Ukrainian;842074594 said:

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[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"]The pundits that are saying "the refs were right NOT to make that call at this critical juncture of the game" just don't know what they're talking about !! Perhaps they should have applied that same logic to the call against the Niners on Baltimore's last FG drive. Same infraction, same contact, kept their drive alive and allowed for the FG that forced the Niners into scoring a TD, rather than running the clock and the Ravens out of T.O.'s while taking the lead and likely winning the game on a FG of their own !!![/SIZE][/COLOR]

:rant

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This, exactly.

pnaidu;842074578 said:

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Go raiders!

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Because I am a Raider fan the SB really pissed me off because it made me realize that I have basically been watching high school level football games and that it will take years for them to reach the skill level that was displayed by both teams out there. However, although I remain stupid and loyal I refuse to be detached from reality.*







[SIZE="1"]* I really picked up on a whiny Furd like vibe from the tone of the CC Times sports page this morning. [/SIZE]

philly1121;842074576 said:

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I think what I'm saying is that, yes he held, but is an official going to make that call at this point in the game? So close to the line of scrimmage, both handling each other - probably not.

The hit on Flacco was a clear late hit. It seemed the refs were letting them play. So one non-call cancels out the other.

As far as play calling, I on second down, he was going to run. The fade was a terrible call. You risk exactly what happened. It's low percentage and takes all other players out of the play except for the receiver and QB. You had Gore. You had Kap. I hate when O coordinators get cute at the end and just ignore what got them there.

Good future for SF. Kaps the man. He'll only get better. Just didnt happen this year.

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The fade was an audible by Kap, seeing single coverage on Crabtree

Cal88;842074598 said:

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do you have any GIFs showing the 34min power outage, without whch all of this would have been totally irrelevant in a blowout loss?

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So you agree that the officiating was terrible and now you wish to change the subject?

TheBears;842074574 said:

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It also makes it clear that Crabtree put his hand on the defender's head and pushed off. They don't call offsetting penalties in that situation, so I don't see how anything but a no-call was warranted.

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It's a minor push-off at best, and only comes after it's clear he's being held and cannot make his break. He's trying to shove the guy off of him. No ref is going to call offensive PI on a receiver who is shoving off a DB who is holding him.

The only reason this wasn't called holding is because the refs prefer to swallow their whistles on final drives. If this happens in the middle of the game it's a penalty against the Ravens, period.

Kicking the field goal after the penalty was the worst call of the game not the no call

philly1121;842074576 said:

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The hit on Flacco was a clear late hit. It seemed the refs were letting them play. So one non-call cancels out the other.

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Don't have a replay handy like on the Crabtree play, but . . . I don't think so. This is one of those situations where the defender has launched himself into a tackle and then Flacco throws the ball. His momentum carries him out of bounds where he gets hit, but you have to allow the defender to finish the tackle; he doesn't know if Flacco is going to go out of bounds or try to pull the ball down and run.

I'm not saying there weren't other bad calls that went the Niners way, but this is not a good example IMO.

Hat aughts balls shrunk at the most inopportune time

sycasey;842074634 said:

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Don't have a replay handy like on the Crabtree play, but . . . I don't think so. This is one of those situations where the defender has launched himself into a tackle and then Flacco throws the ball. His momentum carries him out of bounds where he gets hit, but you have to allow the defender to finish the tackle; he doesn't know if Flacco is going to go out of bounds or try to pull the ball down and run.

I'm not saying there weren't other bad calls that went the Niners way, but this is not a good example IMO.

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I think calls and non-calls even themselves out during a game. Flacco was 2 steps out of bounds already when he was hit. No question. All pundits agree that it was a late hit - the only question was whether to call it. Same as the end play.

Remember the Atlanta-SF game? The obvious PI that SF committed but the ref didnt call? It's not going to be called in that type of game situation. The calls balance in the end. It is what it is.

philly1121;842074639 said:

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I think calls and non-calls even themselves out during a game. Flacco was 2 steps out of bounds already when he was hit. No question. All pundits agree that it was a late hit - the only question was whether to call it. Same as the end play.

