The Conspiracy Thread

[Reaper Skins]

9/8/15 - NFLPA collusion lawsuit against NFL over 'secret' 2010 cap rejected again

http://es.pn/1QmUm3L

Edited September 9, 2015 by Reaper Skins

[Reaper Skins]

Suh kicks Morris in head during week 1 against Dolphins, no penalty during game

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/ndamukong-suh-dirty-miami-dolphins-redskins-plays-vines-gifs

http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/09/13/miami-dolphins-ndamukong-suh-helmet-kick-video

Despite being a repeat offender, the league decides not to enforce any penalty against Suh after review the next day

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000530418/article/suh-incident-with-morris-not-deemed-kick-no-punishment-coming

They did, however, decide to fine Redskins Chris Baker for roughing the passer. It was the only fine handed out from the game

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/football-insider/wp/2015/09/18/chris-baker-fined-for-roughing-the-passer-penalty-against-dolphins-qb-tannehill/

Edited September 19, 2015 by Reaper Skins

[Dan T.]

Conspiracy Theories.. gotta love 'em.. haha

 

Here's one I just thought of in regards to what appears to be a lengthy delay in having Robert get past his concussion protocol test.

 

The team is intentionally delaying the meeting between Robert and the independent neurologist so that when they do trade him, his new team won't have to guarantee his contract since he won't be on their roster for week 1...  

Not too bad of a conspiracy, no?  

Get this. The new "independent" NFLPA neurologist, Dr. Abraham Kader, is part of the same practice out of Arlington as the Redskins' former team  neurologist. Fact.

So you conspiracy guys can run with that...

Edited September 14, 2015 by Dan T.

[carex]

9/8/15 - NFLPA collusion lawsuit against NFL over 'secret' 2010 cap rejected again

http://es.pn/1QmUm3L

 

the NFL needs to realize that the next time there's CBA negotiating they will pay for that.  I really think the next time this comes up there will be a strike

[Reaper Skins]

NFL waits the whole offseason until today to hand down a 1 game suspension for Chris Culliver, ensuring that the Redskins won't be able to have a full roster in their secondary for 2 weeks of the season, rather than 1.

Unecessarily drawn out for maximum disruption to our roster, keeps us from being able to have any offseason time to game plan in combination with Breeland's 1 game suspension. No reason this should not have been announced prior to the season. Removes our ability to make roster cuts according to team need heading into the season

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000530608/article/redskins-chris-culliver-suspended-one-game

 

As a basis for comparison, Pacman Jones was not suspended for this on field incident, which occurred in week 1.

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13654762/pacman-jones-cincinnati-bengals-facing-likely-fine-no-suspension

Edited September 16, 2015 by Reaper Skins

[Paul Cumberland]

NFL waits the whole offseason until today to hand down a 1 game suspension for Chris Culliver, ensuring that the Redskins won't be able to have a full roster in their secondary for 2 weeks of the season, rather than 1.

Unecessarily drawn out for maximum disruption to our roster, keeps us from being able to have any offseason time to game plan in combination with Breeland's 1 game suspension. No reason this should not have been announced prior to the season. Removes our ability to make roster cuts according to team need heading into the season

 

And not surprisingly, we find our favorite owner is part of the competition committee.. Hmmm..

 

From: http://operations.nfl.com/football-ops/league-governance/the-nfl-competition-committee/

[pjfootballer]

^^ Another name on that list- Jeff Fisher, whom we play this week and is familiar with Culliver from his time in SF.

[TheCoach22]

Dallas vs. Redskins 2013 - Botched call gives Dallas the ball on punt return, officials admit mistake after the fact

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/football-insider/wp/2013/10/15/shanahan-wrong-call-was-made-regarding-fumble-recovery/

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20131016-mike-shanahan-washington-redskins-should-have-had-the-ball-after-fumble-but-officials-made-the-wrong-call.ece

Same game, Another Washington penalty had provided Harris with a second chance at a return. The Redskins were flagged for illegal motion, and Dallas accepted the penalty that forced them to kick again, setting up the fifth-longest punt return in Cowboys history.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=331013006

This one enraged me... Broke my direct tv remote in disgust.

