NFL Turning Point: The Clete Blakeman Effect

[rippadonn]

The lines in Vegas switched dramatically at the last minute. Vegas bait & switch?!? Insiders got word of insiders on the field?

Did somebody get paid off in Budweisers to STFU and be happy you're hoisting the trophy instead of fighting off an investigation? Very dirty NFL....dirty!

[The_Light_Brigade]

I have a new found respect for a championship now.  Ron had been saying after games all year to "enjoy the journey".  I think this is just part of it.  We all had hopes this was the destination.  Ultimately it is, but our story changed. We've taken steps every year. Even with set backs we keep pounding.  A little further, a little further.  Don't stop. A little further.  Yeah it would've been awesome to win this year.  This was just a step.  You get more fans.  They get even more interested.  You grow, you keep going.  We're building something great.  You'll be able to say, yeah I watched that whole thing from the beginning.  

[Lilsmitty09]

Even had we played good ball and it was close - there is no reason to not believe that the refs would've made other calls affecting us and helping Denver. 

We were the 4th LEAST penalized team while Denver was average at 16, yet they had barely any penalties and we had double what they had?

Sure.

[CATATTACK03]

I'll just leave this here.  Interesting points about the NFL as a business and talking points in the media to push a storyline.

http://youtu.be/RqCAGFQokXE

[joemac]

The big problem with these refs is that most of them are 60 year old out of shape, old ass dudes, who do that job part time. Why a league like the NFL doesn't have full time officials, who train year in and year out on doing the best job they can, is fuging beyond me. They would rather have some lawyer from Omaha than guys who would actually be in shape and train to do the best possible job....it's really fuging bullshit when you look at it. 

[tondi]

If the NFL doesn't even want any of us (refs included) to know what the fug a catch is these days, you can bet your sweet ass they don't want FT refs running around fuggin up their grand scheme.

[mwright350]

I'll admit as readily as anyone that the officiating in that game was poor (at best) but some of the conspiracy talk is just a weeeeeee bit too far over the edge.

The bad officiating certainly did contribute heavily to our loss but even with the bad / biased (intentionally or not) officiating we would have won the game had we not beaten ourselves with the most untimely turnovers ever and some really boneheaded decisions by both players and coaches.

[rodeo]

5 minutes ago, mwright350 said:

The bad officiating certainly did contribute heavily to our loss but even with the bad / biased (intentionally or not) officiating we would have won the game had we not beaten ourselves with the most untimely turnovers ever and some really boneheaded decisions by both players and coaches.

Yeah this is how I feel about it too. Did the referees cost us the game? Yes. We would have won if the first Von Miller TD was called a penalty, if the PI was called, if the last illegal bat was called. That's inargueable, because two of those plays led to their only touchdowns.

But there's a saying in MMA and boxing. Don't leave it in the hands of the judges. You have to knock them out. If we had played better, we would have won.

[CarolinaSamurai]

4 hours ago, CPantherKing said:

Here are the missed/bad calls by the officiating. Long post, but I know some of you were wondering just how many missed/bad calls there were and who they were on. Leaving out PI and holding as they are judgement calls. You will notice the huge disparity between the teams.

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1

7:23

1

10

CAR 15

Cam Newton pass incomplete deep middle intended for Jerricho Cotchery (defended by Darian Stewart). CAR challenged the incomplete pass ruling, and the play was upheld.

3

0

This should have been ruled a catch since none of the officials could see the ball hit the ground. Replay would have had to prove it was incomplete. Clete Blakeman was responsible for getting this right as the main official with the call was confused and the official calling it incomplete clear across the field could not see through the body of Cotchery.

1

6:34

3

10

CAR 15

Cam Newton sacked by Von Miller for -11 yards. Cam Newton fumbles (forced by Von Miller), recovered by Malik Jackson at CAR--1, touchdown

9

0

Von Miller led with hands to the Cam Newton's face in the pocket before going to strip the ball. This should have been a 15 yard personal foul penalty for a blow to the QBs head.

