Ten reasons Patriots fans can claim they were robbed at Mile High
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have crafted the Patriots dynasty over 15 years. Over that time, they’ve won four Super Bowls, and that has given the Patriots faithful justifiable pride. But over that time, they’ve fallen short 11 times, most recently Sunday, and that’s given the Patriots fans almost three times as much reason to complain as celebrate. And oh, have they taken advantage. No one combines the arrogance of the victor with the whine of the unfairly vanquished quite like New England fans, and after Sunday’s AFC Championship, they’ve got whole bouquet of conspiracy-laced roses to inhale all offseason long.
But let’s be fair: one fan’s crackpot conspiracy theory is another fan’s tightly orchestrated campaign of destruction. So let’s take a closer look at the 10 most notorious conspiracy theories to arise out of Sunday’s game. We’ll introduce the issue, lay out the conspiracy as the Patriots fans see it, and then throw it under the hard cold light of reality to either debunk or verify it. We begin with a gem:
Scenario: Fourth down, Patriots ball deep in Denver territory, 2:21 remaining, Patriots down by eight. Tom Brady lofts a ball to Rob Gronkowski in the end zone, but Gronk can’t bring it down amidst a swarm of Broncos. (See the video at the top of this post.)
The “conspiracy”: Uncalled pass interference! Receivers love to call for a flag any time they miss a ball, and Gronk bellowed at the back judge, who merely kept his hand outstretched in the no-catch motion. It was a huge play; had the Patriots scored, they would have been, at worst, down two points with all three timeouts plus the two-minute warning remaining against a deflated (sorry) Denver squad.
Come on, really?: Well … yes. If you were building a case for conspiracy against the Patriots, this would be Exhibit A. On this particular call, the Patriots did indeed get jobbed:
Who knows what would have happened in those final two minutes? Perhaps Peyton Manning and the Denver offense get a first down and end the game; perhaps the Patriots get the ball back and kicker Stephen Gostkowski gets a shot to redeem his missed extra point. We’ll never know. But this one hurt, no doubt about it.
Scenario: The play just prior to Gronk’s no-call. Brady finds Danny Amendola across the middle at the Denver 9, enough for a first down. But as Amendola is falling to the ground, he loses control of the ball, and the pass is ruled incomplete.
The “conspiracy”: Amendola’s knee may or may not have been down before Denver’s Kayvon Webster pulled the ball loose. The official call was incomplete pass, but for some reason, Denver coach Gary Kubiak challenged the play, perhaps thinking he was going to get a fumble and turnover out of the play. After review, the play stood as called.
Come on, really?: With the luxury of time, let’s step back and look at the bigger picture. This challenge could have gone three different ways, and only one of them would have been bad for the Patriots. Worst-case scenario, it’s termed a fumble and New England loses the ball. Best-case, it’s a completed pass and a fresh set of downs. The refs split the difference; New England kept the ball but lost the down. Seems reasonable. If you’re looking to screw over New England, wouldn’t you deem the play a fumble and take the ball from them right there?
Scenario: On the Patriots’ second drive, Bryan Stork gets flagged for unnecessary roughness, pushing New England into a 2nd-and-20 situation and eventual three-and-out.
The “conspiracy”: Take a look at the hit. Does this seem unnecessarily rough to you?
Come on, really?: Yeah, this was a ticky-tack call, especially in a huge game like this, but it came with just 10 minutes elapsed in the first. No reason at all to get upset over this one.
Scenario: Peyton Manning passes to Ronnie Hillman, who misses the ball and lets it trickle away. New England’s Jonathan Freeny grabs the ball and runs into the end zone. Alas, the refs had blown the play dead, terming it an incomplete pass.
The “conspiracy”: The pass was actually a lateral, meaning the ball was live when Hillman walked away from it, meaning Freeny should have been credited with a touchdown. The incomplete call was overturned on Belichick’s challenge.
Come on, really?: The Patriots scored two plays and 38 seconds after this one, plus it was a debatable call to begin with, so we can chalk this one up as irrelevant.
