NFC North / NFL Thread 2018-19

[jesmu84]

Matthews penalty was called correctly per the new roughing rules. Drove him into the ground with full body weight = roughing now

From what I saw on Twitter, didn't have to do with the new "weight" emphasis

[mu03eng]

From what I saw on Twitter, didn't have to do with the new "weight" emphasis

Correct, official said the call was because Matthew's "lifted" Cousins and drove him into the ground. Unless Matthew's managed to make his body evaporate I'm not sure what else he could have done....he even got his left arm out so he could brace their landing.

Best part is the NFL will review and come back with a "nothing to see here" ruling.

Officiating was horrendous all game, Packers could have won it but officials took at least 4 points and a game winning interception off the board

[MUEng92]

The other part is that Matthews didn't lift him.  You can see from the reply ESPN keeps playing over and over, Cousins leaves the ground due to his follow through.  Matthews basically catches him in the air.  Not one part of the ref's post game explanation actually happened.  Which makes it 10x worse

[dgies9156]

I usually am not one to blame the refs, as teams almost always have a chance to overcome bad calls. And the Packers certainly had chances to overcome that one.

But that was as bad a call as I've seen in quite some time. I watched replays of it probably 10x, and it looks less like roughing the passer every time I see it. The ball was intercepted. The game should have been over. The call "cost the Packers the game" as much as any call can cost any team a game.

Nor do I blame refs most of the time, Brother MU. Rule number one in my book is that, in most cases, you never should have let the other team get that close. I had to go back to the 1970s in my life to see something this bad.

They took the game right out of the Packers hands. Had it not been for a jittery field goal kicker, as Brother MU points out, what the refs did would warrant an investigation. It was bad call and either New York or the Crew leader should have overruled it.

That said, the Vikings are a very good football team. Can't stand 'em but they are good. It's tough enough to beat a good team with an objective officiating crew. It's impossible to win when you have a bad crew.


P.S. -- Glad to see you are posting again. Sounds as if things are at least tolerable there.

[GGGG]

Couldn’t agree more Nagin, but that was a horsesh!t call too. Neither should’ve been called roughing the passser. They were both just tackles.

Unless Sultan says differently that is, then we’d obviously have to go with that....

I didn’t see the one called on the Vikings.

I have no idea what the rule is but it would be impossible not to rough the quarterback on a clean tackle like Matthews’.

[jsglow]

The difference with the Vikings hit is that you can see the defender putting the extra torque into the turf pound.  That's what the officials need to look for and call if I understand the emphasis. I'm not saying that should have been a penalty but it was different than Clay's.  Seriously, his tackle was literally textbook.  My view is that it's crap like this that's hurting the NFL as much as anything. (Catch or no catch, phantom penalties, etc.)

[GGGG]

The difference with the Vikings hit is that you can see the defender putting the extra torque into the turf pound.  That's what the officials need to look for and call if I understand the emphasis. I'm not saying that should have been a penalty but it was different than Clay's.  Seriously, his tackle was literally textbook.  My view is that it's crap like this that's hurting the NFL as much as anything. (Catch or no catch, phantom penalties, etc.)

Agreed.

[CreightonWarrior]

Was driving through MN and IA during the game yesterday and only broadcast I could get to pull up was KFAN out of Minneapolis. Without a doubt the most unprofessional, fanboy broadcast of a sporting event I've ever heard.

[MomofMUltiples]

Haha my daughter was driving home from Milwaukee yesterday and could only find the Packers' radio broadcast.  She said the same thing.  I guess where you stand depends on which team you root for.

[muwarrior69]

My Giants will be lucky to win 1 game this year; but with the pussification of the game, the NFL should just play flag football and be done with it. More than half the game is commercials, standing around in a huddle or watching replays so a questionable call can be adjudicated. The game has become boring IMHO. It is no longer a sport but entertainment.

[jsglow]

Haha my daughter was driving home from Milwaukee yesterday and could only find the Packers' radio broadcast.  She said the same thing.  I guess where you stand depends on which team you root for.

There's a difference mom.  See the Packers are actually God's chosen team so any bias she thought she heard was simply divine intervention.   

[Hards Alumni]

Haha my daughter was driving home from Milwaukee yesterday and could only find the Packers' radio broadcast.  She said the same thing.  I guess where you stand depends on which team you root for.

As a Packer fan, they're just as hard to listen to.

[jesmu84]

My Giants will be lucky to win 1 game this year; but with the pussification of the game, the NFL should just play flag football and be done with it. More than half the game is commercials, standing around in a huddle or watching replays so a questionable call can be adjudicated. The game has become boring IMHO. It is no longer a sport but entertainment.

The modern NFL has always been that way...

