NFL 2011 Super Bowl XLVI

TempestBlayze wrote:

I just want to say how terrible NBC is. They handled the end of the SuperBowl absolutely terribly. Seriously, NBC pays all this money to get the bowl and they do only 20 minutes of postgame so they could go to the voice. Give me a break. If your watching the Super Bowl you want to see the postgame ( unless a pats fan). If you wanted to see the voice you would be sleeping during the bowl and dvring it. ESPN and the NFL network is probably thanking NBC. Even Fox and UPN had postgame.

Well, I'm currently recording my tv time for Nielsen, so the ratings will reflect that I turned off the tv as soon as they cut away from the Super Bowl. I'm just one man, but ...

One question--did Madonna perform a very bizarre halftime show, or did I have an aneurysm and wind up convulsing on the floor for ten minutes or so while random images flashed past my eyes? Honestly not sure which.

TempestBlayze wrote:

I just want to say how terrible NBC is. They handled the end of the SuperBowl absolutely terribly. Seriously, NBC pays all this money to get the bowl and they do only 20 minutes of postgame so they could go to the voice. Give me a break. If your watching the Super Bowl you want to see the postgame ( unless a pats fan). If you wanted to see the voice you would be sleeping during the bowl and dvring it. ESPN and the NFL network is probably thanking NBC. Even Fox and UPN had postgame.

Yeah it was glaringly obvious NBC (home of Fear Factor!) was more interested in hustling people into watching the next show than any type of postgame. Kinda takes away their sports network cred.

But they have a sports network now. I assume they had postgame over there? But maybe everyone doesn't have that channel? It just randomly appeared on my cable box a month or so ago, with lots of hockey and olympic sports, and not much else. I've watched it for maybe 5 min in total in a month+.

Pro:
* Game came down to the last play
* Close throughout
* Two of the best QBs in the league
* Two of the best coaches in the league
* Only one long replay delay
* No terribly blown calls

Con:
* Only one big play (Manning to Manningham) and no long scoring plays
* No personal rooting interest
* Game ended on a dropped pass rather than a TD

My grade: B

I would have graded it higher had I really cared about either team. But I don't, so I didn't.

Had I factored in the entertainment value, this game would have gotten a C. Almost all of the commercials were dull or derivative or both. And the halftime show featured an entertainer who I stopped paying attention to 20 years ago. That said, Madonna's about the only performer in the world who could pull off something on that scale on a temporary stage.

Running Man wrote:

Yeah it was glaringly obvious NBC (home of Fear Factor!) was more interested in hustling people into watching the next show than any type of postgame. Kinda takes away their sports network cred.

What sports network cred?

Take away Sunday night football (which rules), the Super Bowl (which moves to CBS next year) and the Olympics (which is either gymnastics or figure skating in prime time), and NBC is left with Notre Dame football (a relic), horse racing (no one cares) and hockey (see "horse racing" previously).

The Big 10 Network shows more relevant sports programming, and I live in ACC country.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

One question--did Madonna perform a very bizarre halftime show, or did I have an aneurysm and wind up convulsing on the floor for ten minutes or so while random images flashed past my eyes? Honestly not sure which.

It was brilliantly trippy, yes.

Forgot to mention whatever technology they used to project the images during halftime was really amazing. Especially compare it to previous years where they get a bunch standins to hopefully act organized.

The SB vs Chinese olympics fail pic comes to mind.

Drown your withdrawal sorrows here.

No terribly blown calls, Enix? Not so. The NFL needs to hurry up and give a booth official more power, because every sports fan wants them to get things right.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

No terribly blown calls, Enix? Not so. The NFL needs to hurry up and give a booth official more power, because every sports fan wants them to get things right.

I thought there might of been a couple pass interference calls missed, but hey it's a live sport.

I liked the call to let the Giants get the TD at the end.

I thought the missed PI calls were close enough that I understand why they weren't called.

garion333 wrote:

I thought the missed PI calls were close enough that I understand why they weren't called.

Yeah. Overall one of the cleanest SBs I can recall in terms of officiating, few mistakes for either team, etc.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

No terribly blown calls, Enix? Not so. The NFL needs to hurry up and give a booth official more power, because every sports fan wants them to get things right.

