FalcFans Forums

Duke on ESPN Radio just called out the officials from Sunday's game saying how horrible the ref's calls were especially the Schuab out of bounds call.

I still think that by making that horrid call it took a lot of wind out of the sails. The defense lost the game but the ref's screwed us hardcore twice.

the more i think about it the more it sickens me. it reminds me of all the calls (and no calls) shaq and the lakers got during their run. it's there and there's no denying it for both the lakers and the patriots, who've gotten that kind of reffing for a while now. i'd like the falcons to play them again in the superbowl but knowing they'd get all the calls just plane sucks.

Well, I do have some thoughts here if people want to talk about calls. Any fan of the Falcons should be used to 'bad calls' as we did play the 49ers from 80 to 98 when they got ALL the calls. Anyone remember the 98 season when Young was sacked, fumbled, and one of our linemen picked the ball up and ran it back 40 yards for a TD? Then the officials came in, talked, changed the call to say our lineman was down with contact (which he wasn't) so no TD. We go to commercial (and this is well before replay) and when we get back to the game the 49ers have the ball back! They had changed the call to say the Young's knee was down so no fumble. Anyone remember that?

Well anyway, I look at it like this... life isn't fair. Because of that you take bad calls and throw them out. Any league looks at 'great' players and somewhere behind the scenes (or in the back of officials minds) they say ok, so-and-so gets a little more love than the regular player. Shaq for the Lakers, Jordan's push off in the 6th game against Utah, Rice and his early contact to get open, the 'don't touch Gretsky' rule in the NHL. I believe those players or teams earn the right to some calls, it may not be right but what truly is? Did Deon get calls because of who he was and did the officials 'help' him be a 'shut down corner' sure, does that take away from the fact that he was SO good he may have deserved some zebra love? It is going to happen, and if Vick and the Falcons become 'Elite' I believe they will get calls like any great team, it is just a challenge to see if we can overcome some prejudice (which we have earned with this horrible fanchise) and win consistantly.

As for the Pats, well I don't believe the Schaub run was anything more than a truly bad call. The line judge just saw (or didn't see) something that wasn't there. You can't be that blatent about favoritism, not with a Jumbotron. Any other blocks in the back or whatever were offset by holding on their line and such and the Rossum call was ALL Rossum. Had Cash not broken his arm and been in at Nickle then the game could have swung our way... but that was not an officials fault (remember, we had them at 1st and 25 for the lord's sake).

Anyway, I am not chalking this one up to the Officials. We gave up 31 points on defense and you just don't have a good shot at winning when you do that. I mean really, did the Officials let the Pats go 78 yards on the same play TWICE in a little over a minute to score, I don't think so.

MF1

man, i know as a team you just keep playing, through bad injuries, bad calls, you just keep playing ur butt off.
but it feels good to vent right after a game where your team gets beat by an opposing team that obviously gets relatively 'favorably treatment' by the ref's. i hope we do play them again. we've seen how the falcs play in revenge games.

Don't forget when Kerney jumped up because the tackle and guard moved prior to the snap but Kerney got called for a neutral zone infraction. The replay revealed that the tackle did infact move.

Ok, that gave them the 5 yards back they had on what a false start? It was still 2nd and 20 after a hold on them, still we go back to Rossum.

MF1

I've already stated somewhere that Rossum and the defense is what killed us. Just noting another horrible call.

Not singling out the Atl/NE game, but, this seems to be a leaque wide problem. All the games I listened to or watched over the weekend had numerous bad calls. Did the league have a ref purge recently? Are the original refs on strike and we didn't hear about it? Are these scabs in stripes?

No, Seriously. All the games had questionable calls and this is not me talking, it was every group of announcers making the comments during the game.

Consider the Redskins/Broncos. I can't stand either of these teams, but, how the hell can you not get a safety after tackling the QB in the endzone is beyond me? There is a problem LEAGUE WIDE. These guys need to hit the rule books more often.

Agreed, there are so many bad calls you wonder what the league would be like without replay (and even replay has been bad ALA Bucs/Lions)

MF1

Every team has calls go for them and against them. It's been like that since Knute friggin Rockne carried the pigskin. Deal with it. Starting to sound like Eagle fans around here.

Settling for second best is not an option. I pay for and expect professionalism and perfection from the players, why should the refs be exempt?

Maybe we should have Pudge lock this thread. It's not going anywhere anymore .

The ref's they have now are the best there is available. They are human and everyone makes mistakes. The game happens so fast and every call they make or don't make is vital to the games outcome. It's not an easy job and there won't be perfection, hince instant replay. I read somewhere that if they wanted to they could find a penalty on every play, especially holding and things of that nature. That would ruin the game in my opinion.

Do you think the Eagle game might have been different if Lav's was called for spearing McNabb? 15 yards and an automatic first down as opposed to an incompletion.

The only single conclusion I came to after the game, well other than our defensive problems, is that a team has to be able to challenge a stepped out of bounds call.