You go into any Super Bowl pregame ceremony knowing that you're going to have to choke down a near-lethal dose of patriotism and military propaganda before being allowed to finally watch some damn football, because that's just the way things work. But even that hard-earned knowledge can't totally deaden the revulsion felt at seeing the league exploit Pat Tillman, once again, 19 years after his death.
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This kind of thing has been happening in NFL stadiums and on NFL broadcasts for nearly two decades now, and each instance is more offensive than the last. Yes, Tillman was partially moved to joining the military by 9/11, but he also refused to let himself be used as a propaganda tool by the Bush administration after enlisting. Tillman also described the United States' invasion of Iraq as "all bullshit," and had planned to meet with anti-war intellectual Noam Chomsky after his tour of duty. Tillman was killed by friendly fire while deployed in Afghanistan in 2004—shot three times in the head by his fellow soldiers—and afterwards the military concocted a completely false story about how Tillman died while heroically charging up a hill. Tillman's body armor and journal were burned by his platoon mates within three days of his death; those same soldiers were told not to talk publicly about what had really happened; Tillman's family has repeatedly expressed anger at how his death was turned into pro-war propaganda.
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One might hope that shame or the simple passage of time would eventually compel the NFL to stop exploiting Tillman's legacy in this specific way, but today's invocation was another reminder of how unlikely that is to happen. No amount of information about who Tillman was, what he really believed, and how he really died are enough to trump everything the NFL gains from pairing images of him in his NFL and military uniforms.

Kyle Neubeck @KyleNeubeck
Great watching the biggest football game of the year played on a surface that is apparently covered in Crisco

Think that was a fumble. He made a football move with the ball.

I'd like to see a rule change where that's a fumble--because I mean intuitively it just IS a fumble, no?

411--Well, that would depend on the NFL's fumble rules, which I expect are weird and non-intuitive (I'm down to watching maybe three games a year these days)

I'd like to see a rule change where that's a fumble--because I mean intuitively it just IS a fumble, no?

if that play happens in an end-zone, is it a TD?

The opposition is getting wise to the Eagles quick snaps after a borderline catch.

Yes. Under any non-pro football definition. He caught the ball clearly and then it was knocked out of his hand. But, even if the rules governing catches have improved in recent years since the Dez Bryant debacle, the NFL's definition of a catch is still not what anyone over the age of five understands is a catch.

Agree with SoSH here. That's what any 5-year old would intuitively understand is a catch. The NFL has very particular, unintuitive rules which they think they need for some reason, which was never 100% clear to me.

The play design on that TD

the fact that this wasn't a catch is a feature, not a bug.

Gotta go for it, Sirianni.

Eagles need two scores and a stop. Sauntering like this isn't going to cut it.

Very much disagree with this, but I understand the rules have been this way for a long time now.

plays like that would have an outsized impact on the outcome of games if they were ruled the way this hypothetical "5 year old" thinks it should be. we've been through this. it's not good for anyone. it turns games and seasons and careers on flukes and technicalities that players don't have any actual control over.

I told my ex last night that the worst thing that could happen was Philly losing the game on a late penalty.

If we are practical and understand selective enforcement of the rules, I'm ...surprised they called that one.

I think I'd punch a TD in and let the Eagles try to score in 40 seconds. Don't want to miss a FG.

The super bowl being at a neutral site, attended mainly by insiders and the connected, really saps the game's atmosphere, especially compared to the conference championships.

I think I'd punch a TD in and let the Eagles try to score in 40 seconds. Don't want to miss a FG.

The super bowl being at a neutral site,attended mainly by insiders and the connected, really saps the game's atmosphere, especially compared to the conference championships.

For sure. I do football photography, and yeah, there is holding on every play. If the refs called everything by the book, games would be insufferable. So they fortunately tend to only call the bad/blatant ones.

The defensive hold that existed only in the official's vivid imagination at the end was an embarrassment . . .

”I pulled on his jersey. They called it. I was hoping they would let it ride."

One good way to measure offensive dominance is down set conversion rate, which looks at every time a team took the ball on first down and sees whether it turned that series into a first down or a touchdown. The Chiefs converted 93.8% of their first downs into another first down or a touchdown in the second half, and the only reason they didn't hit 100% is because Jerick McKinnon slid down on the 1-yard line to set up the title-winning field goal. ESPN has data going back through 2000, and no team has ever done that in the second half of a Super Bowl before. Just three teams have done it in the second half of any playoff game.

