That defensive holding was meeeeeh. But the Bengals also got their game-changing touchdown after halftime after a missed OPI call. So the bad calls, I don't wanna say balanced out, but ...
It's also the lesson the Bills learned after the New England game, right? Let your best player do best player things. (Now, get 14 the ball a few more times in big games ...)
I think it's pretty clear the call on Chase was just missed. It's just as clear the PI call was designed to continue L.A.'s chances for a touchdown and then allow the Bengals a chance to have a game winning drive. Perhaps I'm a pessimist but the officiating is getting ridiculous. They just want camera time? A directive from Goodell? Does the NFL need to become the NBA in terms of officiating?
Agreed. The Higgins TD just looked like a miss. Sometimes those discards can look worse than they are, and if the official wasn't certain the contact caused Ramsey to fall down...it happens.
The second call absolutely looked like an attempt to engineer drama, and really that's the biggest issue with officiating from here, in many major sports. The disputed calls don't bother as much-officiating is actually much better than it was 20, 30 years ago, it's just the scrutiny and non-stop griping on social media is 1000 times worse. But there are way too many instances where it seems like officials are making calls to keep an outcome in doubt, or to produce a certain result. The NFL had a lot of that this year, and the NBA is famous for it with their rules for star players. By the way the officials called that entire game, there was no earthly reason for that defensive holding call.
Great Season, TD. Thanks to you, Bob & Jim. Looking forward to some great offseason coverage, too. Get some rest, yourself, something tells me it's gonna be a wild one!
Your takeaways match mine pretty well. The Bengals came into this game with an obvious mismatch, and it's kind of amazing their offense was able to be as successful as it was for as long as it was, but eventually they were just overwhelmed. On the other side of the ball, it felt like the Rams just kept slamming themselves into the Bengals' front over and over again. It was very strange. Cris Collinsworth kept talking about how Stafford was playing with all these different guys he didn't know, and I was like "isn't the Offensive Player of the Year still out there?" It's like that 4th down sweep reminded McVay he was on the field. Overall I thought McVay didn't have a very strong game, but the talent won out.
As for the refs, it's a little hard to feel that the Bengals got hosed since they were only ahead because of a badly missed call, but I agree that it was frustrating that the refs basically swallowed their whistles until the game was on the line. And that holding call was pretty bad. Even in a game where the refs were largely invisible, somehow the NFL always gets it wrong!
Bengals fans don't have a case with the officiating. Wipe away the facemask touchdown catch and they put up 13 points. That call was so bad there will be calls for soccer-style VAR soon enough. Ugh.
That defensive holding was meeeeeh. But the Bengals also got their game-changing touchdown after halftime after a missed OPI call. So the bad calls, I don't wanna say balanced out, but ...
It's also the lesson the Bills learned after the New England game, right? Let your best player do best player things. (Now, get 14 the ball a few more times in big games ...)
I think it's pretty clear the call on Chase was just missed. It's just as clear the PI call was designed to continue L.A.'s chances for a touchdown and then allow the Bengals a chance to have a game winning drive. Perhaps I'm a pessimist but the officiating is getting ridiculous. They just want camera time? A directive from Goodell? Does the NFL need to become the NBA in terms of officiating?
Agreed. The Higgins TD just looked like a miss. Sometimes those discards can look worse than they are, and if the official wasn't certain the contact caused Ramsey to fall down...it happens.
The second call absolutely looked like an attempt to engineer drama, and really that's the biggest issue with officiating from here, in many major sports. The disputed calls don't bother as much-officiating is actually much better than it was 20, 30 years ago, it's just the scrutiny and non-stop griping on social media is 1000 times worse. But there are way too many instances where it seems like officials are making calls to keep an outcome in doubt, or to produce a certain result. The NFL had a lot of that this year, and the NBA is famous for it with their rules for star players. By the way the officials called that entire game, there was no earthly reason for that defensive holding call.
I like football
Cincy had ample opportunity to extend their lead. Congrats to L.A. Too bad Green Bays version of all in came up short.
Great Season, TD. Thanks to you, Bob & Jim. Looking forward to some great offseason coverage, too. Get some rest, yourself, something tells me it's gonna be a wild one!
Your takeaways match mine pretty well. The Bengals came into this game with an obvious mismatch, and it's kind of amazing their offense was able to be as successful as it was for as long as it was, but eventually they were just overwhelmed. On the other side of the ball, it felt like the Rams just kept slamming themselves into the Bengals' front over and over again. It was very strange. Cris Collinsworth kept talking about how Stafford was playing with all these different guys he didn't know, and I was like "isn't the Offensive Player of the Year still out there?" It's like that 4th down sweep reminded McVay he was on the field. Overall I thought McVay didn't have a very strong game, but the talent won out.
As for the refs, it's a little hard to feel that the Bengals got hosed since they were only ahead because of a badly missed call, but I agree that it was frustrating that the refs basically swallowed their whistles until the game was on the line. And that holding call was pretty bad. Even in a game where the refs were largely invisible, somehow the NFL always gets it wrong!
Bengals fans don't have a case with the officiating. Wipe away the facemask touchdown catch and they put up 13 points. That call was so bad there will be calls for soccer-style VAR soon enough. Ugh.