Super Bowl LVII - Chiefs vs Eagles in Glendale

BornToRun

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 4, 2011
17,312
I’ll take some shit for this, but tonight on more than one occasion I couldn’t help but wonder if the NFL’s jumped the shark a bit.

The production is so over-the-top and cheesy it’s hard to want to watch anything outside of the 60 minutes of football. And then even then, there seems to be an increasing frequency of late, game-changing flags in huge games, that makes everything that came before it seem irrelevant.

Maybe it’s just because the Patriots are, at best, mediocre, but the NFL is becoming harder and harder to want to watch.
It’s not just you. I won‘t pretend that Tom leaving isn’t part of it because I doubt it’s a coincidence that my enthusiasm for football started waning not long after Brady moved on but it isn’t just that. It’s just not as big a deal to me anymore. I used to live and die with the Patriots much the same way I do for the Sox and that feeling just isn’t there anymore and I’m not sure if/when it’ll come back.
 

Light-Tower-Power

ask me about My Pillow
SoSH Member
Jun 14, 2013
15,947
Nashua, NH
I’ll take some shit for this, but tonight on more than one occasion I couldn’t help but wonder if the NFL’s jumped the shark a bit.

The production is so over-the-top and cheesy it’s hard to want to watch anything outside of the 60 minutes of football. And then even then, there seems to be an increasing frequency of late, game-changing flags in huge games, that makes everything that came before it seem irrelevant.

Maybe it’s just because the Patriots are, at best, mediocre, but the NFL is becoming harder and harder to want to watch.
+1. I’m a causal football fan and don’t really have a strong rooting interest in any team but I watch every Sunday. I’m feeling the same way as you are. Between guys constantly getting their brains scrambled and sketchy officiating like we saw at the end of the game tonight and in the AFC Championship it’s getting harder and harder to watch and not just come away thinking that the NFL sucks.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
The call was shit but Philly didn’t stop anything all night, the vaunted pass rush couldn’t get to a gimp and it wasn’t just about the refs letting the Chiefs OL hold or the shitty field or whatever. Eagles D was terrible.
 

Justthetippett

New Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,391
I guess in 50 years few will remember that call and most will revel in Mahomes greatness, but watching that live was truly awful. All the drama got sucked out of the stadium, which isn't great for the NFL.

NB: Why didn't they just pick up MacKinnon and carry him into the end zone?
 

kartvelo

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 12, 2003
10,461
At home
The call was shit but Philly didn’t stop anything all night, the vaunted pass rush couldn’t get to a gimp and it wasn’t just about the refs letting the Chiefs OL hold or the shitty field or whatever. Eagles D was terrible.
And yet, without that call, they still had a (perhaps slim) chance to win the game.
 

kartvelo

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 12, 2003
10,461
At home
I guess in 50 years few will remember that call and most will revel in Mahomes greatness, but watching that live was truly awful. All the drama got sucked out of the stadium, which isn't great for the NFL.

NB: Why didn't they just pick up MacKinnon and carry him into the end zone?
He woulda been down by contact, yeah?
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
I’ll take some shit for this, but tonight on more than one occasion I couldn’t help but wonder if the NFL’s jumped the shark a bit.

The production is so over-the-top and cheesy it’s hard to want to watch anything outside of the 60 minutes of football. And then even then, there seems to be an increasing frequency of late, game-changing flags in huge games, that makes everything that came before it seem irrelevant.

Maybe it’s just because the Patriots are, at best, mediocre, but the NFL is becoming harder and harder to want to watch.
this is one reason I’ve gravitated to the PL and increasingly MLS too. It’s free of the pre/mid/post game combination jet flyover/commercial/announcer hype thst just flows together in an assault on your senses, and the game never stops. The bad officiating is sadly a universal.
 

