Rob12":1j7tzwx5 said:
Referees had nothing to do with today's loss. The Seahawks have ALWAYS been an undisciplined team under PC.
Don't blame the refs.
This is part of the problem with this debate. You're only observing half of the equation. No one is disagreeing with you. The Seahawks commit a lot of penalties and get flagged deservedly so. Sure, they get a few bad calls on them, as all teams do.
But that isn't the problem. It's when the refs fail to call those same violations on the opposing teams. 2 straight years of having the fewest penalties called on our opposition...how do you explain that??? Look at the Cards game. The refs killed 6 drives for the Seahawks...granted only one was a phantom face mask call and all of the holding calls were a bit ticky-tacky, but I saw at least a dozen blatant holds by the Cards O-Line that weren't called. Call the shit on both teams. Here's a great example: the Cards have received 41- 1st downs by penalty...the Hawks have gotten an NFL low of 16- 1st downs by penalty...how can they justify that kind of dispartiy? Do all teams just play that perfectly against the Seahawks?
Yesterday, the refs failed to call at least 10 late/dirty hits on the Rams. SIX CONCUSSIONS IN ONE GAME. First time I ever saw that. Letting a team get away with that many dirty hits is dangerous. I think the Seahawks were playing soft because they were afraid of getting killed...they just wanted to make it out alive! Gregg'Bountygate" Williams is the dirtiest DC in the NFL and everyone knows it. They already injured 3 QB's this season on questionable hits...Big BEN, McCown, and Bridgewater. If you think they weren't trying to injure Russell yesterday, you're in denial. And the refs pretended none of it happened. And then of course there's all of the fumble rulings this year. There have been a half dozen questionable fumble recoveries this season, and the refs called each of them against the Hawks. Yesterday, they almost made the right decision once, but they still managed to make 3 calls on one play, ending with a bad call.
And to think all of this has no effect on a team is naive. Wilson got hurt yesterday on plays that should have been flagged. It's bad enough Russell had no confidence in his O-Line, but when you have no confidence in the zebras and there's guys trying to kill you, that's got to be terrifying. One crappy game against the Rams isn't worth Russell getting a career-ending injury.
Screw the Rams. They're a dirty team and everyone knows it. Their reputation preceeds them. But letting them get away with it, that's on the refs. I'm for parity as much as the next guy, but so many non-calls could lead to some poor schmuck getting killed. The NFL is wrong on this. I hope you're able to see this reality.