OH-Fan-2015
Active member
General discussion for opinions on NFL fixing games for any reason. Not a Bengals fan, just an NFL fan. It's a shame that officiating has so much pull in the outcome of NFL games
Is The NFL Rigged?
- Thread starter OH-Fan-2015
- Start date
Irwin20
Well-known member
I think all the calls that were made were legitimate. Did the refs miss a few? Probably. Do we want holding called on every play? By the letter of the rules you probably could.
OH-Fan-2015
Active member
No doubt that holding could be called on every play of a football game
Irwin20
Well-known member
And Bengal fans…mostly women.
Irwin20
Well-known member
OS, it’s funny but it’s true. You should see the posts on my FB account the last few days. Clueless homers.
nutsnbolts
Well-known member
Do you really think it’s the complexity as much as the inconsistency?
What I would really like to see, as a test. Have a dozen sets of replay officials make the reviews in the Super Bowl, without any communication between them. See how consistent their rulings are.
OldSoulon
Well-known member
Steelers, the dirtiest team in pro ball, and Brady, Thee White Knight Who Shall Not Be Touched
14Red
Well-known member
This always comes up when a fan base is butt hurt. The Bengals are the new kid on the block, they feel slighted because big brother beat them last weekend.
First of all, do you know how many people would be involved if there was a fix going on, and do you know human nature of keeping things quiet? Almost non-existent. The Bengals scored 6 points the first half. The Bengals are an offensive team and they scored 20 points against a suspect KC defense.
The Bengal fan base is still in love with this team, and so they should be. But give it another year or two if they don't win, and they'll start turning, like all fan bases do. The blame chain goes like this...
1. Referees
2. Ownership
3. Head coach
4 Assistant coaches
5. Players
The only people on this list who have a direct impact on the outcome is the players. Yet fans blame them last.
And a comment on the officials. Do you know any officials? They are generally the kinds of people who would be incredulous to any improprieties. They have worked years and years to get to this point. Why would they fix a game?
First of all, do you know how many people would be involved if there was a fix going on, and do you know human nature of keeping things quiet? Almost non-existent. The Bengals scored 6 points the first half. The Bengals are an offensive team and they scored 20 points against a suspect KC defense.
The Bengal fan base is still in love with this team, and so they should be. But give it another year or two if they don't win, and they'll start turning, like all fan bases do. The blame chain goes like this...
1. Referees
2. Ownership
3. Head coach
4 Assistant coaches
5. Players
The only people on this list who have a direct impact on the outcome is the players. Yet fans blame them last.
And a comment on the officials. Do you know any officials? They are generally the kinds of people who would be incredulous to any improprieties. They have worked years and years to get to this point. Why would they fix a game?
OldSoulon
Well-known member
Well, besides the fans, they are the lowest rung of the NFL Economic Food Chain.
Raider6309
Well-known member
Anytime a team gets a 5th down it doesn’t look good for the sport
Gh0st
Well-known member
In over 30 years of watching football I’ve never seen a team get a 5th down due a clock discrepancy of a couple seconds. Not once.
Do you know how much money is involved in sports gambling? NFL refs are part time. I’m not accusing anyone in particular of betting on games, but it’s very easy to see why one would do it.
It’s also silly to say officials do not have direct impacts on games because they clearly do and there are multiple examples of it.
Last edited:
It would take exactly one person to "fix" a game. A single ref could easily have a family member routinely place bets on a game that he is officiating. A refs ability to throw a flag or not throw a flag can certainly influence a bets chance of winning. The ref and family member would only need to do it successfully maybe 55%-60% of the time to make some pretty good extra coin and it would generally go unnoticed.
AllSports12
Moderator
They dont just get the job, show up on Sunday afternoon and take a seat in the booth. Analyzing and ruling plays is a part of their initial and ongoing training.
There's so much involved with the on and off field officials the other 6 days a week that it would make your head spin.
AllSports12
Moderator
Complex for the fans and the real idiots (TV/Radio commentators)... yes
For the officials, no.
Irwin20
Well-known member
Aren’t the refs graded weekly on their performance? These refs were assigned to the AFC championship game which means that graded out higher than any of their contemporaries. Sorry I just don’t buy it.
I'm not saying the AFC Championship was fixed. The Be gals had opportunities and failed to get it done.
I was merely debunking the crap that it would impossible to fix games because there would have to be many people involved.
Irwin20
Well-known member
Still would be very difficult for one ref to effect the games outcome. Maybe 40 years ago before every move from every angle wasn’t available for review. But a ref cheating would be pretty obvious today.
Last edited:
wolves82
Well-known member
You were doing so well, I was agreeing with your post for a change, it would be impossible for the NFL to rig games. Somebody always leaks.
Then you foolishly said "The only people on this list who have a direct impact on the outcome is the players." Coaches and gameplans have no impact on the outcome? Referees have no impact on the outcome? Yikes.
The correct statement is "Everyone on this list directly impacts the outcome of a game, except the owners. But bad owners can certainly impact wins and losses overall."
It wouldn't be difficult at all. Stick to regular season games and work the spread. A flag or missed call doesn't impact the outcome but can influence the spread and a payout.
I don’t believe the NFL is fixed for winners and losers, but the rules continue to be changed to drive offensive numbers and points to make the games more exciting and entertaining for today’s fans and fantasy players, as well as increased prop bet possibilities for gamblers. After all, it’s an entertainment industry. That being said, all of those rule changes…especially involving split second legal/illegal contact decisions…put a ridiculous burden on today’s refs. And the officials are human and I’m sure at times make calls that favor a team with momentum/loud home crowd/star players, etc not intentionally, but just caught up in the atmosphere of the game.
14Red
Well-known member
Ok, maybe I reword this... the PLAYERS have THE MOST impact on games. Need proof, look at the coaches and GM's who one season are geniuses, and within a year or two they are canned. It's a players game, it's always been that way. Fans like to use coaches, GM's and ownership as scapegoats because they like the players too much to criticize them.
IKR. That Jesse James catch/no catch decision had to be especially vexing for the folks on Park Avenue. A real catch 22.
nutsnbolts
Well-known member
Sometimes one holding call (or no call) (offensive or defensive) would change the spread.
No, I don’t think they’re fixed. But the games sure are not officiated consistently. Worse than they were 40 years ago.