1

1:27

4

12

DEN 11

Britton Colquitt punts 47 yards, returned by Ted Ginn for -2 yards (tackle by Corey Nelson). Penalty on Teddy Williams: Illegal Block Above the Waist, 10 yards

10

0

This was not a block in the back. Ginn had fielded the punt at the 42 and the defender dove to try to trip Ginn up with his arm. The defender dives at the 42. The official short arms the flag to the 37 yard line as the spot of the foul. The penalty is 10 yards from the spot of the foul which places the Panthers at their own 27. Ginn ended up at the 41 on the tackle. The officials took 14 yards away from the Panthers when a call should have never been made and they made a bad spot.

2

11:25

1

10

DEN 20

Peyton Manning pass incomplete intended for Virgil Green. CAR challenged the incomplete pass ruling, and the play was overturned. Peyton Manning sacked byKony Ealy for -7 yards

10

7

Peyton should not have been allowed to continue the play and the refs allowed it. This was a major mistake as it used up the Panthers final challenge.

2

9:29

4

12

CAR 47

Brad Nortman punts 28 yards, returned by Jordan Norwood for 61 yards (tackle byMario Addison)

10

7

Norwood turns his back toward the official and walks to the sideline shielding his outside arm from view of the official in the end zone while he waits for the punt. After the punt is in the air, Norwood twists his body to square out with the Punt. While running forward he flails his left arm out to the side raising it to the level of his right shoulder. This is an illegal fair catch signal. This was seen by the Panthers gunners and they were confused. The officials missed the call.

2

6:28

2

10

DEN 40

C.J. Anderson right guard for 34 yards (tackle by Cortland Finnegan)

13

7

Anderson latches onto and pulls down on Finnegan's facemask to keep him from making the tackle. This allows for more yardage as Andeson runs out of bounds. The official had a clear line of sight on the hand in the facemask and the jerk of the head.

2

4:23

1

10

CAR 39

Cam Newton pass incomplete short right intended for Greg Olsen

13

7

Sylvester Williams runs around Norwell after Cam had thrown the ball and delivers a late hit and a blow to Cam Newton's head with the hand sending him to the ground with Malik Jackson pulling Cam to the ground. Cam had taken 3 to 4 casual steps after he had thrown the ball. This happens in front of Clete Blakeman.

2

1:26

2

7

CAR 22

Penalty on Michael Oher: False Start, 5 yards (no play)

13

7

0.07

-0.72

66.3

Von Miller simulates the snap count. Cam was using a delayed cadence. You can see the OTs looking down the line for the snap of the ball, and then Miller adds another 'hut' following Cam's. You can also see Miller's head bob forward when he does this pulling the OTs on both sides. Oher and Remmers both look at the official and plead their case, but the official did not notice it.

2

0:11

2

10

DEN 45

Cam Newton sacked by DeMarcus Ware for -10 yards

13

7

Demarcus Ware stomps on Cam Newton's knee after the sack by rearing his leg back and driving his knee into the side of Cam's knee.

3

13:41

1

10

DEN 35

Cam Newton pass incomplete

13

7

Demarcus Ware leg whips the back of Cam Newton's legs to take him down after Cam throws the ball away. This should be a personal foul. Clete Blakeman is 5 yards away from the play and casually walks by without even verbally warning Ware.

3

13:34

2

10

DEN 35

Fozzy Whittaker right tackle for 10 yards (tackle by Chris Harris and Brandon Marshall). Penalty on Trai Turner: Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards

13

7

Trai Turner was blocking his man on the play. Turner's defender was on the ground as the whistle blew. The officials threw the flag and penalized the Panthers for hitting a player after the whistle. You can pause the video when the whistle blows and Trai is not engaged with any defender.

3

11:00

3

11

DEN 26

Cam Newton pass incomplete short right intended for Greg Olsen

13

7

Philly Brown turns Roby and beats him. Roby reaches out to pull Brown back to him. The official throws a flag for defensive holding. Clete Blakeman speaks with him and overrules him due to being away from the play. They pick up the flag. This call is understandable, but it favors the Broncos and highlights the penalties against the Panthers Clete Blakeman refused to overturn eventhough he knew what the correct call was suppose to be.

3

10:54

4

11

DEN 26

Graham Gano 44 yard field goal no good

13

7

Offsides on Talib not called. Official is adamant he was not offsides. Clete Blakeman acknowledges to Norman he saw the offsides but it is not his responsibility to call the penalty.

