Super Bowl Predictions and Discussion

The Bills in a #49th ranked Buffalo metro market 5th on this list is quite surprising. Yes the have a solid regional fan base but I do not believe they are anywhere near Pittsburgh, Green Bay or KC on a national level. Maybe I’m wrong.
The only game in town makes up for market share: no MLB, NBA, or NCAA FB for Buffalo folks to spend hard earned $s on. NHL is a distant 4th most popular league and Syracuse Hoops is a private school with limited Western NY appeal. Also never discount the hunger factor. Packers and Steelers have titles in the 2000s and are smallish markets too. The top 2 are not only in big markets but have huge national appeal as well as they are the two teams Mexicans follow which is an emerging NFL market.
 
50-50??? He grabbed the guy??? He said he grabbed the guy and hoped he could get away with it???
I have no questions on the officiating. I just get so mad when people blame officials for outcomes of games. If the officials don't call obvious penalties, it's the same as fixing the game another way.
So if Goddell celebrates with the Eagles if they win, it's bad too? He's not going to celebrate with the loser. Like I said WAY too many people looking WAY too hard at this.
Well that's where we disagree, I didnt find that clear and obvious. Was absolutely a 50-50 based on how the game was being officiated. Earlier in the game, Juju went across the middle and was grabbed on his left arm by the defender turning him away from the ball - no flag. If you're going to officiate the game conservatively, then do it for 60 minutes, not 58.

It is a worse look based on the string of calls (and no calls) that went in KC's favor over the course of the Playoffs, BUT on the whole I think it's a bad look on his end to be picked up by players of the winning team and celebrating like that. Maybe I'm in the minority on that, so be it if so.
 
What happened to the Eagle pass rush? no sacks? couldn't stop the run- 158yds? Their defensive coordinator had a bad plan
The field conditions were horrendous for pass-rushers. Similar to what happened in the Bengals-Bills game, the only pass-rush move to use was the bull rush which allows the QB to step up in the pocket. KC's OL is also really good and many people probably forgot about that drooling over the Philly DL.
 
Well that's where we disagree, I didnt find that clear and obvious. Was absolutely a 50-50 based on how the game was being officiated. Earlier in the game, Juju went across the middle and was grabbed on his left arm by the defender turning him away from the ball - no flag. If you're going to officiate the game conservatively, then do it for 60 minutes, not 58.

It is a worse look based on the string of calls (and no calls) that went in KC's favor over the course of the Playoffs, BUT on the whole I think it's a bad look on his end to be picked up by players of the winning team and celebrating like that. Maybe I'm in the minority on that, so be it if so.
That’s the issue. If you’re going to call it, call it all game long. In the last minute of the game it just looked like the Chiefs were bailed out.
 
I think that's a bunch of hogwash (respectively). If the league was on the take, you'd see the Cowboys, the Giants, the Jets, the Rams, Raiders etc. in the super bowls. The NFL is great because the small markets can compete, and by NFL standards, KC is small potatoes.
Now, here's my theory....the Browns and Bengals have got knocked out of the playoffs by the Chiefs recently and so I do expect in this area, people are going to be bitter about Mahomes and the Chiefs. Now, my team - the Titans - have got knocked out by the Chiefs also, but I must be a little more levelheaded when it comes to sports. I don't blame the officials or the league for goodness sake when my team loses. Mahomes is great, Reid is great and the Chiefs have a great thing going. Why is that a bad thing?
Mahomes was a virtual unknown coming out of Texas Tech, no one saw this coming. And yes, Mahomes is black and marketers jumped on the opportunity to market him. Heck, Baker Mayfield markets all kinds of stuff, do you think the Browns got some calls because of it? No.
Cleveland lost 22-17
Bengals had won three straight by only 3 points, then lost by 3 points.
Titans lost 35-24

Much easier to point to a play here or there in a one-stop game as opposed to a double digit loss. Your theory is crap.
 
Cleveland lost 22-17
Bengals had won three straight by only 3 points, then lost by 3 points.
Titans lost 35-24

Much easier to point to a play here or there in a one-stop game as opposed to a double digit loss. Your theory is crap.
So if you win a close game, it's because you made more plays, if you lose, it's the official's fault. That's our way now though, we want to blame someone other than the participants. It's funny, I've been around awhile and it's just amazing how many times the losing team says it's the officials.
 
The only game in town makes up for market share: no MLB, NBA, or NCAA FB for Buffalo folks to spend hard earned $s on. NHL is a distant 4th most popular league and Syracuse Hoops is a private school with limited Western NY appeal. Also never discount the hunger factor. Packers and Steelers have titles in the 2000s and are smallish markets too. The top 2 are not only in big markets but have huge national appeal as well as they are the two teams Mexicans follow which is an emerging NFL market.

Agree to disagree, I still do not believe Buffalo is a top 5 in the NFL.
 
So if you win a close game, it's because you made more plays, if you lose, it's the official's fault. That's our way now though, we want to blame someone other than the participants. It's funny, I've been around awhile and it's just amazing how many times the losing team says it's the officials.
I don’t believe the Super Bowl was decided by an official’s call, but it calls into question the consistency of the officiating…even among a crew during the same game. We know defensive, and offensive, holding can be called on many plays, so when you don’t flag it a couple times early to set the tone it’s hard to justify throwing the flag when time is running out in the game and a possession would have changed.
 
All of the woke morons complaining about Bienemy not being a HC, will be the same people who rip the team that hires him, once his past gets out.
 
All of the woke morons complaining about Bienemy not being a HC, will be the same people who rip the team that hires him, once his past gets out.
Have we ever considered that maybe Bienemy wants to stay at KC? I mean he's with a great organization with a great QB. He goes to some upstart team and he'll be fired in a few years. It's not required for successful assistants to become head coaches.
 
