher levels of the stands, and especially in smaller markets that may be hurting for attendance. There was a game last year, I want to say the Bucs and another small market team, where they wouldn't show the standard behind-the-kicker view of field goals due to laughably empty stands.

• The stadium noise sounds fake on broadcasts. Maybe it's just me, but I find it extremely odd how there's generic crowd sounds going non-stop even before commercial breaks. There are never any chances, or music, or stadium announcer's voices getting picked up, just the non-stop "buzz" of being at a game. The score, setting, teams, none of that seems to effect the ever-enthusiastic crowd!

By God you're right. I used to have season tickets to an NFL team. I can confirm that the stadium noise can vary from a load roar to virtually quiet depending on what's going on on the field, or more precisely, what isn't. They play advertising on the jumbotron screens, field announcers do their thing, and airplanes fly over and emergency vehicles go past with sirens.

Yet, there is absolutely and ONLY a continuous "dull roar" at all times on a TV broadcast. Someone should sample it and see if it's a repeated loop for every game.

Someone should sample it and see if it's a repeated loop for every game.

That would be interesting! How could one go about that? Record a broadcast's audio, use a vocal removal tool and then check for loops? Is there something like a dif checker for audio clips?

The thing is, the argument could be made the sounds are faked for ease of production. Either to avoid picking up chants/words broadcasters don't want, or to make the audio engineering of it cheaper/easier to control. But if something that inconsequential to the game is faked, where would they stop?

I've mentioned it to buddies watching the games, and their response was "the commentators keep mentioning how loud it is at the game, so that makes sense." But it's not the volume that's fishy! It's the lack of eb and flows, of variation, of atmosphere that I know the games have in person. Glad you noticed that too.

My thinking is to plot the "roar" on a digital equalizer graph, the kind of thing they use to digitally look at what the sound is comprised of (think about those ghost hunter shows). Then sample a different game, and see if it's the same recording. Should display the same

to avoid chants/words broadcasters don’t want

I highly doubt that’s the case. In the NBA and MLB, you can often hear swears, I remember in the Celtics vs Cavs series this year, you could very clearly hear the Boston crown chanting “Fuck you JR”

The tech obviously exists to fingerprint audio and find matches within longer samples. Just look at Youtube and their copyrighted audio detection.

You hear that in baseball games though at least

There is no need to test. The crowd roar is placed there by the sound engineer.

I used to have season tickets to an NFL team. I can confirm that the stadium noise can vary from a load roar to virtually quiet depending on what's going on on the field, or more precisely, what isn't.

The audio mixer will adjust source levels based on the actual volume of the crowd noise to keep it more-or-less steady for the broadcast mix. If it gets really loud, they'll turn it down so you can hear the announcers (and so it doesn't sound terrible, as very loud noises sometimes do when amplified), and if it gets very quiet they'll turn it up to create atmosphere. Their mics are situated on or near the field, which is why they don't pick up a lot of airplane or emergency vehicle noise. The jumbotron ads tend to coincide with TV ad breaks.

I can explain some of this...

• There is a general policy against showing controversial replays on the stadium bigscreen, but not on television broadcasts. The specific instance you describe -- when they sped to a commercial break -- might have another explanation. This year they're no longer doing a commercial break after every kickoff (because that was slowing down the pace of the game in broadcasts), so they have to find other opportunities during the game to cut away and fulfill their obligations to their advertisers. This is especially a likely explanation if the play you saw was close to the end of a half (or maybe a quarter -- I'm not sure how specific NFL's advertisers get to be about where their spots play). As the end of a major segment approaches, if they didn't get a chance to play all the spots they were supposed to yet, the need to find time for those ads becomes critical -- every now and then you even see them miss a bit of a play because they came back too late. (The broadcasters have a legal obligation to play those ads, so it really is the top priority.)
• You're probably right about not wanting to show empty seats.
• The stadium noise is real! The next time you watch a game, pay closer attention to the audio. Crowd noise is a constant dull roar between plays, but you can hear them cheering good home team plays and getting angry at officials' calls that benefit the visiting team. You don't hear a lot of chants because that's more of a college thing. (Chants at NFL stadiums tend to be very localized, whereas college games organize chants for the whole stadium, which is why you hear them on TV broadcasts.) The stadium announcer is usually pretty quiet between commercial breaks, but if you listen closely you can hear them shortly after the end of most plays -- of course, the TV announcers are talking at the same time, and the audio mixer has their microphones turned up and the crowd noise turned down. As for music, I was watching a game just yesterday -- Seahaws vs. Raiders in London -- and I distinctly remember hearing 'Welcome to the Jungle' play on the stadium speakers, so I can say with authority that you do sometimes hear music.

