Copied from another forum: Since the one year Brett Favre won this team a Super Bowl, in 1997, has any other NFL team lost 4 heartbreaking playoff games on the final play of the game like the Packers have? 1999 - 4th & goal, 1 second left at the Packers 25, Steve Young hits the young Terrell Owens in the end zone to steal the playoff game. 2004 - Packers the hottest team in the NFL coming into the playoffs, dominate at Philly and rush for about 250 yards... Eagles down 3 have 4th & 26 with less than a minute to go. They get it. Then they kick the FG and send to OT. Then in OT, Favre chucks up a prayer on the first play like a punt, picked off... FG a few plays later, season over. 2008 - NFC Title game, Packers favored to beat the Giants by 7 and take on the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Offense totally shut down, Giants win it as time expires with a FG.. but wait, thank God the kick was hooked, Packers get to OT and have the ball... but Favre is picked off, another FG chance and they make it. We're done. Favre is done. He retires. Then today.... we spot the Cardinals a quick 14 with uncharacteristic stupid Int by Rodgers on the 1st play, and then Donald Driver fumbles the ball the next time... you know the rest. When does next season start :D
And my quick thoughts. The lack of defense from our #2 ranked defense was scary. Almost made us look superficial. And the fact that they didn't have Boldin was also scary (albeit we were down Pro Bowler Al Harris). The silver lining: Our offense is going to be unstoppable next year. Finley had what i believe is the 2nd most yards in a game for a tight end in history. Did i mention how bad our defense looked? BUT: One thing that i will not let go from this game. Larry Fitzgerald. Is he allowed to do whatever he wants? He shoved Woodson down on BOTH of his touchdowns. Unbelievable.
have to agree all around. our defense was not a defense. i could complain about the calls or lack of, but we lost because we played like $#!^ . oh well, we have a good young team that will only get better if we can avoid injuries. good job to the cards, they got it done, we didn't
I like the no calls on helmet to helmet and then fask mask they did to rogers that last 2 plays of the game.
It was truly one of the worst officiated games i have ever seen. I believe it was the refs 2nd playoff game?
You still lose the ball. Granted.....the cardinals' kicker had already missed one (his second out of 18 on the season). But....I guess it's better than nothing. Siman.....I gotta tell ya. I'm a fan of neither team. I watched the game. I didn't see anything about the officiating that stood out. I saw two offenses that had their way with two defenses. One was not totally unexpected. One was. It was a great game to watch.
How would we still lose the ball? They didnt have possesion as of yet when the fumble occured while at the same time the face mask did occur. Heck even if they did recover its a mandatory 15 yard penalty now for a face mask and our ball.
I hear you guys about wanting those calls....however, 45 points later the GB defense got a whipped. You give up 45 points to someone in the playoffs and you should expect to lose. I watched the entire game and like Jeff said, I saw nothing that stood out officiating wise. People also have to remember, those pictures you posted are still frames. A defensive player moving at full tilt, surrounded by a sea of other jerseys blends in pretty quickly and makes it hard for an official to really see what happened in that split second.
A black glove on a white jersey and white face stands out real good especially on that last pic above. Thats why they call them professional refs for a reason to get the call right. Both defenses got whipped and it was a cool game. But its over bring on the cubs, lol This pic he is almost to the ground and his mask still be grasped.
Tony I saw that 2. No call on a face mask call ends the game. No sour grapes here though the defence sucked for both teams. oh well they made it farther than I thought they would.
The Pack had a the first down they needed in OT, but a holding penelty pushed them back another ten yards. I'd put some blame there too. I was pulling for the Packers, it was a crazy game.....
I hear you Peak, but refs in all sports "get it wrong" all the time, they really do. They miss a lot of plays. I can't believe that Packer d-lineman did not get nailed with an unsportsman-like conduct penalty in the 1st or 2nd quarter for getting on top of one of the Cardinals offensive lineman and punching and hitting him over and over. No flag was thrown even though a ref stood not more than 6 feet away. The guy mauled the other Cardinal after the whistle for at least 5 seconds. But having been around sports all my life I can tell you this...I don't want a referee making or breaking me...the Packers should have taken care of business the entire game and they would not have to have worried about a blown penalty. Hell, those offensive illegally chop block all game and rarely get called. Wide receivers push/pull/foul the db's all game long and don't get called. What is the difference with the QB getting fouled?
Have to wait until the real teams are done finding out who's the best. Also... the officiating? Seriously? Is anyone really going to point the finger at the officials for the reason they lost.
Agreed. I've always grown up being Coached and now wanting to coach myself with the attitude that if we're in a position where the ref could possibly decide the game then we must have made mistakes along the way up until that point. All refs are going to make bad calls, it's just the nature of the game. If you take care of business early on, it greatly reduces the chance that one of those "questionable" calls may go against ya
Here is a quote from Peter King, a columnist from Sports Illustrated (Among other things), most of you may know him from his monday morning column, Monday Morning QB. This was his take on the facemask at the end of the game. "Regarding the non-facemask call on the last play of Arizona-Green Bay: I've watched the TiVoed combination of replays six times now. Arizona's Michael Adams blitzes, dislodges the ball from Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, rakes his hands over the facemask of Rodgers, then appears to grab the facemask, and the ball is inadvertently kicked by Rodgers. The ball flies briefly into the air and is grabbed by Arizona linebacker Karlos Dansby, who secures it and runs into the end zone for the winning touchdown. Adams keeps his hands on the mask as he plows into Rodgers and brings him to the ground. Adams didn't tackle him by the mask, but his hand did stay secured on the mask as Rodgers fell to the ground. (I say it that way because from the mountain of e-mails and Tweets last night, most of you think he got yanked to the ground by the facemask. It didn't appear that way to me.) For a 15-yard facemask penalty to be called, there has to be evidence not just of a hand on the mask, but of twisting and pulling of the facemask. And there is a slight pulling of it, but not in a flagrant way. To me, it's a close call. But what complicates matters is this: The referee, Scott Green, is the official on the crew with the responsibility of watching plays involving the quarterback. Once the ball has been dislodged, Green has to watch the ball, not the contact on the quarterback. He has to see if the ball hits the ground and judge if it's a forward pass or a fumble, then he has to follow the live ball until the end of the play. So Green could not -- at least, he should not -- have seen the contact on the mask of Rodgers. Of course, the reason this is a big concern is if a facemask had been called, Green Bay would have had a first down at its 32 in a game where defense was optional. I don't see how the call could have been made any differently with the current rules and officiating assignments the way they are." Thoughts?
I truely admire confidence in players, but I despise arrogance and c0ckiness. I had no idea how arrogant and cocky Aaron Rodgers was until the second half of that game. It was nice to see HIM give it away at the end.
When I saw the game end, I immediately wondered if a "suicude watch" was going to be issued for "Packer backers". As for blaming refs, I've come to learn that the officiating is horrible in every game ever played, regardless of the sport or importance of the game. No single call (or lack there of) loses a game for a team in that situation. To cry about a call more than 10 seconds after it is missed, is pointless.