I don’t believe the Super Bowl was decided by an official’s call, but it calls into question the consistency of the officiating…even among a crew during the same game. We know defensive, and offensive, holding can be called on many plays, so when you don’t flag it a couple times early to set the tone it’s hard to justify throwing the flag when time is running out in the game and a possession would have changed.
Please name me a game where the calls are "consistent" I mean what he heck. We know human beings officiate sporting events.
Here's what they are up against:
  • first of all they are love the sport they are officiating - that's why they do it.
  • the athletes at the highest levels are the best, the games are FAST and you have split seconds to make calls
  • the leagues - and networks regularly meet with the officiating staffs - and like it or not since the networks pay millions for the TV rights, they have a seat at the table on how games are being called. You have a game that stopped ever other play with a holding call, it's unattractive to the viewer. It's like the NBA with traveling, unless it specifically affects the game, they'll let things go.
  • So on the play in question - and it's important to note that you have to separate each play - you can't constantly go back to see how the game was called earlier - so on that play, the official determinted there was a hold - and it affected the recievers ability to make a play on the ball. Mahomes was throwing it to where he thought the player would be in an uncontested route. Some have said he was throwing it away and that's just false. We see these guys make tremendous catches week after week.
  • I've used this analogy, if you get a speeding ticket for going 80 in a 65, and you were going 80, you're guilty. It does not matter if you're "keeping" up with traffic and everyone else is driving 80. Once there was a hold, the official determined that it was bad enough to call it.
Finally, it seems like in our efforts to "get the call right", we've become incredibly sensitive to officials calls? I mean look at the games in the 70's and 80's. No replay, less officials on the field. As sports fans at ANY level, we have to "accept" the calls at some point.
Games are 4 quarters, 9 innings, 3 periods because you don't want one play to determine the outcome.
I didn't care who won Sunday and I thought it was a great game. It wasn't "ruined" by that call. It was a legit call. Tough cookies for the Eagles. But that's sports.
My biggest fear now with all the legalized betting going on and these sports stations - radio and TV, that are basically infomercials for sports betting...it just brings an element of unfairness that could potentially ruin sports.
 
Gotta say I (gulp) agree with 14Red. The DB says that he held the WR. Why is everyone losing their minds over this?

Sure, the refs are inconsistent and miss several calls a game. But refs in all sports are supposed to be oblivious to the time and score. If you see the blatant foul, call it. The DB briefly had a handful of jersey and it was visibly stretched away from the WR. Textbook holding. Doesn't matter how late in the game it is.

The NHL is the worst at this. In a 1-goal game the refs almost never blow their whistle, even for obvious penalties. Their refs definitely let time and score impact their calls. Bad.
 
All of the woke morons complaining about Bienemy not being a HC, will be the same people who rip the team that hires him, once his past gets out.
I asked my son why Bienemy wasn’t a HC somewhere by now ( he pays more attention to that stuff than I). He said because he’s an a-hole. I don’t vouch for the accuracy of that statement.
 
The Super Bowl was watched by 8.6 million in Canada, a country of 37.1 million (23.81%). It was the highest rated tv show in Canada for this tv season.


It was either the Super Bowl or a special on the music of Anne Murray presented by Shawn Mendes and Gordon Lightfoot.
 
It was either the Super Bowl or a special on the music of Anne Murray presented by Shawn Mendes and Gordon Lightfoot.


True there wasn’t much to choose from on tv in the USA or Canada, either the Super Bowl or a rerun of something.

* 113 mil in US watched (population of 330 mil) = 34.24% of population watched the game
* 8.6 mil in Canada watched (population of 37.1 mil) = 23.81% of population watched the game

In my narrow viewpoint of life I can not begin to guess what the other 65.76% of Americans were doing on Sunday. We had a couple of people over and I wasn’t hanging on every play but still, I can not ever recall not watching the Super Bowl in my life.
 
So if you win a close game, it's because you made more plays, if you lose, it's the official's fault. That's our way now though, we want to blame someone other than the participants. It's funny, I've been around awhile and it's just amazing how many times the losing team says it's the officials.
You're jumping to conclusions. You claimed Bengals and Browns fans (which is what comprises most of this board since it's an Ohio-based message board) are essentially jealous of the Chiefs because they've been beaten by them recently in the Playoffs. I'm saying that's not what is going on, which is why I called your theory crap.

I also didn't say every close loss is at the fault of the officials. I was pointing out that Titans fans couldn't really claim officials as the cause for their loss because they weren't close enough to actually winning the game. I was taking a subtle dig at your team, after you took one at Bengals/Browns fans.

It is however much easier to point to one play, one call, one non-call in a one-score game than it is multiple score games, right? That doesn't make it right or wrong, and we all know there are multiple plays before and usually after (though not in this case) where the team (or their fans) who feel they're getting screwed could make a difference in the outcome.
 
That’s the issue. If you’re going to call it, call it all game long. In the last minute of the game it just looked like the Chiefs were bailed out.
100% agree. And that I think is the problem most people have with the flag being thrown there.
 
You're jumping to conclusions. You claimed Bengals and Browns fans (which is what comprises most of this board since it's an Ohio-based message board) are essentially jealous of the Chiefs because they've been beaten by them recently in the Playoffs. I'm saying that's not what is going on, which is why I called your theory crap.
BINGO....it's all about jealousy. It doesn't matter who the hot QB is, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady...there are haters for those guys, and it's generally fans of teams that lose to those guys alot. We can't just tell our guys to get better, we have to blame another entity- officials. It's no different than many of the high school or college games I go to and talk to fans and parents. I wish I had a dollar everytime I hear a parent complain about the officials.
 
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