There is a general policy against showing controversial replays on the stadium bigscreen, but not on television broadcasts. The specific instance you describe -- when they sped to a commercial break -- might have another explanation.

You're probably correct, but when the broadcast is packed with filler and reaction shots of players for most of the broadcast, and then a huge game-changing play occurs and they refuse to show a replay of, that doesn't sound like a sufficient explanation - even if it is for the sake of the advertisers. It's a shittier end product.

The stadium noise is real! The next time you watch a game, pay closer attention to the audio.

There are times I can hear stadium noise - you aren't wrong there. There are some games where it's just a constant buzz, though, and I suspect it's on MNF now that I think about it. The ESPN MNF production is obviously a lower-budget production than the Sunday games, or even college games for that matter.

the broadcast is packed with filler and reaction shots of players for most of the broadcast, and then a huge game-changing play occurs and they refuse to show a replay of...It's a shittier end product.

I agree, but there's probably not a lot they can do to improve it. NFL games are basically packed with awkwardly-spaced dead time. I can't find a stat for average play duration but I'm guessing it's something in the 5-10 seconds range, and then you're generally waiting almost a full 40 seconds before the next play starts -- not enough time to run a block of ads, but long enough that you need those reaction shots and cutaways to keep it interesting. Any time they get an opportunity to take a 2 minute break they're likely to take it, even if something interesting just happened.

This is the play you watched, right? This clip shows both the live play before they cut to commercial, and in the second half it shows that they actually did eventually show the hold. There's something interesting about that hold clip though -- do you see that it has a digital effect? The camera seems to suddenly change the direction of its motion (at about 1:08 in the video). That's because when the play initially happened, the camera operator didn't realize that the hold was going to be the important part of the clip, and instead probably focused on the kicker, with the hold happening at the edge of the screen. This clip of the hold is digitally zoomed and panned to make the hold the center of the action.

So in other words, there's another reason they didn't show the hold: they didn't have good unedited footage of it.

The ESPN MNF production is obviously a lower-budget production than the Sunday games, or even college games for that matter.

That's definitely true. A lot of people don't realize that there's a big technical quality difference between the various networks.

The DJack return should have been a TD. Cost Tampa the game if I remember correctly

LOL this was a terrible post. OP has thoughts and feelings but zero research or evidence.

spez: i see you added your own points

My own points have been there, ever since I responded to OP hours ago.

I really don’t think you’re qualified to comment here

You’ve never been to a live NFL game

Those are odd and awfully wrong assumptions.

Not wrong or odd. Educated guesses based on your post.

Not wrong or odd. Educated guesses based on your post.

Really odd considering my post consists of subjective anecdotes. Would you like to debate my opinion on the ideal room temperature or at what point, imho, a wrap becomes a burrito?

Not to dispute this, but you can hear the Go Pack Go chants on TV during games.

They really try to avoid showing the crowds, especially the higher levels of the stands, and especially in smaller markets that may be hurting for attendance. There was a game last year, I want to say the Bucs and another small market team, where they wouldn't show the standard behind-the-kicker view of field goals due to laughably empty stands.

That is definitely a thing. The seats in Detroit's new Little Cesars Arena are being swapped out from red seats to black seats so the low attendance doesn't stick out nearly as much.

I don’t watch football but I a few weeks ago during the Vikings game the casters? Were talking about how people are sick of the rules not being defined clearly enough and shit like that. Idk I didn’t pay much attention mostly just spending time with my pops.

Eh, I go to games. Noise is real. Can't say all markets, it may be possible they have a feed to in game announcers and filter it out?

I swear Holding penalties are called just to help influence the outcome of games. Its a fairly vague penalty, and rarely do they show them in replays.

The Seahawks team was found to artificially augment crowd noise via speakers years ago at their peak.

The Clay Mathews harassment by officials is fucking bullshit. Every single time it has happened, national broadcasters/sports talk show hosts agree it is a complete joke and the roughing penalties are wrong even accounting for the new rules. That shill ref who came out and said he picked the QB up and drove him into the ground, and that the penalty falls under the old rules and didnt even invoke the new penalty, is still wrong because last year Aaron Rodgers was body slammed after throwing the ball but no penalty was called. So either the Rodgers broken collar bone play should have been called roughing, or the Mathews tackle of Cousins, which was far less rough and occurred in a manner in which Clay could not have possibly known the ball was being thrown, should not have been called since the Rodgers tackle was not.

