The Bucs holding call would have been offset and they would have remained in field goal position to take a 6 point lead forcing the Falcons to try to drive the field (without any time outs left) to score a TD. BIG difference then having to try to get in field goal range. Refs can't miss that call!
@Flyguy1700
I know... but when the ball carrier is thew one getting his face mask pulled it's hard to buy that they miss it. They have 7 officials on the field. One of them has got to see it. But, you're right. Missed calls are a part of the game. But when they decide to call a hold (which they could on 99% of plays) and miss a personal foul facemark that ultimately impacts the outcome of the game it is a tough pill to swallow.
@Cavs2017Champs
I am not claiming the game is scripted.... just pointing out that they missed a really big call at a crucial moment. Definitely a lot of things go into to determining the outcome of the game but you can't disagree that having a 8 yard run to make it 2nd and 2 inside the opponents 30 yard line to moving the ball negated by a holding call (and a missed defensive facemark call) moving the ball backwards to a 2nd and 23 near midfield isn't a pretty big momentum swing?
Game isn't scripted. Officials aren't "in" on it. It was just an important missed call. The NFL officials are considered to be the best football officials in the world and paid a lot of money to do their job along with the incredible technology with cameras all over the field. There is nothing subjective about that call either - hands on the facemark and pulled the ball carrier down. It's a penalty. They missed it. And ATL benefited greatly because of it.
, and that spike was the QUICKEST I have ever seen, I am sure we all have a bunch of games where we wish we had that type of quickest with the final spike. I thought that was the most amazing play of the game 
I find the timing of holding calls very favorable to keep a game close a lot of the time...
Like a team is up 14-0 after their 1st 2 drives....the 3rd drive will usually have a holding call to set them back 10 yards and kill the drive
Remember its entertainment...they don't want blowouts
The sad thing about this whole thing is that if you were allowed to use a challenge for a penalty or a booth review, the entire game ends differently. It is beyond ridiculous that this issue even exists. You have high definition cameras zoomed in on the exact penalty that was missed. You have irrefutable evidence that the penalty actually occurred. Why won’t the league just look at the evidence and make the correct calls?
This nonsense has gotten so bad that the entire season is influenced because of it. The teams that make the playoffs would be different. The teams that make the superbowl would be different. The team that wins the Super Bowl could be different.
How often do you see a bad call or a missed call and say wow, the wrong team just won the game??
@brn2loslive2win
Its an interesting topic. NBA and NFL the refs have insane control over the game. MLB and NHL to a lesser extent.
But yes. Just in eagles games I can name quite a few over the past years. The saints/rams playoff one was bad as well.
Its such a discrenciary thing. Thats part of the problem or just the reality we need to accept. There is holding on like 80-90% of every nfl play so they can't call it all the time. So they will let it slide most of the time. But if a RB busts a 20+ yard rush and the hole gets opened by a hold they usually call it back.
Mayfield had a 137.5 Passer Rating for the game, with 3 TD and no picks. To blame him instead of a defense that gave up over 500 passing yards is ridiculous.
@dubz4dummyz
I agree. The league needs to use a common sense approach to it to solve the issue. A penalty in the first quarter does not carry the same weight as a penalty on the game winning drive. I would never say that a holding call or a missed face mask 6 minutes into the game determined the outcome. But with less than two minutes in the game it does.
The solution is there. The NFL just refuses to see it. I’ve never been a big “it’s all rigged “ guy, but I understand the people that are. Look at the Lions/cowboys game last year with the ineligible receiver nonsense. The game was stolen. It’s absolutely insane that they can’t just watch the 20 camera angles that show the truth and say we were wrong and we need to make a correction. Even if the game has to stop for 5 or 10 minutes, who cares?
Established in 1995,
Hot Forum Topics
