sagnam Posted October 13 Posted October 13 I stand behind Branch now. Absolutely cowardly hit by Smith-Scheuster. Then when it’s face-to-face his softness is shown. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Qdtym4hPr/?mibextid=wwXIfr Quote
Sports_Freak Posted October 13 Posted October 13 October of 2022 was the last time the Lions lost 2 in a row. I mistakenly posted it was 2023. It's been 3 years, amazing. Quote
holygoat Posted October 13 Posted October 13 I feel like Branch's actions have allowed Hutch's foolish late hit to fly under the post-game radar, which it shouldn't. KC would've had 3rd and long on their own side of the field, and Hutch gave them 15 yards, a fresh set of downs and momentum that they didn't earn. The drive ended in a TD. He's not taking nearly the amount of heat that he deserves, IMO. 1 Quote
MichiganCardinal Posted October 13 Author Posted October 13 1 hour ago, RedRamage said: I think the rebuttal would be that it wasn't reviewed, it was discussed by the refs. Now I know that sounds like a semantic argument, but what I mean is the refs have always been allowed to huddle to discuss a play and change their mind... even before replay was a thing. They do this quite often for intentional grounding, for example. Now... this assumes that the refs really did talk about it themselves and weren't buzzed by replay. That's definitely something that might be debatable, but their story is that they did it themselves without help. I talk about it above, but I come at it from the perspective of having seen them live discussing it for 30 seconds, come to an agreement, separate, then come back together a second time and throw the flag. If they had thrown the flag the first time they talked I would have been suspicious. But to do it in the second huddle, I have no doubt it came from elsewhere. FWIW, Campbell agrees. 1 Quote
RedRamage Posted October 13 Posted October 13 7 minutes ago, holygoat said: I feel like Branch's actions have allowed Hutch's foolish late hit to fly under the post-game radar, which it shouldn't. KC would've had 3rd and long on their own side of the field, and Hutch gave them 15 yards, a fresh set of downs and momentum that they didn't earn. The drive ended in a TD. He's not taking nearly the amount of heat that he deserves, IMO. I kinda agree. It was an avoidable penalty, certainly. But to me it's more of a case of the light turned yellow and I think I can make it through but... oops, it turned red before I hit the intersection. It was a misjudgment, not a blatant effort to break the rules. Branch's action was more of I'm stopped at a red light, but I think I see an open area large enough, I'm gonna gun it and run the red light and slip through traffic. This was a blatant, stupid decision and I suspect it'll cost him at least one game, maybe two. It's also going to increase his a bad reputation with the league. We all saw how that effected Suh. Even stuff that was questionable (or even not very questionable at all) was assumed to be a deliberate act because of his rep, and he was penalized heavily for it. Further, in game, teams will know they might be able to get Branch worked up by goading him. I don't want to over blow this and say Branch is evil or anything... the act itself was pretty minor over all, plus he owned up to it and said it was stupid and wrong and he shouldn't have done. So I'm not clutching at pearls here in terms of saying on horrible the actual act was. Rather I'm worried about the damage it could do him in terms of reputation. Quote
Jason_R Posted October 13 Posted October 13 You see one or two hits like Hutch laid every week. Frustrating to see as a fan but it is not as easy to go from full speed to full stop as it might look. You see one or two hits like Branch laid every year. As coach pointed out, it is not acceptable. Quote
Mr.TaterSalad Posted October 15 Posted October 15 Now we know why the league called it back. This is a huge conflict of interest for the league with them partnering with these sportsbooks. I've never been one for conspiracy theories, but damn. Quote
Jason_R Posted October 15 Posted October 15 12 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said: Now we know why the league called it back. This is a huge conflict of interest for the league with them partnering with these sportsbooks. I've never been one for conspiracy theories, but damn. Yes this has been all over. The question I have (and posted in the other thread) is when did that bet come in? Was it after Dan Campbell had his pre-game meeting with the officials (at which he undoubtedly told them about this play)? 1 Quote
RedRamage Posted October 15 Posted October 15 2 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said: Now we know why the league called it back. This is a huge conflict of interest for the league with them partnering with these sportsbooks. I've never been one for conspiracy theories, but damn. Copy-pasting what I said in the Lions 2025 thread about this: Now, the other questionable side of things might be: Did the gambling house call up the NFL and ask them to overturn the play so they didn't lose half a million dollars? Imho: No. First, half a million is probably not a huge amount to a gambling house, and it would likely off set, at least partially, on the far more numerous bets placed on any other player to likely score first. Second, if the gambling houses are in cahoots with the league enough to make calls like these I doubt they risk the exposure on a bet that again seems relatively lowish to me. Third, the NFL didn't just make up a rule on the spot to appease the gambling house. Granted, they may have stretched the interpretation of the rule, but there still has to be some rule that they could fudge this on. And finally, it seems unlikely that the play happens, the gambling house checks and sees that they're going to lose a bunch of money, calls into the NFL, the NFL reviews and then look up the rule book, and decides there's at least enough wiggle room in this obscure rule to overturn, and then buzzes in to the refs within 120 seconds. Quote
Jason_R Posted October 15 Posted October 15 There is, of course, a ton of speculation here, but the NFL has brought it on itself. Quote
Jason_R Posted October 16 Posted October 16 On 10/13/2025 at 3:36 PM, sagnam said: I stand behind Branch now. Absolutely cowardly hit by Smith-Scheuster. Then when it’s face-to-face his softness is shown. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Qdtym4hPr/?mibextid=wwXIfr 😂 Quote