The Seahawks team was found to artificially augment crowd noise via speakers years ago at their peak.

No they werent, that was the Atlanta Falcons.

The Seahawks stadium is loud because its very small compared to most NFL stadiums and the roofs covering each side help to reflect soiund back on to the fans/field.

They definitely make an effort to now show certain types of fouls like unsportsmanlike conduct in the same way they won't show a person who runs onto the field.

I saw an unsportsmanlike conduct call this weekend and they didn't show it so I rewound and it was just a guy doing a celebration dance in another guys' face. The NFL has become a joke, the only reason I see any of it is because my GF watches it.

The NFL is not a sport or a contest.

It is entertainment. It’s why no one will be able to sue the NFL if they’re found to have a hand in influencing the outcome of games—it’s basically WWE but everyone has convinced themselves that for some reason the league is more concerned with the integrity of the game than they would be with the insane amount of money that stands to be made fixing games.

It would be hilariously easy to do now too, because the rules are so fckin convoluted they only need one ref on each crew to be aware of the fix...no one can even interpret the rules with 100% certainty as is.

The NFL just needs to roll over and die.

Modern day gladiators.

When people have a game to look forward to, when they have friends coming over to drink beer and “cheer” on their team, those people are being “entertained”, and when people are entertained, they do no think about their predicament, don’t get involved in politics, etc.

All true, people just need be aware

If the fix is in, best not show the camera angles that reveal the truth.

I've been following this in the nba more. phantom foul calls to put certain players on the bench to create a closer game. Or sending someone to the line 30 times slows the momentum easier to control.

A few years back (around 2010) all NFL stadiums were required to install HD slow mo cameras that cover every single angle on the field. You may remember the NBCit or CBS when they started showing replays in super slow mo with amazing clarity and you could literally see the blade of grass move when the toe came down in or out of bounds. Funny that anytime there is a close call these angles are nowhere to be found.

Each end zone pylon has 3 cameras in it. Yet they still show the angle from the 10 yard line on contested TDs. Even yesterday in the PIT game james Conner broke a huge run for a TD, they said he was down at the one. They then proceeded to show 4-5 replays but not one from the goalline camera literally 4 feet from where it was. And to boot PIT doesn't challenge(suspect) and then get stuffed and kick a field goal.

What's the over under and what is the spread? Ask yourself that anytime you see a funky call.

Courts legalized professional sports betting. There's not a play that isn't manipulated now.

I love it when they start the replay right after the "controversial" moment we all want to see. I noticed they limit the helmet-to-helmet replays big time.

We don't want to show any harsh realities, keep the fans happy, keep our star player in the game, and do everything to keep them winning.

Incorrect. Not all stadiums are equipped with the same cameras. National games get more cameras than regional games.

For phantom fouls calls the best game to showcase this is the Lakers & Kings conference championship from 2002.

oh yeah. i was a big webber fan. The highlight reels from that game are jaw dropping.

Ok so i was watching the Eagles-Vikings game with my friend and we were pretty baked.

but at one point they had the “guys in the studio” doing a recap of the game and others, and the final guy was reporting just outside of this huge soundstage with like a big garage-door type thing, and after he was done reporting, it closed on him and he was like “hey guys, let me in, guys? Guys? Let me in!” And then it panned out on him trying to knock on the huge door, and had the “fox sports” logo animated on the 20 ft. door, then it went back to the game.

Sure, it could have been a gag, and I’m sure that’s what they were trying to make it look like, but the way the guys tone was it sounded desperate.

and then not 2 minutes later the most controversial call of the game happened and the entire stadium was booing for like 15 minutes, which seems just so engineered. I get 5 minutes, and I get that it’s eagles fans, but it just seemed so drawn out and fake. Idk I might’ve been too high but the whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way.

The “door thing” is a thing they do each week before halftime. It’s always some weird cringe sketch they put together to hype the halftime show.

The call was a bad roughing the passer call. Not sure it had anything to do with the halftime sketch.

It seems so creepy

I’ve notice a lot more this season that they’re cutting away from replay reviews.

One of the early Seahawks games, ball was thought to be fumbled and recovered. 30 yards ran after the recovery. They reviewed the play, determined it was an interception and brought the ball back to the spot of the turn over and he lost the run. It was still a turnover and they wouldn’t have stopped the play. They just didn’t like the field position...

