NFL is Rigged

Yes, most Super Bowls are blowouts, and superficially that might appear to support a conclusion that their integrity is unquestionable, and this one was no more subject to doubt than any other.

But this NFL season is different enough from its predecessors, that I had predicted a result like what happened, not like the usual blowout.

This has been an exceptionally bad year for the NFL. Too many injuries. The Concussions. Stupid protests. No-shows. Deflategate. Franchises wanting to move, and other cities not wanting them. The NFL was said to have become a terrible product, and unwatchable. Oversaturated. Fans tired of Thursday night football. And worst of all, ratings way down, with ad revenues to follow.

It was obviously important to have a dramatic, exciting, Super Bowl to salvage this terrible season. So I predicted a close, exciting game, with the trailing team getting key breaks and the leading team getting good plays called back, etc.

NFL owners do not see the rigging of games as illegal or unethical. They see football more as a business, or entertainment, than as sport. By arranging a barnburner, they think they're benefiting everybody.

The fact that Super Bowls are usually blowouts and this one was not, does not at all suggest that its integrity is unquestionable.

The only surprising thing was that the overtime was so short. But that is only an apparent anomaly. The Super Bowl never had an overtime before, so it had had no occasion to change its tiebreak system. But when they figure out how much that short one-drive OT cost them, the NFL will change the rule to require an overtime period, not sudden death. That should increase profits by a nine-figure amount. And look for ties in regulation to become common.

you are being duped..... wrote:

The NFL is by far the EASIEST sport to manipulate. Tonight's game was a great example. All teams hold on pretty much every play. If it is never called, you probably have a fair contest. By calling it on crucial plays, you can easily manipulate the outcome of the game. Tonight, a holding call was called on Atlanta when they were in field goal range and had an 8 point lead. The call took them out of field goal range. The next to last play of the game, the New England player was holding the whole time of the play as the guy with the ball was able to run right by and get near the end zone. A holding call there would probably have resulted in New England having to kick a field goal giving Atlanta a chance to tie or win.

This.

At one point in the second half, Atlanta took something like four holding penalties in a row, play after play.

It is easy to see how officials use this to manipulate the game. Simply look at the number of holds called in the first half (when they are letting them play on) compared to the second half (when they are trying to force a tight game). ATL won the "un-managed" half and then the refs applied the usual mercy/rigging to force a tight contest.

This is the easiest way to rig because unlike other penalties the video is always there and flagrant so to 90% of viewers the call seems right. Most people don't see the constant non-calls.

Atlanta as a city has 1 championship in all of its years of having professional sports. Why would a perpetual losing franchise not piss away a game in which they got a lead? I didn't see anything in this game to suggest it was rigged. It was a good team playing a team that had an epic collapse.

Nope. You're only seeing one side. Nearing the end of the half with the Falcons up 21-0, White caught a pass to the 3 yard line, but holding was called on Bennett, forcing the Pats to kick a field goal making it 21-3.

If the game were rigged, no penalty would have been called, the Pats would have scored a TD and we would have had a very manageable 2 score game, rather than a 3 score 21-3 game.

Yes, everyone knows Brady, Edelman and the Falcons defense practiced that tipped ball catch all week to make it look just right.

Bad Wigins wrote:

All you have to do to rig a football game is make the defense dial it back a notch, offense can't fail and it looks almost real.

An actual defense would have picked off that last pass in the end zone.

You really think that every year you can get the 49 players on the losing team - is that the number? - and the coaches, or some significant portion of them, to rig the game? And some portion of the other team would have to know too. And never spill the beans? And in reality, many more players and coaches would have to know throughout their careers. You couldn't just spring this on them last minute. Someone always talks, and yet no one ever has.

And you can't rig a spectacular catch.

Oh, why do I bother. Logic doesn't matter to conspiracy theorists.

Brexit Anarchist wrote:

Every Super Bowl has the same script. Ridiculous catches. Huge comebacks. Vast improbable swings in momentum. Atlanta's defense is suddenly a sieve and Ryan can do nothing. Ok, sure...

Huge comebacks? Nobody had ever come back from 14+ down in 50 previous superbowls, I'm pretty sure like only once has a team came back from 10 down. Falcons folded and Tom Brady is the goat simple

Whenever we are presented with a conspiracy theory, we should ask ourselves the following question: how many people would have had to be in on the conspiracy and kept quiet about it? If that number exceeds about five, the conspiracy would have collapsed because someone would have talked.

