NFL Week 4

[CountDeMoney]

Well, they had a chance.

Yup.  Despite all the bullshit, they put themselves in the position to win the game.  Can't ask for more than that.

[CountDeMoney]

Ultimately, the refs are to blame, of course.

lol, my brother-in-law called me, and asked me why Brady can get roughing the passer calls, but when somebody leads with the crown of their helmet into the QB, like the play Jared Gaither got hurt on, it doesn't get called.

Easy.  Joe Flacco is not Tom Brady.  That's basic Football 101.

[Neil]

Flacco was a better QB than Brady today though, even with the game on his shoulders.

[Sophie Scholl]

Damned Bengals, their announcers are trying to steal the Cardiac Kids name from the Browns.  Bastards.

[Ed Anger]

Finally. I can take the garbage out now.

[Sophie Scholl]

   Damn.

[Strix]

Well, they had a chance.

Yup.  Despite all the bullshit, they put themselves in the position to win the game.  Can't ask for more than that.

Well, actually, you can ask them to win. Steelers have put themselves in a position to win the last couple weeks, and where has that got them. 

[derspiess]

Heh, not the dominating win the Bungles needed to leaad into next week vs the Ravens but I'll take it.

[CountDeMoney]

I wonder: will the Bears fans finally stop bitching about Cutler?   He's only a quality franchise QB, s'all.

[CountDeMoney]

Don't want to listen to me, listen to all around Ravens-hating NFL columnist Mike Preston:

It was a bad day for NFL officiating

Except for middle linebacker Ray Lewis, most of the Ravens didn't want to criticize the officiating, so I will. I've been covering the NFL since 1987, and no one will ever accuse me of being a Ravens' homer, but this was one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen. Yes, the Ravens got hosed, to make it plain and simple. They didn't get any good spots on short yardage situations either on offense or defense.

I guess in the Boston and Foxborough areas, it's illegal to get within the same zip code of New England quarterback Tom Brady without drawing a roughing the quarterback penalty. It's even worse when Brady is gesturing to the official to throw the flag and then the official throws it, which draws laughter from Brady.

That really looks bad, or as Lewis says, "it's embarrassing to the league."

Lewis went off in the locker room for about five minutes after the game about the officiating.

The segment will be played repeatedly for the next couple of days, and the Ravens and Lewis will be blamed for having sour grapes. But that's not the case. Lewis will also be fined but I suggest the NFL review the tapes, and then start handing out fines to some of the officials for missed calls. It was a bad day for the NFL.

[CountDeMoney]

INCOMING! FINES IN THE HOLE!

FOXBOROUGH -- While there was excitement in the Patriots locker room following their 27-21 win over the Ravens, some Baltimore players questioned the officating of Ron Winter and his crew.

"Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points."

After expressing frustration at the NFL's roughing the passer rules, safety Ed Reed was asked this thoughts on some of the spots that the Ravens received on close plays.

"Terrible," Reed told reporters. "Nothing to take away from anybody else's job, but at some point, we have to be better about that. This game has evolved too much not to precise when there is a spot, when there is a penalty, when anything is going on on this field. We're too smart as human beings.

"The history of the game -- from where it's been to where it's come to -- to not be precise ... This is a game of inches. This has been a game of inches for years. Now you're putting one person in charge, or two people in charge [of spotting the ball], and they're making things bad. I swear it felt like 2007 almost, when we played the Patriots at home. They don't need no help. They're a great team. They don't need any help from anybody. We don't need any help from anybody. We definitely don't need anyone taking it away from us."

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: "It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials. Like I said, nothing to take away from their team, nothing to take away from the officials. We have to help each other out in a way to where it's near as perfect as we can be. Like I said, it's a game of inches. We have too much going on with this game, from where it's come to in 2009, 2010, to say we can't be a little bit more precise with things."

Reed was specifically referring to Willis McGahee's fourth-and-1 run in the fourth quarter in which he was stopped for no gain, and the Patriots' fake field goal in the fourth quarter.

"When Willis had his fourth-down try, it probably wouldn't have been a first [down], but it probably should have been a little closer," he said. "The [Patriots'] spots, the guy stepped out of bounds. Even though we got the penalty on that fourth down when they faked the field goal, the guy stepped out and he reached the ball. Cetain things like that. Like I said, you have to play the game."

The Ravens were flagged for nine accepted penalties for 85 yards. The Patriots were flagged for five accepted penalties for 41 yards.

[CountDeMoney]

Hey Neil,

LB Brendon Ayanbadejo said he has torn quadricep. He doesn't know if it's season ending.

Jared Gaither's X-rays were negative, but they'll follow up with tests tomorrow.  Apparently, he was too big for Mass General's MRI machine.

[Admiral Yi]

I can't decide if the Broncos defense is decent or the Girls offense is mediocre.

[Strix]

Don't want to listen to me, listen to all around Ravens-hating NFL columnist Mike Preston:

It was a bad day for NFL officiating

Except for middle linebacker Ray Lewis, most of the Ravens didn't want to criticize the officiating, so I will. I've been covering the NFL since 1987, and no one will ever accuse me of being a Ravens' homer, but this was one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen. Yes, the Ravens got hosed, to make it plain and simple. They didn't get any good spots on short yardage situations either on offense or defense.

I guess in the Boston and Foxborough areas, it's illegal to get within the same zip code of New England quarterback Tom Brady without drawing a roughing the quarterback penalty. It's even worse when Brady is gesturing to the official to throw the flag and then the official throws it, which draws laughter from Brady.

That really looks bad, or as Lewis says, "it's embarrassing to the league."

Lewis went off in the locker room for about five minutes after the game about the officiating.

The segment will be played repeatedly for the next couple of days, and the Ravens and Lewis will be blamed for having sour grapes. But that's not the case. Lewis will also be fined but I suggest the NFL review the tapes, and then start handing out fines to some of the officials for missed calls. It was a bad day for the NFL.

It's ok. Look on the brightside, if people complain loud enough and often enough than chances are the officiating will be watched closely if there is a rematch with the Pats in the playoffs.

So, maybe this can turn out to be a good thing. 

[Sophie Scholl]

Easy there Steelers boy, the last thing you want is impartial officiating.