3

5:57

2

10

DEN 28

Cam Newton pass incomplete deep middle intended for Ted Ginn is intercepted byT.J. Ward at DEN-10 and returned for 4 yards. T.J. Ward fumbles (forced by Mike Tolbert), recovered by Danny Trevathan at DEN-7

16

7

On the fumble by Ward, both Trevathan and Ginn have dual possession of the ball. Trevathan begins to forcibly slam his knee into Ginn's side and then rears his leg back again to slam his knee into the side of Ginn's head to get him to release the ball. This should have been a personal foul penalty. Multiple officials stood around them and let Trevathan knee Ginn in the head. Not even a warning to Trevathan for an offense that should get him suspended. This was worse than the act by Talib on Brown.

4

10:55

3

4

DEN 16

Penalty on Michael Oher: False Start, 5 yards (no play)

16

7

The Broncos simulate the snap again on a delayed cadence by Cam. It catches both OTs again. Brandon Marshall simulates the snap. Michael Oher protests again, but the refs claim it did not happen.

4

8:21

2

9

CAR 29

Penalty on Mike Remmers: False Start, 5 yards (no play)

16

10

The Broncos simulate the snap again on a delayed cadence. This time Trevathen simulates the snap.

4

4:16

3

9

CAR 25

Cam Newton sacked by Von Miller for -9 yards. Cam Newton fumbles (forced by Von Miller), recovered by T.J. Ward at CAR-9 and returned for 5 yards (tackle by Mike Remmers)

16

10

Illegal batting of the ball by Von Miller in front of Clete Blakeman. Should be 1st and 10 at the 35 for the Panthers.

4

3:17

3

4

CAR 4

Peyton Manning pass incomplete short right intended for Demaryius Thomas. Penalty on Josh Norman: Defensive Holding, 2 yards (no play)

This was not a holding penalty on Norman and Thomas slipped after pulling on Norman to get around him. The ball was also uncatchable. This would have been a FG attempt, but the officials gave the Broncos a fresh set of downs. Considering all the physical PI the Broncos got away with and I did not include as bad calls, this is a ridiculous call that fails to carry the same standard of officiating they have been using throughout the game.

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The officiating had 18 bad or missed calls in the game. 17 went against the Panthers and 1 went in favor of the Broncos. There were no bad or missed calls that went against the Broncos all game. They picked up the flag on what would have been the one bad call on the Broncos. I did not include the judgement calls of holding and pass interference. The one PI I listed was to illustrate the lack of consistency in officiating between the two teams.

Feel free to check out the plays as the times are listed.

 

[Semaj]

Two points that I want to make.  It was early in the game that the Panthers realized they were playing 2 teams as Josh said.   Secondly, Clete is likely a Broncos fan. Move along. Nothing more to say other than this was the greatest NFL Super Bowl screw job that I can remember. These refs accounted for 15 points in the game for Denver by blown and missed calls. Final score Carolina 10 and Denver 9.  Actually probably 13-9 if Gano gets to re-kick that fg that he missed because he was affected by the offsides. A couple missed calls, OK it happens. This was so much beyond that, that I can't assume anything but the worse.

[Kurb]

Reminds me of the Steelers vs Seahawks

[Semaj]

Enjoy your forever tainted Super Bowl win Denver and Denver fans. I would never want us to win a Super Bowl in this way because it wouldn't be legitimate. This one is forever tainted by the NFL officials purposely screwing one team over with biased and unfair officiating. 

[CatMan72]

It was subtle enough with all the chaos for me to understand why Blakeman might have missed it, he almost became part of the play himself, but I'm surprised the replay officials (I know the guys wife is a Broncos fan, but Blandino was there too) didn't pick up on it since all turnovers are automatically reviewed.

Maybe the replay officials did pick up on it, but decided there wasn't clear enough intent demonstrated to rule it a batted ball? 

Oh well, changes nothing now and the Broncos might have recovered it and/or won the game anyways... c'est la vie (that's French for "poo happens"). 

What this did provide was a few more angles Cam's attempt to recover the fumble. It's clear to me that 1) he was initially beaten to the ball by Ware and was in terrible position 2) if he hadn't jumped out of the way he could have suffered a severe injury to his left leg and 3) he was playing for the "rebound" as Rivera said. The ball did squirt out but shot right past him, oh well. 

 

[SportsCrazie4172]