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All pundits? Have you taken a survey?

philly1121;842074639 said:

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Remember the Atlanta-SF game? The obvious PI that SF committed but the ref didnt call? It's not going to be called in that type of game situation. The calls balance in the end. It is what it is.

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Yes, that could have been called a penalty though IMO it's not as egregious as the Crabtree play:

1. The WHOLE play was within the 5-yard safe zone, as opposed to Crabtree who clearly runs past 5 yards at one point.
2. There was no obvious grab of jersey. You can make a decent argument that it was just a bump by the defender and no hold. Not so on the Crabtree play.

Cal88;842074598 said:

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do you have any GIFs showing the 34min power outage, without whch all of this would have been totally irrelevant in a blowout loss?

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um.. power outages favor the team trailing? I never heard that one.

TheBears;842074574 said:

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It also makes it clear that Crabtree put his hand on the defender's head and pushed off. They don't call offsetting penalties in that situation, so I don't see how anything but a no-call was warranted.

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There's a difference between pushing off to gain separation and pushing to try to free yourself from a guy wrapping himself around you. You could see that in the replay, right?

Do you seriously need an explanation for how the 34min break helped shift the momentum of the game?

BearyWhite;842074649 said:

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um.. power outages favor the team trailing? I never heard that one.

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When you're reeling, having a break is a good thing.

When you're pounding your opponent, do you really want them to have a 30 minute time out?

sycasey;842074646 said:

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All pundits? Have you taken a survey?



Yes, that could have been called a penalty though IMO it's not as egregious as the Crabtree play:

1. The WHOLE play was within the 5-yard safe zone, as opposed to Crabtree who clearly runs past 5 yards at one point.
2. There was no obvious grab of jersey. You can make a decent argument that it was just a bump by the defender and no hold. Not so on the Crabtree play.

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Oh gosh, just relax. The pundits on ESPN and NFL Network. I think that's a good survey of punditry given what I've heard since the end of the game. Are u getting your pundit take from KNBR? lol

Baltimore won the game fair and square. To me, the non-call on the late hit cancels out the non-call on the hold. Just be glad you have Kap. I'm a Cowboy fan and all we have is Tony Romo. Does that make you feel better?

philly1121;842074666 said:

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Oh gosh, just relax. The pundits on ESPN and NFL Network. I think that's a good survey of punditry given what I've heard since the end of the game. Are u getting your pundit take from KNBR? lol

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I wonder if there is an online video (with slo-mo) of this play? At the time I didn't think it was an obvious late hit, but I'd be willing to look at it again.

philly1121;842074666 said:

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Just be glad you have Kap. I'm a Cowboy fan and all we have is Tony Romo. Does that make you feel better?

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Actually it does a little bit. A full season with Kap (now with experience under his belt) is an exciting prospect.

Phantomfan;842074625 said:

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So you agree that the officiating was terrible and now you wish to change the subject?

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Not really, just pointing out the big picture. You're basically nit-picking on one questionable call/non-call when in the big picture the 9ers were well on their way to getting totally blown out, down 28 to 6, with Kap playing like an injured puppy and the Ravens steamrolling.

Even if you were to completely ignore the most extreme disruption to a Super Bowl in the past 5 decades, the 9ers couldn't punch it in 4 attempts at the goal line, so no point in whining about getting robbed unless you're a sore loser.

sycasey;842074560 said:

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My last comment to you in this thread . . . this is idiot analysis that assumes the QB has control over everything. Kaepernick is the reason the 49ers were even close to winning this game. The defense and special teams blew it by giving up so many TDs (especially those big plays right before and after halftime).

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Yeah because that pick he threw had nothing to do with him. Kaep sliding down for a loss of 2 instead of taking a shot at the endzone wasn't him. Having to call a TO before the play clock ran out wasn't his fault either.

JeffBear07;842074583 said:

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I may be wrong, but doesn't the 5-yard buffer apply to both the cornerback and the receiver? If that's the case, then it's pretty clear that Crabtree releases his contact before crossing the goal line while Smith maintains his.

