Football (North America: NFL, CFL, Arena Football, minor leagues)

[oscar]

Wow! Both conference championship games go to OT, with the 2nd seeds beating both 1st seeds.

I was disappointed the Saints got robbed lost, even though both my Panthers and the Falcons officially celebrated the Rams victory over their division rival. The Saints are a fun team to lose to (something the Panthers have too much experience with), especially with backup QB Taysom Hill keeping things interesting with his trick plays.

Now I'll get to go to my third straight Super Bowl party where most everybody will be rooting against the Patriots except me.

[Roadgeekteen]

Yay

[LM117]

[tdindy88]

Why do we even bother having an AFC playoff?

I'm sorry the Saints got screwed on that call by the refs but we need another New England Super Bowl the way we need another I-238 or more Clearview.

[MantyMadTown]

I agree. I have a bunch of shit to say about the Patriots but I don't even think I can care at this point. They don't need another Super Bowl, but here they are. It was the same thing last year, and the year before. I'm just hoping Tom Brady retires after winning the big one. Or if they lose, he'll retire anyway. He's played for long enough already.

I'm pretty upset about the refs giving the Rams the game too. That was a pretty bad play call. Unfortunately I don't have an eye for bad play calls when I see them, but I heard about what happened after the game. That was just stupid. Honestly I think the Saints should've won it, but this is the NFL, we can't have clean games anymore. Officiating has gotten so bad lately, something drastic needs to be done or else the NFL will lose more fans. I can see this bringing people to the XFL in 2020.

Karma for the 2009 NFCCG is a bitch.

That happened last year in the 2017 NFC divisional.

Yay

Roadgeekteen, I hope you're happy. Tom Brady has been winning Super Bowls since before you were born, and now he's making another one. You Pats fans are extremely spoiled.

[triplemultiplex]

This super bowl is tainted.  Neither participant deserves to be there after those atrociously officiated games.  Apparently, the ground is an eligible receive for the goddamn Patriots.  I've never seen so many "catches" hit the turf.

[MNHighwayMan]

Karma for the 2009 NFCCG is a bitch.

That happened last year in the 2017 NFC divisional.

No. That was a close game, pulled out by the skill of the players and a miracle mistake. Last night is a clear example of being screwed by the refs, which is what happened several times during the game back in 2009.

Now we are even.

[Roadgeekteen]

This super bowl is tainted.  Neither participant deserves to be there after those atrociously officiated games.  Apparently, the ground is an eligible receive for the goddamn Patriots.  I've never seen so many "catches" hit the turf.

Both sides had some bad calls against them in the Chiefs game. The pick play was pretty bad.

[Buck87]

So I've seen a couple guys on ESPN this morning imply that, instead of throwing the ball, all the Saints had to do was run the ball 3 times to run the clock down and then kick the game winning FG.

Um, no, it's not that simple. There are these things called timeouts, and LA had 2 of them. 
There was 1:58 left, so if the Saints wanted to kick a game winning FG as time expired they needed to get a first down.

If they do the 3 predictable runs up the middle and kick the FG on 4th down, there would have been somewhere around 1:00-1:05 left on the clock for the Rams to try to get into FG range themselves.

Also worth mentioning, had the PI been called, and New Orleans not scored a TD, they would have been kicking that go ahead FG with around 20 seconds left, not the "4 seconds" I've heard mentioned a few times by guys on TV

[ET21]

So who to root for? Brady going for MJ status and a sixth ring, or LA who didn't realize they had a team until last year 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

So I've seen a couple guys on ESPN this morning imply that, instead of throwing the ball, all the Saints had to do was run the ball 3 times to run the clock down and then kick the game winning FG.

Um, no, it's not that simple. There are these things called timeouts, and LA had 2 of them. 
There was 1:58 left, so if the Saints wanted to kick a game winning FG as time expired they needed to get a first down.

If they do the 3 predictable runs up the middle and kick the FG on 4th down, there would have been somewhere around 1:00-1:05 left on the clock for the Rams to try to get into FG range themselves.

Also worth mentioning, had the PI been called, and New Orleans not scored a TD, they would have been kicking that go ahead FG with around 20 seconds left, not the "4 seconds" I've heard mentioned a few times by guys on TV

But 1:05 and no timeouts leaves a lot less margin for error than 1:43 and one timeout. I don't think that's insignificant, even if still a good chunk of time. I've seen teams get in range with as little as 20-25 seconds to work with.

Even knowing it's coming the Rams' defense biggest weakness has been running between the tackles, as well.

[cjk374]

I am told that the NFL is going to rename the Super Bowl to the "Tom Brady Invitational".

I for one will not be watching the Super (toilet)Bowl this year. Not just because my Saints were robbed, I don't care for either team in the game. This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever. I don't think there is a conspiracy behind the suck-ass calls (and lack of calls), but I hope Godell is very proud of the Super Bowl that has been created by his refs.

WHO DAT DAMMIT!!! Saints for SB LIV.

[oscar]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Maybe. But whether by coincidence or not, it could boost viewership and overall NFL popularity in the huge Los Angeles television market, which has all of a sudden gone from no pro football to a Super Bowl team and another one (the Chargers) that also made the playoffs.

