It's been a long time since I have been all that impressed with any one team in the NFL......but

[lastcat3]

Despite Purdy's decidedly mediocre play today the 49ers had that game in hand until the refs made a particularly egregious call on a third and long for "unsportsmanlike conduct" on a impossible-to-avoid hit on a receiver running a crossing pattern (who ran at the defender).

I don't want to sound like an upset fan (which I admit I am) but I don't want to watch referees "play" for 3 hours.
Whatever game they're playing today sure isn't the football I know.
Heck, I don't even know what a catch is anymore...

I turned the game off with 3:00 minutes left in the 4th quarter and I don't know when I'll be going back again.

Yep. It's all about putting points on the board these days and the league is going to do as much as they can to make sure those points get put on the board.

Saying it's for player safety is a very convenient cover. We all know the real reason though is that the more scoring there is the more people watch. And the more people watch the more the networks will pay.

[Brian wolf]

The end of the Giants game was just as bad JuggernautJ ... the refs sometimes want as much air time as the players. It gets ridiculous

[rhickok1109]

Despite Purdy's decidedly mediocre play today the 49ers had that game in hand until the refs made a particularly egregious call on a third and long for "unsportsmanlike conduct" on a impossible-to-avoid hit on a receiver running a crossing pattern (who ran at the defender).

I don't want to sound like an upset fan (which I admit I am) but I don't want to watch referees "play" for 3 hours.
Whatever game they're playing today sure isn't the football I know.
Heck, I don't even know what a catch is anymore...

I turned the game off with 3:00 minutes left in the 4th quarter and I don't know when I'll be going back again.

Yep. It's all about putting points on the board these days and the league is going to do as much as they can to make sure those points get put on the board.

Saying it's for player safety is a very convenient cover. We all know the real reason though is that the more scoring there is the more people watch. And the more people watch the more the networks will pay.

Ummmm...no, we don't all "know" that.

[74_75_78_79_]

I didn't see the SF/Clev game yesterday, but no matter how bad Brock played I'd like to think that he's entitled being what a massive start his career has had so far. And I'll bet the ranch that it's no flash-in-the-pan barring a Greg Cook-like thing happening to him.

San Fran and Philly, to me, still are the top-two until.

Funny though that a Browns player, forgot his name, was sort-of giving SF some bulletin board material going in along with all-but calling Brock a system QB whilst still complimenting him. Yet SF didn't post the 'W'!

[JuggernautJ]

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... 150cle.htm

The 49ers ran 52 plays for a total of 233 yards with 15 first downs.
The Browns ran 68 plays for a total of 252 yards with 18 first downs.

The refs called 25 penalties for a total of 224 yards.
I don't know how many of the 33 first downs were by penalty but I would guess it was a majority of them.

Who do you believe determined the outcome of the game?
If you knew this was the kind of game to which you would be "treated" would you spend 3+ hours of your life watching it (considering that almost an hour would be commercials)?

I turned the game off and didn't watch another minute of "football" all day.
I was pleasantly surprised at how little I missed it and how much better my Sunday was because of that.

Edit: I was corrected by a friend. Apparently only 6 first downs were due to penalties.

[JWL]

Despite Purdy's decidedly mediocre play today the 49ers had that game in hand until the refs made a particularly egregious call on a third and long for "unsportsmanlike conduct" on a impossible-to-avoid hit on a receiver running a crossing pattern (who ran at the defender).

I don't want to sound like an upset fan (which I admit I am) but I don't want to watch referees "play" for 3 hours.
Whatever game they're playing today sure isn't the football I know.
Heck, I don't even know what a catch is anymore...

I turned the game off with 3:00 minutes left in the 4th quarter and I don't know when I'll be going back again.

The Cleveland defense is really good. I picked that team to make the playoffs because of the defense. Yes, the penalty flag thrown for Gipson's legal hit was egregious. The game should have ended there, but it didn't. It then ended when San Francisco missed a makeable field goal.

[JohnTurney]

I don't want to sound like an upset fan (which I admit I am) but I don't want to watch referees "play" for 3 hours.

