Don’t Cry for Saints; Refs have been Impacting Playoff Outcomes Forever

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If I see one more tweet or round-table discussion about the Saints being robbed of a Super Bowl birth, I’m going to jump head-first from my 2nd-story deck. So, let’s stop the madness because nobody wants to see me bleed out a slow, painful death next to my a/c unit.

Yeah, we should all feel bad for the guy who got suspended an entire season for paying players to hurt other players… Sean Payton is a great all-around dude for sure.

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Apparently, no NFL team has ever been fucked by the referees during a playoff game before this last Sunday, when the Saints fell short vs the LA Rams in the NFC Championship. It happened on a pass interference no-call that the Saints (and pretty much everyone) believe cost them a Super Bowl birth. Here’s the play in case you’ve been under a rock.

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Obvious? Unclear? You be the judge. Being that Sean Payton is on the losing end of this one, it looked perfectly clean to me.

But, no matter what the call should have been, why the fuck are we hearing so many people bitch about it? I legitimately heard analysts on Monday calling for a replaying of the last 2 minutes of the game…

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via GIPHY

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I can think of two times, just off the top of my head, where the refs fucked the Vikings out of a Super Bowl or NFC Championship appearance. All of us remember 2009-10, where the entire Saints Defense and all male members of their families over the age of 14, should have gone to jail for their criminal assault on Brett Favre. But, let’s not forget about 1975, when Drew Pearson CLEARLY pushed off on a Hail Mary pass that advanced the Cowboys to the NFC Championship over the Vikings…

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But of course, although we really like to believe we are, Minnesota isn’t special either. A quick google search can really make Saints fans feel stupid about believing they were oh so special about getting fucked (supposedly) out of a Super Bowl appearance…

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5 Times Referees Determined the Outcome of a Playoff Game

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These 5 plays are just the first ones that I found. Finding good videos and copy-pasting everything has already taken too long and I have to get this out before emails send at 10 AM today (Subscribe here). Depending on who you ask, and who they cheer for, you can find controversial calls all over the playoff landscape throughout the history of the NFL.

If you want to change the review process or want to try and make things better, I’m all for it but don’t do it for the Saints, who have benefited plenty from shitty refereeing. Nobody should feel bad for those assholes.

 

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Who puts a bounty out for an American treasure like Brett Favre? Nobody who deserves our sympathy, that’s for real.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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