[Reaper Skins]

From the twitter thread:

 

Former refs admit refs now getting coms in ear from press box & league office re: flags/calls 

 

"The idea makes perfect sense to me, but absent a formal policy, it raises questions about accountability and transparency. In an industry where so much money and job security ride on the outcome of each game, it would be unsettling to think that an unidentified entity is pulling the levers from behind the proverbial curtain.....

 

...The issue, if there is one, is avoiding the appearance that someone removed from the field of play -- be it the replay official or a league official in New York -- might be influencing the outcome of the game without anyone knowing it. I would also imagine an opposing coach wouldn't be happy to know that a replay could be used to correct what is supposed to be an unreviewable call."

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/179423/whispering-in-the-ear-of-nfl-referees …

Edited September 16, 2015 by Reaper Skins

[Long n Left]

From the twitter thread:

Former refs admit refs now getting coms in ear from press box & league office re: flags/calls http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/179423/whispering-in-the-ear-of-nfl-referees …

"The idea makes perfect sense to me, but absent a formal policy, it raises questions about accountability and transparency. In an industry where so much money and job security ride on the outcome of each game, it would be unsettling to think that an unidentified entity is pulling the levers from behind the proverbial curtain."

See! Just because I wear an aluminum foil hat doesn't mean I'm nutz! The NFL is clandestinely whispering in official's ears: "The Redskins are the anti-Christ!"

[StephenDavis]

See! Just because I wear an aluminum foil hat doesn't mean I'm nutz! The NFL is clandestinely whispering in official's ears: "The Redskins are the anti-Christ!"

The darlings of the NFL will always get the benefit of the doubt against us. That pick play offensive pass interference last week would have never been called against the Pats or Shehawks. Just another reason being a Redskins fan is the most frustrating fan experience in sports today.

[Reaper Skins]

The darlings of the NFL will always get the benefit of the doubt against us. That pick play offensive pass interference last week would have never been called against the Pats or Shehawks. Just another reason being a Redskins fan is the most frustrating fan experience in sports today.

Does anyone have any footage of this play?  Like a vine or an image?  I didn't remember seeing it or it being that blatent but Gruden today in his presser called it "alleged interference" and I've seen alot of fans complaining about the call

[Reaper Skins]

I’m going to preface this post by saying that there were plenty of opportunities for the Redskins to win this game.  The coaches abandoned the run, Cousins played his worst game of the season and consistently underthrew his receivers, and a lack of discipline led to a goal line fumble and squandered opportunities on 2 onside kicks. 

 

With that being said, in my mind this entire game was decided within the first two minutes.  Last year against this team, the Redskins had a momentum shifting play called back when RG3 “didn’t get in the endzone.”  The play happened before halftime, but the team took it as an excuse to say “well the refs are against us, we can’t win this game.”   They showed that they weren’t mentally tough enough to shake off a bad play, a bad call, and move forward.

 

Last night, I saw the exact same thing happen, only it happened within the first few minutes of the game.  A bad call against us killed our momentum and we spent the rest of the game getting in our own way.  We suddenly forgot that we were “not the same team from last year” and proceeded to let the refs and the Giants kill our momentum every single time we tried to get something going.  So yes, we have no one to blame for this loss but ourselves, because the opportunities were there.  But that doesn’t mean I didn’t see a ton of hometown calls that gave the Giants a huge competitive edge and helped keep the Redskins stuck in first gear all night.  Good teams are able to overcome referee bias, and its quite clear that we are not there yet.

 

With that being said, here are some points from the game that I think gave an unfair advantage to the Giants. 

 

First Point: Holding calls are always pretty subjective, and I noticed that most of our momentum killing “penalties” were of this variety, with some being so questionable that the commentators were even skeptical of them.  There also seemed to be a large level of inconsistency as far as what constituted a holding call in this game. On the other side of the ball, there were numerous instances peppered throughout the game of the Giants clearly holding that were NOT called.  In other words, there did not seem to be even handed enforcement. 

