@kshutchins said:

I've been reading "Scorecasting" and the authors attribute home field advantage to referee bias. When I was watching this game, I had to wonder if the supposed home field referee bias was a myth where the Browns were concerned.

Both teams made a bunch of bonehead penalties.

i think our coaches need to start teaching the rules of the game to guys like Dimitri Patterson and Taylor. i'm not close to being sold on Jauron. Only one 3 and out series against the Dolphins is embarrassing.

@calfoxwc said:

AND, Taylor commits himself to making a hit on a qb, and all of a sudden Collins starts a slide. Taylor lands on him before he's all the way down.

Now, just what is the rule? Anytime a qb is running, the millisecond he STARTS his slide, he can't be touched? Even if a defender is in the air to tackle him?

Or, the qb has to complete his slide and have his butt on the ground, even if he's still moving forward for more yardage. That one, I don't get. Why, a qb should

be able to start his "slide" on a qb sneak and draw that penalty every time. LOL.

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Regarding the penalty on Taylor, what the? The guy is 2 steps away, weighs 300+ pounds, is committed to the tackle, and he's magically supposed to pull up, or fly over the guy? The laws of inertia took over, there wasn't a damn thing Phil could have done, and it certainly wasn't "dirty".

OTOH, if you watch the replay, Haden and Marshall were virtually mugging each other on every play- and no interference was being called either way- go figure.

Those Refs calling the Browns- Fins game need to go back to Ref school- WAY over officiated.

and there was no call.

But, let Sheard simply have his hand brush across a qb's facemask, no hit at all..... and there's a "blow with force" penalty.

This "excessive celebration" is custom designed to allow officials great leeway in subjectively judging.

I've seen enough of "selective" contradictions already THIS season. If Sheard's brush was a penalty, how the bleep does a

ref NOT CALL that one on Vick?

And holding..........It''s either a penalty is it isn't. I'm so tired of "well, they COULD call holding on every play and that would ruin the game"..

Then why is it ever called? What is the critieria for calling offensive holding or not?

Then there's "the defender had his hand on the receiver and went over the receiver's back to get at the ball"

But, just this weekend - that exact same scenario was not called.

And "picking". I've seen that penalty called because a cb or safety was blocked by another receiver that he was NOT covering. That's a penalty.

But of course, I've seen flagrant picks not called. WHAT? It just happened again last weekend.

While I'm on a rant, there is one team that gets by far more leeway in penalties NOT called, and at the same time BENEFITTING from subjective weird calls...

at least in the AFC - that team is the squeelers. I've seen it all too often.

Oh, and another one - "The defender moved, and caused the offensive lineman to react" - penalty on the defense. But, a few games later, you see

defensive linemen jumping toward the los like crazy, and THEN it's "illegal motion" on an offensive lineman if he moved in response. Now, I haven't seen this often, but I have

seen it in the past.

AND, Taylor commits himself to making a hit on a qb, and all of a sudden Collins starts a slide. Taylor lands on him before he's all the way down.

Now, just what is the rule? Anytime a qb is running, the millisecond he STARTS his slide, he can't be touched? Even if a defender is in the air to tackle him?

Or, the qb has to complete his slide and have his butt on the ground, even if he's still moving forward for more yardage. That one, I don't get. Why, a qb should

be able to start his "slide" on a qb sneak and draw that penalty every time. LOL.

If rules are subjectively enforced by refs, or not.... that reeks of corruption in NFL ranks. Obviously, there are a lot of borderline situations that require judgement.

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about seeing extremes in judgement, or lack thereof. As in, "the rules exists, it's a penalty" and then "the rule must not exist because the far worse offense is NOT a penalty"

Something reeks somewhere, with a few officials, imho. That's just what I think.

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@hoorta said:

I really thought with the "excessive celebration" BS and horsecollar (legit) penalties the Refs had gifted the game to the Fish. That had to be the best defensive stand I've seen out of the Browns in years. A four and out with the game on the line. Way to go, D!!!!

I've been reading "Scorecasting" and the authors attribute home field advantage to referee bias. When I was watching this game, I had to wonder if the supposed home field referee bias was a myth where the Browns were concerned.

@hoorta said:

I really thought with the "excessive celebration" BS and horsecollar (legit) penalties the Refs had gifted the game to the Fish. That had to be the best defensive stand I've seen out of the Browns in years. A four and out with the game on the line. Way to go, D!!!!

Agreed! A four and out allowing 0 yards! And the Dolphins weren't just bombing it down field either. They only needed 10 yards to attempt a field goal so we had to defend every conceivable play..

Zombo said:

5 more sacks ... first in AFC ... the fact that we have Rubin, Taylor and Sheard locked up under long term contracts is bad news for the rest of the league.

Z

I really thought with the "excessive celebration" BS and horsecollar (legit) penalties the Refs had gifted the game to the Fish. That had to be the best defensive stand I've seen out of the Browns in years. A four and out with the game on the line. Way to go, D!!!!