Well, last night, it was the Clete Blakeman & Crew Shit Show, not the Saints-Falcons' game, we all noticed, a 3-ring circus of incompetence.
I literally went to bed pissed off, and woke up pissed off. Such a crucial, season defining game should not be determined nor dictated by alleged professional officials. NEVER. But it was.
And before anyone screams "Homer" at me, let me point out that national and local social media, especially Twitter, the NFL network announcers, and objective viewers from Cali to New Jersey all agree the Saints' got jobbed by this incompetent crew.
At game-end, Mike Torrico and Chris Collinsworth both were chuckling and almost speechless at the absurdity of the calls against Saints. Both said at the end, they've never seen a more bizarre game. (Translation: never seen a bigger load of crap calls by refs.)
By 4th quarter, national and local sportswriters on social media were posting emojis of crap referring to the refs.
Yes, many and especially Saints' fans, will whine and moan about Brees' very ill-advised and admitted awful INT to end the game. (I totally agree it was bad.) And why didn't they run the ball more. The latter? Because Saints' were down to ONE RB, Ingram, who was already injured going into game, then got hurt again late in game. Plus, Saints' O line was playing a 3rd-string guard.
But fact is, the game never ever should have come down to Brees' INT play, under that pressure.
All the made bad call and the egregious missed calls eroded play-calling and strategies. And maybe even more importantly - and coupled with slew of injuries, the bad calls literally led to a wore down and depleted Saints' team.
ATL got NINE - NINE!!! - 1st downs because of penalties. Ponder how much game-time these calls caused the Saints' D to remain on the field! And it was obvious, the D was gassed in 2nd half.
Oh, and those NINE 1st downs? 2nd most 1st downs by penalty in the last 20 years.
Football is a serious game of chess. Every play, every down and distance, leads to another play in that series. Every play determines field position. Every play affects personnel you can utilize. And all this creates a rhythm of play-calling.
And there are very few coaches outside Payton that play the chess game better, evidenced by Saints' top offensive production and points year after year.
But when refs' blunders and blind misses occur, all the above stutters, staggers and stalls. And the incompetent officiating snowballs and affects all parts of the strategy... and leads to desperation later ie Brees' INT to end game.
Ref Blunders, you ask? Think about these 3 highly questionable calls, and how they literally cost Saints' 14 points:
1) Kamara helmet-to-helmet hit
By rule, it WAS a personal foul.
Not only wasn't it called, but Saints' best player was gone from game.
Instead of 1st and goal, Saints kick FG.
4 points lost.
2) roughing passer on Rankins
Rankins literally barely shoved Ryan. Announcers laughed and said directly: "that isn't roughing the passer."
That call was at midfield, Saints had stopped Falcons on a 3rd and very long.
Instead of punt, Falcons drive and score their 1st TD.
7 points given.
3) Illegal formation negates Lutz's first-half ending FG.
Payton said post-game, refs almost always talk to coach and give warning about infraction before calling it. Now post-mortem, should have been an omen how refs were screwing Saints.
Made 47-yard FG wiped away.
3 points lost
More salt in the wound, you say?
Michael Thomas face-masked and poked in the eye. No call.
Crawley called for holding ticks tack. But Julio Jones then swung at Crawley and hit his facemask. No call.
Both clearly seen by back judges. Both clearly shown on replay. Both not called.
Omen mentioned above fulfilled: to end game, Payton is called for unsportsmanlike conduct, effectively ending the game.
Like earlier in game, ref blatantly doesn't communicate with Payton. Replay shows Payton screaming and signaling time-out, but ref near him ignores plea. Payton said post-game, he called for timeout, ref didn't acknowledge, so he went onto field.
And I promise you, Payton had already communicated BEFORE that play, that he would be calling time-out!
EVERY, and I mean EVERY coach runs onto field to call timeout, and 99% of time no flag is thrown.
But fact, not opinion, is this was the Clete Blakeman & Crew Shit Show.
And dammit, Clete and his merry band of clowns ...they were going to take the final bow.
