N/S (kinda) Vinovich doing Payton’s Broncos playoff game (5 Viewers)

[Saint Jack]

We watched Payton go from never getting calls and replays go his way with the Saints to getting magical calls and obvious replays(that should have failed) go his way with the Broncos. You can continue to "not believe" Payton. But we've seen it live.

Every team gets bad calls.
But believing there is some grand conspiracy against just one franchise? When that franchise was one of the most marketed franchises during the Payton/Brees run?
When that franchise kept bringing in high ratings during that run?
That’s a little much.

 

[kcirdor]

Every team gets bad calls.
But believing there is some grand conspiracy against just one franchise? When that franchise was one of the most marketed franchises during the Payton/Brees run?
When that franchise kept bringing in high ratings during that run?
That’s a little much.

There is no conspiracy. You are the one that is concocting a conspiracy. Payton said that calls against the Saints would never happen in Denver. And so far he is right. That is all. Just facts. No conspiracy... Just you trying to make it into one.

 

[kcirdor]

When did he say this?

umm... we've already had this conversation. I'm not doing it again.

 

[Saint Jack]

There is no conspiracy. You are the one that is concocting a conspiracy. Payton said that calls against the Saints would never happen in Denver. And so far he is right. That is all. Just facts. No conspiracy... Just you trying to make it into one.

You’re implying there is one.

 

[saintfan1972]

Vinovich will be fine. As long as the 2 officials that didn't make the call aren't there.

 

[los226]

Doesn’t make sense.
The Saints were still getting 5 plus national games during Payton’s run.
The ratings were still high.
Why would the League do everything to cripple a team they were putting on national TV so much at the time?

I personally believe the NFL knows Payton is one of the greatest coaches of this era and they didn’t want him to spend his whole career in one place which at one point seemed like that’s what he was willing to do.

 

[Saint Jack]

I personally believe the NFL knows Payton is one of the greatest coaches of this era and they didn’t want him to spend his whole career in one place which at one point seemed like that’s what he was willing to do.

Why would they care?

 

[los226]

Why would they care?

Why not?

 

[Saint Jack]

Why not?

What’s the benefit to the League by forcing a coaching change?

 

[los226]

What’s the benefit to the League by forcing a coaching change?

Sharing is caring

 

[Saint Jack]

Sharing is caring

That’s not a legit reason.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

Vinovich is one of the league's best officials.

The non-call in the 2018 NFC championship game was horrendous. But I will always maintain that talk of conspiracy is crazy and that the non-call was the product of lack of competence and lack of courage.

We can debate whether the NFL secretly wanted Los Angeles in the Super Bowl. Based on TV ratings, the Saints were an attractive draw.

However, back to the game. So the NFL rigged the officiating for the Rams to win. Yet in the game, the Saints were called for only three penalties for 20 yards whereas the Rams were penalized seven times for 64 yards. And the officials decided to wait until two minutes to pull a fast one, counted on the Saints defense to allow the Rams without timeouts to go down the field and tie the game, let the Saints get the first possession in overtime, called defensive pass interference against the Rams in that first possession, and then counted on Brees throwing an interception and the Saints defense allowing the Rams to advance far enough so they could kick a 57-yard field goal to win the game.

Conspiracy? Who was involved? So Park Avenue contacted game officials and directed that the Rams win. How many were involved? And to this day, no direct evidence of what would have been the dumbest conspiracy in the history of mankind because those participating would have been engaging in criminal conduct that would have sent to people to prison, wrecked the value of every NFL franchise and would have been the biggest sports story ever to achieve what again.

I was there. The officials were letting them play. It happens in the playoffs. And sometimes in the last two minutes, they swallow their whistles. They shouldn't to the extent they sometimes do. Certainly one, if not both, of the officials near the penalty decided they did not want to throw a flag with two minutes to go that would have decided who won a championship game.

Again, the non-call was egregious and definitely should have been called. The official who waved off the second official should have been disciplined by the league for his incompetence. After the game, the league office should have candidly conceded the mistake. But a league-directed conspiracy? Only in this age when we believe nothing yet seemingly believe everything.

 

[2009ring]

Vinovich is one of the league's best officials.

The non-call in the 2018 NFC championship game was horrendous. But I will always maintain that talk of conspiracy is crazy and that the non-call was the product of lack of competence and lack of courage.

