1979 Steelers onside kicks

[Brian wolf]

I always read his takes on his website ... He goes overboard sometimes but can also guess right. He knows how the NFL loves those "storylines" ... The Jets might be the biggest one this year--Hard Knocks will cover them--we will see if Rodgers can win it all with a new team like Manning, Brady and Stafford ... the Chiefs wont go back-to-back.

[Mark]

For every "storyline" that happens I would think many people would come up with tons of potential "storylines" that would have been just as good if not better.

[7DnBrnc53]

I always read his takes on his website ... He goes overboard sometimes but can also guess right. He knows how the NFL loves those "storylines" ... The Jets might be the biggest one this year--Hard Knocks will cover them--we will see if Rodgers can win it all with a new team like Manning, Brady and Stafford ... the Chiefs wont go back-to-back.

Brian isn't the only one that does this. On You Tube, there is a guy named Pat Troothner, who has a site Called TheNFLisRigged:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheNFLisRigged/videos

Some of his takes are questionable, like when he said that Nick Chubb signaled the defender during a run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSYk2S0ZQWA

I think that Brian is way more respectable than this guy. BTW, Pat and VonAllen Sports had a debate about the NFL being rigged:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t90fGJvbtVM

[rhickok1109]

Youre right Ralph, but suspicious officiating and NFL history have been unfortunate bedmates ...

Here's an idea for anyone who wants to be a real football historian instead of just another conspiracy theorist, on the same level as members of the Flat Earth Society.
Every year, several NFL officials retire. At a guess, it's about five a year, so there should be well over 100 former officials available for interviewing.
The NFL never announces why they retired; most probably retire voluntarily but some "retire" simply because the league chooses not to rehire them.
(Big hint: If an official "retires" after not being given any playoff assignments, it's very likely that the retirement was involuntary.)
Now interview as many of these former officials as you can, with a particular emphasis on those who were probably forced into retirement, since they're likely to be resentful toward the NFL and therefore more willing to be open about any questionable activities.
Ask each interviewee if a crew that he worked on was ever told to favor a specific team in a game. If you get an affirmative answer, dig for the details.
What game or games exactly?
What team was to be favored?
How and when were the instructions passed down? Did they come from the commissioner himself or from one of the commissioner's subordinates? Was the crew chief alone informed, with instructions to pass it on to other members of the crew or was each crew member informed individually? How was it done, by phone, letter, email? Does any physical evidence exist?
Armed with this information, get in touch with other officials who worked with your informant to see if you can get any corroboration.
Oh, by the way...if you can't find any evidence of such tampering, be sure to report that, too.

I don't have to do that. I just have to see what happens on the field. Calls like what the 79-80 Eagles got (and like what happened in New Orleans five years ago) are enough to go on. And, on top of that, you just saw about 20 years of the league favoring a certain team and a certain QB so much that his offensive line hardly ever got called for holding.

Yes, you do have to do that if you want to have any credibility. You need evidence and the conclusions you draw from what you see on the field aren't any kind of evidence.

Until you have something more to offer, you're just another conspiracy theorist, pro football's equivalent of a Flat Earther.

Having real evidence is the difference between being laughed at and being taken seriously.

[7DnBrnc53]

Yes, you do have to do that if you want to have any credibility. You need evidence and the conclusions you draw from what you see on the field aren't any kind of evidence.

Until you have something more to offer, you're just another conspiracy theorist, pro football's equivalent of a Flat Earther.

Having real evidence is the difference between being laughed at and being taken seriously.

So, when there is a pattern of calls going for a certain team, I have to just ignore that and not see that as evidence?

Or, when I see what happened in the Jesse James game, or to the Saints a year later, I have to ignore that? I don't think so.

[Brian wolf]

Officials screw up calls and plays all the time but only occasionally are they reversed due to coaches challenges or the replay booth from NY. The Eagles got a huge TD against the Niners in the championship game, due to a non-catch by Smith that should have been reversed. Due to tv announcers talking all the time, they themselves missed it before it was too late. Officials make mistakes, I have no problem with that but the technology is there to reverse huge errors that can cost teams games, like what the Rams got away with against the Saints in the 2018 NFC Championship game ...

[rhickok1109]

Yes, you do have to do that if you want to have any credibility. You need evidence and the conclusions you draw from what you see on the field aren't any kind of evidence.

Until you have something more to offer, you're just another conspiracy theorist, pro football's equivalent of a Flat Earther.

Having real evidence is the difference between being laughed at and being taken seriously.

So, when there is a pattern of calls going for a certain team, I have to just ignore that and not see that as evidence?

Or, when I see what happened in the Jesse James game, or to the Saints a year later, I have to ignore that? I don't think so.

That fact that you don't see a need for real evidence instead of conjecture is a symptom of the deep underlying problem.
Your notions can't be taken seriously by any intelligent, rational person.

[racepug]

The only onside kick that I remember from 1979 that involved the Steelers was the one that was tried against them late in the S.B. I also remember John Madden, in one of his books from the 1980s, mentioning how "I never understood why Randy White was on the onside kick recovery team when he had a cast on his hand."

[racepug]

Officials screw up calls and plays all the time but only occasionally are they reversed due to coaches challenges or the replay booth from NY. The Eagles got a huge TD against the Niners in the championship game, due to a non-catch by Smith that should have been reversed. Due to tv announcers talking all the time, they themselves missed it before it was too late. Officials make mistakes, I have no problem with that but the technology is there to reverse huge errors that can cost teams games, like what the Rams got away with against the Saints in the 2018 NFC Championship game ...

That one still makes me mad. I've never been a Rams fan, anyway, but as far as I'm concerned that call (or, rather, non-call) was highway robbery by the N.F.L. and I was pulling 100% for the Patriots in that S.B. (which is kinda funny because when those two teams met in T.B.s' first-ever S.B. I was disappointed when N.E. came out on top) I've been watching the N.F.L. for well over 4 decades, now, but sometimes the league does something that REALLY ticks me off and that ("non-reviewable") play from that game is one of them (another one is the horrible job the ref did when PIT beat my Seahawks S.B. XL. I'm convinced, to this day, that the refs favored PIT in that game so that "The Bus" could go out a winner in his hometown. All I know is that a few years later that very same referee, in an appearance in Seattle for pre-season, apologized to everyone concerned for not being on his "A-game" in that S.B. Well, gee - thanks. But we'll never get another chance to play that game with refs who weren't on the take).

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Officials screw up calls and plays all the time but only occasionally are they reversed due to coaches challenges or the replay booth from NY. The Eagles got a huge TD against the Niners in the championship game, due to a non-catch by Smith that should have been reversed. Due to tv announcers talking all the time, they themselves missed it before it was too late. Officials make mistakes, I have no problem with that but the technology is there to reverse huge errors that can cost teams games, like what the Rams got away with against the Saints in the 2018 NFC Championship game ...

Not a fan of either team, but people forget that the Rams could had to settle for a FG after a missed facemask against the Saints.

https://larrybrownsports.com/football/r ... nts/481704

I mean, I'd rather see the refs let them play. Especially at the end of playoff games. It's going to upset a fanbase either way - that should have been called or people complain because a late penalty gives the winning team the game.

That said, I'm still upset every time I see the so-called Catch 2 from Terrell Owens. Jerry Rice fumbled, and the Packers recovered. That game was over. But there wasn't replay that season to overturn.

Overall though, IMHO, if the game is that close - that you've left such a slim margin for error that a missed call is going to cost you the game - then you couldn't have played that much better of a game than the other team.