Motor City Sonics Posted October 16 Posted October 16 (edited) Lets just say somehow someone had audio of a casino owner on the phone with an NFL official saying YOU HAVE TO OVERTURN THIS. and they got stone busted. Would anything really happen, or do people just not care anymore? It's like busting singers for lipsynching now. Younger music fans don't even care. I do. I think if you fake it at a live show after charging money you are a fraud, but younger fans seem fine with it. Would it be the same for football? Would people just accept that it's wrestling with helmets? There just seems to be more and more "evidence" that things are engineered to go a certain way - as much as they can be engineered. The second the Jags beat the Chiefs I knew that they officiating would be VERY slanted in the Chiefs favor in the Lions game because you CAN'T have the Chiefs at 2-4. I think the Jags overcame it. I think the league tried to give that game to the Chiefs. How much did the Colts get for throwing Super Bowl 3 ? Not enough to stay in Baltimore, apparently. But those bettors that lost on that Goff TD should be suing the casinos and the NFL for BREAKING THEIR OWN RULES to overturn that TD. Edited October 16 by Motor City Sonics Quote
Motor City Sonics Posted October 16 Posted October 16 As far as the "well, it didn't matter that the TD got overturned, it wasn't enough to overcome the final score". Not true. If they score a TD there - the entire rest of the game changes. Every play from that point on changes. 1 1 Quote
4hzglory Posted October 16 Posted October 16 24 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said: Lets just say somehow someone had audio of a casino owner on the phone with an NFL official saying YOU HAVE TO OVERTURN THIS. and they got stone busted. Would anything really happen, or do people just not care anymore? It's like busting singers for lipsynching now. Younger music fans don't even care. I do. I think if you fake it at a live show after charging money you are a fraud, but younger fans seem fine with it. Would it be the same for football? Would people just accept that it's wrestling with helmets? There just seems to be more and more "evidence" that things are engineered to go a certain way - as much as they can be engineered. The second the Jags beat the Chiefs I knew that they officiating would be VERY slanted in the Chiefs favor in the Lions game because you CAN'T have the Chiefs at 2-4. I think the Jags overcame it. I think the league tried to give that game to the Chiefs. How much did the Colts get for throwing Super Bowl 3 ? Not enough to stay in Baltimore, apparently. But those bettors that lost on that Goff TD should be suing the casinos and the NFL for BREAKING THEIR OWN RULES to overturn that TD. The casinos didn’t do that over $450k. 1 Quote
Tigeraholic1 Posted October 17 Posted October 17 NFL did this hit piece on Branch only to delete it after all the backlash. Here is a screenshot of original before they blasted it… Quote
holygoat Posted October 17 Posted October 17 5 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said: Lets just say somehow someone had audio of a casino owner on the phone with an NFL official saying YOU HAVE TO OVERTURN THIS. and they got stone busted. Would anything really happen, or do people just not care anymore? Were that to happen, it would be a national scandal and the NFL big-wigs would be looking at federal prosecutions. Goodell and others would face serious prison time. It would be the biggest sports scandal in the history of the world. No way this would just be glossed over. Quote
Motor City Sonics Posted October 17 Posted October 17 8 hours ago, holygoat said: Were that to happen, it would be a national scandal and the NFL big-wigs would be looking at federal prosecutions. Goodell and others would face serious prison time. It would be the biggest sports scandal in the history of the world. No way this would just be glossed over. Not if they bribed the right people. Quote
holygoat Posted October 17 Posted October 17 2 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said: Not if they bribed the right people. No, not if the circumstances described in your post actually happened: a phone call from a casino sports book to an NFL exec demanding a scoring play be overturned, and the NFL exec capitulating and making it so is leaked to the public. Bribes only work in an evidence-controlled environment of plausible deniability. The moment control over the evidence is lost and deniability becomes implausible, the jig is up. In your hypothetical, the NFL would be exposed to the public as (to some extent) fake, and that alone would seriously damage the legitimacy of the brand as a "sport" in the minds of it's audience, but even that pales in comparison to legal implications they'd face over match-fixing. Again, we're pre-supposing that the incontrovertible evidence is made public. The outrage would be uncontainable, and the feds would absolutely have no choice other than to step in and take scalps. It would destroy the NFL. Quote
RedRamage Posted October 17 Posted October 17 17 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said: Lets just say somehow someone had audio of a casino owner on the phone with an NFL official saying YOU HAVE TO OVERTURN THIS. and they got stone busted. Would anything really happen, or do people just not care anymore? I think that if such evidence was found it would be major. Many fans will be upset of course, but beyond that I think the biggest danger would be the lawsuits from the gamblers. If there is clear, undisputable evidence that the games are rigged then there's going to be a lot of money to be made on suing the gambling houses and the NFL. Lawyers will be lining up to take on a class action lawsuit of that magnitude. Quote But those bettors that lost on that Goff TD should be suing the casinos and the NFL for BREAKING THEIR OWN RULES to overturn that TD. Again it will depend massively on what evidence is available, but I suspect the NFL would respond to in different ways: 1. If there's no reliable evidence that the refs on the field were contacted they'll stand by the line that it was a decision by the refs on the field. 2. If there's reliable evidence that NY was involved (which there seems to be) they'll say that they did call the refs, but only to point out the specifics of the rule, NOT to tell them what to do. The refs were to make the final call. Now this is a technicality of course. It's like when your mother caught you with your hand in the cookie jar when young and she says: "Are you sure you want to do that?" I mean, technically she's asking you a question, but you both know she's telling you to drop the cookie. But that technicality might be sufficient in a court case. 3. If there's reliable evidence that NY was involved and they told them to overturn the call, then I'd guess the NFL will says: "We made a mistake. Yes our rules say we shouldn't have done that, but mistakes happen. We'll send a nice apology letter to the team just like we do when the refs blow a call on the field that doesn't/can't be reviewed." 4. If there's reliable evidence that the Gambling house was involved... well then it all burns down. Quote
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