 

Second point: I noticed several instances of “combo penalties”.  With these, either both teams committed penalties, but the end results still favored the Giants, or there was a penalty on the Redskins that gave the Giants a first down, immediately followed by a call for the Redskins.  The end result of this is that a Giants drive is allowed to continue while making the flags look like they are being evenly distributed.

 

In this vein, if I were to go look up the overall number of penalties on each team from this game, I would not expect them to be super lopsided in our favor.  However, it did appear that the refs began calling the game much more in the Redskins favor only after the game was clearly out of reach in the 4th quarter,  ensuring that these meaningless "make up" calls would pad the numbers and make them appear more even.  The number of penalties wasn't the issue, but rather the variety and the timing of their enforcement.

 

Third Point: The flags themselves were coming out VERY late, often way after the play had ended, giving the refs a chance to see the result of the play before deciding whether or not to negate it with a flag.  There seemed to be an inordinate number times during drives where flags were thrown only to have the refs say "there is no foul on the play"

 

I don’t have any screen shots for the penalties listed below (any footage would be welcome), so some of them may be more agregious than others, but I logged the times and situation as they came up anytime I noticed a ref call swing momentum in favor of the Giants:

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

First Quarter: 

13:48 - Offense was moving the ball well until a third down, 33 yard play was negated due to a pass interference call on Jordan Reed.  No replay of the infraction was shown.  Contact is allowed within 1 yard of the line of scrimmage.  In his post game presser, Gruden says that “We had some bad thing happen to us early and were never able to recover.  Watch his reaction when asked about the Reed holding call

https://youtu.be/LpSCbRwqu5o?t=6m

 

13:07 – On 4^th down, our punter is run into by a Giants defender.  The 15 yard penalty would have resulted in a first down.  Instead, the referees call a Redskins player for being out of bounds.  No replay is shown of the defender being out of bounds.  Offsetting penalties result in a re-kick.  Predictably, our coverage strategy has already been seen by the Giants, and when presented with a second chance, the Giants block the punt for a safety.

 

9:10 - Giants forced to punt, ball is fielded at Redskins 12.  Holding penalty on Plummer forces Redskins to begin drive on their own 6 yard line.  The very next play, Shawn Lavauo is injured and forced to leave the game.  No replay shown of how he was injured.  With backup LeRiebus filling in, Washington chooses to avoid running the ball and unwisely throws on 2^nd down near the goal line, resulting in an interception.

 

4:37 – Redskins punt the ball, Giants returner fumbles the ball.  Initially signaled Redskins ball.  Upon review, ball is awarded to the Giants.

 

:43 – Eli Manning throws first incomplete pass of game.  No intentional grounding flag is thrown.  Instead of being backed up, Giants are able to kick a 35 yard field goal.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Second Quarter

11:31 – Jeron Johnson called for ticky tack unnecessary roughness on a kickoff despite the fact that it was a touchback.  Commentators agree that Giants player is acting and that the call was unnecessary. Giants awarded 15 yards and begin drive on their own 35.

 

Ensuing drive:  Multiple holds on both Murphy and Kerrigan that were not called.  Possible pass interference also not called

 

4:13 – J. Crowder catches a pass and runs for 33 yards.  Play is negated by a phantom holding call on Lichtensteiger.  One commentator disagrees with the call, the other commentator states that “well he didn’t hold, but I guess he did TRY and hold…”

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Third Quarter:

:46 – Pass interference called on Chris Culliver even though the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage.  When this is pointed out to the officials, they change the penalty to illegal contact on Culliver and say it occurred prior to the pass.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Fourth Quarter:

6:50 – After suffering from an 11 yard loss on a sack the previous play, an 11 yard catch to Jordan Reed is negated by an offensive interference call away from the ball on J. Crowder.  Washington is backed up to their own 8 yard line for 2^nd and 28.

