In the past, when someone on this board would argue that one blown call or one BS penalty cost us a particular game, a bunch of people on the board would quickly counter that it was Sporano that cost us the game with whatever bone headed thing he did during that particular game or even blame our Quarterback if there was a crucial pick he threw or particular play he screwed up. No such excuse exists for this game.

We lost this game today because Cameron Wake was held on 3 seperate crucial plays, each of which the referees wouldn't call. Three grossly blown calls. I'm literally sick to my stomach. I'm used to watching Cameron Wake get held on every other play week in and week out, but today reached a new low.

The worst one and the one that in my opinion really cost us the game was the first touchdown Brady threw. Wake beat his blocker, came around the lineman, and with no other players anywhere near the play, no crowd of players to block it from sight, Wake was held from behind long enough for Brady to get a nice additional, and illegal 2 seconds for his reciever to get open, for him to find the reciever, and for him to throw the ball to his reciever. He was in open space and got bear hugged from behind. Wide open in the middle of the field, painfully obvious, and crystal clear. No call. Not only was it not called, but the announcers, like they always do don't say a word about it. No one mentions the 8,000lb elephant in the room. Instead they obsess over Deion Branches feet in the endzone, deciding that yes, he was indeed in bounds when he made the catch. Well thank you, but that aspect of the play was irrelevant. Nothing said about a clear as day hold that wasn't called and resulted in a touchdown.

End of the game, Dolphins down by three. Biggest 3rd down play of the game. Patriots need to convert to end the game. Cameron Wake beats his man and arrives at Brady's door for the sack. The defender holds Wake with one arm as he closes in and then as he's in the process of flying around him despite this, gets tackled from behind and pancaked flat on his face with the lineman going for a piggy back ride on Wake's back. No call. End of game. Dolphins lose.

As bad as that hold was, the first hold, in addition to being the most embarrassingly obvious, was the one that cost us the game. Wake saved the touchdown on that play. If the blocker doesn't pull that $hit it's 4th down and the Patriots settle for the field goal. If the referees (ANY OF THEM) actually called the penalty like they should have (the ground should have been littered with yellow flags on that play) the Patriots back up 10 yards and still likely don't score any touchdown.

As soon as that happened I knew we were going to lose the game, because I've seen enough Dolphins games to know the pattern where one BS call or blown penalty that screws us over at a crucial point in the game like that (of which we seem to get a steadier dose of more so than any other team I watch) always seems to initiate a landslide of bull$h!t that ends in us going home losers. This is why I HATE the NFL Patriots.

They haven't done away with em. They just call 'em when they want to.

I started a thread that was ignored a few months ago about The Current NFL Commisoner, Rodger dodger. He grew up in NY and is a fan of Northern teams. YOU do the math..........

Really? Nothing but tumbleweeds? Is anybody out there? It can't be that you didn't see it, those holds were crystal clear and embarrassingly obvious. Nobody else is the least bit annoyed that the referees didn't call 3 huge holding penalties that directly cost us the game? Ok. I guess I just underestimated just how beaten down and used to getting screwed the fans of this team are at this point.


I was a card carrying member of the Suck for Luck Foundation and accordingly was hoping to lose out in the hopes of drafting Andrew Luck, so much so that I still don't want to accrue any more wins, even at this point, so as to have the highest pick possible in order to even have a CHANCE at moving up to draft Luck. All that being said, part of me still always roots for the Dolphins to win in spite of our current predicament, and especially when its against our hated AFC East rivals. In light of that, I'm just the littlest bit peeved when referees fail to call crucial holding penalties that directly cost us a game, if the "littlest bit peeved" is equivalent to being in a blinding rage when it happens.


It's not like we don't have a million other pressing issues, and that loss probably helped us, but regardless, it will always be infuriating to me when referees cost us a game, and especially if its against the Patriots.

oh please. i couldn't even read this post if you are blaming this loss on the refs. come on

I disagree berk. I agree with Panteraize. I am just so "beaten down" by the refs cheating against us and FOR NEW ENGLAND for so many years that I have become desensitized to it. It was like that spot I talked with you about on another thread. Even the announcers were outraged.

But to lapse into that thread, the reason I bring up our failure to throw out the challenge flag on that play is that I am worried that there is a stupidity and brain-deadness in our playcalling and management that did not end with Sparano.

Back to Panteraize's theme of being in the vexing position of in a sense wanting to lose for the draft picks yet can't help but wanting to win in the heat of battle, if we throw out that challenge flag, then New England is faced with the choice of 1) punting 2) going for the long field goal or 3) risking it all on a fourth and 1 play.

But they didn't have to because we kept the challenge flag in our pockets.

I'm convinced most teams have someone in contact with the field who listens to these broadcasts. Don't we? If we had, then they would have passed the word to the coach that the TV guys think it's a bad spot so throw the challenge flag.

The coach looked a deer in the headlights. He wasn't talking into the headset and not very animated. He MAY have had a red flag but, I doubt that he knew which pocket it was in.

without those calls we still lose. if we play the pats in a perfectly officiated game 10 times we still lose 7 of them. the refs are not our problem, our problems are much larger than bad calls

berkeley223 Wrote:
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without those calls we still lose.


Um actually, NO we don't. If the referees did their job and actually called the holding penalties (and I know this is asking a lot) when Cameron Wake was obviously held, which just happened to be during 3 extremely crucial plays, we win that game. This isn't about what winning would mean for us, or the importance of that game, or what other unrelated problems we may have. Cameron Wake got held dirrrttyyy on the play Brady threw a touchdown. They never should have been given those 7 points. Without them they lose. IT'S THAT SIMPLE.