There was a better ending to be had. If Cheffers and his men kept their flags holstered on this play—and no one outside of Kansas City would have batted an eyelash if they had—we would have been treated to the a similarly perfunctory Harrison Butker field goal, but with enough time left on the clock for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to mount one final, dramatic charge. That’s what you and I came here for, and that’s what this game deserved, especially after we had already been treated to tedious, persnickety reversals of DeVonta Smith catching a long bomb and Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton’s second fumble return for a touchdown.

Instead, we got a ####### flag. Do you know how much it will suck to remember that flag anytime I think of this game?
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[I resent] that ending from a sheer entertainment standpoint. Flags are bad television. Especially when they come at the end of a game. Especially when they’re in the grayest of areas. And especially when I was ready for something much more interesting to happen. The Eagles still probably would have lost to the Chiefs had that flag never been thrown, but I’d have preferred to watch THEM lose it in that final minute, rather than have a side adjudicator step in before they had the chance to go OPE SORRY PARTY’S OVER YOU HAVE TO GO TO BED NOW.

before that slow-motion whitewash begins in earnest, I just want it down for the record: that call was horseshit, and it ruined everything. #### the refs, #### Roger Goodell, and #### you if you were down with it.

The Chiefs were unstoppable on offense in the second half

When the defender tells you he committed a penalty . . .

I don't think anyone is disputing that it was a hold. The questions are (a) was it consistently called all game and (b) was it particularly egregious to merit a call if, in fact, it hadn't been called all game.

432. Tony S Posted: February 12, 2023 at 09:48 PM (#6116750)
Eagles need two scores and a stop. Sauntering like this isn't going to cut it.

In my opinion, the Eagles lost the game between 9:22 and 5:45 in the 4th quarter. They were down 8 and started at their own 25 with 9:22 left. I'd suggest 8 points is 1.5 scores: you need two good things to happen.

Instead, they took almost 4 minutes to go from the 25 to the KC 47. 3 minutes and 37 seconds for 29 yards is not going to cut it. They started the drive with 3 runs! They were fortunate to then connect on a 45 yard pass but it was too late.

For all the times the Eagles went for it correctly on 4th down, they missed a chance here.

and they got both of those things to happen. that's kind of an important variable that you're glibly waving away, as if it was a predetermined outcome.

It's kind of amusing that NFL media has spent the last two weeks cracking jokes about Arian Foster's (facetious) claim that NFL games are all "scripted," and now the serious argument is that officials should make calls by instantly calculating the levels of narrative drama that would result from each potential decision.

You can't control how much time the opposing team is going to take on their drive and leaving them a lot of time gives them more flexibility.

Sure you can. Just play some defense and get a stop.

I was entertained. In media way too much ######## about a penalty and not enough crushing of NFL for field conditions. That was awful. Stunned nobody got big time hurt in those conditions.

Jordan Mailata said the field was “terrible.” He was sure to point out it was terrible for both teams, and Eagles/Chiefs players were talking with each other during TV timeouts about how bad it was. He said, “It was like playing on a water park.”

— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) February 13, 2023

“A couple times I had a good pass rush,” Reddick said, “felt like I beat my man, trying to turn the corner and couldn’t turn the corner.” Frank Clark agreed the field was an issue: “The field was kind of terrible.” That was a common word for it.
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“I’m not going to lie: It was the worst field I’ve ever played on,” Reddick said. “It was very disappointing. It’s the NFL. You would think it would be better so we could get some better play, but it is what it is. I don’t know. Maybe the league will look at it and tell Arizona they got to step their stuff up.”

They got extremely lucky with a blown coverage 45 yard pass. Without that play, it's much more likely that there's only enough time on the clock for one singular possession by the chiefs. In short, they needed to go 2 for 1, like in the NBA

In short, they needed to go 2 for 1, like in the NBA

if not for the only holding call in the entire ####### game, KC would have been kicking a FG with 1:45 left on the clock. the eagles offense would have gotten the ball back, with more than enough time to drive down the field.