 

9:32 - The Forward progress call:  Jennings is stopped and stripped of the football before coming to the ground.  Officials claim that the runner's forward momentum was impeded and therefore the play is dead.  the ball is clearly stripped before the whistle is blown.  Both commentators agree that the whistle was blown much too early, although one commentator says that "the whistle doesn't matter" .  Referees say that runner's forward progress is nonreviewable.  Redskins fumble is negated.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

In conclusion, there were plenty of opportunities for the Redskins to win this game.  That being said, the biggest issue I had with last night was that our offense had no rhythm.  When he is forced to overcome everything else on the field and try to “save the day” Cousins over exerts himself and our coach abandons the run. 

I absolutely think the Giants front office and hometown refs used this knowledge to their advantage and stacked the deck against us.  Anytime we began to get anything going offensively, the refs became involved.   Ideally a good team should be able to overcome this.  But we’re not there yet.  So while I don’t blame this loss soley on the referees, I absolutely do think that their uneven penalties took a huge mental toll on our offense and quarterback and ended up being the straw that broke the camel’s back for this week’s loss.  You cannot run your playbook effectively and go for the jugular if you’re worried about the refs checking you at every turn. 

The loss is on the Redskins, but the lack of energy, mental confusion, and the “playing scared” attitude we saw from our players was definitely aided by the referees.  It’s much easier to “out physical” the other team when you’re not worried about penalties, and this was the gameplan that New York employed this week.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Reaper Skins

[Suffolk_Skins]

That Penalty on Reed 3rd 1 with the big gain to Thompson looked BS to me. Any thoughts on that? Not saying that changes the game..... Well actually I am seeing as we couldn't get beyond our own 20 yard line until we were two scores down. 

Edited September 25, 2015 by Suffolk_Skins

[StephenDavis]

It's obvious there is conspiracy to keep the Redskins at the bottom of the division. Thanks Reaper for recapping. Keep it coming. 

[campbellcooleyconnection]

We always get big plays called back been going on for years,refs don't even try to conceal fact they want us to fail!

[Conn]

There's a conspiracy to fill this thread with serious-sounding posts, to make me doubt the intelligence of many in our fan base. I'm on to you guys, and you won't get away with it forever.

[50yrSKINSfan]

w.r.t playing teams with extra rest, there's a million things that go into making the schedule.  It'd be next to impossible to sit there and try to do it in a way that hurts one specific team.  For instance, teams can only play a certain number of consecutive road games, they have to get a bye after a London game, two teams share a stadium, and multiple teams share parking lots with MLB teams that are still playing, (and in Oakland's case they share the stadium).  Lots of cities have marathons in October and the NFL team can't be at home that day if the race course goes close to the stadium (Chicago comes to mind).  The NFL struggles enough trying to work through all of this to even start considering how to mess with the Redskins.

 

Beyond that we tend to completely ignore any evidence to the contrary.  For instance the 2015 schedule has an unusually easy start and a very difficult finish to it.  If that schedule was completely reversed, I'm sure some people on this board would complain that the league wants to bury the Redskins early and not even give the team a shot.

Not impos to screw the skins. How many times has the league sent us on a road game on short rest like after a Monday nite game?

[50yrSKINSfan]

I have heard Mike Francessa say many times that some teams are favorites of the league like the Giants, Pats and Steelers. Pos has something to do with the fact that Mara got the commish his job. If someone got me a 20 mil a year job I sure as hell would kiss his butt.

[campbellcooleyconnection]

So obvious we were being nit picked by refs while Giants calls were all harmless makeup calls to make it look legit!

[Long n Left]

I have heard Mike Francessa say many times that some teams are favorites of the league like the Giants, Pats and Steelers. Pos has something to do with the fact that Mara got the commish his job. If someone got me a 20 mil a year job I sure as hell would kiss his butt.

Hah, $20 million is what he makes in HALF a year. Most ridiculously overpaid person walking this planet.

[Renegade7]

If we played better, we would have won anyway. Reaper's breakdown was amazing, but as believe he mentioned, we left too many plays on the field to overcome these "mistakes" or outright helping by the refs for Giants.  I see this so much in the NBA, that I'm numb to it by now.