I'm talking plays where the refs blow a call on a scoring play or a turnover or flag a 50-yard pass interference on some minor hand-checking.

Those PI non-calls yesterday were venal sins, not mortal ones.

I thought the calls were correct; they weren't PI. You can put your hand on the receiver, you just can't pull them out of the way. Didn't see anything substantive that would make it scream "PASS INTERFERENCE!!" to me. Solidly-called game, solidly-played game, not loads of mistakes or penalties. Was just a satisfyingly good game.

Also, last night was one of those nights that really made me appreciate Collinsworth as someone who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't just pump up playings as being TEH BESTEST EVARRRR. He lambasts Manningham for angling his route to the sideline too much on a play, and they actually had a graphic already prepared showing how he always does that. Then, later, on the huge catch near the end, Mannigham runs his route correctly; it was just a really good job of preparation and commentary that came at the right moment.

DSGamer wrote:

I was confused as to how that's not a dead ball foul if it happened before the play.

If I understand correctly, the penalty is having 12 men on the field at the time of the snap. Given that the snap and the penalty occur simultaneously, it's not a dead ball foul. IANAR.

Those who think Coughlin might have gotten away with something on the 12 men on the field penalty and are confused by the lack of dead ball foul are not alone.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7545771/the-patriots-giants-super-bowl-rematch-disappoint

Normally, we wouldn't accuse a coach of employing such a strategy. Tom Coughlin certainly doesn't have a reputation for stretching the rules. But fellow Grantland contributor Chris Brown pointed out that there's a precedent for such behavior: Buddy Ryan's "Polish Defense" tactic, a move he employed near the goal line. Take it away, playbook:

THREE EXTRA LINEBACKERS GO INTO THE GAME.

Situation: The opponent is inside the 5 yard line going in to score. There is less than 15 seconds left. We want to stop their offense from scoring and in the process, we want to run the clock down to where they have enough time for just one play. So, we will stop them, get penalized half the distance to the goal, but leave them with enough time to run one play. We will then go back to our regular goal line defense and stop them to win the game.
Chris' post also notes that Ryan later placed 14 men onto the field for a last-minute punt while considering the same sort of strategy, and actually got away with it when the referees failed to recognize the extra men and didn't throw a flag.

It's easy to see how this might work for the Giants. By taking eight seconds off the clock, they force the Patriots into a situation where they essentially will have to throw a Hail Mary on the next play (or, in the worst case, two plays later). In fact, just as Ryan lamented not having 15 men on the field for the punt, the Giants probably should have run 13 men4 onto the field for the play, ensuring that a completion was almost certainly not forthcoming before taking their lumps.

In reality, the Giants probably just screwed up and put 12 men on the field amid all the excitement and drama of the final series. But don't be surprised if an NFL team remembers this situation next season, refers back to Ryan's mantra, and throws 14 players on the field for a key defensive snap inside 30 seconds. The NFL would be smart to close this loophole in the rules and turn the defensive 12-men penalty into a true free play, allowing the offense to either take the result of the play or the option of accepting a five-yard penalty with the time run off from the play added back onto the clock.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Also, last night was one of those nights that really made me appreciate Collinsworth as someone who knows what they're talking about ...

He's the best in the business right now on the nuts and bolts of why a play worked (or didn't). (I'm not counting Mike Mayock because I've got TWC and don't have NFL Network, and Gruden keeps Jaworski's balls in a jar in the Monday night booth.) I think he gets a lot of grief because he seems so cranky all the time. But I usually learn something during the games he does. The Manningham explanation really stood out, for instance.

Some non-Collinsworth nuts-and-bolts here on the two key plays in Sunday's games. Worth a quick read.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

No terribly blown calls, Enix? Not so. The NFL needs to hurry up and give a booth official more power, because every sports fan wants them to get things right.

I couldn't disagree more strongly. Sports need a lot more "let them play" and a whole lot less "let's nitpick every minute call in slow motion".

Replay is to fix egregious errors. A defender making contact a hair early is not an egregious error.

