The Worst Call I Have Ever Seen

I haven't shutup about this for years and after failing to shoehorn this story into the Patriots article I am writing, I decided to give it its own posting all together.

It was 2007 and the Patriots were having a magical season. After a controversial start with the Patriots and HC Bill Belichick getting penalized for Spygate, they went on one of the all-time great offensive rampages and broke numerous records. Tom Brady and Randy Moss set the most touchdown passes (50) and most receiving touchdowns (23) in a single season records, among the various other statistical records.

In the first 8 weeks, the Patriots never scored less than 34 points and they held their opponents to an average of only 15 points a game. The second half of the season was decidedly closer, with tough matchups against the Colts, Eagles, Ravens, Steelers in the second half of the season.

When week 17 rolled around, the entire league was abuzz about the Patriots going 16-0.



It was unheard of in the modern era. Teams that were still undefeated by week 12 typically took the foot off the gas as they locked up home field advantage, resting starters and attempting to coast into the post season with as few injuries as possible.

New England persisted and played their starters full time, running up points on opponents well after the game was out of hand and often to the point that opposing coaches took personal offense to it.

After back to back weeks of playing the sub-500 Jets and Dolphins in weeks 15 and 16, the stage was set for the biggest game of the year: the undefeated New England Patriots against the 10-5 New York Giants in the regular season finale.



The Patriots were the favorites and everyone was rooting for them to break the record, expect for perhaps Dolphins and Giants fans. It was a wildly entertaining game and a piece of NFL history, but remains the most obvious piece of evidence that the NFL isn’t objective and unbiased as everyone believes it to be.

Around the beginning of the 4th quarter, Giants returner Dominek Hixon was bumped out of bounds on a kick return and he ended up tackled onto the Patriots sideline. Receiver and special teamer Amani Toomer was blocking downfield on the play and he ended up being pushed into the Patriots sideline as well. After the whistle everyone started to get up and move back towards their respective huddles when a yellow flag went flying into the air. A personal foul penalty was being called against Toomer, who at the time was jogging across the field toward the Giants bench. Toomer turned around to ask the refs what he had done wrong and before anything else could happen the NFL color commentators cut to the replay of the incident. The instant replay of the penalty showed Toomer getting up off the ground and walking away from the Patriots sideline. It also showed a helmetless Patriots player, yelling and waving his hand in Toomer’s direction. The Patriots player started walking backwards while yelling at Toomer and he tripped over some thick cords that were taped down to the ground. The Patriots player fell square on his back and the next thing you see is a referee throwing a yellow flag in the air.

The reason that this event stands out so vividly in my mind is because Chris Collinsworth, an insufferable douchebag that I hate more than perhaps anyone on the planet earth, was doing the game commentating. Collinsworth, in his nasally, awful voice, started to drub the Giants, saying that they needed more discipline and that these types of penalties are the ones you just can’t make in a big game. When they went to the replay, Collinsworth started to say, “you can see here than Toomer…” only to trail off when he saw Patriots player trip and fall totally untouched by anything by his own stupidity.



The personal foul penalty moved the Giants back 15 yards from the spot where Hixon went out of bounds, and the game continued on as if nothing had ever happened. They didn’t pick up the flag, they didn’t apologize for their obvious mistake and it was considered a nonevent. The Patriots had won! 16-0 baby! Who cares what happened in the game!

I did. That ridiculous penalty made the entire game suspect to me and it marred the Patriot’s accomplishment. Were the refs paid off? How didn’t they reverse such an obvious error? Where was Tom Coughlin on this one? How does something like this pass unchallenged?!

I figured that perhaps it would have been a bigger deal to the Giants, but there was surprisingly little written about it after the game.

Except for this:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/plaxico-burress-amani-toomer-giant-beef-refs-article-1.277080




I was glad to have some evidence that I wasn’t the only person to see the ridiculous call, but in the end the penalty only had a minor impact to the game. The 15 yards could have changed the game somewhat and it was a close contest, but I cannot see this play as the sole reason that the Giants lost.

So Patriots walked away the victors and any arguement about this event at now is relatively pointless. Fortunately for the Giants, they got another crack at the Patriots in 2007, and spoiled not only their perfect post season but their championship hopes as well.