No dog or "dawg" in fight. But the forward pass call when it was, to me, a fumble was a factor, too.
It looked like he was trying to throw it but it slipped out of the front of his hands.

In either case, that is not a real attempt to throw. It got flagged for grounding ... but it's bad football
and it gets encouraged by there being not as many bad consequences for taking dumb risks in
protecting the football.

Same with the fumble out of the end zone. Sure, risk it if you want, stretch ball out, but if you lose it
and it turns out to be a touchback don't complain it's a bad rule.

Yes, it's archaic, from way back but so is the two-minute warning. No one is "warned" there is no need
for a 4th time out. That is all it is. Back before clocks were visible, it was a chance for ref to
inform coaches, "Hey, time is running out" and he had to go to both benches, hence the stopped clock.

Anway, even if that was not a fumble, the ref blew it dead. The point of emphasis a while back was
to let it play out. Then if it needs to be reversed reverse if after the play completes. Don't
stop it before someone has run it back.

Anyway, the call you are talking about was bad-looking in real time but looked prettylegal to me.

[Reaser]

I don't want to sound like an upset fan (which I admit I am) but I don't want to watch referees "play" for 3 hours.
Whatever game they're playing today sure isn't the football I know.

The "upset fan" of the past used to point to something ridiculous like: "if they would have called holding ..." on some early 2nd quarter play and claim that decided the game.

Nowadays, a lot more validity since that's how games and championships are decided now. Super Bowl's, playoffs, etc. Unless it's a Dolphins-Broncos type game you're basically watching until the end waiting for which horrible call, weak 'player safety' call, ticky-tack call, or even non-call (e.g. Johnson holding Waller so he could only go up with one hand to end SNF) is going to decide the game for all intents and purposes. A lot of "that one play" or "that one call," "didn't decide the game" of the past is gone because that is how games are decided today.

Was that -and as Turney pointed out that fumble ('pass')- costing the 49ers. If want to go into other things, though. Purdy didn't deal with the conditions well (not just the ball that slipped out of his hands,) had multiple passes come out funny and was inaccurate, most of that was unforced, too. Also, once Deebo went out they seemed out-of-sorts getting lined up, motions and executing the 'Deebo plays', and then when McCaffrey was also out they were missing their best two offensive players. Despite injuries, Purdy having problems throwing the ball in the conditions and the officiating, they still should have won, but missed the FG.

Other than the annoyance of the officiating and generally what's happened to football, which was all confirmed well before this game happened, I don't think there's much there for SF to worry about. 49ers lost a game they shouldn't have which in the end won't matter at all for their season (unless they go 19-1 and that cost perfection, ha) and the Browns got a gift (percentage of it earned) and maybe that game is the difference between the last wild card spot or not so maybe it'll cost some AFC team a playoff spot but league-wide there's going to be a ton of games decided similarly anyway.

[JameisBrownston]

In many cases, I feel like the refs can't not decide games. If they make a call, they'll catch hell from fans who say they're too involved. If they don't make the same call, they'll catch an equal amount of hell from the other team's fans who wanted the call. It's impossible to win being an NFL referee more often than not. You'll be the center of blame no matter what if anything ambiguous happens in the game.

[JohnTurney]

In many cases, I feel like the refs can't not decide games. If they make a call, they'll catch hell from fans who say they're too involved. If they don't make the same call, they'll catch an equal amount of hell from the other team's fans who wanted the call. It's impossible to win being an NFL referee more often than not. You'll be the center of blame no matter what if anything ambiguous happens in the game.

I don't mind mistakes in judgment calls-- they have always and will always be there. My deal with the non-fumble is the early whistle. A few years ago it was a point of emphasis. And I have seen several of these plays blown dead. It's a real disadvantage to a defense because they are so rare.

To me, that's more of an issue that a poor PI or roughing or personal foul because there is a remedy if they get it wrong.

So, yeah, totally agree with the partisan fans are always going to complain if their team are on wrong side of call.

I just get disappointed when they blow whistle early. Only excuse is if someone is in danger, defenseless -- something like that.