Does anyone think the officiating in the Colts Patriots game was one sided?

Question

I am a San Diego Charger fan, but even I could see that the Indianapolis Colts were getting most of the calls. There is no question that the refs tried to fix this game for Indianapolis. They are just as bad as Tim Donaghy, that one NBA official who admitted he rigged games to win bets. They called ten penalties on New England for 146 yards and only four on Indianapolis for 25 yards. There were so many bad calls that I just wanted to turn off the television at one point. They even called unsportsmanlike conduct on the Patriots, giving the Colts free yards.

The officials called defensive pass interference on Ellis Hobbs, but replay clearly shows that Hobbs never used his hands to make contact on Reggie Wayne. Gary Brackett made contact with his left arm on Kevin Faulk before Faulk had attempted to catch an incomplete pass, yet officials called nothing. The refs called offensive pass interference on Randy Moss, but replay shows that Moss never pushed off or used his hands to make contact. If you think that I am being biased towards Indianapolis, just ask CBS announcers Phil Simms and Jim Nartz. These guys are NFL professionals and they will tell you the same thing that many of these calls were bogus.

Answer 1

First, to those who say "you won the game so stop your whining and crying about officiating" i would say, what better time to talk about it. If you complain about it after a loss then it most likely is sour grapes. the fact that the patriots won the game and we still see this as an issue shows how bad it was.

Second, i find it difficult to find the officials to blame. Bill Polian basically runs the competition committee and on his radio show in Indy he made a point to say how great he though the officials did in that game. Really Bill? What a surprise. Essentially he is their boss and an executive for one of the teams that they were officiating. i know that would mess with my head.

Bottom line is that this was an emotionally charged game in an emotionally charged stadium that was being worked by a young, inexperienced officiating crew. I'm not saying that they purposely made calls in Indy's favour but I do think they got caught up in all the noise and emotion and that is all it takes to influence a call that could go either way.

Answer 2

I am a Pats fan. I am biased. That being said, the first PI call was questionable, the second was just wrong. The refs essentially handed the Colts six points there. I don't care that the Pats won so much as the officiating was blatantly horrible in a way that only benefited the Colts. As a sports fan, nothing makes me more frustrated than the feeling that the officiating, not the actual play by the players, may be determining the game.

Luckily, the Pats defense was able to shut down the Colts offense in those red zone situations and was able to completely decimate the Colts offensive line late in the game.

What's even better now are the reports of the crowd noise being pumped through the PA system. Despite all the bad calls and blatant cheating by the Colts, the Pats coaches and players still took the podiums in post-game press conference and gave props to the Colts for being a good football team.

In the end, the best team won, despite ludicrous obstacles. I just hope that the officiating cleans itself up by January so we don't have to listen to more league apologies for bad calls on Patriot defense backs (Ellis Hobbs after last year's AFC title game)

Answer 3

There were a ton of bad calls last night. Someone very badly wanted the Colts to win that game... How about in the first quarter Manning passes to A. Moorehead and 2 officials (both on the sideline, 1 in front of play, 1 behind the play) are looking directly at his feet as they hit the ground (out of bounds) and they both call it a complete pass. Moorehead runs to get a quick snap off cause he knew he was OB, Ellis Hobbs runs to Belichick to have him challenge the completion... Sure enough every ones eyes saw the same thing as the 2 officials didn't see, which is that he was OB... It all started there and the bad calls kept coming. They were out to make that a close game or a Pats loss... This Pats team can not be beat. Not even if the other team has the officials on their side... Good Luck to the rest of the NFL!!!

Answer 4

Even some in the national media have questioned the officiating of yesterday's game, even though they wouldn't go so far as saying it was deliberate. Bill Polian (Colts GM) is a member of the competition committee, and it is well known that he often complains about the way the Patriots play the game, and has lobbied for rule changes directly relating to the Patriots secondary play. You can bet that the officials make sure they don't miss a thing on the Pats when they play the Colts because Polian can make trouble for them if he wanted to. All I can say is that watching the Pats every week as I do, it is mighty funny that such a disciplined team all of a sudden broke the team record for penalty yardage in a game. Of course nothing will be said because the pats won anyway. Go pats! 16-0 here we come!!!

Answer 5

First of all, it doesn't matter that you're a Chargers fan. I know you want us to read that and think it makes you unbiased, but everybody holds grudges against this team or that for various reasons. You said yourself you wanted Brady to "get payback for all the humiliation he suffered" against the Colts. You also said the Patriots should continue running up the score to send a message to the Colts.

Clearly you're far from unbiased. I think in that game you were simply seeing what you wanted to see and not seeing what you didn't want to see.

It's not the ref's fault the Patriots cheated so much. It's not the ref's fault you can't watch the game in an unbiased, or even somewhat unbiased manner.

Answer 6

I saw the astounding #'s and was shocked myself. Don't ever listen to simms or nantz though. They are overated opinionated faces that get too much credit already. I would say that the pats were not given the benefit of the doubt, but there were some other calls that werent made either. Seau had 2 facemasks and ellis hobbs had by my count 4 illegal contact penalties not called either. I would say in all the pats won, fair and square, and we will see how the rematch goes in late december

Answer 7

Let's not forget the first call when two officials stood in front and behind the receiver for INDY and called it a catch. The Pats threw the flag and the review clearly shown that the receiver was clearly out of bounds. How could they both call something so obvious incorrect, That was the start of the bad calls against the PATS!

Answer 8

We are up in Canada but I am form the US. My wife is from Ukraine and asked me about this game last night. It was so transparent that there were bad calls/ no calls all in the Colts favor that she asked me how it could happen. It told her that there was probably more money bet on this game then most super bowls, but also with much less security. I also noted that there were little if any bad line calls, they were all coming from the "deep" official, whatever you call him. I also told her that if I had 2 star quarter backs who were sure to throw a lot, if I had that 1 official in my pocket, I could control the game and that he would be the only one that needed to be bribed (or threatened). My bet is that he was. Someone made a lot of money on his calls. It needs to be looked at (officially).

Answer 9

Come on people, this question is legitimate. Obviously there are no sour grapes behind this question as the patriots won the game. When this is added to the fact that there was a 146:25 discrepancy in penalty yardage, discussing the veracity of yesterdays officiating is not unwarranted.

Answer 10

Getting the refs to confess will be difficult but I think anyone who knows the game of football will agree that the calls were blatently one sided and just plain bad calls. The two defensive pass interference calls and the offensive pass interference call radically changed the game.

The over/under was 5 1/2 and the refs kept the spread to 4. I hope they got paid well !