I think studies show it's only around 13 minutes of actual gameplay during an NFL game.

[jsglow]

As a Packer fan, they're just as hard to listen to.

Seriously?  I love Wayne and Larry.  Not quite as much as Jim and Max but pretty close.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Was driving through MN and IA during the game yesterday and only broadcast I could get to pull up was KFAN out of Minneapolis. Without a doubt the most unprofessional, fanboy broadcast of a sporting event I've ever heard.

Haha my daughter was driving home from Milwaukee yesterday and could only find the Packers' radio broadcast.  She said the same thing.  I guess where you stand depends on which team you root for.

That's how the team specific broadcasts are supposed to sound.  There is a reason they're called "homers."

If you listen a national broadcast,  it should be more down the middle.

[jsglow]

That's how the team specific broadcasts are supposed to sound.  There is a reason they're called "homers."

If you listen a national broadcast,  it should be more down the middle.

Speaking of that, I love the way the NCAA has broadcast the Finals with the 3 feeds.

[MU82]

Big Panthers fan. I can't listen to a Panthers radio broadcast for more than 2 minutes. It's painful.

Oh ... and somehow the Cleveland kicker was even worse than the Minnesota mope. 2 missed PATs and 2 missed FGs. Wow!

Each NFL team needs to find only one of the 32 best kickers in the world. You wouldn't think anybody would end up with a total incompetent!

[brewcity77]

The modern NFL has always been that way...

I think studies show it's only around 13 minutes of actual gameplay during an NFL game.

According to a Wall Street Journal study from 2010, it's less than 11 minutes of action:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704281204575002852055561406

[GGGG]

Yeah but that’s not really the point of the game. It is meant to be short, bursts of action with breaks in between.

I do think the way games have been televised are not really in sync with the modern age. People tolerated commercials. Now they don’t have to.

I thought the game was very entertaining. But I had a rooting interest.

[MU82]

I watched the Panthers game on Fox Sports Go streaming channel. They had about a half-dozen commercials that ran over and over and over again. There was a Beats commercial featuring Cam Newton that must have run 15 times and a Pizza Hut commercial that probably ran more than that. And then there were all the "in-house" ads for FS1 shows -- so sick of seeing Skip's face.

Was it the same for Packers fans, Vikings fans and others who watched the regular Fox TV feed?

I have been muting commercials for 30 years, and I continue to do so, but it still wasn't really pleasant sitting through them. Of course, I used the commercials to go get more refreshments, take bathroom breaks and play on my iPhone, so they weren't THAT awful.

[MUfan12]

I do think the way games have been televised are not really in sync with the modern age.

I feel like this is the case in a lot of areas with the NFL.

[DegenerateDish]

It's still weird to me to hear Wayne doing Packers games, even after all these years. I remember seeing him at Wabounsie Valley basketball games (I'm pretty sure his kids went there) a couple years after he made the move.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

I rarely watch NFL regular season games anymore.   If the Packers miss the playoffs, then the regular season is a waste of time.  If the Packers make the playoffs,  then the regular season was still irrelevant as I'm only concerned about the end game.  Maybe a quarter century of Favre and Rodgers has spoiled me.

If I watch, it's either short bursts of 30 min or at a social  gathering.  But when I get together with friends,  we usually play cards for about two hours and watch the game on DVR.  We'll catch up to live action sometime in the 4th quarter.  If the game is a blowout, we play more cards.

[SaveOD238]

I watched the Panthers game on Fox Sports Go streaming channel. They had about a half-dozen commercials that ran over and over and over again. There was a Beats commercial featuring Cam Newton that must have run 15 times and a Pizza Hut commercial that probably ran more than that. And then there were all the "in-house" ads for FS1 shows -- so sick of seeing Skip's face.

Was it the same for Packers fans, Vikings fans and others who watched the regular Fox TV feed?

I have been muting commercials for 30 years, and I continue to do so, but it still wasn't really pleasant sitting through them. Of course, I used the commercials to go get more refreshments, take bathroom breaks and play on my iPhone, so they weren't THAT awful.

FSGo is terrible with repeating commercials.  It's almost comical.  I watch all the Brewers games on FSGo, and if I have to see the same DQ Blizzard commercial again I might go crazy.  Last season was even worse, with the same Skip Bayless commercial ("we're brothers! brothers argue!"), Jose Altuve spot ("he's preeetty good"), and Noah's Ark ad ("you'd need a step-ladder to see it all"), over and over and over and over again.

[jsglow]

It's still weird to me to hear Wayne doing Packers games, even after all these years. I remember seeing him at Wabounsie Valley basketball games (I'm pretty sure his kids went there) a couple years after he made the move.

I'm sure his decision didn't sit too well with some Bears fans.  But when your lifetime dream job opens....