Week 14 - 2013

What a joke.  The NFL should be ashamed of the performance of Jerome Boger and his crew.  NFL officiating has never been worse than it is this season.  At least the replacement refs had an excuse.  This sham of an officiating crew did their best to give New England the game, and with the help of Fozzie Whittaker and his inability to grab a football on an onside kick, the Browns lost an absolute stunner to the Patriots, 27-26.

Seriously I'm not sure I've ever seen a game like that one.  It's hard enough to beat the Patriots, and nearly impossible when Tom Brady is allowed to call his own penalties, but the Browns were in position.  And then they gave up 13 points in 30 seconds, aided by two absolutely appalling, deplorable penalties and an idiotic play by Fozzie Whittaker.  The first penalty, unnecessary roughness in the endzone was called on Jordan Poyer for hitting Julian Edelman in the shoulder with his shoulder.  Apparently now shoulders are off limits to defensive backs also.  Enjoy seeing more ACL tears like the one that happened when TJ Ward hit Gronkowski, NFL.  Players can't hit anyone high, all it will be is blown out knees and broken lower halves.  That penalty on Poyer was a joke.  It moved the ball up 15 yards for the onside kick attempt, which New England recovered.  They were then aided with one of the worst penalties I've ever seen called, a pass interference on Leon McFadden in the endzone with 40 seconds left in the game.  That put the ball at the one yard line after the 29 yard penalty, and basically decided the game, although Billy Cundiff had a chance but was short on a 58 yard field goal.

It wasn't just those two calls.  There were multiple instances throughout the game of these referees being influenced by the Patriots.  Tom Brady talked Boger out of an intentional grounding penalty, while Boger called Campbell for a less egregious penalty later in the game.  Rob Chudzinski had to use 2 challenges on simple calls, one on an embarrassing spot given to Willis McGahee on a 3rd and 1 and one on a bouncing pass that was called complete to Edelman.  There were other calls, like the juggling catch that was called incomplete by Josh Gordon, and the questionable false start on Jordan Cameron.  I've said a million times to anyone that would listen that the NFL should allow the public to see the grades officials are given.  How incompetent does a NFL ref have to be to get canned?  Jeff Triplette is the worst in the league, made another critical error in this weeks game (I didn't see it so I don't know how bad) and is still allowed to work games week in and week out.  It's a joke.

To that point, let's revisit the last time Jerome Boger's crew worked a New England Patriots game.  Here's the recap. 

So let's see, Boger and crew cost the Patriots a game earlier in the season against the Jets with a controversial call.  The Patriots, with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and Roger Goodell's BFF Robert Kraft.  And then Boger gets assigned to another Patriots game.  Against the lowly Cleveland Browns.  And then what happened happens.  The NFL is a joke.  Their officials are a joke.

That's not to say that the Browns could not have won the game.  They are a stupid football team that makes stupid plays.  All Fozzie Whittaker has to do is grab the football and the game is over.  And not that it matters but why the hell is Greg Little on the hands team? 

The end of the game spoiled what was one of the finest coaching jobs Rob Chudzinski had done all season.  The gameplan was outstanding.  The players were executing.  Jason Campbell looked good.  Josh Gordon is incredible.  Jordan Cameron played his best game since the first half of the season.  The defense played well until the fourth quarter.  They should have won the game.  In May, we'll be happy that they lost.  But it hurt yesterday and it hurts today.  And please don't be fooled by Jason Campbell's game.  Just because he wasn't bad doesn't mean he's good.  The Browns need a franchise quarterback.

So that was that.  Another soul crushing Browns loss in Browns fashion.  But the real story is the embarrassing performance of the Jerome Boger and his crew.  They were a joke and they played a huge part in this debacle.  Seriously though, what else is there to say, other than - Only in Cleveland.


Random gifs

The snow broke Megatron

Defensive linemen are dirty mofos

Matt Prater Record Breaker

Bonus pic because it's awesome