They are evil punk bitches. Football fucking sucks.

Yeah I remember distinclty in the Eagles-Titans game, Carson Wentz took a forearm to the facemask (which is and has always been a roughing the passer penalty, something they are trying to crack down on calling) and fumbled the ball. They showed the replay then quickly cut it as soon as they realized what had happened and only showed the replay again from a broadcast angle where you can't clearly tell the dude was smashed in his facemask.

Getting smashed in the face mask has only recently been a roughing call. In the past it was the literal goal of the defense... smash the QB, ideally with repeated head shots.

Further, roughing is not reviewable, so showing it or not is meaningless. Roughing is also a judgement call and the fan base has been mocking the NFL for it's pansy treatment of QBs. Maybe that ref felt the contact was not egregious enough to warrant a flag.

Whether or not it’s reviewable isn’t the issue, it’s that the NFL wants to deter the “concussion plagued sport” narrative and watching a guy get clobbered in the face with a 330 pound guys arm and his head jolt backwards doesn’t really help them.

And yeah, but the NFL was different in a lot of ways back then. It’s being geared towards aerial attacks and high scoring because that’s what draws viewers, not 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

Ah I gotcha... the lack of replay was to minimize concussion sport, not to minimize bad call or refs or fixing.

In that regard, yea I generally agree. No more Jacked Up.

Absolutely have noticed... They also will bring on an "Expert" to talk about how they made the right call, all the while not showing a replay a single time.

Ya gotta love that. "

Oh ya that's the right call. Thanks mike perrera former NFL ref. See all good nothing to see here."

Duh

To i

Ya this has been happening for as long as I've been watching the NFL(1999).

The NFL is very similar to WWF except you can't admit it's scripted or fixed. People still gamble on it so the facade has to continue. If irrefutable proof(I've seen enough) come out for the masses to see then the gambling infrastructure would dissolve over night.

What came first the sport or the gambling??

If you have no knowledge of NFL fixing I have a video for you to watch as an intro. Dan moldea is a fantastic investigative journalist. It's a little dated(1988 I think) but just assume that it has only gotten worse and easier to fix matches. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=utO9jtDpsmQ

The big thing imo is creating new rules that allow the ref to make whatever call they feel, while still having deniability to say "oh they made an error". And for some reason the NFL won't let the refs fix calls through replay.

Modern example. Week 3 GB vs MIN. Gb is winning late in the fourth quarter. Min is driving. Cousins drops back and throws a pick. Games over GB wins. But wait out comes a terrible flag (roughing the passer). Min gets the ball back, drives the field, ties the game, and then it goes to overtime.

Now the NFL wins cause that's more commercials and Vegas wins cause the game ends in a tie. So anyone who bet either side straight up is now out all the money. Vegas probably wins 99% of straight up bets on just one game.

That happens every game every week. Vegas is making billions on dirty money.

Football is rigged and it runs so deep. Please watch the video I linked to open the rabbit hole. What's very important is the relationship with the NFL, homeland security, and the FBI. Any time I player or coach is investigated by local police they(investigating officer) are forced to drop the case(by their superiors) and hand over all information to NFL security so they can "investigate". As in any match fixing bust Interpol is the only body that can blow the whistle because they are global and difficult to control from the top. Hence why the NFL will never leave the USA. The second they do they open themselves up to Interpol and might not be able to contain the many fixes happening daily.

Steelers getting phantom first down against Cardinals, 43 Superbowl Game. The Refs gave the Steelers a first down on their TD drive. Was almost a foot away but called First Down. The evidence has mostly been removed from the internet. I can't find shit now.

Vegas wins cause the game ends in a tie

This is one of several incorrect statements in this post, displaying an utter lack of context or familiarity with any of the subjects; sports, football, vegas, fixing.

I am not sure what you are trying to get at. Either the bets are refunded or unless you take the shit 30 to 1 odds on a tie you lose.

A push relative to the spread would be far more lucrative to Vegas, not an actual tie.

And you think Vegas losses money here? Like, Vegas actually gives back 100% of the wagered amount?

You'll want to familiarize yourself with the concept known as "juice" or "the juice."

The games are rigged.

100% have noticed this. Especially in prime time games.

Last night on Sunday Night Foosball, guess what team was involved. The heel of the NFL, the New England Patriots. Edelman clearly had a false start (opposing team all pointing at the Edelman), which of course does not get called and goes in for the touchdown and gets no replay attention at all. Little by little really getting tired of wasting my time on a "fix".

