It was a horrible call. It was not, however, orchestrated. It was caused not by corrupt officials or mandates from the league office, but by officials that froze under pressure of the moment. It was nothing nefarious, but simple incompetency in the moment. Incompetency and fear of overriding the official that screwed up the initial call.

I'd like to believe that but none of us really know. It was an awful non call that had most of us thinking that there is absolutely something to the conspiracy theories.

The thing about conspiracy theories is that almost all of them do not pass the test of Occam's Razor. Far too many people would have to have had some knowledge of any sort of fix or tampering. Somebody would have come forward, even anonymously, to point a finger at that sort of wrong doing over all these years for every instance that tampering has been claimed by grieving fans.

What Occam's Razor does support is a colossal screw-up by the officiating crew. Several factors could have contributed the blown call, but putting in the fix is not among them. We just happened to catch the brunt of that screw-up.

The temporary rule change to allow challenges didn't work, but what we have seen are far more officials getting together to talk through those types of calls.

Ask Rugby if he truly thinks fixing games could truly happen at that level by officials without anyone knowing about it. He may referee a different sport, but the concept is the same.

Occam’s razor hell. If you believe Goodell and the league don’t have a grudge against the Saints and that the non PI call was just a mistake, then you don’t have your eyes open.

As a referee I abhor uneven officiating. I have no respect for bad officiating and what it does to the game. It's the unevenness or lack of consistency that drives me nuts! Guido, you say it's entertainment like WWE. I'm not arguing the point. I bought into your perspective once I listened to your valid points. It's not a game anymore and my heart tells me not to get involved where someone else determines the outcome of what I expected to be fair play in the past.

The fix might not be in but It's definitely tilted that way thanks to Roger Godhell. Before he came into office the NFL was well respected and earned the respect of it's viewers who are now leaving in droves. Now a large part of the established fan base is checking out. I'll agree with you again that the NFL is not suffering from a loss of fans. They are currently trying to go world wide. When you are a global identity you can do what you want.

I'm not arguing with you. As I referenced earlier I take mood elevators, anti depressants, and anxiety medication to stay on an even keel. When I watch the NFL I see poor officiating that I've seen it get worse over the years.

Why won't we get professional referees? Because then Godhell couldn't control the predetermined outcome. I try to be a happy person but there are just somethings I can't look past such as poor officiating and bullies. The NFL has both. Yeah, I'm looking at you Roger! Once again, I'm not being argumentative. I'm just stating how I feel about the quality of todays NFL.

Edit: I'm watching more college ball where the refs don't control the outcome. College still plays "real football" and it's fun to watch.

I have my eyes open and I'm not an idiot. Come on. There's no way a call can be made in a split second just to screw one team. Explain how that can happen. Then explain how everyone involved kept it some super secret that they were instructed to cheat the Saints.

Get real. I'm sorry but I thought you were more aware than that, Boston. Geez. They fu$ked up the call. Pure and simple. It totally sucked for us, but there is no way in hell it was premeditated.

My eyes are wide open. Try opening yours. Nobody was more pissed off about that bad call than me, but trying to call it an intentional bad call is just plain stupid.

Occam’s razor hell. If you believe Goodell and the league don’t have a grudge against the Saints and that the non PI call was just a mistake, then you don’t have your eyes open.