Hmm...interesting.

[ravage]

Isn't this whole thing similar to what certain players enjoy? Some players get more calls either going for them or against them due to their reputation. I saw Jerry Rice get a pass interference call against the defensive guy this year in the end zone when it was pretty clear he grabbed and pulled the defensive player. I like Jerry but it is obvious that he gets calls that other WRs would not. The same could be said, I'm sure, for other WRs or DBs with a good reputation or a bad one. Of course, then the calls go against you.

I think the same can go for an entire team. They have a reputation as a low penalized team so sometimes calls go their way. I don't think it's that the refs miss any calls on purpose but a predetermined mindset, even if subconscious, can have a lot to do with how calls are made.

And just so I say it. I do believe holding goes on in nearly every play in a game.

[Guttpuppy]

I think the same can go for an entire team. They have a reputation as a low penalized team so sometimes calls go their way. I don't think it's that the refs miss any calls on purpose but a predetermined mindset, even if subconscious, can have a lot to do with how calls are made.

Nothing should be predetermined in football.

[ravage]

Nothing should be predetermined in football.

You think? But you don't really think refs go out there totally blind do you? They get the coaches riding them before the game, saying watch for #77 he holds all the time, etc. They know which players get video sent to the league week after week. They have other refs, I would guess, telling them about certain players. Of course if a call in a previous playoff game went the wrong way and it got publicized you canbet that will be called tighter or looser, depending on the situation of the bad call. When you get your head filled with all of that it is very difficult not to let it affect your calls during the game and I would bet 90% of the time they don't even realize it. No matter what you can't take the human out of the ref.

[Guttpuppy]

Unless you are watching Robot football then yes they are human and will make mistakes.But if anything influences them outside of that game itself that doesn't justify making a bad/wrong call.It's still a bad/wrong call no matter what the excuse.

[moochman]

I think that this points mostly to how well coached they are and how good they are. Being a Lions' fan has taught me a little about characteristics of over-matched teams: they take more penalties.

Since the Brady led Pats haven't lost a playoff game, it is likely that they out-played their opponants in most games. So by using Lions' logic, their opponant would make more penalties because they are getting beaten. Since they, and you may want to stop reading right here GP, beat the Stillers soundly and from the start they didn't take penalties enough to get called for them.

Of course it is more likely that the Stillers players didn't quite know how to block on plays that didn't involve Bettis up the middle, since it's obvious that that is the only play the Chin practiced for. The resulting confusion resulted in penalties, and league wide snickering.