Same thing happened in the Browns Chargers game, super clear false start, half the D stops, Chargers score a td.

As a Titans fan, I notice this almost every week. Seems like we’re always getting penalized on TDs and 3rd down conversions and we never get to see the replay of the call. The announcers never mention the calls again.

I just chalk it up to being a small market team that NFL uses as fodder for the big markets. Or it has to do with Vegas.

Why do you think the Raiders keep getting hyped? Market.

Small market teams have less cameras. Titans are not the national game very often.

I follow SF, half the time they're the national game, WAY more cameras and thus more replays.

I also follow Oakland, hardly ever the national game, less cameras, less replays worth showing.

Weird how they always seem to have multiple angles on big plays but never penalties.

I’ve kinda learned to accept it at this point.

That is 100% your perception.

Still watching football in 2018 xD

Right, shits rigged.

You can also see a big difference in how the league shows big hits now. You used to get multiple replays while the announcers gushed about the bone jarring hit. Now the announcers rarely even mention when a big hit happens unless someone gets injured and there is a timeout on the field. There also used to be a segment before Monday night football called "YOU GOT JACKED UP!!!" where they showed a highlight reel of the weekends hardest hits and after each hit the group of announcers would all say in unison "He got JACKED UP!!!". You don't see that no more lol. Obviously the NFL is very image conscious about head injuries and CTE, whether they actually care about player safety for any reason besides $$$ is a different story.

The NBA has already been busted for a ref fixing games.

The NFL is next. It is already happening with calls/non-calls. On any given pocket protected pass play, there is a holding call that could be made.

This is a shit post given the TV coverage is mocked and the game is changing due to excruciatingly exact slo-mo replays. Frame-by-frame reviews of plays, 3-minute delays, in-game ex-refs (Parera, Blandino) offering views... the replay system does not lack for coverage.

They may have protected the replacements, but this year it seems business as usual. Most announcers are fairly blatant with their questioning of the refs and bad calls.

The amount of calls or replays I feel I do not see are in the single digit percentages. Like maybe 5% of calls where I'm talking at the TV for a replay offer none. Usually they take the opportunity to go to commercial break cuz no more breaks for every kickoff.

Almost as if it’s some sort of fake show intended to pacify the masses.

how about last night on SNF where the Pats fans were flipping off and throwing beer on Chiefs players with no mention from NBC? they also made a point to cut the replay short so that wasn't viewed multiple times.

This year I made my picks for every game at the start of the season and this post has convinced me that was not the worst strategy ever.

Dude football is rigged

Same here. Between all the military propaganda and the excess of commercials has ruined it for me. Plus, they don't pay taxes and have blacklisted kapernick for protesting an important cause.

Totally agree with this. I don't watch football but I have suspected for a while that this happens in baseball as well. I didn't read all the comments in this thread so it may have been mentioned but it's often been theorized that the refs in the NBA are instructed to influence the outcome of games in such ways that result in the biggest market teams reaching the finals as well as dragging out the series to as many games as possible. This ensures maximum revenue from advertisers and continued engagement from the largest fanbases.

Well I believe this happens in baseball too. Now, I may just be salty that the Braves lost their division series, but I feel like close calls went overwhelmingly in the Dodger's favor. In baseball they can review certain plays at the request of the manager, but there has to be "clear and convincing evidence" to overturn the call made on the field by the umpire. Well if the umpires' initial call is always in favor of a certain team (which appears to be the case when the Braves play certain big market teams: Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals, and Nationals to be specific), then that's automatically giving an advantage to that team because it's less likely that the review team is going to go against the call on the field unless the replay is overwhelmingly convincing.

Going back to what you were saying, I totally noticed the lack of replays on controversial calls. The ball and strike calling during the division series was so horrendous that the Braves' subreddit is currently making t-shirts of a particular instance where an obvious ball was called a strike on one of the Braves' hitters who then proceeded to hit a grand slam on the next pitch. But it wasn't just bad calls on balls and strikes and biased initial calls. There was also a suspicious lack of reviewing check swings of the Dodger's hitters. But what really made me think something was up was the lack of the commentators even mentioning these inconsistencies by the umpiring crew when it was blatantly obvious to everyone watching at home.

The NFL is WWE

All professional sports are “fixed” to some degree. There would not be that large of a betting industry or that much money tossed around if there wasn’t some form of guarantee built in

I don't know. They seem to be repeating the bad roughing the qb calls daily. Especially a few weeks ago when the Packers player was penalized twice for a bullshit call.

