# NFL 2021: Super Wild Card Week Hey Nineteen **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [January 15, 2022, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814 "2022-01-15T00:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/61 "2022-01-17T01:15:02Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Is it because the teams are committing a lot of penalties, or are the refs calling them aggressively? More the former, I think. I saw a lot of procedural penalties being called – false starts, illegal motion, etc. Those are usually pretty obvious and indisputable. Edit: ninjaed by @FlikTheBlue! ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/62 "2022-01-17T01:29:09Z")
I don’t know if anybody saw Bill Cowher in the post-game show yesterday. Among other things, he called out the NFL officials for not calling delay-of-game penalties. He basically said that everybody who’s watching the game can see the play clock count down to zero before the snap, but the penalty is only called after a couple of seconds elapse after the clock hits zero. Today there were three delay-of-game penalties called in the Cowboys/Niners game. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/63 "2022-01-17T02:25:48Z")
Ok, not the first time I’ve been wrong. May be the third or even the fourth. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/64 "2022-01-17T02:27:32Z")
Yeah, I’m not sure what they were thinking? Did Dak believe he could score ? Otherwise, running twenty yards and then trying to clock it was not likely to succeed. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/65 "2022-01-17T03:18:24Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Otherwise, running twenty yards and then trying to clock it was not likely to succeed. Actually, there were about 8-9 seconds left when Dak slid. If he gets up and hands the ball to the official to spot the ball, they have time to clock it, and then it’s a 25 yard pass for a possible TD. Instead, Dak gave it to the center, who tried to place the ball down to snap it. Bad move by Dak. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/66 "2022-01-17T03:27:09Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Instead, Dak gave it to the center, who tried to place the ball down to snap it. Bad move by Dak. Thanks for this, I had the sound off and was trying to figure out why Dak, the center and the official all seemed to be playing a game of tag with the ball. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/67 "2022-01-17T03:38:10Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Yeah, I’m not sure what they were thinking? Did Dak believe he could score ? It looked to me like Dak was about to slide but then started thinking maybe he could reach the endzone, then changed his mind again too late. It was the combination of screwups that did him in. If he slid at 11 yards, he could overcome the mistake of giving the ball to the center. If he got the ball to the official and the team didn’t block him, his 20 yard run would have been ok. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/68 "2022-01-17T04:39:46Z")
I have no idea why Dak chose to run instead of throwing two Hail Marys into the end zone. With 14 seconds, he definitely had the time for two throws, assuming he didn’t get sacked. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/69 "2022-01-17T04:52:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I have no idea why Dak chose to run instead of throwing two Hail Marys into the end zone. I suspect that it was the choice of McCarthy or OC Kellen Moore, rather than Prescott ad-libbing. They had the ball at the 41, which is, as noted, still pretty much Hail Mary territory; the success rate on Hail Mary passes isn’t great (hence the name). The 49ers were leaving the center of the field wide open, and had moved all of their defensive backs towards the sidelines (having just allowed the Cowboys to successfully get out of bounds and stop the clock on three consecutive plays). Given that, I imagine that the plan was to get the ball a bit further downfield, then, stop the clock with a spike, to have one chance at a shorter, and higher percentage, pass play. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/70 "2022-01-17T15:28:41Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I suspect that it was the choice of McCarthy or OC Kellen Moore Absolutely correct. It was Moore who made the call, and it was okayed by McCarthy. > This local columnist was not thrilled with the playing or the coaching. > **[Mike McCarthy is Jason Garrett, and the Dallas Cowboys are still losers |...](https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article257391192.html)** > > The Dallas Cowboys’ season ends in fantastic failure with a playoff loss encased in penalties and bad calls > It started in the first quarter, after the Cowboys fell behind 10-0 McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore opened their 88 oz. bottle of Stupid on the sidelines. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/71 "2022-01-17T15:43:07Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > I don’t know if anybody saw Bill Cowher in the post-game show yesterday. Among other things, he called out the NFL officials for not calling delay-of-game penalties. He basically said that everybody who’s watching the game can see the play clock count down to zero before the snap, but the penalty is only called after a couple of seconds elapse after the clock hits zero. Same with players lining up in the neutral zone as well as being too far off the line; oftentimes a tackle will be even with one of the wide receivers who aren’t ends. 5% of the time they’ll finally call it, and you wonder where their little yellow flag was for the other 95%. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/72 "2022-01-17T18:01:48Z")