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Really? Crabtree clearly has his hands all over Smith's chest and helmet after crossing the goal line

Davidson;842074662 said:

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When you're reeling, having a break is a good thing.

When you're pounding your opponent, do you really want them to have a 30 minute time out?

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I have to agree with you on this. Remember the Cal v. OSU(?) game a number of years ago when the blackout gave OSU time to get a breather when Cal was running OSU ragged up in the Pacific Northwest.

Blackout helped OSU come back.

Phantomfan;842074597 said:

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The Ravens were gifted a superbowl by the refs...

The two gifs above show exactly how far the refs were willing to go to not hurt the Ravens oppertunity.

Any one who says a WR "initiates contact" is lying to themselves or does not understand football. CLEARLY his route was impeded (penalty) and he was held (penalty), and he tried to break contact while being held (not a penalty).


Of course, there is also Williams who should have been ejected, and should now be fined and suspended, but he wont be.

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He very might still be fined and suspended

soefeil;842074747 said:

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Yeah because that pick he threw had nothing to do with him. Kaep sliding down for a loss of 2 instead of taking a shot at the endzone wasn't him. Having to call a TO before the play clock ran out wasn't his fault either.

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His positives far outweighed his negatives in this game. Kaep is not the reason the Niners lost.

BerlinerBaer;842074569 said:

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All I'm saying is that if the ball were thrown better, the odds of the penalty being called would have increased. In any case, the refs won't want to make any calls unless it was an obvious foul.

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I think this has a lot to do with it. When that ball came out of Kap's hand, it looked like it absolutely had no chance of being caught in bounds. Total floater prayer throw. It landed maybe 2 yards out of bounds, but I have no idea if it was even catch-able.

What I thought was poor officiating was that the refs seemed to let both teams (ravens more though) get away more with the 'safety' related calls that they called tight during the regular season. Late hits on the QB (really thought the one on flacco was late AND on top of that 2 yards out of bounds), on the last drive the ravens DB did hit crabtree helmet to helmet (the play on the 2 yard line) before crabtree had even turned his head downfield, lots of forearm punches in the piles and of course the refs shove.

It may very well be that the NFL instructed the refs to let a bit more go to make the game flow better and give the public more of a game that they recognize. Seems like it was somewhat of an acknowledgement that some of the PF they call in the regular season are more ticky tack to change player's mentality on how to hit( or not to hit), but that they do make the game less watchable. And the NFL wants a watchable super bowl more than anything.

sycasey;842074767 said:

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His positives far outweighed his negatives in this game. Kaep is not the reason the Niners lost.

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Agreed but he wasn't perfect either

soefeil;842074772 said:

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Agreed but he wasn't perfect either

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No one was perfect on either side of the ball except for Andy Lee. There were plenty of busted coverages, missed tackles, failure to pursue, etc. by the defense to go along with poor routes, missed catches (very close to some backbreaking long pass plays that glanced off fingertips of Davis and I think Crabtree), lining up wrong, failing to get the snap off, Gore/Kap not on the same page on the first read option, high or too strong throws, TheMichael's fumble, etc.

The team played a B- game and the Ravens largely played a B+ game - the 9ers are a more talented team but can't overcome that much of an execution deficit. As a 49ers fan, I hope they continue to play at this high level next season and get a chance to play in the super bowl again. I hope they spend some top draft picks on another pass rusher and some cover corners because that's the biggest area of vulnerability uncovered in the postseason.

Unit2Sucks;842074782 said:

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I hope they spend some top draft picks on another pass rusher and some cover corners because that's the biggest area of vulnerability uncovered in the postseason.

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Justin Smith's injury was a big factor. When he was healthy, the Niners were able to pretty consistently disrupt the backfield against even good O-lines. When he got hurt that went away; the pass rush was very hit-or-miss, which left them vulnerable to big plays in the passing game.

68great;842074752 said:

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I have to agree with you on this. Remember the Cal v. OSU(?) game a number of years ago when the blackout gave OSU time to get a breather when Cal was running OSU ragged up in the Pacific Northwest.

