(01-22-2018, 11:53 PM)Phil Swift Wrote:

(01-22-2018, 11:17 PM)Jaguarmeister Wrote: I hope one or two of them stay around and contribute regularly as long as the discussion remains objective and friendly.  We have a few great contributors here that are fans of other teams.  Unfortunately the refs were more a part of the game than I would have liked to have seen, but the Jags didn't lose primarily because of the refs.  We were in position to have a game winning drive and we didn't make it happen.  We could have stopped them on 3rd and 18 earlier and it didn't happen.  I think if Pats fans realized that the refs appeared biased in their favor and accepted it and admitted it and Jags fans accepted that the Jags still were in position to win the game late and didn't execute and accepted that as the primary reason for the loss that we could probably have some good football conversations with these new members going forward assuming they stick around beyond this week.

Great post, meister. 

I would gladly accept and admit to a ref bias if I believed that was true....but I don't.   So I can't.  I also can't but help scoff at some of the members here who do. 

I also don't think an "appearance" of that bias existed.  To wit, in another thread I pointed out that in the Pats' 3-point loss to the Panthers in Week 4, the penalty situation played out as follows....   Panthers - 1 penalty for 33 yards, and the Pats were flagged for 7 penalties for 55 yards.   Of those 7, one Panther drive, in the 4th quarter, included a hands to the face on Gilmore and NEGATED a 12 yard sack by NE, keeping the drive allowed and resulting in a TD for Carolina!  I think another Carolina scoring drive was also kept alive by another flag against NE!  BTW....the penalty on Gilmore, the SECOND time he was flagged that game for the same offense, WAS a foul and deserved to be called.  I don't recall any Patriot fans jumping up and down over the disparity in calls that game, and no one was openly suggesting that there was League a conspiracy against NE!

Again, good post, with the above exception.

You appear hung up on the narrative that some others champion that the Pats always get the calls in every game.  I'm not arguing for or against that with you, nor do I care about that.  I'm talking about one game where several questionable (and that's being generous) calls went against your opponent and only 1 flag was thrown against the home team all game.  The game was not officiated in an even manner.  And this is coming from a guy who is not the "rah rah home team is always right and always gets screwed" type.  I'm not even suggesting there was a conspiracy, maybe there is something much more mundane like the refs just get star struck sometimes or maybe it was just random chance that the bad calls/no calls happened against one team.  

I'm probably gonna go back and re-watch the game and coaches tape on gamepass at some point, so I'll pay closer attention and see if the Jags got away with anything blatant like what was apparent to me the Pats did during the game and has since been posted to social media ad nauseum regarding the bad calls/missed calls that went against the Jags.

That being said, the Jaguars defense simply cannot give up 3rd and 18.  Kneeling with 55 seconds and 2 timeouts was playing scared and that mindset carried over to the 2nd half at least from the coaches stand point as the play calling on both offense and defense got conservative and predictable.  You think the Jags would like that 55 second possession back at the end of the game?  The defense which was probably the top unit as a whole in the league couldn't stop the Pats offense and Brady when it mattered most.  Those were the primary reasons that a game we had in hand and should have won was instead lost.  The Jags weren't ready, but I'm confident they'll get more shots at this in the coming years.

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