We can debate whether the NFL secretly wanted Los Angeles in the Super Bowl. Based on TV ratings, the Saints were an attractive draw.

However, back to the game. So the NFL rigged the officiating for the Rams to win. Yet in the game, the Saints were called for only three penalties for 20 yards whereas the Rams were penalized seven times for 64 yards. And the officials decided to wait until two minutes to pull a fast one, counted on the Saints defense to allow the Rams without timeouts to go down the field and tie the game, let the Saints get the first possession in overtime, called defensive pass interference against the Rams in that first possession, and then counted on Brees throwing an interception and the Saints defense allowing the Rams to advance far enough so they could kick a 57-yard field goal to win the game.

Conspiracy? Who was involved? So Park Avenue contacted game officials and directed that the Rams win. How many were involved? And to this day, no direct evidence of what would have been the dumbest conspiracy in the history of mankind because those participating would have been engaging in criminal conduct that would have sent to people to prison, wrecked the value of every NFL franchise and would have been the biggest sports story ever to achieve what again.

I was there. The officials were letting them play. It happens in the playoffs. And sometimes in the last two minutes, they swallow their whistles. They shouldn't to the extent they sometimes do. Certainly one, if not both, of the officials near the penalty decided they did not want to throw a flag with two minutes to go that would have decided who won a championship game.

Again, the non-call was egregious and definitely should have been called. The official who waved off the second official should have been disciplined by the league for his incompetence. After the game, the league office should have candidly conceded the mistake. But a league-directed conspiracy? Only in this age when we believe nothing yet seemingly believe everything.

The league doesn't rig the game outright. But I am convinced that referees are encouraged to lean a certain direction to obtain desirable outcomes. The league did not want Brees going against Brady in a Super Bowl. The Saints owned Brady and would have won that game handily. Brees would have dispatched both Manning and Brady head to head in the Super Bowl and would have completely derailed Brady and the leagues "GOAT" agenda. Keep in mind this is before Brady held most of the career records in the league because Brees hadn't retired yet.

Lost in the disgusting officiating slobbery that was the NOLA no-call is the other no call, and obvious hit to Brees's face when he threw the INT in overtime. Watch the replay and tell me Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Pat Mahomes doesn't get that call.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

King, thanks for your comments. Watching the game in the Superdome, I was not upset at the time that a penalty was not called on the hit on Brees. I just watched the video of the play and then the replay. If there was a penalty, it was borderline. When you watch the sideline view, it appears there was some contact but again borderline. When you watch the replay from an endzone camera, it appears the Ram defender hit Brees in the shoulder. There was no commentary by Aikman and Buck that Brees had been hit in the head and that the officials had missed a penalty.

I could not find video of the pass interference against the Rams in overtime, but in real time in the Superdome I thought it was borderline and a make-up call. Again, the officials were letting them play. When your team is hit with only three penalties for 20 yards, it is hard to say the officiating was intentionally rigged against your time.

In the last two minutes, we allowed the Rams to score. In overtime, we turned the ball over on the first possession and allowed the Rams to score, albeit on a 57-yard field goal.

On a personal note, I find the frequent talk of conspiracies maddening. On a serious note, it has been said when that something bad happens, people can ask one of two questions, The first is what did we do wrong. The second is who did this to us. Asking the first question leads to putting things right. Asking the second question leads to conspiracy talk. Too often, we on this forum and in our region ask the second question. (the two-question observation comes from Bernard Lewis, discussed in a book titled Culture Makes Almost All the Difference).

 

[Winter]

Every team gets bad calls.
But believing there is some grand conspiracy against just one franchise? When that franchise was one of the most marketed franchises during the Payton/Brees run?
When that franchise kept bringing in high ratings during that run?
That’s a little much.

I think a lot of that is out of the league's control. The Saints we're good and generally favored by national audiences. I also bet there's some kind of formula to determine prime time games based on previous year's results. The Saints being 13-3, you can't not put them in primetime especially when the team is still there and poised to compete for a ship again. That being said, when it comes down to either-or calls, that is where the league can decide in favor of one team over another. They can't stop the Saints from being good, but they can manipulate games enough to give the teams they want an advantage. 2018 prime example. They could've met and made the call but instead they acted like nothing happened. PI is still a major problem in the league and they have no agenda to fix it even though they "tried" to. PI and holding are the two most powerful tools for the league to influence games.