Of course, the Cowboys being the Cowboys, they’ve been acting like spoiled children trying to blame shift for their own poor choices and execution. McCarthy’s postgame comments seemed to blame the failure on a combination of Dak and the refs. Dak blamed it squarely on the refs (even though he’s the one who gave the ball to the center instead of the official) and when told that fans had thrown debris at the officials said it was, “a credit to [the fans].” Disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/73 "2022-01-17T19:42:55Z")
Fans are already mad that there were so many penalties. If the refs did as you suggest, or properly called the actual rulebook 100% of the time there would probably be 50 penalties a game, and the refs would be run out of town. Assuming that they even could - I continue to believe that the NFL rulebook is such a complex, byzantine mess that it’s almost impossible to call a game correctly in real time. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/74 "2022-01-17T20:00:00Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > Assuming that they even could - I continue to believe that the NFL rulebook is such a complex, byzantine mess that it’s almost impossible to call a game correctly in real time. Don’t forget that refs can’t see every angle in slow motion in real time either. Forget remembering all of the rules and being able to determine in a split second whether what you’re seeing is a technical violation or not, you still have to see it first. Blatant things that an official should be able to spot from a mile away and are clear rules violations are something you can gripe about, but you can’t expect them to be perfect. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/75 "2022-01-17T21:29:51Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Dak blamed it squarely on the refs (even though he’s the one who gave the ball to the center instead of the official) and when told that fans had thrown debris at the officials said it was, “a credit to [the fans].” Disgusting. Wow, disgusting indeed. What a sore fucking loser. Emphasis on LOSER. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/76 "2022-01-17T21:35:50Z")
So who plays next now? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/77 "2022-01-17T22:01:56Z")
Surprise surprise, Cowboys fans show their assholishness after a loss by throwing garbage at refs. Then, they show their lack of skills by hitting one of their own players. And $160 million dollar man Dak Prescott applauds the fans for throwing trash at refs. Dak has now turned heel, and we can get back to laughing at the Cowboys and their idiot fans. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/78 "2022-01-17T22:06:02Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > So who plays next now? Final game of the wild-card round is tonight: Rams at Cardinals. Next week’s slate looks like this: Saturday: - Bengals @ Titans (4:30pm Eastern) - 49ers @ Packers (8:15pm Eastern) Sunday: - Rams or Cardinals @ Buccaneers (3pm Eastern) - Bills @ Chiefs (6:30pm Eastern) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/79 "2022-01-17T22:09:22Z")
Every penalty they called was obvious on replay, AFAICT. It’s so great to have fun playmaker on my 49ers - Deebo, Kittle, Aiyuk, Bosa, Warner and more. And once again Jimmy G was money on 3rd downs. Ian Eagle is great. I think the only better play-by-play guy is Kevin Harlan. Both do radio for night games, so I’m sure that experience helps. Inadvertent whistles are the worst. I was a football ref for a while, but never did it myself. I did have my head referee blow one once. That was less inadvertent and more mistaken. As back judge, I could see that the ball carrier had fumbled, but head ref 30 yards behind the play decided he didn’t trust me and blew it dead himself. The defense had recovered. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814/80 "2022-01-18T00:12:06Z")
Thank you, Hamlet! Been a ride for sure. I’ve had faith in Burrow from the minute we drafted him. He’s just a baller. I’m glad he’s recovered fully from his knee injury, and he did start the season with shaky confidence in it but he pushed through that and had a pretty good year. Better o-line protection will get those sack and INT numbers down. We still have an extremely questionable offensive line. I am, however, VERY confident in our chances of defeating Tennessee. Our secondary has gelled into an excellent unit overall. Chido Awuizie is playing out of his mind and unbelievably, of all people Eli Apple has turned into a decent CB as well… madness. I’m scared that the Bengals winning a playoff game is like, the seventh seal being broken for the apocalypse or something! 😀 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-super-wild-card-week-hey-nineteen/957814.md?page=5)