# NFL Conference Championships **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 20, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074 "2018-01-20T21:25:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/101 "2018-01-22T16:42:12Z")
What did they do that should have been called? It isn’t a given that all teams are equally undisciplined. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/102 "2018-01-22T17:19:49Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > There are stories that the Competition Committee will consider adding the NCAA’s targeting rule for next season. I’m in favor. I’m in favor, too. I think the weird artifact of college rules where the ejection can be overturned (or applied!) on replay but the penalty can’t be altered should be done away with. Make it a package: both are reviewable or neither are. The other thing the competition committee really needs to focus on is DPI. I’m not sure if a rule change per se is needed, or if the refs need to just be instructed to tone it down, but the NFL should have a goal of cutting DPI calls in half for 2018. (FWIW, I’m not objecting to the ones in the AFCC game at all - I actually thought that was fairly well officiated.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/103 "2018-01-22T18:12:10Z")
Bah. Most disappointing football weekend in a long time. Another year of insufferableness from Pats fans, another ring for Brady, more bullshit about how he’s the GOAT when it’s BB who’s the real GOAT. Hardly can I wait. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/104 "2018-01-22T19:25:18Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > The helmet to helmet was the right call and honestly, I could live with the PI. But I do think it’s interesting that the Pats only had one penalty. The last team to only commit one penalty in a playoff game? The Patriots in the 2011 AFC championship win over the Ravens. Which definitely could indicate some kind of conspiracy favoring the Patriots. Alternately, it could mean that the team with the literal best head coach of all time - a famous disciplinarian and hardass - tends to play with more precision and discipline than other teams and thus commits fewer penalties. I’ll leave it to the observer to decide which is more likely. I am not a Patriots fan. But the weird suggestions that somehow every single Patriots win is attributable to some global conspiracy gets… well, _weird._ From where do people think this conspiracy originates? Like, specifically, who is it that goes to the refs and tells them to favor New England? Is it Goodell? The same guy who suspended the Patriots QB for 4 games, an unprecedented punishment for a violation that was never proven, and then refused to back down one single inch through months of legal proceedings? That guy is a secret Patriots backer? Is it the NFL itself? So, like, 29 other dudes - one of whom is _Jerry Jones_ - just sort of agreed to sacrifice their own chances of winning so Bob Kraft can get all the trophies? Not one of them is competitive enough or even just spiteful enough to go public with the conspiracy? I will say that I think that referee bias does exist in the NFL - specifically, unconscious bias favoring the home team, as exists in all of the professional sports I follow. Since the Patriots tend to win a lot in the regular season, they tend to play at home in the playoffs, so yeah, they do disproportionately reap the benefits of that particular bias. But some kind of global, specific, intentional, officiating bias in favor of one team sanctioned by a league that has dogged that same team for years in other areas? That’s looney. The Patriots keep winning because they have the best coach and player evaluator of all time and a QB in the top five. (But I think they’re going to lose in two weeks). ---
**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 22, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/105 "2018-01-22T19:40:42Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Another year of insufferableness from Pats fans, Did you know that Tom Brady has more Super Bowl wins than any other QB in NFL history??? (sorry) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/106 "2018-01-22T19:44:11Z")
> [@storyteller0910](#): > > I am not a Patriots fan. But the weird suggestions that somehow every single Patriots win is attributable to some global conspiracy gets… well, _weird._ From where do people think this conspiracy originates? Like, specifically, who is it that goes to the refs and tells them to favor New England? Is it Goodell? The same guy who suspended the Patriots QB for 4 games, an unprecedented punishment for a violation that was never proven, and then refused to back down one single inch through months of legal proceedings? That guy is a secret Patriots backer? Is it the NFL itself? So, like, 29 other dudes - one of whom is _Jerry Jones_ - just sort of agreed to sacrifice their own chances of winning so Bob Kraft can get all the trophies? Not one of them is competitive enough or even just spiteful enough to go public with the conspiracy? Obviously, it’s a conspiracy to get the Patriots as far as possible in the playoffs so they get a worse draft pick. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/107 "2018-01-22T19:53:52Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > Did you know that Tom Brady has more Super Bowl wins than any other QB in NFL history??? This will be the team’s 10th, out of only 52 that have even been played. Brady will have started 8, Eason and Bledsoe 1 each. > [@](#): > > (sorry) No you’re not, and shouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/108 "2018-01-22T19:55:20Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > . . . Another year of insufferableness from Pats fans, another ring for Brady, more bullshit about how he’s the GOAT when it’s BB who’s the real GOAT. . . . Don’t get me wrong, I’m as big a fan of Brigitte Bardot as anyone. Just not sure of her QB skills. I think those helmet-to-helmet hits merit more than a 15-yard penalty. You’re jeopardizing a guy’s entire career. I would think a one-game suspension. Full disclosure: I’m a Redskins fan… ---