[Reaper Skins]

Uneven enforcement of penalties, especially considering Tannehill was able to finish the game unhindered, while Big Ben had to be carted off the field

 

Redskins Chris Baker fined for roughing the passer in week 1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/football-insider/wp/2015/09/18/chris-baker-fined-for-roughing-the-passer-penalty-against-dolphins-qb-tannehill/

 

St. Louis Rams Mark Barron not expected to be fined for hit on Roethlisberger

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13771952/fine-unlikely-mark-barron-hit-ben-roethlisberger

[Reaper Skins]

There was certainly no shortage of terrible calls this week, and it did seem that the Redskins were once again at the receiving end of them for the most part. That being said, I did not get the same sense of orchestrated unfairness that I felt when we played the Giants, at least in the first half. To me this game simply contained a general sense of ineptitude on the parts of the officials. My biggest problems with yesterday’s game were 2 points. First, the inconsistent level of physicality that seemed to be allowed depending on which team was on offense. Secondly, there were several instances where penalties or injuries happened and I did not see any replay shown. I did not have any way to rewatch the game so these observations were made as the game went along.

Penalties I noticed:
Q1
- First play: Penalty on Ryan Grant. Still don’t understand what the call was. Illegal formation maybe? Didn’t see a replay on it.
- 14:03: Clipping on Moses. Didn’t see replay. Turned a 3^rd and short into 2^nd and 19. Eerily similar to the start of last week. The difference was that when Thompson had his big run 2 plays later, there was no flag. This one play changed the team’s whole attitude for the rest of the game and sparked our first scoring drive of the day.

Q2
- 14:05: Illegal Touch called on Reed despite it being an incomplete throw. Flag is thrown VERY late. Stalls the drive and forces Redskins to punt. During the punt, kicker is run into by Philly defender. Commentators notice it, no penalty called, no replay shown.
- 12:44: A sack on Bradford is negated by an illegal contact call on D. Goldson
- 6:05: defensive pass interference is called on Eagles, but flag is thrown VERY VERY late.
- 2:40: After recovering the fumble, a holding call is called on Moses on 3^rd down. Kelly declines it, but had it been enforced it would have ensured that we were completely outside of field goal range. Redskins fail to capitalize on turnover. They punt to Sproles and he has a big return of 45 yards. The field position gives Philly a chance at a field goal before the half.

Q3
- 12:58 Holding on Eagles O linemen: All throughout the first half the Redskins were able to pressure Bradford. During the Eagles first drive of the second half, they were able to connect on several long plays due to our defensive linemen being held on numerous plays. No flags for holding were called. The difference in pressure between this drive and all of the previous ones was noticeable.
- 9:16: Unnecessary roughness penalty called of T. Robinson. Commentators do not agree. Receiver runs into the defender. Results in a 44 yard pickup for the Eagles and puts them in field goal position. Makes defenders second guess how they are playing. Drive ends in a passing TD. After game Chris Baker says both calls on Robinson were unfair https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/football-insider/wp/2015/10/04/redskins-chris-baker-criticizes-officials-on-two-personal-foul-penalties/?postshare=8221443997781479
- 2:59: Trent Williams called for being downfield despite the fact that it was a deep passing play not a screen run. Negates a 20 yard gain.
- :10: Reed fumbles right as his knee touches ground. Ruling on the field is a fumble. Not enough evidence to overturn. Eagles ball.

Q4
- First play: T. Robinson again called for unnecessary roughness. Again commentators disagree. Results in a 20 yard pickup. Again makes defenders second guess how to play the pass. Next play, Bradford hits Austin for a long TD. No replay of penalty shown.
- 11:50: Long throw to Garcon, no PI flag thrown. Commentators say that that is usually called. Redskins forced to punt.
- 11:31: Roughing the passer called on Francois as Bradford throws to Ertz. Commentators disagree. 15 yards awarded to Philly.
- 6:15: At the start of the final drive, Breeland called for illegal hands. Redskins forced to start on their own 10 yard line.
- 1:27: Scherff and Eagles defender both called for holding. Penalties offset. Play is replayed, but it negated a first down run for Cousins. Makes Redskins have to pick up another 3^rd and long.
- :46: Jordan Reed injured on play. Didn't see replay of injury shown. Washington has a timeout taken from them. Redskins best Red zone threat is eliminated from game.
- Final Play: Garcon catches TD, no flag thrown for defenseless receiver (compare this contact to the penalties issued on T. Robinson)


