Week 18 Bolts @ Raiders Final - Pre Game Discussion

[Velo]

All you need is a team of Zebras to be on it...

I think it would take more than that. And do you think the officials in the NFL are totally corrupt?

[FoutsFan]

I think it would take more than that. And do you think the officials in the NFL are totally corrupt?

There have been many games in which I believe they were fixing the game.

The Drew Brees record game in NO where once the Saints got the late lead and the Chargers came back with big play after big play and the refs called them all back with bogus calls, they told the Chargers, you are not going to win this game.

The Holly Roller.

When the refs are calling all kinds of ticky tack fouls on one team and the other gets away with murder (see almost any Broncos home game) you will see a pattern. It is either the refs are incredibly incompetent or they are corrupt. If they were incompetent they would make bad calls for everyone equally. Since that does not occur very often the only other option is they are corrupt.

[Charge!]

All this silly talk about playing for a tie reminds me of some posters suggesting "losing out" to get a top draft pick...sorry, doesn't work that way...teams play to win...unless u r the 1919 Black Sox...and even then, not everyone on the team was in on the fix...

agree.... but remember when peyton manning got hurt?..... Polian smartly did not lift a finger to acquire a better vet backup who might win a game or two...... because Luck was in that draft...... as a franchise you never pass on nearly sure thing QB's like manning, elway, luck....... his team did not lose out on purpose but they never upgraded their QB to someone who might have won a game, which they could have done....

[Velo]

There have been many games in which I believe they were fixing the game.

The Drew Brees record game in NO where once the Saints got the late lead and the Chargers came back with big play after big play and the refs called them all back with bogus calls, they told the Chargers, you are not going to win this game.

The Holly Roller.

When the refs are calling all kinds of ticky tack fouls on one team and the other gets away with murder (see almost any Broncos home game) you will see a pattern. It is either the refs are incredibly incompetent or they are corrupt. If they were incompetent they would make bad calls for everyone equally. Since that does not occur very often the only other option is they are corrupt.

So you think the refs are getting paid to make calls to fix games? Come on, man. Think about what you are saying. You are accusing these refs of being totally corrupt. Do you really believe that? It doesn't sound like you, you seem to be level-headed and reasonable, grounded in reality.

Are refs human? Yes. Do they make mistakes? Absolutely. NFL refs have made egregiously bad calls that we at home can see plain as day were 100 percent B.S. But the refs are down on the field with the players, the action is fast, split second. It's a tough job, and very few people can do it. When you are that close the action with players flying around and everything moving so fast, mistakes are going to be made. But I don't believe for a second that any NFL game has ever been "fixed" by calls referees have made. What would that accomplish? Who is instructing them to "fix" the game? Which referees are involved? People are quick to cry "conspiracy!!!" when something isn't going there way. But most people don't understand that it's very difficult to pull off a conspiracy. Everything has to go just right, and the people involved or have knowledge of it have to stay silent about it forever, even on their deathbeds. To me, accusing an NFL ref of "fixing" a game is like believing the moon landings were faked

Here is a very brief video about the Holy Roller. The official who called a TD for the Raiders, Jerry Markbreit, talks about it, what happened. Do you believe Markbreit was corrupt and was in on some sort of fix? I don't think you really do at the end of the day.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Chargers need to put a fifty burger on Raid-turds, channel their inner Marty Schottenheimer this damn week!

From your keyboard to <deity of choice>'s ears. Ensha'allah , and amen.

[ChargingBolts]

IF Raiders win 10-7 get 6 seed IF Chargers, Colts, Ravens end up 9-8 who gets the 7 seed?

[Velo]

The Colts, by virtue of a better conference record than the Chargers or Ravens.

[FoutsFan]

So you think the refs are getting paid to make calls to fix games? Come on, man. Think about what you are saying. You are accusing these refs of being totally corrupt. Do you really believe that? It doesn't sound like you, you seem to be level-headed and reasonable, grounded in reality.

Are refs human? Yes. Do they make mistakes? Absolutely. NFL refs have made egregiously bad calls that we at home can see plain as day were 100 percent B.S. But the refs are down on the field with the players, the action is fast, split second. It's a tough job, and very few people can do it. When you are that close the action with players flying around and everything moving so fast, mistakes are going to be made. But I don't believe for a second that any NFL game has ever been "fixed" by calls referees have made. What would that accomplish? Who is instructing them to "fix" the game? Which referees are involved? People are quick to cry "conspiracy!!!" when something isn't going there way. But most people don't understand that it's very difficult to pull off a conspiracy. Everything has to go just right, and the people involved or have knowledge of it have to stay silent about it forever, even on their deathbeds. To me, accusing an NFL ref of "fixing" a game is like believing the moon landings were faked

Here is a very brief video about the Holy Roller. The official who called a TD for the Raiders, Jerry Markbreit, talks about it, what happened. Do you believe Markbreit was corrupt and was in on some sort of fix? I don't think you really do at the end of the day.

Do I think that all refs are corrupt and fix games? No, not at all. I do think that the quality of refs are terrible and have been as long as I have been watching football. I do believe there are and have been refs bought off at times. We know of a team that for sure was bought off, the Black Sox, we know of a ref that was bought off, Tim Donaghy. No way do I believe these were the only two that ever happened, and that it has never happened in the NFL.

I do believe that Markbreit was in some way compromised. No one could have made that bad of a call on just incompetence, it had to be corruption. The Holly Roller was a call that was blown on multiple different levels that were so obvious to anyone with an IQ over 50 it had to be corruption of some kind.

So no, all refs are not on the take, just bad. I do believe there are some few on the take, I also believe that there are some that the NFL says, hey if this is happening in this circumstance, like the Brees game, make sure it ends in a win.

[Boltx]

Nervous about this one, fellas.

[FoutsFan]

Nervous about this one, fellas.

It is a playoff game, it is nervous time as a fan. I think we should have some confidence as well. We can take these guys no sweat.

Hit Sid early and hit Sid often.

[chargeroo]

I think we beat them soundly in the first game and I believe we are a stronger team than we were back then, so I expect a similar outcome. Go Bolts!

[chargeroo]

Regarding the holy roller game - what's it called when a QB throws a pass forward? How could that not have been ruled an incomplete pass? I was at that game and I almost cried. I sat there in my seat for a long time after that game - there weren't many others still there when I left. The sad thing about it was the Chargers hadn't beaten the raiders in a long time and on that day they did but they were cheated out of the win. It still annoys the hell out of me.