Patriots Losses on Final Calls

Monday Night Football games are great. They are even better when your favorite team is playing. This Monday, the New England Patriots played the Carolina Panthers. The final score of that game, 24-20 with Carolina coming out on top.

After that loss, the Patriots are 7-3. They have lost to the Cincinnati Bengals, the New York Jets and, now, the Carolina Panthers.

Two of those three losses, however, could potentially be blamed on last-second calls to end the games.

The losses on controversial calls were against the Jets and the Panthers. Both cost the Patriots the game.

For the Jets game, the Patriots and Jets went into overtime. They were tied at 27. The Patriots' drive resulted in no points. So, the Jets only needed a field goal in order to win. So, the Patriots were able to stop the Jets and get them to 4th down. So, the Jets attempted a long, 56-yard field goal. And, Nick Folk, their kicker, missed.

Sounds like good news. But, there was a flag thrown. Patriots' Defensive Tackle, Chris Jones, got a unsportsmanlike conduct call. He "pushed" a teammate in an attempt to block the field goal. This call resulted in a 15 yard gain for the Jets, and Nick Folk then kicked a field goal to end the game.

"I was confused at first, didn’t know what was going on," Jones said. "Then I figured out what it was and I was like, 'oh, it was my fault.' Still had more football to play after that so I just had to get rid of it really quick."

"According to Fox Sports officiating expert Mike Pereira, it was the first time this season the rule had been enforced."

This rule was added to the NFL at the beginning of this year. Not a lot of people knew about it which made the call look even crazier. That one call cost the New England Patriots the game against the New York Jets.

So, as if one controversial call wasn't enough, another happened Monday night.

The Patriots got the ball with less than a minute left, and they were down by 4. Like always, since he is Tom Brady, the game wasn't over. The Patriots brought the ball up field and had time for one more play.

 

So, with 3 seconds left, Tom Brady passed to Rob Gronkowski.

 

Here is where the controversy comes in. There was a flag thrown which looked like it was going to be Defensive Pass Interference. Rob Gronkowski was basically being "hugged" by Luke Kuechly, Carolina's Linebacker.

 

 

 

But, the Referees called Tom Brady's pass, "uncatchable", and they picked up the flag. From replays and slow-motion, it clearly looked like pass interference.

 

"It was determined at that point in time that when the primary contact occurred on the tight end that the ball, in essence, was coming in underthrown and, in essence, it was immediate at that point intercepted at the front end of the end zone," referee, Clete Blakeman told us.
"So there was a determination that, in essence, uncatchability, that the ball was intercepted at or about the same time the primary contact against the receiver occurred."

 

 

There are many ways to look at this one, however. Many people say Brady's pass was very underthrown. Others say Gronkowski could have caught it.

Asked whether he said anything to the refs following the play, Gronkowski said: "When they threw the flag, that's what I thought it was going to be. And it was waved off, so I can't do anything about it."

So, the two most recent losses for the Patriots have been controversial. From a new rule call to a picked up flag, it seems that the referees are not on the Patriots' side this year.

Boston Red Sox: Worst to First Under Farrell

 

The Boston Red Sox have come very far since their 2012 season. After Terry Francona left as manager, Bobby Valentine stepped in for the 2012 season. The Red Sox finished the 2012 season in last place in the AL East.

American League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	95	67	0.586	-	51-30	44-37
Baltimore Orioles	93	69	0.574	2	47-34	46-35
Tampa Bay Rays	90	72	0.556	5	46-35	44-37
Toronto Blue Jays	73	89	0.451	22	41-40	32-49
Boston Red Sox	69	93	0.426	26	34-47	35-46

The Red Sox did not even have a winning season that year. So, following that season, Bobby Valentine was "asked to leave" and the Red Sox hired John Farrell, the Red Sox's Pitching Coach from 2007-2010.

In the offseason between the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the Red Sox were very active in free agency. They signed Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, Koji Uehara, Mike Napoli, Ryan Dempster, David Ross, and Stephen Drew. Without all of them, the Red Sox probably wouldn't have ended up as successful as they did in the 2013 season.

As most people know, the Red Sox won the World Series this season. But without all of those additions, including John Farrell, they would not be.

“Most importantly, because I have been here before, there will be no taking for granted that relationships exist. I will work my butt off to earn their trust, earn their respect and create an environment in the clubhouse that is just that — it’s a trusting one, it will be a learning one and yes, it will be a competitive one and hopefully a very successful one at the same time,’’ Farrell told Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. “So, if that’s being described as a players’ manager, then maybe that’s what I am. That’s still forming, I’m still learning.’’ John Farrell was ready to take on being the manager of the Red Sox. He said that he was familiar with the Fenway Park and the Boston atmosphere. So, he was a very good choice for the position.

Even though the Red Sox won the World Series after finishing in last place, Red Sox manager, John Farrell, did not win American League Manager of the Year. Ironically, Terry Francona won the award.

I thought John Farrell should have won, anyway. Not just because I am a Red Sox fan, but as a baseball fan.

It takes a lot of skill and determination to take a team from "Worst to First". In fact, John Farrell was the projected winner, not Francona, manager of the Cleveland Indians, one of the AL Wild Card winners. Along with Francona and Farrell was Bob Melvin, Oakland Athletics manager, also 2012 AL Manager of the Year Winner.

"The Red Sox’ John Farrell was as surely the American League Manager of the Year as the sky is blue." said Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe writer.

So, congratulations to Terry Francona, I guess. In my opinion, Farrell should have won, but that was not my choice.

Though, it would be important to say that the votes for Manager of the Year had to be in before playoffs start. So, no one voting knew that the Red Sox would win the World Series.
But, they did finish with the best record in the MLB. So, obviously, they performed well under John Farrell anyway. It will be interesting to see the Red Sox's performance in the 2014 season.

Are the Celtics Tanking this Season?

After the Celtics' worst start in over 40 years, 0-4, many fans thought that they were going to be tanking this season. Tanking a season means that the team will lose on purpose in order to end up with a very good draft pick. Because who knows? Maybe that pick will end up being the next LeBron James... Doubt it, but it could happen.

I thought that the Celtics could have probably made the playoffs in the East as the Western Conference is stronger and harder to make the playoffs. But, an anonymous General Manger said, "We obviously traded away some of our veteran guys who gave us a better chance of winning right now for future draft picks and young players. ... In a different season, it might not make sense, but this draft certainly makes it more appealing." After reading that, I believed it was Danny Ainge, Celtics GM.

As many people know, the Celtics traded away Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics received some young players and draft picks in return. But, they also forfeited a higher chance at the playoffs this year.

The Celtics lost their first 4 games of this season. They lost to the Toronto Raptors, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Detroit Pistons, and the Memphis Grizzlies. Luckily, last night, the Celtics beat the also 0-4 team at the time, the Utah Jazz. Wow... Amazing...

But, the Celtics are definitely in rebuilding mode. They are focusing on getting younger players. They also traded away Head Coach, Doc Rivers, to the Los Angeles Clippers. They hired the now 37-year old, Brad Stevens, former Butler University Coach. So, a young coach to grow with a group of young players is not a bad idea.

 

So it seems that after a 1-4 start to the Celtics season could be looked at in different ways. Though, they played well until the end of every game, some fans would say that the Celtics cannot finish the game well. Others will say that they blew a 22-point lead and that they did it on purpose.

 

Being a fan of a team that is tanking the season will not be fun. But, if you look on the bright side, maybe this draft pick that the Celtics are going to get will end up a Superstar player.

 

It will certainly be interesting to see how the Celtics' season plays out. For right now, I am going to say that sadly, The Boston Celtics are in fact tanking this season.