Broncos Monday Ramblings (BMR): Special Wild Card Weekend Edition I thought that all of the games were well played and competitive. .. until the officials ruined the Detroit-Dallas game. That one left a really bad taste in my mouth. They took a fascinating game in which Detroit was actually playing Dallas off its feet in an incredibly challenging environment and turned it into a game that I just knew was going to end up won by the Cowboys (and, if I didnt already have serious reservations about Chris Cristie, his bro-mance hug with Jerry and Stephen Jones on Dallas final touchdown was literally, sickening. I mean, dont the Giants- a fierce rival of the Cowboys, play in New Jersey??). So, let me state the obvious here and get this out of my system: on that crucial play, there were three penalties that should have been called: all of them should have been called on Dallas and each of them should have resulted in a Detroit first down. First of all as Brandon Pettigrew, the Lions TE released on his pass route, the Cowboys LBer Anthony Hitchens grabbed the fringe of his jersey (defensive holding) then clearly committed interference (didnt look back for the ball and ran into Pettigrew before the ball got there). Then after the flag was thrown, Dez Bryant ran out onto the field without his helmet- a clearly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. I can give the officials a pass on the defensive holding because it wasnt obvious until replay, but if the play had been properly administered, the Lions should have had the ball 1st and 10 inside the Cowboys 20 yard line (conservative estimation). They should NOT have picked up the pass interference flag AND Bryant should have been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct (perhaps ejected). If the play is administered the correct way, Detroit at least gets a field goal and I daresay the result is different and Cristie and the Jones boys dont sicken us on national TV. But then, lets consider the other. . . undeniable influences here. First of all, Jerry Jones owns and runs the most flamboyant, gaudy, financially lucrative franchise in the NFL, in its most garish and unabashedly corrupt city. Jones repeatedly thumbs his nose at the NFL and as if Goodell doesnt have enough problems, good old Roger comes off as Jerrys lapdog.This is the town where JFK was assassinated and his accused assassin was assassinated while under the custody of the police. This is where the WORST college football cheating/corruption scandal of all time was orchestrated and the ONLY NCAA death penalty ever was meted out to SMU. So the matter of blatantly reversing a vital call is small potatoes to the forces that be in Dallas and the NFL.It isnt a stretch to say that this call was rife with corruption (maybe even payoffs) because it happened in the very place you would predict that it would occur. If memory serves, didnt the NFL head of officiating get into some hot water last summer for partying on Jerrys party bus?? So, the rich, lucrative team with huge revenues (Dallas) advances and the long embarrassing pariah team (Detroit) goes home. And, all the while, the poor schmucks on the Lions are expected to meet with the press and keep their mouths shut. To say that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth is a serious understatement. That is the modern NFL. Hide and watch: Mark Cubans prediction about the impending implosion of the NFL very well might come true. As for the rest of the Wild Card games, I must say that I wasnt surprised that the Ravens knocked off the Steelers. Without LaVean Bell, the Steelers became too one-dimensional and even at that their offensive line got mauled by the revamped and reinforced Ravens defensive front. Right now, I think that Baltimore is as dangerous as any team still in the tournament. I wont go so far as to pick them, but I wont be surprised of the Ravens knock off Billy Belichick and the boys in Foxborough this weekend. As a Broncos fan, I was rooting for the Ravens because they have always been a tough out for the Patriots. With the Colts, I will have more to say this Friday, but this is NOT going to be a walkover for the Broncos. Frankly, I dont like how the Broncos have played offensively in the last three or four games. Its a good thing that the Broncos shored up their defense because even against Oakland, the offense sputtered. I think that had the Bengals won, the Broncos might have some locker room bulletin board material based upon the way Cincinnati gloated after their Monday Night game, but ultimately, if there is one team that Peyton wants to play well against, its the Colts because they gave up on him. I have noticed that most of the national media seems to think that Denver is at the bottom of the elite team heap. Peter King actually picked Dallas as being better than Denver with a snide little shot at Peyton for missing a couple of sessions during the bye week. (All the pundits like to commend teams when they earn a bye and have a week to rest up and heal up. I guess when someone actually does that they get offended.) Dallas at Green Bay conjures up memories of the Ice Bowl of 1967: -16º temperature,Vince Lombardi and the field warming system that froze up, Tom Landry not letting his defensive linemen wear gloves (resulting in lifelong frostbite issues), Jerry Kramers block on Jethro Pughe,Bart Sarrs QB sneak to win the game, etc. . . I hope its colder than the Ice Bowl next week, that the Cowboys lose and that their bus breaks down on the way to the Green Bay airport.That would be justice!
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 16:48:31 +0000
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