Originally posted by Empire49:
Originally posted by jays9ers:
I was really upset at the non-calls in the first quarter....but then when I seen the refs were just letting guys play, I was all for it. I have ZERO problem with not calling every ticky tack call. They let the teams play ball today and the better team won..period. Good job refs.
Ticky tack calls not being made - no problem. However, the defensive smothering of Crabtree on 3 separate occasions in the 1st quarter alone were far from ticky tack and should have been called. Same with the BS holding (and choking) of Ray McDonald. These things literally changed the outcome of the plays. The problem here is the 49ers,for the most part, were playing (seemingly) with the mentality that they would be flagged for cheating, so they (for the most part) played a pretty clean game. The Packers seemed to just say f**k it and took their chances. It worked for them. The reason I dislike the officiating is it is too inconsistent. If they consistently allow plays to play how they want, then BOTH teams would do so. They don't do that, so we end up with one team playing clean and the other saying f**k it.
If our guys say f**k it at some point, we'll probably get flagged the whole game.
Either enforce the rules all the time or none of the time.
It isn't "cheating" if the officials don't call it.
It bothers me when the calls are not consistent. My wife, who has become a pretty knowledgeable football observer, commented early on Saturday that the officials were letting things go that had been called during the regular season. That kind of inconsistency bothers me. However, as the weekend progressed, IN EVERY GAME, the officials were letting them play. That tells me that either the league had sent out a memo to let the play, or that the playoff officials (the best of the best) did not see the fouls as important as the refs who had stayed home.
Playoff officials are assigned on a performance basis. They are graded on each play of each game all season long. The best grades earn them playoff money. That suggests to me that the way these four games were called are the way they should be called for the most part, not the way they were called in the regular season.
I can't help but wonder if Harbaugh's constant badgering of officials has not negatively impacted the way games are called. He needs to shut up and coach his team to play the way the refs are calling the game instead of complaining that the other team is getting away with playing more aggressively…but that is just me.