Patriots are big fat cheater heads. Supposedly.

[thrill]

Mangini probably knew how much the Pats did this 'scouting' from his days in NE. Just wanted to send a message or maybe level the playing field, I guess...I'm sure every team pushes the envelope.

Sure, but the Patriots are already the proud owners of an illegitimate Super Bowl victory and others have come out and said that they think something has been up with them.

Which one was illegitimate?

The one in which the Rams beat the Raiders.

[vinsanity]

Mangini probably knew how much the Pats did this 'scouting' from his days in NE. Just wanted to send a message or maybe level the playing field, I guess...I'm sure every team pushes the envelope.

Sure, but the Patriots are already the proud owners of an illegitimate Super Bowl victory and others have come out and said that they think something has been up with them.

Which one was illegitimate?

The one in which the Rams beat the Raiders.

This was illegitimate because....
The Corners mugged the WRs?
The Raiders should have actually won the game against NE (because of the replay call)?

If you gripe about that Brady Fumble don't you have to say the same thing about when the Bucs Beat the Titans? Remember the First Down catch that was over turned because after controlling the football, Bert Emmanuel landed on the ground and the tip of the ball touched the ground? It was ruled (albeit correctly by the rules) incomplete. The rule was changed that off-season to it's current, get your hands under and controlled it's a catch even if the tip touches the turf (see last weeks MNF INT).

The Rams had plenty of chances to win that SB, run the ball more for 1 (Faulk was averaging 4 yds per carry I believe ran for 76 yards) and not dropped in to a prevent defense on the Pats last drive to set up Adam Vinatieri's GW FG.

[GatewaySnayke]

The Tuck Rule is absolutely nothing like the completion/incompletion. Tampa had a chance to stop the Rams still, and that game was not even over. It was a missed call. Bad, but it happens. Walt Coleman's call was the biggest farce since Dekinger. When the Raiders fell on that ball, the game would've ended.

But I'll also say that SB 34 was illegitimate because of the mugging at the line, too. In fact, I'm not sure why the Patriots didn't just bring crow bars, because it would've gotten rid of Bruce, Holt and Faulk a lot quicker than hitting them at the line.

[Socnorb11]

The Tuck Rule is absolutely nothing like the completion/incompletion. Tampa had a chance to stop the Rams still, and that game was not even over. It was a missed call. Bad, but it happens. Walt Coleman's call was the biggest farce since Dekinger. When the Raiders fell on that ball, the game would've ended.

But I'll also say that SB 34 was illegitimate because of the mugging at the line, too. In fact, I'm not sure why the Patriots didn't just bring crow bars, because it would've gotten rid of Bruce, Holt and Faulk a lot quicker than hitting them at the line.

Warner passed for 365 yards. He only exceeded that number twice that year. I don't think the inability to complete passes to the wide receivers was the problem that day.

[GatewaySnayke]

The Tuck Rule is absolutely nothing like the completion/incompletion. Tampa had a chance to stop the Rams still, and that game was not even over. It was a missed call. Bad, but it happens. Walt Coleman's call was the biggest farce since Dekinger. When the Raiders fell on that ball, the game would've ended.

But I'll also say that SB 34 was illegitimate because of the mugging at the line, too. In fact, I'm not sure why the Patriots didn't just bring crow bars, because it would've gotten rid of Bruce, Holt and Faulk a lot quicker than hitting them at the line.

Warner passed for 365 yards. He only exceeded that number twice that year. I don't think the inability to complete passes to the wide receivers was the problem that day.

No, but I never said it was either. Kurt Warner could've passed for 300 yards with Eureka's junior varsity team. Faulk couldn't step beyond the line of scrimmage on a passing play without getting knocked down. Sure, Martz is to blame for ultimately losing, but New England played dirty and shouldn't have even been in the game.

[cpebbles]

The Rams had plenty of chances to win that SB, run the ball more for 1 (Faulk was averaging 4 yds per carry I believe ran for 76 yards) and not dropped in to a prevent defense on the Pats last drive to set up Adam Vinatieri's GW FG.

Neither this nor Warner's passing total excuses the fact that the Patriots exploited the knowledge that the officials wouldn't call defensive interference if it happened on every single play in a postseason game.

That prevent defense still ticks me off though. In my dream scenario, the Rams stick to the gameplan and instead of being the least deserving Super Bowl MVP ever, Tom Brady goes down in history as a choke artist for continuing to stink through that final drive and respdonds by drinking his miserable self out of the league .

[GatewaySnayke]

Amen, brother.

[Radio_Bugtussle]

Good football teams overcome iffy officiating. [-X

[Cronos]

Good football teams overcome iffy officiating. [-X

I would normally agree with you, but that game was just beyond anything and everything I'd ever seen officiating-wise since Denkinger. Where didthose 4 seconds go, for example? And the unabated blows to the QB's head were blatant, multiple, and never called.

[vinsanity]

The Tuck Rule is absolutely nothing like the completion/incompletion. Tampa had a chance to stop the Rams still, and that game was not even over. It was a missed call. Bad, but it happens. Walt Coleman's call was the biggest farce since Dekinger. When the Raiders fell on that ball, the game would've ended.

Correct The Tuck Rule is nothing like a completion or incompletion - thank you for teaching me the basics of football. I was merely comparing the situations. They each made controversial potentially game changing calls, and made them correctly based on the rules; unfortunately the rules seem incorrect.

Yes the game would have ended in NE and the Game wasn't over in STL. But if you want to compare it Denkinger well that game wasn't over either:

the Cardinals made a number of mistakes that enabled the Royals to stay in the game and win. In the next at-bat, Clark misplayed an easy foul pop-up by batter Steve Balboni. Instead of popping out, Balboni singled on the next pitch, and Onix Concepcion came in to pinch-run. With runners on first and second, Jim Sundberg then bunted into a force play at third. Catcher Darrell Porter then allowed a passed ball, allowing the runners to advance to second and third. Pinch-hitter Hal McRae was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Dane Iorg knocked a bloop single to right that scored Concepcion and Sundberg, who avoided Porter's tag at the plate to score the winning run.

And it was only game 6! You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Neither this nor Warner's passing total excuses the fact that the Patriots exploited the knowledge that the officials wouldn't call defensive interference if it happened on every single play in a postseason game.

I'm not going to excuse the officiating. I agree it was BS their defense was mugging our players and we just kinda took it. I think Tom Brady is the most over-rated QB in history and I'm glad they got busted.

The point still remains: a better team wouldn't have scored only 3 points the first 3 quarters. You can't call the entire Playoffs 'illegitimate' because of one bad call in the Second Round Game.