BornToRun

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 4, 2011
17,312
And yet, without that call, they still had a (perhaps slim) chance to win the game.
Bottom line is no matter how great or shitty one team or unit played, the game should be decided by the players and coaches. That didn’t happen. Philly needed the stop they couldn’t get to save their lives and when they actually manage to pull it off, the referees decide to invalidate it and hand KC the trophy. They did what they needed to do when they absolutely needed to do it and had it ripped away from them.
 

Justthetippett

New Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,391
They had reset the game clock to 6 seconds prior to the last play. Is it crazy to think they would have been better off trying to get a chunk of yards and then going for a long FG? If that is the extent of what Hurts can muster on a Hail Mary, hard not to think a 20-25 yard out would have been a better play, especially since the defense was not set up to defend it.
They should have run a quick out to get something for sure. That final play was as inspired as Dallas's.
 

ngruz25

Bibby
SoSH Member
Sep 20, 2005
18,971
Pittsburgh, PA
I guess in 50 years few will remember that call and most will revel in Mahomes greatness, but watching that live was truly awful. All the drama got sucked out of the stadium, which isn't great for the NFL.

NB: Why didn't they just pick up MacKinnon and carry him into the end zone?
Hah, my exact thought was that the defense should have just "tackled" him into the end zone when he was around the 3 yard line.. That would have been a sight.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
I don’t get the conspiracy though. KC is still in field goal range. More time left opens the real possibility of OT, which is more commercial $$$. Philly is the bigger city, no? And Hurts should be just as marketable, if not more so - he’s better looking and has a normal voice. If this wasn’t just incompetence, the NFL seemed to have weighted the wrong outcome.
 

lars10

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
11,612
I have very low expectations, but espn still not even hinting at that call is somewhat surprising.

I need to lower my expectations even further.
why would they? This is what they wanted.. they're in the business of individuals and they love Mahomes.. they love the Chiefs winning
 

mikcou

Member
SoSH Member
May 13, 2007
919
Boston
I guess in 50 years few will remember that call and most will revel in Mahomes greatness, but watching that live was truly awful. All the drama got sucked out of the stadium, which isn't great for the NFL.

NB: Why didn't they just pick up MacKinnon and carry him into the end zone?
Were 20+ years out and the tuck rule call is still discussed even though it was clearly the correct call under the rule at the time. If people this call is bad enough, people will keep talking about it.
 

scott bankheadcase

I'm adequate!!
SoSH Member
Nov 1, 2006
3,057
hoboken
I don’t get the conspiracy though. KC is still in field goal range. More time left opens the real possibility of OT, which is more commercial $$$. Philly is the bigger city, no? And Hurts should be just as marketable, if not more so - he’s better looking and has a normal voice. If this wasn’t just incompetence, the NFL seemed to have weighted the wrong outcome.
Who says it’s a conspiracy?

Honestly, reffing is super hard and guys mess up constantly.

This was just that. An all the time mess up at a really huge moment,
 

lars10

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
11,612
I don’t get the conspiracy though. KC is still in field goal range. More time left opens the real possibility of OT, which is more commercial $$$. Philly is the bigger city, no? And Hurts should be just as marketable, if not more so - he’s better looking and has a normal voice. If this wasn’t just incompetence, the NFL seemed to have weighted the wrong outcome.
If you want any conspiracy I'd imagine it would have something to do with vegas more likely.. there was a ton of money on Philly last I heard.
 

luckiestman

Son of the Harpy
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
32,617
I’ll take some shit for this, but tonight on more than one occasion I couldn’t help but wonder if the NFL’s jumped the shark a bit.

The production is so over-the-top and cheesy it’s hard to want to watch anything outside of the 60 minutes of football. And then even then, there seems to be an increasing frequency of late, game-changing flags in huge games, that makes everything that came before it seem irrelevant.

