I understand that, and it is the pertinent part of the argument. I get that. I just think that 1) The Packers should have won that game without controversy (a la Nebraska vs TAMU) and 2) This is the reality of NFL 2012. It is going to SUCK a$$. FOR EVERYONE. I think at one point there was a flag on 5 consecutive plays?! Who the hell wants to sit through 35 flags a game? I'm really surprised I woke up today and didn't see the headline, "Roger Goodell Fired, Regular Refs Back To Work." Hell...I'm surprised I didn't wake up and see the headline, "Roger Goodell Shot And Killed, 32 NFL Owners Taken In For Questioning." I'm surprised the NFL has let things get to this point...but as it has been pointed out, they're in it for the bottom line, not the fans or the product on the field. NHL fans are used to this and going through it again. Nature of the beast.That's not the issue.Not really. I don't even get how this call is debateable. If you are a Packers fan (and you are) you'd already stop whining about what 99.9% of what the NFL and their fan base already knows was BS and start looking at how a year ago GB would've been up by 4 TD's at the end of the game and this wouldn't have been an issue. But keep crying and blaming the same pathetic refs that shaft every team in the league equally to cover up the fact that Green Bay is hardly the great team that couldn't even make the Super Bowl last year with legitimate refs. Just be fortunate that Green Bay plays in a weak division. Detroit is overhyped, Chicago has Cutler, and Minnesota just used its only miracle of the season. Green Bay will make the playoffs. Just not sure if fans will even care about the NFL by that point.This is a dumb viewpoint. The point is that the Packers won this game fair and square, but the refs blew it. There are ifs ands and buts in every football game.Take away the crappy refs, and in reality the Packers have no one to really blame but themselves. You scored all of 12 points on the road. Really? When does scoring 12 points on the road win anything? You scored zero points in the first half, and got owned by the Seattle defense. And it wasn't like the refs were doing Seattle any favors either. Maybe if Aaron Rodgers spent less time blowing the smoke away from his finger gun and more time completing passes and not getting sacked, they'd be the same team from last year.
You could make that point about almost any game. The officiating has to be competent. I'm not worried about the rest of the season, but the notion that this was somehow Green Bay's fault for not being up by more points is laughable. Forget the fact that close games happen in football and need to be fairly officiated. Forget how Seattle's drive was over until a BS roughing penalty, then was over AGAIN until a DPI call that was actually OPI. Then the blown call at the end. Whether or not Green Bay played to their potential is the last thing that matters when talking about the integrity of the game. Clearly I'm biased here, but I was equally outraged over the ending of the Pats-Ravens game...and I hate the Pats. Was that somehow the Patriots fault for not being up by 4 touchdowns too? No, you can't just say that about every bad call at the end of games.
I actually agree with Foppa. One play does not make a football game, anymore than one pitch does not make a baseball game. One play can decide a victor, but it does not tell the whole story. Green Bay had atrocious offensive line play and did not look good on offense. Their poor play put them in a position to possibly lose on a Hail Mary play, and although I still disagree with how that play turned out, Green Bay could have done more to prevent it.This is a dumb viewpoint. The point is that the Packers won this game fair and square, but the refs blew it. There are ifs ands and buts in every football game.Take away the crappy refs, and in reality the Packers have no one to really blame but themselves. You scored all of 12 points on the road. Really? When does scoring 12 points on the road win anything? You scored zero points in the first half, and got owned by the Seattle defense. And it wasn't like the refs were doing Seattle any favors either. Maybe if Aaron Rodgers spent less time blowing the smoke away from his finger gun and more time completing passes and not getting sacked, they'd be the same team from last year.
Except that it did.....It's just silly to suggest that this Hail Mary cost Green Bay the game.
I can look you in the eye (figuratively) and tell you Green Bay should have won the game, but I'm not arguing that point. I'm arguing that Green Bay did not, by any definition of the word, look good on Monday night. Neither team did. It was a terrible game to watch. The issue I'm trying to substantiate is that Green Bay and Seattle played poorly enough to let one play decide the outcome of the game. But in the grand scheme of things, the hail mary play is no more important than one of the 10,000 sacks Rodger took. Every play is as important as the last and as the next.This isn't the case of one penalty call affecting the outcome of the game or something like that. This was the case of one touchdown/interception call LITERALLY deciding the outcome of the game, wrongly. Normally I'd agree with you Enhance, but taking the coachspeak road on this one is a rather silly thing to do. Did you watch the entire final two minutes? You can't look me in the eye and tell me that Seattle won the game, and you sure can't look me in the eye and tell me that they deserved to win the game. You can't look me in the eye anyway because this is an internet forum.
From your point of view it does, from mine, it doesn't. I don't fully understand the train of thought that one play decides a game, no matter how big it is or when it happened.Except that it did.....It's just silly to suggest that this Hail Mary cost Green Bay the game.