Referee human error is a part of sports. I have less than zero interest in seeing games dragged to a halt in order to try and stomp every vestige of that human error out.

Sports are sometimes reminding me of a spoiled, over-entitled kid who interrupts the birthday party with a temper tantrum because his slice of cake was slightly smaller than his friend's. Sometimes, minor unfair things happen. Roll with the punches, and keep the game moving. Replay is for preventing catastrophically bad calls, not to try and "fix" every close judgement call.

I think they should change the rule:

If there are too many men on the field for the offense, nothing changes.
If there are too many men on the field for the defense, if the penalty is accepted during the last two minutes of the game, the clock is reset to when the ball is snapped. If it is declined, nothing changes.

Enix wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Also, last night was one of those nights that really made me appreciate Collinsworth as someone who knows what they're talking about ...

He's the best in the business right now on the nuts and bolts of why a play worked (or didn't). (I'm not counting Mike Mayock because I've got TWC and don't have NFL Network, and Gruden keeps Jaworski's balls in a jar in the Monday night booth.) I think he gets a lot of grief because he seems so cranky all the time. But I usually learn something during the games he does. The Manningham explanation really stood out, for instance.

Some non-Collinsworth nuts-and-bolts here on the two key plays in Sunday's games. Worth a quick read.

Mayock is definitely the best, the one guy for whom my respect level is unbounded. But besides having to throw that in, I agree with you. Collinsworth is knowledgeable about the game and does a good job of bringing that knowledge to the broadcast.

What I really badly wish is that we could have a broadcast with Real Jon Gruden, the guy who talks sh*t about what bums some guys are, and isn't afraid to point out when guys are screw-ups. Coach Gruden. I am so bored with Analyst Gruden, the guy that says everyone is great and doing a good job. He hands out more Gold Stars than my wife does to a class of 1st graders.

Coach Gruden would be an absolute hoot to watch a game with.

*Legion* wrote:

Sports are sometimes reminding me of a spoiled, over-entitled kid who interrupts the birthday party with a temper tantrum because his slice of cake was slightly smaller than his friend's. Sometimes, minor unfair things happen. Roll with the punches, and keep the game moving. Replay is for preventing catastrophically bad calls, not to try and "fix" every close judgement call.

Yes. Thank you. The more you review plays the more you will be asked to review more plays. Until eventually you might as well outfit balls and players with RFID chips and keep track of this stuff technically.

*Legion* wrote:
Enix wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Also, last night was one of those nights that really made me appreciate Collinsworth as someone who knows what they're talking about ...

He's the best in the business right now on the nuts and bolts of why a play worked (or didn't). (I'm not counting Mike Mayock because I've got TWC and don't have NFL Network, and Gruden keeps Jaworski's balls in a jar in the Monday night booth.) I think he gets a lot of grief because he seems so cranky all the time. But I usually learn something during the games he does. The Manningham explanation really stood out, for instance.

Some non-Collinsworth nuts-and-bolts here on the two key plays in Sunday's games. Worth a quick read.

Mayock is definitely the best, the one guy for whom my respect level is unbounded. But besides having to throw that in, I agree with you. Collinsworth is knowledgeable about the game and does a good job of bringing that knowledge to the broadcast.

What I really badly wish is that we could have a broadcast with Real Jon Gruden, the guy who talks sh*t about what bums some guys are, and isn't afraid to point out when guys are screw-ups. Coach Gruden. I am so bored with Analyst Gruden, the guy that says everyone is great and doing a good job. He hands out more Gold Stars than my wife does to a class of 1st graders.

Coach Gruden would be an absolute hoot to watch a game with.

Coach Gruden showed up his first half-season or so on MNF, before he decided he needed to suck up to everyone because he never knew when he'd be coaching again. At the start, he and Jaws would get into serious football talk, but Gruden stopped doing that and started cheerleading. It makes it even more disappointing, because he did actually look like a "real" analyst for a while.

And yes, I'd take Mayock first, but Collinsworth is a very high-profile guy, and it's rare to get real criticism and analysis from a network's lead team. Of course, when your alternatives include Joe Buck or Phil Simms, it's not hard to sound good by comparison.