Let's consider this as applied to last night's Super Bowl. The number of people who would have had to know about the conspiracy would have exceeded 100: officials, coaches, players, gamblers, league officials, etc. And all of them kept the secret? I think not.

BTW, in case the OP hasn't heard, Hillary Clinton and John Podesta are running a child trafficking ring out of a pizzeria in NW Washington. See if you can get to the bottom of it.

dad bod wrote:

Brexit Anarchist wrote:

Every Super Bowl has the same script. Ridiculous catches. Huge comebacks. Vast improbable swings in momentum. Atlanta's defense is suddenly a sieve and Ryan can do nothing. Ok, sure...

I need more evidence. How do you "rig" ridiculous catches? It looked like Atlanta's defense just spent too much time on the field.

THIS. Look at the stats when ATL was up 28-5 NE led in every stat but the score. There was a 13:00 diff in time of possession. ATL Defense was out there for 40:00.

Alan

A bunch of nerds who don't watch football and have never played football are sure the game was rigged. That makes sense. If the sport is so lame why were you watching in the first place?

Brexit Anarchist wrote:

I don't give a sh1t what you need. It was obvious the Pats would win in "incredible unbelievable" fashion when they were down 28-3. Yawn.

Blew your troll wad a tad early, didn't ya?

It's not rigged, but the officials can definitely make or avoid calls that keep the game close. There were a couple replays of key plays that showed obvious holding by Patriots players that were not called.

Let's not discount all the hard work by the players and coaches that actually make the plays. But the officials definitely can affect the momentum or the outcome of a particular drive.

It happens the most in the NBA, it's so obvious in the playoffs sometimes that it's laughable. Some of these NBA playoff games are kept intentionally close, without a doubt.

Debunker wrote:

Whenever we are presented with a conspiracy theory, we should ask ourselves the following question: how many people would have had to be in on the conspiracy and kept quiet about it? If that number exceeds about five, the conspiracy would have collapsed because someone would have talked.

Let's consider this as applied to last night's Super Bowl. The number of people who would have had to know about the conspiracy would have exceeded 100: officials, coaches, players, gamblers, league officials, etc. And all of them kept the secret? I think not.

BTW, in case the OP hasn't heard, Hillary Clinton and John Podesta are running a child trafficking ring out of a pizzeria in NW Washington. See if you can get to the bottom of it.

This.^

2 guys can keep a secret if 1of them is dead.

Brexit Anarchist wrote:

Every Super Bowl has the same script. Ridiculous catches. Huge comebacks. Vast improbable swings in momentum. Atlanta's defense is suddenly a sieve and Ryan can do nothing. Ok, sure...

Wait, I thought the NFL was out to get the Patriots? Now they are manipulating things to make them win?

Vivalarepublica wrote:

It's not rigged, but the officials can definitely make or avoid calls that keep the game close.

Yeah, that one was back and forth all night.

I can't disagree about the impact officiating can make. However, one thing that struck me was an interview with one of the N.E. receivers after the game. He said that the Atlanta defense was gassed. N.E. ran twice as many plays as Atlanta. So that kind of rings true. It takes a lot of energy to rush the passer and the Atlanta pass rush just wasn't there in the 4th qtr.

In terms of the ridiculous charge of fixing the game, no company who paid for an ad in the 3d qtr or early 4th qtr would have been too happy as I'm sure many people changed channels.

It's funny how shallow Pats fan blame Goodell for the Brady issue and call it a witch hunt. A federal judge found Brady guilty, it's not like Gooddell just suspended him on snap judgment. Pats always cheaters as are their delusional fans. I never counted out Pats because I've seen Falcons and Quinn choke before. Great comeback by Brady and Pats.

Not going to lie, I've always said people who think the NFL is rigged are complete baffoons.

But this game was way to unrealistic. I texted my friend when the Patriots were down 16 if they tie the game this was a scripted game. And sure enough they did.

Also, as a Jags fan I saw the refs literally give 5 games away to the other team in which the NFL came out after and said, "yea we messed up." It's a sack of sheep. Not to mention the talent on the Jags is far greater than the boring Patriots.

Oh please, if you follow running even passingly, you'd be able to differentiate an exceptional performance from cheating.