See Red

24 minutes ago, DoctorWhom said:

So you want the NFL to be more boring than it already is? Gotcha. 

Besides, If they were being "consistent", they probably would have let that hold go. like they had done earlier. Which is why Bradberry thought he could get away with it. 

 

Or is that not the "consistency" you want? 

I don't think them missing a blatant one earlier in the game means they should have swallowed their whistles on one late in a game, though.  And, fwiw, the Chiefs did have a drive end with a pretty blatant hold not called, so it's sort of a wash, I guess.

Looking at it more, I've reversed course and I'm fine with the call.  It was a borderline call, sure.  But there was a clear grab and it happened on a play where Bradberry was out of position and beat with no safety help.  Wish the broadcast showed this angle -- felt like they focused it more on what Bradberry did as JSS turned up field.

2 minutes ago, Davey said:

Didnt the Bengals get screwed over with the calls too ? I'm all for fair but that call just really bugs me the wrong way. 

No, they did not despite people thinking they did. 

Yeah, that was objectively a bad call. If that's holding then it really does happen on every single play. Robbed us of a great finish. 

Hopefully the NFL actually addresses its officiating problems this time around. 

That should take the heat off of the :censored:ty grass, at least. 

Was really hoping Toney would get in there.

2 minutes ago, JerseyJimmy said:

oh kansas city's balls are FIRMLY down the league's throat now

Seems like they got it right per the rules, so what's the issue?

I agree with Mahomes. I like Hurts but I think Philly would get by better without him than KC without Mahomes.

Crazy that Mahomes has been a starter for five years and is basically already a hall of fame lock.

It was a trend last year with Williams, McLaren, AM and probably others doing it as the season went on.

If we are splitting hairs, Kobe had an NBA Finals game 7 where he shot 25% from the field.  I don't really get the doubting of LeBron's clutchness. Think he just had the misfortune of dragging worse teams to the finals and playing much better teams there than Jordan ever did.

Jordan's always going to have the benefit of when he played and the influence he had on the sport and popular culture in these discussions.  Also, there's this weird idea of what the NBA actually was when Jordan played.  People seem to genuinely believe if you put LeBron in the 90s against people who were smaller and less athletic and then make most of what teams do to defend LeBron against the rules, he'd be some schlub.

1 hour ago, dont care said:

The black is still painted. The only black on there that isn’t painted are all the carbon fiber bits that wouldn’t be painted anyways

Most of the black on this Alfa is exposed carbon fiber.  In the pictures below, it looks like just the halo isn't, but that's made out of titanium, iirc. 

More noteworthy about the RBR unveiling is the news Ford's returning to the sport in 2026 and partnering with Red Bull. 

5 hours ago, Indigo said:

Only because they couldn't get thier first target:

 

Schefter is disputing that, fwiw

The tweets I saw yesterday don't really align with the Broncos pursuing Ryans today either. 

I don't think the refs suck, tbh. Again, I think the NFL has a huge officiating problem but I don't understand why people act like their job is easy.  They're watching 22 players who are playing the game faster than it's ever been played before, enforcing a convoluted rulebook, and asked to emphasize the rules in a way that are almost impossible to apply consistently.  I imagine 95% of people watching these games and complaining don't understand or know half of these rules - like what constitutes a legal formation or the one I mentioned earlier, that holding doesn't apply if its the result of a certain pass rushing technique.

We can all disagree on whether Mahomes was pushed hard enough to send him to the ground but there's no disagreement that he was out of bounds when he was pushed. So it's a penalty. Don't understand why people think the refs suck but also, let's give them more judgment calls.

It's the league that sucks. They could easily have a person or people watching the game in a booth to clean things up and just don't.

The NFL has a huge officiating problem but this seems like people just looking for something to be upset about because the team they wanted to win didn't.

On the intentional grounding, Burrow threw the ball straight to the ground seven yards away from the nearest eligible receiver to avoid a sack.  Seven yards!  He threw the ball seven yards from a player that was 11 yards away from him.  That's intentional grounding.