I also hate the quick commercials in between plays. It's so fuckin sickening.

It seems to me that all the controversial calls go to the team that is losing and then there's somehow a close game where it looked like it was going to be a blowout. Like.. If a team is about to go up 21 - 3 before halftime, that last touchdown will be taken away because holding somewhere. Same with passing interference.. Team losing by 21 with 8 minutes left in the game on 3rd down? It's defensive passing interference because they bumped each other.

I don't think the players contribute to any of the shenanigans.. I just think the NFL does everything it can to create close games every time - which includes controversial game-changing calls and announcers just going along and explaining why the referees' perspectives were right.

The NFL is reorganizing to be more "bookie-friendly"; making it easier to fix games with practices like OP's and everything's-a-penalty "safety rules".

Was thinking this last night during the patriots game. 2 simultaneous plays where players acted like they'd been held or the play looked weird. When a replay is typically shown of every play, it seems intentional when there is a lack of a replay. Especially when a player like Gronk has a pass go straight through his hands.

100% noticed this as well it is pretty frustrating. Bad calls change the game and it's not even looked at.

Yup just happened during Monday Night Football when an interception hit the ground but the play was not reviewed.

They stopped showing the replay, and just pretended it never happened.

No booth review. No niners timeout to try forcing a review. No fuss at all. Just another story book ending.

Convenient eh?

I see this in games regularly now. The refs are clearly coached to wrap up certain games.

FYI: there is NO LAW on the books that would prevent the NFL from telling its employees (the refs) from calling a game a certain way. Do not confuse this with bribery laws, they are not the same thing.

Wow just saw this shit happen live in the packers game. Tied near the end: a packer intercepts it but it touches the ground with no review. Then Packers quickly go 3-n-out but last second there is a crazy BS call against richard sherman. A replay is barely shown and commentators say nothing. The revived drive leads to a score. THE BS CALL IS NOT EVEN IN THE YOUTUBE HIGHLIGHTS.

Someone wanted Mr Rodgers to win tonight!

Haha that shit just redpilled one of my buddies watching the game. Aren’t all plays reviewed in the last 2 minutes? Wtf was that one armed interception hitting the ground? 49ers didn’t want to use one of their 3 remaining time outs to make sure that game ending play was called correctly? Fucking ridiculous.

Dude... Sherman held Adams. That is LITERALLY the illegal contact rule. That doesn't mean I don't know where you're coming from.

Let's talk about BS officiating. This year, more often than not, I've witnessed some HORRENDOUS flags thrown and not thrown.

Roughing the passer was big weeks 1-3 and now they don't even call it. I saw Blake Bortles GET HIT HELMET TO HELMET week 5 and the picture of that hit was the YouTube highlight thumbnail and that wasn't roughing the passer. But if that was Brady, instant flag.

I also saw the Browns vs Ravens penalties at one point we're 9/115 for the Browns 0 for the Ravens. The NFL really needs to be fair and consistent.

I constantly see offensive linemen tackle and hold defense linemen and they never call holding. That may be attributed to the fact they want to "protect the quarterback" but we all know thats bullshit.

The point is, you're right. They call the flag when it's convenient. And the NFL really needs to fix officiating. It's killing the game.

Really? It looked like 25 did not impede his movement at all and every chat room I was in exploded saying shit call, rigged. The bigger point is that I can't even find a clip of it to argue over.

He held his pads and arm after 5 yards. But I may be wrong. When I saw the replay I was like oh okay that makes sense.

But overall I think you have a point. I wouldn't have thrown the flag. NFL games are being decided over penalties like this week after week and it's ridiculous

I get what youre coming from but the pick wouldnt have mattered, they were gonna punt it anyway. And the call on sher was correct.

Absolutely true, the Bills/Texans game was brutal didn't get the replay on at least 3 highly questionable calls

Yeah I first noticed this during the Seahawks vs Steelers superbowl in 2006. That game was packed with dubious calls that werent replayed on TV.

the whole 'you can call holding on pretty much any play' trope that is repeated often during broadcasts is basically them admitting that they can (and i believe they do) completely manipulate the game using the officials, not very many players need to be in on it.

This is my favorite kind of conspiracy theory and I completely agree. Especially with the recent Roughing the Passer penalties

spez: i see you added your own points

My own points have been there, ever since I responded to OP hours ago.

I really don’t think you’re qualified to comment here

You’ve never been to a live NFL game

Those are odd and awfully wrong assumptions.

Not wrong or odd. Educated guesses based on your post.