The Sports Guy hands out his NFL post-season awards (hilarious)

[WilliamPitt]

A few things to note:

1. He picked way wrong on pretty much every game last weekend;

2. Isiah Thomas threatened to kick his ass on ESPN radio earlier this week;

3. He isn't over the Pats loss yet.

That having been said, feast:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060118

[underpants]

1. I usually like him but I have to completely disagree about Alexander

Seattle's Shawn Alexander. That guy has lots of "heart" and he plays like it.

[SpiralHawk]

2. The TiVo Award

I'm posting this snip from the article because it expresses my thoughts so well.

The TiVo Award for Best Three-Second Delay in Real Life

To the back judge who whistled Asante Samuel for pass interference, the worst anti-Patriots call since Ben Dreith saved Oakland's season by whistling Ray "Sugar Bear" Hamilton for an unconscionable roughing the passer penalty in the 1976 playoffs. Not to break out a batch of sour grapes, but ...

1. If anything, that penalty should have been called on Ashley Lelie, who would have needed Freddie Krueger's arms to catch that ball, whether he was "impeded with" or not. But ever since Dungy and Bill Polian pulled their hissy fit after the 2004 AFC Championship and pushed the competition committee to change the pass defense rules to help out their quarterback, referees have adopted the "if there's even a modicum of contact and it seems like the receiver has a 10 percent chance of making the catch, throw the flag to be safe" policy...

2. The flag was thrown three seconds after the ball bounced off the grass. Put it this way: If you were making a football movie, and you wanted a scene in which the crooked refs were making every call for the home team, the back judge wouldn't wait that long to throw a late flag because it would seem too unrealistic. I mean, this wouldn't have even happened in "Remember the Titans."

3. That was the sideline judge's call since he was right there and all, so having the back judge intervene was the equivalent of an NBA referee standing at midcourt, then running 50 feet to overturn an out-of-bounds call under the basket. If that's not bad enough, the sideline judge tried to talk the back judge out of the flag, since he had a better angle and all, but the back judge wouldn't be denied.

4. The Pats were leading, 3-0, with under 2 minutes to play in the first half. By throwing this flag, the back judge was making a conscious decision to completely alter the course of the game. He waited three seconds and did it anyway.

(snip)

[friesianrider]

3. Damn, that sure sounds like the author has sour grapes to me.

I agree the call was iffy, but it isn't like Denver didn't dominate that game start to finish. In my opinion, the Patriots didn't play to win and they didn't deserve to win because of it. One bad call does not a game make. Could it have theoretically changed the dynamic of the game? Sure anything is possible, but why get into all these hypotheticals that can never and will never be proven?

Additionally, real champions find ways to overcome things like that and win games anyway. Just look at all the pro-Indy calls against the Steelers - they still managed to fight through it and pull off a win (and they dominated that game more than Denver dominated theirs).

Just sayin...don't throw anything at me!

[fishwax]

4. I think he's wrong on every count there

it doesn't show at all that he's a Pats fan.

#1: well, the rule is the rule, and if the refs called penalties based on rules from the 1980s, that would really be cause for complaint. In my view, the DB was clearly impeding the receiver's progress, and not playing the ball (looking up does not equal playing the ball).

#2: The flag was thrown shortly after the ball hit the turf. the delay was from the ref running towards the spot of the foul. It's actually not that unusual.

#3: The side judge had a view similar to the original replay view, whereby Lelie partially blocked the view and it looked like AL, if anyone, initiated contact. The back judge had a different angle, resembling the reverse angle shown around the start of the 2nd half, where you could see the DB tangling Lelie with his left elbow and forearm, impeding his progress as Lelie tried to get him around. The people *behind* a play see different action than the people *in front* of the play, and a different angle, even a *closer* one, does not equal the better angle. The analogy to NBA refs is just silly, since the back judge was deeper than the sideline judge.

#4: It was first down, and the Broncos were already near field goal range, so they could have easily scored before the half anyway, thus kicking off and giving the Pats another opportunity to fumble on a tough hit by the Broncos mighty punter/kickoff specialist.

[MrSlayer]

5. Bang.

Hits the nail right on the head. The PI call was a ludicrous game changer and Bailey did fumble through the end zone. I too watched it a zillion times. It was simply a highway robbery and is the reason I'm going for the Steelers.