Maybe it’s just because the Patriots are, at best, mediocre, but the NFL is becoming harder and harder to want to watch.
The SB has always sucked as a game compared to the regular season and playoffs because it is not for football fans, it a national holiday.
 

speedracer

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
3,832
They should have run a quick out to get something for sure. That final play was as inspired as Dallas's.
my immediate thought live was they should have fielded and downed the squib kick immediately at :08, giving them perhaps one shot to get to midfield for a Hail Mary attempt.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
I don’t get the conspiracy though. KC is still in field goal range. More time left opens the real possibility of OT, which is more commercial $$$. Philly is the bigger city, no? And Hurts should be just as marketable, if not more so - he’s better looking and has a normal voice. If this wasn’t just incompetence, the NFL seemed to have weighted the wrong outcome.
It’s not a conspiracy. But there’s zero chance that flag is thrown if it’s Drew Lock throwing the pass. There’s probably no flag if Hurts is throwing either. The official didn’t clearly see the play (obviously) and just assumed Mahomes wouldn’t make a bad throw.

I stopped watching the NBA because of shit like this.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 2, 2006
22,345
Philadelphia
Bottom line is no matter how great or shitty one team or unit played, the game should be decided by the players and coaches. That didn’t happen. Philly needed the stop they couldn’t get to save their lives and when they actually manage to pull it off, the referees decide to invalidate it and hand KC the trophy. They did what they needed to do when they absolutely needed to do it and had it ripped away from them.
We’ll said.

I don’t think their chance to win was that slim either. 1:50 left and one timeout is plenty to get into field goal range and with a few chunk plays a winning TD is absolutely on the table too.
 

54thMA

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 15, 2012
10,154
Westwood MA
I thought all along it would either be a Iggles blowout (and minus the Hurts fumble, it's 24-7 at the half, understood the play happened and that's football), or if it came down to a close game and Mahomes had the ball with not a lot of time left, he'd find a way to win it.

For me, this is the best possible outcome; the Iggles lose in nutpunch fashion, so their assbag fans will cry and moan about how they were robbed, their rubber faced ballbag of an owner Lurie, Bradley Cooper and Mike Trout go home losers and the NFL looks like the clownshow that it is between that shitty ass field and the game coming down to a ticky tack call.

And for the love of Christ will this league legislate out that rugby formation bullshit on short yardage situations, I think the Eagles used that BS formation 6 times in the game and it worked every time.

Good move by the Iggles bringing Fangio in as a consultant, that worked wonders, they couldn't get to a guy gimping around back there, he'll do wonders for the Dolphins, can't wait.

I cannot recall two Super Bowl TD's where a guy was so wide open, what the Hell were the Iggles doing out there, they had zero answers in the second half, what a horrible meltdown.

Gee, what a shame.

That said, it wouldn't shock me to see a rematch next year.

That would be just swell.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 10, 2017
5,959
Travis Kelce on hand while ESPN running through the highlights? Lol, I'm sure they'll address the hard-hitting refereeing issues now.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 10, 2017
5,959
It’s not a conspiracy. But there’s zero chance that flag is thrown if it’s Drew Lock throwing the pass. There’s probably no flag if Hurts is throwing either. The official didn’t clearly see the play (obviously) and just assumed Mahomes wouldn’t make a bad throw.

I stopped watching the NBA because of shit like this.
Said it better than I could. That is an NBA star treatment call like LeBron or Jordan get. It seems like most of the Super Bowls I was most invested in as a Pats fan had fans of both teams mad at the calls, which is the sign of an even officiating job. Tom Brady even had a safety called against him on a grounding out of the end zone, did not seem like he got overly favorable calls in the Super Bowls.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,369
Can we talk a little more about Hurts “Hail Mary”? That was the single worst Hail Mary pass I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t even remotely close. I thought he had a big arm.
 

worm0082

Penbis
SoSH Member
Sep 19, 2002
4,492
Who else thinks Mahomes was acting up the ankle injury stuff so he can watch himself in slow motion in the NFL Films doc about how tough and strong he is. His brother must be creaming himself right now with the TikToks.