Scenario: Ed Hochuli announced as head official for the AFC Championship.
The “conspiracy”: Hochuli is good news for the Broncos: Denver is now 7-0 since 2008. New England, by contrast, is now 4-5 in games he officiated over that same timespan. Since 1999, Manning is now 15-2 in Hochuli games, while Brady is 8-6 since 2001.
Come on, really?: This is a rich, meaty conspiracy theory, because it gives New England fans the sense that there are indeed dark forces working against the Patriot Way by assigning them biased officials. Problem is, it’s all a matter of perspective. Unlike in the NBA or baseball, sample sizes of “significant” stats in the NFL are so small as to be irrelevant. For instance, one of the Brady-Hochuli games was 2015’s Week 17, when the Patriots basically gave up against the Dolphins. Plus, guess who was the ref when the Patriots beat the Panthers in the Super Bowl? Finally: the lateral-fumble that turned into a touchdown for New England, as noted above? ESPN’s Kevin Seifert points out that the only reason the Patriots got that ball at all was because of a blown Ed Hochuli call in 2008. NFL rules at the time didn’t permit the change of possession after the whistle, but the rule was changed and became known as, yep, “the Hochuli Rule.” You’re welcome, New England.
Scenario: The Microsoft Surface tablets at Mile High ceased functioning…but only for the Patriots.
The “conspiracy”: Clearly the Broncos were jamming signals, cutting cables, introducing viruses, or whatever…at least until the pads were fixed in short order.
Come on, really?: Considering the problems visiting teams have had with their communications at the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium, file this one under Karma.
Scenario: Late in the third, with New England down only five points, Rob Gronkowski catches a pass, continues out of bounds, and then slips on concrete.
The “conspiracy”: The Broncos left concrete around their stadium just to injure playmakers like Gronk!
Come on, really?: Well, there is concrete there, but it’s presumably around the entire field. Which, conspiracies aside, is just stupid. Concrete in St. Louis resulted in Reggie Bush tearing his meniscus earlier this year; Gronk got away with nothing more than a bruised butt, fortunately.
That pretty much covers the in-game conspiracy theories. So let’s widen the lens a bit and look at what got us to this point. The clues are all there, man, if you only know where to look…
Scenario: Peyton Manning is kind of, sort of accused of using HGH.
The “conspiracy”: A poorly sourced, leap-to-conclusions report from Al-Jazeera America strongly implies a link between Peyton Manning and the procurement of HGH. Patriots fans wonder why Manning wasn’t subjected to the same kind of flimsy-foundation witch hunt as Brady in the wake of deflate-gate.
Come on, really?: Granted, the NFL certainly protects its stars, but this was such a horrific mess of a report that the NFL wisely steered way clear … yes, the way it should have with deflate-gate.
Scenario: The Broncos won their head-to-head matchup against New England earlier this season in Denver in what turned out to be a crucial victory for home-field advantage.
The “conspiracy”: Denver’s victory rested atop a mountain of bad calls, including this one from a Sports Illustrated cover which seems to show a holding penalty on New England’s Dominique Easley:
Come on, really?: Perhaps. “This season has been plagued, league-wide, by questionable calls (or non-calls), especially in big games and prime-time affairs, leading to Twitter insanity and media overblows,” our Eric Edholm wrote at the time. “But in this game, it’s hard not to notice the rash of shaky officiating in crunch time, all bunched together, even if some of the calls Patriots fans were griping about might not hold water.” Still: the Patriots had the opportunity to keep home-field advantage with better play down the stretch. They didn’t, and a January visit to Denver was the result.
Scenario: “They Hate Us Cause They Ain’t Us”
The “conspiracy”: A catchall. The NFL loathes the Patriots so much that they will do anything, including the previous nine entries, to sabotage the most successful franchise of the last 15 years.
Come on, really?: Really. To quote Han Solo: it’s all true. All of it. Feel a little better, Patriots fans?
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
