More proof for the Conspiracy Theorists among us

Thanks to dobolina in the comments section from my post of the other day, we get this little gem from Mike Florio:

It figures that, after we spilled plenty of e-ink in defending the Week One decision to take away from the Oakland Raiders a second-quarter touchdown after receiver Louis Murphy, despite having possession and two feet down, lost the ball when hitting the ground, officials blew two similar calls in the next Sunday of action.

In both cases, the calls on the field were upheld via replay review, even though it appears to us that the touchdowns should have been wiped off the board, just like Murphy's was.

Not that we Raiders fans need anyone's permission to get riled up, or even livid. But come on. This makes me sick, and for me it proves two things:

1. The official in our game last week, "Hot" Carl Cheffers, when he reviewed Murphy's reception, was wrong. Even if interpreted a rule correctly, there was not sufficient visual evidence to overturn a call made on the field.

2. Replay has got to go. It's one thing to get fucked by a bad call in the heat of the game. But to then stop a game, as has happened to us time and time again, and go back wipe a play out, is an atrocity.



Especially when the Patriots get away with it on the same night.

Have a nice week.

Why Dance Around It?

The refs stole another game from the Raiders. I just don't get it.

Is This Some Kind of Sick Joke?

For a moment I thought I was watching a replay of the Tuck Game. How on earth do the refs find "irrefutable visual evidence" that Murphy dropped the ball, when he clearly had full control through one foot, two feet, and a hip on the ground?

I try, I mean I REALLY try, to resist the urge to declare a vast NFL conspiracy against the Raiders. But how can one expect me to watch this kind of complete bull crapola without thinking so? I just don't understand how anyone could even think to review that call (Norv never would have wasted a red hanky on that), let alone found irrefutable visual evidence to overturn it.

I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it at all.

Hoculi Rule?

Via Bill Williamson, the NFL is looking into making plays like Cutler's non-fumble against the Chargers last year reviewable.

This is the kind of thing that turns Raiders fans into Conspiracy Theorists. Six months later, and the NFL is going to change instant replay because the poor San Diego Chargers got screwed in a regular season game.

And yet, it's been over 7 years since that dirty goat fucker Walt Coleman called the Tuck Rule, and it's still on the books.

At least we can enjoy the drama in Denver.

Is Preseason Over Yet?

Just something to discuss while we digest the news that Drisan James has been cut and the Chronicle freaks out about Michael Bush getting a few reps at fullback.

Remember when Warren Sapp talked about those mysterious phone calls received on the sideline during game days? Given the state of the Kiffin-Davis relationship, might Kiffin's offensive Arizona game plan have been designed to reduce those calls? He announced to the world that he was going to throw-throw-throw, he didn't install anything elaborate for McFadden, so it's really no wonder that Arizona put four guys on Zach Miller and blitzed with abandon.

After the game, Kiffin made it clear that "throw first" not only plays to the Raiders' weakness on offense, but also eliminates the cut-block running game's strength of tiring out the opponent. Granted, it's pretty obvious what the Raider offense's strength is and what it is not. But this seemed a little like an experiment set up to fail followed by a public explanation of why it failed and why it would fail in the regular season.

I remember reading that during Norv Turner's regime the game plan would often change at the last minute once edits had come down from upstairs. I also recall reading that Jon Gruden used to prepare detailed film evidence to argue against such edits, and that the approach worked. Perhaps this was Kiffin's chance to build some film evidence to put in Al's mind so that the call to unleash the $60 million arm would not come so early in regular season games.