**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 22, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/109 "2018-01-22T20:01:15Z")
Seahawks fan here… So I’m the last person to defend them. And I was really hoping to see the Jags win, I thought seeing them in their first SB and seeing the Vikings be the first team to play a SB at home would both be fun. Sadly neither will happen and we’ll see Brady vs Foles… zzzzzz Sorry, fell asleep typing that. But my point is that penalties can come from a lack of discipline, but also from being aggressive. Pushing the envelope of what the rules allow and/or what the refs will catch. I don’t see the Pats playing that way. Bill doesn’t have handsy guys (except Gronk who gets away with OPI at times but he didn’t stay in the game). Anyway, my point being that a young, aggressive team like Jacksonville will naturally draw more fouls with the way they play. It’s their style, and it’s okay because some of the best teams are like that. Others like NE aren’t and still succeed. But bottom line, just because they didn’t draw fouls that doesn’t mean the refs were biased. (Okay I need to take a shower after defending the Patriots, ugh.) ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/110 "2018-01-22T20:07:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > more bullshit about how he’s the GOAT when it’s BB who’s the real GOAT. Because it must be one or the other. :rolleyes: Or maybe when it’s both you go to 8 Super Bowls in 16 years Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/111 "2018-01-22T20:47:34Z")
As someone born and raised in Philly, my heart bleeds for all Philly teams, so I am over the moon thrilled with the result 😊! It was sweeter because I thought they played a good game, it wasn’t a matter of getting a lucky break or screwed up calls. Fly, Eagles, fly! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/112 "2018-01-22T22:44:36Z")
But your name is Pat-times-2, so how to you reconcile that? ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/113 "2018-01-22T23:17:35Z")
> [@Patx2](#): > > As someone born and raised in Philly, my heart bleeds for all Philly teams, so I am over the moon thrilled with the result 😊! It was sweeter because I thought they played a good game, it wasn’t a matter of getting a lucky break or screwed up calls. Fly, Eagles, fly! Its an awesome day and I think we have a fighters chance at beating the Pat-cheat-rats. Speaking of an insufferable fanbase, all I have been hearing from Minnesota fans today is belly-aching, and whining, crying about how terrible us Philly fans are, and making veiled threats against our fans when they come there in 2 weeks. You thought you were going to take over our city with that stupid “Skol” chant and kick our ass, and your team fell flat on its face. Take your loss like a man and grow up. My God, Cowboys fans are a pleasure compared to these Fargo cast-offs. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/114 "2018-01-23T00:38:57Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > But your name is Pat-times-2, so how to you reconcile that? She’d rather have a Pat’s cheesesteak than 2 from Geno’s? ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/115 "2018-01-23T00:40:52Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > But your name is Pat-times-2, so how to you reconcile that? My name is Patricia (Pat) and my husband is Patrick 😊. ---
**Author:** ![Dioptre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/278dde/32.png) [@Dioptre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dioptre)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/116 "2018-01-23T00:48:15Z")
> [@storyteller0910](#): > > Which definitely could indicate some kind of conspiracy favoring the Patriots. Alternately, it could mean that the team with the literal best head coach of all time - a famous disciplinarian and hardass - tends to play with more precision and discipline than other teams and thus commits fewer penalties. I’ll leave it to the observer to decide which is more likely. It also could indicate that a coaching team that puts a lot of effort into studying and manipulating their opponents is somewhat successful at inducing the other team to commit penalties. As a Patriots fan I find it somewhat annoying. I’d rather see them convert a third-down than fall short but draw a penalty on the punt. I’d rather see a long-pass play with a fantastic reception than a play that seems designed to draw the pass-interference call. It’s in the rules, but it’s on the uncomfortable margins of playing sport fairly. Just like all the stadium signs encouraging crowd noise to drown out play calls. Under the conditions and against that team, the Jags were very disciplined. > [@](#): > > I will say that I think that referee bias does exist in the NFL - specifically, unconscious bias favoring the home team, as exists in all of the professional sports I follow. Since the Patriots tend to win a lot in the regular season, they tend to play at home in the playoffs, so yeah, they do disproportionately reap the benefits of that particular bias. But some kind of global, specific, intentional, officiating bias in favor of one team sanctioned by a league that has dogged that same team for years in other areas? That’s looney. Also unsportsmanlike and massively disrespectful to the referees. NFL referees are scouted from more junior levels, which means they are drawn from a large pool of basically volunteers or casuals officiating for the love of the game. Their career path is as much a skill & chance lottery as your average college payer. Suggesting that they are part of some conspiracy dehumanises a very human, very fallible, but very skilled and dedicated community of officials. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/117 "2018-01-23T03:00:05Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > Because it must be one or the other. :rolleyes: > Or maybe when it’s both you go to 8 Super Bowls in 16 years Without BB and the Pats organization, Brady would be Eli and, depending on the team he was on, might have a couple of rings. Without Brady, BB and the Pats organization would’ve developed somebody else. The dynasty might have started a year or two later, but that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/118 "2018-01-23T03:34:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Without BB and the Pats organization, Brady would be Eli and, depending on the team he was on, might have a couple of rings. Without Brady, BB and the Pats organization would’ve developed somebody else. The dynasty might have started a year or two later, but that’s all. I think you’re in a pretty tiny minority in this thinking, even among fellow Brady haters Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/119 "2018-01-23T04:16:34Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > Speaking of an insufferable fanbase, all I have been hearing from Minnesota fans today is belly-aching, and whining, crying about how terrible us Philly fans are, and making veiled threats against our fans when they come there in 2 weeks. It’s true, [we’re a far cry from the classy eagles fans](http://uspotus.com/eagles-fans-parade-around-city-yelling-fuck-millie-a-99-year-old-vikings-fan-grandma.html). ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074/120 "2018-01-23T04:26:10Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I’m as big a fan of Brigitte Bardot as anyone. Just not sure of her QB skills. Her scouting report (back in the day): Can’t run, throw, catch, block, tackle or kick. But she takes a helluva shower. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-conference-championships/807074.md?page=7)