Blackout helped OSU come back.

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Was at Oregon

sycasey;842074786 said:

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Justin Smith's injury was a big factor. When he was healthy, the Niners were able to pretty consistently disrupt the backfield against even good O-lines. When he got hurt that went away; the pass rush was very hit-or-miss, which left them vulnerable to big plays in the passing game.

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Agreed. Cowboy is 34 and not getting any younger. We need someone else. I hope the niners can work some magic and turn their 14 picks 5 or 6 good ones. That, or trade for future picks. Can't see 10+ rookies making the 53 man roster next year.

BearyWhite;842074649 said:

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um.. power outages favor the team trailing? I never heard that one.

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Isn't kind of the same theory in basketball. The team getting rolled calls a time out to break the rhythm of the team that is "feeling it." The Ravens were definitely feeling it when the power got cut. I know the CBS talking heads were repeating the conventional wisdom that the delay would work more in favor of the Niners than the Ravens.

P.S. My favorite post in this whole thread was the salute to Alfred Hitchcock and The Birds. Damn that was funny.

The Niners lost the game in 4 different places, really.

-James' fumble
-kickoff return
-last drive
-one blown coverage

If anyone of those doesn't happen, we have a different champion.

I fully agree that a healthy Justin Smith would've made this entirely different.

ColoradoBear1;842074771 said:

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I think this has a lot to do with it. When that ball came out of Kap's hand, it looked like it absolutely had no chance of being caught in bounds. Total floater prayer throw. It landed maybe 2 yards out of bounds, but I have no idea if it was even catch-able. What I thought was poor officiating was that the refs seemed to let both teams (ravens more though) get away more with the 'safety' related calls that they called tight during the regular season. Late hits on the QB (really thought the one on flacco was late AND on top of that 2 yards out of bounds), on the last drive the ravens DB did hit crabtree helmet to helmet (the play on the 2 yard line) before crabtree had even turned his head downfield, lots of forearm punches in the piles and of course the refs shove.

It may very well be that the NFL instructed the refs to let a bit more go to make the game flow better and give the public more of a game that they recognize. Seems like it was somewhat of an acknowledgement that some of the PF they call in the regular season are more ticky tack to change player's mentality on how to hit( or not to hit), but that they do make the game less watchable. And the NFL wants a watchable super bowl more than anything.

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I did not think it was catchable as the ball left Kap's hand. It reminded me of many of Maynard's throws. I was upset that Kap did not at least throw the ball up for grabs and give the receiver a shot at catching the ball or at least getting a Pass Interference call. So even though I thought there was holding, I did not expect a holding call since the ball was not catchable.

The outside backer was only on Kaep immediately, it was a prayer of a throw. Was a bullet on a fade route.

Was it really Kap's call/read on that last play?

I still think the poor clock management and having to call a TO killed the momentum and froze Kap's brain once the game started again. Maybe a 30 second TO would have kept momentum going. Seems like a run up the gut after a couple of tries and they could have gotten in...tap, tap, boom. Instead the TO killed that.

Big Bro kinda schooled little bro.

Davidson;842074905 said:

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The outside backer was only on Kaep immediately, it was a prayer of a throw. Was a bullet on a fade route.

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From my years of watching him as a QB, Kap never seemed to possess "touch" for a skill. Just a very strong arm and great legs.

The Fade always seems to be a terrible call in the redzone. Never liked it, never will, especially on 4th down, do-or-die situations.....like Cal @ UW two years ago.

Our Domicile;842075090 said:

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From my years of watching him as a QB, Kap never seemed to possess "touch" for a skill. Just a very strong arm and great legs.

The Fade always seems to be a terrible call in the redzone. Never liked it, never will, especially on 4th down, do-or-die situations.....like Cal @ UW two years ago.

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If you have been watching him, you may have seen the HUGE change in his throwing ability from Jr to Sr season (touch and accuracy). Still has a ways to go, but he has shown he is very coachable.