Later at the end of the game, on the crucial 3rd down conversion that let the patriots keep the ball, Cameron Wake had Brady sacked. Again he got held, tackled from behind actually. We get the ball back if the referres did their job and called it. And then we have another opportunity to put points on the board which we wouldn't even need because the patriots should have had 4 fewer points (assuming they made the field goal they would have had to attempt had the referees done their job and called holding on the B.S. touchdown earlier).

So yes we do win the game when the 3 crucial plays that the patriots needed to be able to win the game were ALL prevented by our defense, only to be handed to them by the referees, who everybody together now..."didn't do their job"




berkeley223 Wrote:
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the refs are not our problem, our problems are much larger than bad
calls


Completely seperate issue. This is a common flaw in logic that disgruntled fans of crappy football teams make. That's like having severe chronic heart problems and going under to get a heart valve repaired and while the doctors in there he accidentally cuts your kidney screwing up your digestive system. But its ok, because he tells you you have a lot bigger issues than your kidneys not working right. This is stupid.

Like I said before, we have a million other problems. But that doesn't make it ok. This isn't about the long term success of the team or what we need to do to be a good team. This is about one win that we got cheated out of, one game, one recurrent situation manifested in one specific instance (3 plays). And we got screwed. No matter what are situation is, it's never ok.

excuses excuses. I am sure they missed calls that favored us too. We have only ourselves (our team) to blame for this crappy season, and trying to blame the refs just entirely misses the point. A good team makes any number of the plays that were there to be made on the field on sunday and wins the game---a bad one blames the refs.

and frankly, if we win the game, then the FO concludes we are "close," probably considers bowles for the HC, and takes a RT at #12 overall next year (this stuff may still happen, however).
so it's all for the best, anyway

I am not sure if you are responding to my "ref" comment in this thread, or my other comment in another thread where I said "winning" doesn't matter if it is defined to exclude winning the division or SB. It doesn't seem like you are responding to either.

My point re the refs is that complaining about bad calls in a 5-11 season is really a waste of time, and distracting from the larger issue of WHY this team sucks and is much worse than the Pats (hint: it is not the refs).

My point about "winning"--that 9-7 seasons with at best a wild card blowout (the best we've done in the past 15 years, btw)---just isn't cutting it anymore. I'd happily "lose" next year if that year was spent getting a franchise QB playing time. Such "losing" is a means to the ultimate end--which is making and winning the SB. Anything else (starting Moore and improving the OL with no attempt to add a real franchise QB (Luck or RG3) is just treading water---and from past experience we know we will ultimately drown.

your election analogy would be more apt if the choice was (1) losing the election by 1000000 votes if it meant that experience would help you win the next time out or (2) losing the election by 10 votes that year and every other year.

First off, the "winning" thing escapes me.

I responded because you took the same type of attitude to my post criticizing the failure to throw the challenge flag as you took to Panteraize's criticism of the failure to call holding penalty. Your answer was "you can't blame the losses on that because the reason we lost is that we suck." We suck is a general criticism.

When you point out at the end of your post that your concern is winning the election "the next time," then NOW YOU GET IT!

After the game, you SHOULD COMPLAIN about bad play calling, bad officiating, bad playing by one player.

You don't shrug your shoulders and say, "Well if we had played the game we intended......"

BUT YOU DO LOOK AT THE NEXT GAME AND THEN USE WHAT YOU FAILED TO DO IN THIS GAME TO TRY TO MAKE IT BETTER.

That's where you talk about your general play.

You are using the lack of following the game plan to explain the loss.

It doesn't explain the loss. The bad calls explain the loss.

Now AS FAR AS THE NEXT GAME IS CONCERNED, NOW WE ARE WILLING TO LISTEN TO YOU ABOUT HOW WE FAILED TO FOLLOW THE GAMEPLAN........

Please guys do not blame a loss on the officials......Blame the loss on that we stink and have no QB or nobody that will step up and make a play.

If bruce smith would have gotten all those holding penalties he complained about, we would not have beaten the bills once in the nfl lifetime.

Do you all remember him complaining when richmond webb was blocking him?

Do you know how many holding penalties go unnoticed in the NFL?

Don't blame the refs for that, every team gets away with penalties.

I really disagree that we win that game if those 3 holding calls are made (I watched the game and frankly don't even recall the plays you are talking about). We'd have found other ways to screw it up. I mean, weren't we up 17-0 at the half?

Those 3 no calls cost us the game. I watched it on an iphone on while my wife drove on I81, I remember the first one on the Branch TD reception and the last one on the Pats conversion. I just accepted it as typical Pats / Phins officiating

there is something wrong when a DOLPHINS fan can't go on a DOLPHINS forum to complain about a few instances of horrendous officiating favoring the PATRIOTS without being called out for (gasp) complaining about the officials. the calls were horrible and they played a huge role in the outcome of the game. . . i think everyone can or should agree with that so let the man complain, he has endured this horrible season with the rest of us.

ChambersDeepBall Wrote:
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Those 3 no calls cost us the game. I watched it on an iphone on while my wife drove on I81, I remember the first one on the Branch TD reception and the last one on the Pats conversion. I just accepted it as typical Pats / Phins officiating



dolphin1423 Wrote:
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> there is something wrong when a DOLPHINS fan can't
> go on a DOLPHINS forum to complain about a few
> instances of horrendous officiating favoring the
> PATRIOTS without being called out for (gasp)
> complaining about the officials. the calls were
> horrible and they played a huge role in the
> outcome of the game. . . i think everyone can or
> should agree with that so let the man complain,
> he has endured this horrible season with the rest
> of us.


Amen!

complain all you want, just don't delude yourself that this team is 3 non-holding calls away from the pats.
happy new year amigos!!