Perhaps the fact that we were able to win despite the terrible calls is making me see things through tinted glasses. I’m sure if we had lost this game I would be poring over details with much more resolve. Or perhaps it’s because this game represented everything the coaching staff has preached over the last few weeks.
We flipped the script. Throughout this game I could not help but notice an eerie level of parallels between this game and the Giants last week. The difference was how this team responded. By staying focused, and not abandoning their game plan, this team was able to overcome the referee bias and showed the determination and resolve needed to win in the NFL. Everything that they fell short on last week they followed through on this week, and the result was a last second win instead of a devastating loss.

Parallels from Last Week:
- One play in the first quarter again defined the whole afternoon, and again it was Chris Thompson who was responsible. After several penalties on the first drive, Redskins face a 3^rd and long. Last week Thompson’s play is negated on a penalty and the Redskins implode on a special teams mishap. This week Thompson scampers for 43 yards and rejuvenates the offense, the Redskins march all the way down the field and put points on the board. The fact that there was no flag, and no ref involvement on this one play, set the tone for the rest of the game.

- Goal line fumble. Last week Matt Jones loses the ball right at the goal line, the refs call it a fumble. Kills momentum and the team cannot ever make up the ground for the rest of the game. This week, Cousins bobbles the handoff and dives in. He puts in just enough effort so that the refs cannot call his knee down and the play stands.

- Recovered fumble. Last week the Giants botched a punt return, and the Redskins were a split second too late to take advantage. There were enough players from both teams near the ball that we were not awarded possession. This week, the Eagles botch a handoff and Redskins players immediately swarmed the ball. No Eagles were close enough for the refs to do anything but award it to us.

- Tough catches. Against the Giants we played Andre Roberts and he drops an easy ball on an important goal line drive. Momentum killed. This week, we reward the player who has stepped up in practice and play Jamison Crowder. He makes a HUGE grab across the middle on third down to keep a drive going (right after the facemask call on Garcon) and plays an integral part in our victory. We had amazing success on third and long throughout the game.

- Final drive. Last week saw members of our offense get injured and leave the game. Our lack of an o-lineman (Lavauo) and defensive back (DeAngelo) forced us to abandon the run game and lead to a late TD score to seal the loss. This week saw players get injured and return to play. While Culliver certainly did not look 100% out on the field, him suiting up allowed our younger guys like Jarrett to contribute at the end of the game without putting the game soley on their shoulders. Pierre Garcon returning to the game allowed the offense to keep functioning as it had all afternoon. We didn’t miss a beat even after Reed was removed from the game.

All of these are little things when they are looked at separately. But when combined they proved to be the difference between winning and losing. The Redskins are far from a finished product, but their performance this week showed me exactly what I needed to see in order to root for this team. They learned from their mistakes, they paid attention to the details, they played all 4 quarters, and they refused to be derailed from their gameplan by the referee bias against them. I saw a lot of the same BS calls this week that I saw against the Giants, but the way the team responded to them was a complete 180. The Eagles definitely didn’t help themselves at all either (fumble, missed field goal, missed PAT).
Congrats guys, on to the Falcons.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Reaper Skins

[Jacoah]

Q2

- 14:05: Illegal Touch called on Reed despite it being an incomplete throw. Flag is thrown VERY late. Stalls the drive and forces Redskins to punt. During the punt, kicker is run into by Philly defender. Commentators notice it, no penalty called, no replay shown.

 

 

My son actually noticed this one. I wasn't paying attention to the play when he blurted out, "What the heck? No flag for running into the kicker?" You know the refs are inept when even a nine-year-old spots the penalty from the comfort of my living room.