DSGamer wrote:

Yes. Thank you. The more you review plays the more you will be asked to review more plays. Until eventually you might as well outfit balls and players with RFID chips and keep track of this stuff technically.

I'm cool with using technology to offload some burden of judgement calls from the referees.

One which I think we'll see in the not-too-distant future is a chip in the ball, which will be able to detect on field goals if it passes between the goalpost area when the ball actually goes over the top of the posts.

Things where you can implement a piece of technology to make an instant, deterministic call, I am in favor of. I am good with replacing instant judgement calls with instant technology-driven calls. But I am not good with replacing them with drawn-out replay viewing. And even though I support ideas like the chip-determined field goal, I still don't subscribe to the idea that the human error has to be eliminated at all cost. If it can be done cleanly and easily, then sure, why not, but I definitely don't like the attitude of some sports fans that referee human error is some sort of crime against humanity. (And to be clear, that's directed at other sports fans I've observed, not directed at Fedaykin)

*Legion* wrote:

but I definitely don't like the attitude of some sports fans that referee human error is some sort of crime against humanity. (And to be clear, that's directed at other sports fans I've observed, not directed at Fedaykin)

He means baseball fans.

And while I agree that I'd hate to have a stoppage on every play, I think the college football replay system is infinitely superior to the NFL one. Having the guy upstairs checking plays, and buzzing down if there needs to be a review is much better than the silly challenge flag where some plays don't get reviewed even if they are clearly wrong. And the NFL's worst problem is that they've now taken a replay to mean "free chance to sell some more ads and show a commercial" so that even if it's something that can be seen in 1-2 replays and called, they still take the full 2 min for "the replay" which is really for the commercials. The NFL doesn't actually care about getting calls right, they care about money.

Thank you, Stele, college replay > NFL replay. Also college overtime >>>>> Tim Tebow winning a playoff game with one pass.

This may be down to my long history as a college fan and being indifferent to the NFL until the Texans started up.

Stele wrote:

And while I agree that I'd hate to have a stoppage on every play, I think the college football replay system is infinitely superior to the NFL one. Having the guy upstairs checking plays, and buzzing down if there needs to be a review is much better than the silly challenge flag where some plays don't get reviewed even if they are clearly wrong. And the NFL's worst problem is that they've now taken a replay to mean "free chance to sell some more ads and show a commercial" so that even if it's something that can be seen in 1-2 replays and called, they still take the full 2 min for "the replay" which is really for the commercials. The NFL doesn't actually care about getting calls right, they care about money. :mad:

I have plenty of issues with the challenge system. It was borne out of a paranoia of a return to the "old" NFL replay system, which was essentially unchecked and dragged games to a complete stop. That experience made everyone wary of a "new" replay system, hence, the time limits to ensure a limit on the length of replays, and the challenge flags to ensure a limit on the number of replays.

One of the things that drives me nuts with the NFL are arbitrary rule changes in situations. In the case of replay, it's the fact that the challenge system goes away and the "guy upstairs buzzing down to the field ref" is exactly what the system becomes inside of 2:00 of end of half/game.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Also college overtime >>>>> Tim Tebow winning a playoff game with one pass.

This may be down to my long history as a college fan and being indifferent to the NFL until the Texans started up.

Well, it wasn't until that overtime started that I realized that the new overtime didn't allow the ball to go back to the other team if they had already had a possession. I don't like that, but I'd rather have the teams have to play field position and then score than the way college football is.

Very surprised some people found the game boring. I found it much more exciting then some defense-less 51-48 trackmeet (like the Lions-Saints game earlier in the playoffs). Granted, as a Pats fan, exciting might be synonymous with anxiety-provoking..

I feel for Brady/Welker:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AuBmq3HWu7_4R3DAEwcmbSc5nYcB?slug=dw-wetzel_tom_brady_super_bowl_gisele_bundchen_defeat_020512

Welker's pretty much seen as the goat (or at least with a large percentage of the blame) for the pass. Tough for a guy everyone loves in New England, and who is a free agent (who will probably be franchised)

Welker dropped that pass, but Branch and Hernandez both dropped passes too on the last drive.