[cjk374]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Maybe. But whether by coincidence or not, it could boost viewership and overall NFL popularity in the huge Los Angeles television market, which has all of a sudden gone from no pro football to a Super Bowl team and another one (the Chargers) that also made the playoffs.

The Rams have about 10 fans. Two of them were refs in the NFC Championship game yesterday. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Maybe. But whether by coincidence or not, it could boost viewership and overall NFL popularity in the huge Los Angeles television market, which has all of a sudden gone from no pro football to a Super Bowl team and another one (the Chargers) that also made the playoffs.

Fueling the farce that LA is a good football town. 

I've held the belief that the Chiefs/Rams game wasn't moved from Mexico City solely due to the bad field; with how they spent 20 years pushing the return of LA as essential for the sport, like Hell were they letting a game between two 9-1 teams be played outside of LA.

[DaBigE]

I don't think there is a conspiracy behind the suck-ass calls (and lack of calls), but I hope Godell is very proud of the Super Bowl that has been created by his refs.

Irony that this is Super Bowl LIII (pronounced LIE)?

Yes, I realize that also works for the last two Super Bowls. This year just seems a bit more appropriate.

[formulanone]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Doubtful, because there's lots of people who want to see the Patriots win, and lot more who probably want to see them lose. Even a "low rated"  Superbowl is still winds up one of the top 2-3 TV events in the US every year. Sure, there's millions of folks and sports fans who tune in every year regardless of who plays...it would have been fun to watch a Chiefs - Saints matchup, but it would likely have had even less viewers, as they represent smaller media markets. I'm not suggesting a "fix", but I think that having a plausible underdog and a bit of a villain always makes for good TV.

The Super Bowl held in 2002, which also featured the same two teams, didn't rank up there with ratings; yet it was a good game right up to the last seconds. Apparently, the team from New England went on to pretty good things in the future.

After that, how much sympathy should I have for a bunch of brands that feel the urge to toss away $5-10 million on advertisements?

[oscar]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Doubtful, because there's lots of people who want to see the Patriots win, and lot more who probably want to see them lose. Even a "low rated"  Superbowl is still winds up one of the top 2-3 TV events in the US every year. Sure, there's millions of folks and sports fans who tune in every year regardless of who plays...it would have been fun to watch a Chiefs - Saints matchup, but it would likely have had even less viewers, as they represent smaller media markets. I'm not suggesting a "fix", but I think that having a plausible underdog and a bit of a villain always makes for good TV.

It will help also that we'll have Tony Romo as an announcer, and not Cris Collinsworth. Big improvement.

[Roadgeekteen]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Doubtful, because there's lots of people who want to see the Patriots win, and lot more who probably want to see them lose. Even a "low rated"  Superbowl is still winds up one of the top 2-3 TV events in the US every year. Sure, there's millions of folks and sports fans who tune in every year regardless of who plays...it would have been fun to watch a Chiefs - Saints matchup, but it would likely have had even less viewers, as they represent smaller media markets. I'm not suggesting a "fix", but I think that having a plausible underdog and a bit of a villain always makes for good TV.

It will help also that we'll have Tony Romo as an announcer, and not Cris Collinsworth. Big improvement.

I love Romo! I like the way he says "oh, oh, oh I don't know Jim"

[formulanone]

It will help also that we'll have Tony Romo as an announcer, and not Cris Collinsworth. Big improvement.

No argument there. Only Gary Danielson is more grating.

[LM117]

Romo is awesome. That guy was born to be a commentator. Collinsworth can go play in traffic for all I care. As much as I think this Super Bowl sucks, it would've been flat-out unbearable if Collinsworth was there playing cheerleader for the Pats the way he did last year.

[LM117]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Maybe. But whether by coincidence or not, it could boost viewership and overall NFL popularity in the huge Los Angeles television market, which has all of a sudden gone from no pro football to a Super Bowl team and another one (the Chargers) that also made the playoffs.

I've seen a few comments elsewhere that believes Goodell wanted an LA team in the Super Bowl for that very reason, hence the New Orleans Screwjob (throwback term for Montreal Screwjob for wrestling fans).

[LM117]

I'm not suggesting a "fix", but I think that having a plausible underdog and a bit of a villain always makes for good TV.

Kinda hard to make good TV when both teams come off as villains. The Pats are almost universally hated and there are many (including myself) who believe the Rams wouldn't even be in the Super Bowl if it wasn't for the refs doing the birdbox challenge. I don't hate the Rams themselves for it, but I'm sure some view them as guilty by association.

[Roadgeekteen]

This could be the lowest rated Super Bowl in viewership ever.

Maybe. But whether by coincidence or not, it could boost viewership and overall NFL popularity in the huge Los Angeles television market, which has all of a sudden gone from no pro football to a Super Bowl team and another one (the Chargers) that also made the playoffs.

I've seen a few comments elsewhere that believes Goodell wanted an LA team in the Super Bowl for that very reason, hence the New Orleans Screwjob (throwback term for Montreal Screwjob for wrestling fans).

I don't believe that. There were a few missed calls on the Rams as well.

[Henry]

Let's hope that fate smiles on the Rams the same way it did on the Eagles last year. And I'm citing some history for my pick, as I used to live in L.A. (1988-2000, with the first four years being split between there and Chicago), and my favorite team absolutely destroyed the Patriots when I was a sophomore in high school (46-10 in Super Bowl XX).