Come on, nobody genuinely believes that isn't intentional grounding even by the loose interpretation the league uses for what's a realistic chance of completion. 

The third down play was blown dead by an official running onto the field waving his hands above his head before/during the play. By rule the play didn't happen and wouldn't have happened even if the Chiefs had converted.

Genuinely baffling to me that these plays are being held up as examples of the Bengals getting screwed.

Even the "missed holds" on that last play people are talking about would've been ticky tack calls.  The rulebook specifically addresses holding that occurs when a defender does a rip technique and that it should not be called.

I was cheering for Cincy but I didnt think the officiating was that bad.  Regarding the third down play, they showed a replay of one official clearly running onto the field calling the play dead right after the ball was snapped and before Mahomes attempted the pass because the clock was running after an incomplete pass on the previous play.  There is no legitimate argument that the play should have counted when you have an official running onto the field waving his hands above his head in the middle of it.  It wasn't handled well but the primary issue was the official saying to start the clock on his signal.  The intentional grounding was very much intentional grounding.  It wasn't in the direction nor the vicinity of the RB.  The late hit is a penalty every single time.  I do remember a weak PI call against the Bengals, though. 

It was par for the course as far as NFL officials goes. Nothing that egregious imo. 

Just now, burgundy said:

I feel sorry for Ossai. He's gonna catch all sorts of crap, and you can tell he already feels terrible. But man what a dumb way to lose a game.

It really was a dumb move but its also easy to forget how fast the game really is. I have sympathy for defenders because I've seen too many guys do the look like they're running out-of-bounds but actually scamper down the sideline because you can't hit them thing too many times. 

As someone who barely has a rooting interest anymore, Chiefs/Eagles seems like a great matchup. Legit feels like two elite teams.

Although sometimes KC feels like Mahomes, Kelce, and just a bunch of other guys.

Geeeez that was a bone-headed penalty.

Orlen is out as a principal sponsor for Alfa Romeo and is moving to Alpha Tauri as a title sponsor. Orlen will now partner with a scummy gambling website, Stake.  I don't know about Alfa Romeo as a brand but will this change their use of red?  Stake's branding seems to be dark blue and white. I imagine AT is going to have to adopt some red, which is a bummer. I've enjoyed their look. 

What are these guys even making for doing this?  UFC fighters make relative peanuts and people actually watch that. 

That looked like a terrible spot to me. 

+5 turnovers and lose.  Way to go Chargers!

17 minutes ago, kiwi_canadian said:

What happened with all the stuff with Mario Andretti and trying to get a team? I heard he had Cadillac/GM on board but noting since.

Still doesn't seem like its likely to go anywhere, especially since GM's immediate plans would just be re-badging Renault engines afaik.

I think it's mostly that having less teams drives up the value of current teams and having more teams decreases the payouts. Personally, I think it's short-sighted and F1 would benefit from having an American team that isn't Haas. 

23 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

I think if the NCAA actually cared about limits they would have lowered it. With NIL now, depending on how deep the pockets of the boosters are you can have "walk ons" come in that don't count towards your 25 scholarships per year and they will be happy to take the check to be second stringers at SEC and Big Ten schools over starters in the MAC. 

NCAA only cares about maintaining the status quo so the major programs don't break off and do their own thing and the sport has been ruined because of it. Happy the players have the freedom to transfer and get paid but the NCAA's unwillingness to actually enforce any rules means its just whoever's boosters have the deepest pockets and willingness to spend, so you've got guys like Ruiz paying tens of millions to promote an app that has about 100 downloads.

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

What if college football teams had smaller rosters?

 

I did a search on NCAA roster size and all of the AI articles that popped up weren't helpful (36? 63? 85? 102?).

The scholarship limit is 85.  Beyond that is walk-ons where you may have the occasional special teams contributor, long snappers, sometimes kickers and punters.

Regarding this game, its not at all surprising. I watched TCU a handful of times this year and each time my impression was that they were a fine team but not good enough to be in the national conversation if they didn't play in a mediocre conference.