Why I Would NOT Want to be an NFL Defensive Back
I just watched the clip of the HORRIBLE pass interference call from the Pats/Denver playoff game. You know the awful late flag that lead to a Denver TD instead of a punt and allowed Denver 7 points they shouldn't have had. This definitely affected the outcome of the game. You have to remember that Denver couldn't score in that game, in fact their offense couldn't do shit in that game, except when they were given the ball inside the 10 by this bad call.
The clip was linked by Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy of ESPN.com Page 2 fame. If you haven't read any of this guy's writing, you NEED to. He's amazing. The Nomar/Pedro article is priceless. Anyway, he was doing a YouTube Hall of Fame and mentioned this clip. He mentions that Seattle needs to stop crying about the Superbowl because after this mugging by the refs New England bitched for a week and moved on. Perhaps it is because we've won a crap ton of Superbowl's recently. Perhaps it's because we recently Broke the Curse of the Bambino. I mean come on, the best Seattle has before this Superbowl is when MJ and the Bulls rocked them like Amadeus in the 1996 NBA Finals. Oh Shawn Kemp. Proving overweight alcoholics can have NBA careers.
Anyway, I'm pissed about this call. If I were a HS football coach I would want this clip in my library. I would show it to my defensive backs. This is textbook coverage kids. Notice how he reads the route and beats his man to the spot. He gets his head back and looks for the ball. He maintains position without bumping the receiver. And he doesn't get thrown off when the receiver GRABS HIS SHOULDER PADS AND TRIES TO PULL HIM AWAY FROM THE BALL!!! This is a spectacular play and then the flag comes in. I remember thinking, do you really need to make that call against the receiver. Especially that late. The Pats are going to decline the penalty and make Denver punt the ball. Why throw that flag? DEFENSIVE INTERFERENCE?!?!?! ARE YOU BLIND AND ON CRACK?!?!?!?!
Even the annoucers are astonished. Shithead Phil Simms has the balls to call it a late flag and a bad call. Denver goes on to score and then later wins the game. There are other moments in this game, the Pats definitely didn't play like the Pats and so I think we all let it go because of that. They beat themselves in that game, the sad thing is they still almost pulled out the win, but the refs decided they didn't want that to happen.
Now you will think this is the portion of the rant in which I call for better officiating and league reviews of bad calls etc etc. If this were an NBA rant I totally would. Those refs are BAD! But the NFL refs, though some make horrible mistakes like this one aren't over the top horrible. No, I blame this one on Peyton Manning.
Yup, Peyton Manning. See the NFL's Golden Boy grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, a football in his hand and a father giving him whatever he wants. So it is no surprise that he folds under pressure and can't win the big one. God forbid he earn a win. But after a complete embarassment in the playoffs against New England as the Pats went on to win their second Superbowl in 3 years, the Colts sent a tape to the league complaining about their receivers being man handled. Indy's offense is based on timing. The Pats defensive philosophy is hit them when they have the ball, hit them when they don't. You throw off the timing and the Colts offense crumbles like Manning's dreams of a ring. So the league caved and changed the pass interference rules (they called it a "re-emphasis" of the current rule - HA!!). Now it was a penalty to hit Colts receivers. My father calls it the "15 yard penalty for being mean to Peyton" rule. This made it IMPOSSIBLE to defend a receiver. Even text book coverage like in this clip gets your team backed up on the 1 yard line and costs you a game. Sooooo sad.
This is further Peyton's fault because that call really was for the Colts. The league sooooo desperately wants Peyton to win a ring. They went so far as to cheat the Pats out of a win knowing they stood between Peyton and the Superbowl. So they let Denver take out the Pats even though Denver's offense sucked in the playoffs in order to help Peyton out. Then Peyton met the Steelers. HAHAHA!!!
The Steelers. The only other team in the league which will hit the receivers anyway. And of course Peyton sucked it up in that game because the Steelers know how to play defense. So the refs came in once again to save the Golden Boy. They used the incredibly vague "football move" rule to take away a Troy Polamalu INT and give the Colts one more chance. Fortunately the Steelers pinned their ears back and attack the little fag, knocking him to the ground and forcing a long field goal by the loud mouth kicker. Oh I'm sorry were you talking? I thought you were a kicker. He of course missed because God doesn't like ugly.
Peyton proceeded to blame his offensive line (good strategy for next year BOZO) and the Steelers owned the Seahawks because the AFC is 10 times better than the NFC. Honestly the AFC had a good 2 or 3 teams who didn't make the playoffs that could have beat Seattle in the Superbowl.
So this is why I wouldn't want to be a defensive back. Or a defensive coach in the NFL. Because thanks to Peyton "Fragile Fag" Manning, you can't play defense without getting flagged. Thank God there are a few teams who refuse to put up with it and hit the bitch in the mouth anyway. I can't wait for the Colts vs Pats game this season (which is on my birthday). I want to see Rodney Harrison blitz and rip Manning's head off his shoulders. Literally. Blood and all.