Maybe.

But my point still stands.


In the game in New England earlier this year, Chiefs had 9 penalties called on them and New England had ZERO. And the Chiefs still only lost by 3 on a last second field goal.

Think that's likely to happen again this Sunday night in KC? Yeah, me neither.

Actually you guys were 5 for 58 and in that game were sloppy as hell.

If your point is if the NFL wanted the NEP out of the SB in theory we'd be penalized more, right?

We had 9 penalties called on us, only 5 were accepted.

My point was New England got a bit of home cooking in that game, on top of Pat not being a fully known quantity at that point.

Pats will not have a penalty disparity in their favor playing in Arrowhead this Sunday and they are going up against the soon to be named NFL MVP.


That won't exactly work in their favor . . . .

I think if you go back and look at each penalty it wasn't because of home cooking. It was because KC wasn't ready to play the game. False starts, neutral zone, holding, etc.

Sorry but I'm not into conspiracy theories.

Play disciplined you often win. Play sloppy you often lose.

It's not really a conspiracy. NFL refs favor the home team, it's just statistically true. It's not sinister or anything, it's probably just human nature, or incompetence, or a little of both.

But the stats don't lie - home teams get the calls about 60/40.

I don't think it's anything supernatural. Refs prefer to be cheered rather than booed.

I agree with that.

An agenda I don't.

Yeah, I don't think it's a conspiracy.

I think it's easier for a home team to execute, leading to more penalties for visitors.

I think there's a tad of bias towards home teams from the refs.

And I definitely think that the NFL rules are too interpret-able and the refs by and large aren't very good. Lots and lots of bad calls this year that were just flat out mistakes. Incompetence.

Agree 100%

If people keep making mistakes like that at my job, we find people who can do those jobs, and fire the people who can't.

Gronk is a shell of his former self.

I don't care if he's a shell. A shell of his former self is still a good tight end single covered. If the Patriots have to rely on Edleman beating us I like our chances. Gronk has been the #1 problem in the past. I have no interest in him flying off into the sunset with a 150 yard day. Double cover him.

Gronkowski has 3 TDs this season. Demetrius Harris has 3 TDs this season.

Turtle you know as well as I do that this defense can turn some rando into a superstar. Don't let Gronk beat us. Everybody else is coverable.

I imagine they'll have some high-low stuff ready for him. They might not double him all the way but I doubt they'll have Josh freaking Shaw singled up on his with the game on the line either.