[Update: The video cannot be viewed here, but do go to the YouTube link and watch it. Quite a few people are sure Parks stepped out of bounds. Watch what happens at 1:33 in the replay.]
[Update: I searched to find out how many cameras are used to cover a football game, and the answer varies depending on the game. 13 appears to be the norm for a regional game. Sidelines shots are of high importance, especially if a play is challenged. So they probably had better footage of this play and did not show it, instead relying on a shot from the end zone behind the play, sixty yards away. Indeed, at 1:02 or so they switch to an end zone camera on that sideline that probably had Parks all the way down the sideline.]
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All I can figure is that Brandin Cooks was not supposed to to catch that touchdown pass from Drew Brees in the closing minutes of yesterday’s Denver-New Orleans matchup. For Denver then to pull it out required shenanigans. Watch the video above as the snapper #47 (ah geez, really?), Justin Drescher, allows himself to be gently pushed down to allow Justin Simmons to block the extra point, thereby allowing Will Parks to run it back for a two point score.
I don’t quite buy that all NFL outcomes are fixed, as games are controlled chaos and anything can happen. Those key to determining the outcome are referees, who can call a penalty on any play, and perhaps just a few players on each team who can fall down on demand, as did Drescher, or fumble and then stand and watch, as did Cam Newton in the last Super Bowl. This much I know: Teams know how to block the other team on PATs. They practice this stuff.
Just remember, the NFL is one organization and teams abide by the script. There is nothing illegal about fixing games, as it is purely entertainment. Only advertising and gambling keep the game alive. Yesterday both were served.
Piece of Mindful 
Good catch.
It’s tough to tell if the original pass completion was on purpose. It was one hell of a pass through double coverage. But watching the players on the field after the play, nobody seems stunned that it happened like we saw with the Kearse catch during the Seahawks vs Patriots Super Bowl. They probably use stickum on the gloves and perhaps magnets in the ball and gloves to make these passes more accurate on certain plays? Just throwing it out there, they definitely do that in basketball and golf.
My opinion is that most games are scripted, but due to the unpredictable nature of sports, there is some leeway towards how they do it. So they might say, OK you can get a TD, but don’t get the extra point or you can get a field goal but don’t get a TD. But then again, I think it is even more granular than that. For example they want certain players to get TD and yards or to get them a certain way to fit a narrative. I made notes during the Bills vs Seahawks Monday night game last week and I’ll write it out soon.
The extra point was blatant. The center just laid down for it and stayed down. Nobody on the field looked really shocked or cared. That was one of my clues over the years. The players and coaches just didn’t seem to care as much as the supposedly most competitive people on the planet should care. I know how I get when playing ping pong, I can’t imagine what I would be like if I was playing in an NFL game, rich or not.
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I agree. I happened to see the end of that game , which is strange because my disease is typically limited to the Baltimore games.
But, now that the door is open, I saw a fix of a different kind on the Thursday night game. It involved Baltimore and Cleveland and the game was still very “close” going into the half. On consecutive possessions Joe Flacco made mistakes , including an interception that was so bad that it was like, okay you’re going to make me throw a bad pass, I’m going to make it REAL bad. In the other possession the clock was winding down, but there was plenty of time, yet he threw 2 yard receptions right over the middle of the field. It wasn’t until the third quarter when they could no longer hold Cleveland up any longer and went on to win by 3 touchdowns, that it dawned on me what happened. It was a simple matter of economics.
In these high profile games there is a lot of commercial revenue involved and the last thing they need is a blowout. They probably scheduled this game figuring the two teams would be equally as bad. Since that wasn’t the case they needed to keep fans glued until at least the third quarter.
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Parks went out of bounds. The NFL apologists will tell you that it’s hard to say, with him wearing white shoes and a white sideline. But that actually makes it easier: if there isn’t a little green on the left side of the foot with each step, he crossed the line. Which he did quite visibly, twice.
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Funniest darn thing – when they show the replay in slow motion, which we have to go to YouTube for now since it won’t show here, and ad pops up right on that part of the screen where we would be able to see his foot going out of bounds. It happens right at 1:33. (Ah geez – really?)
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LMAO! I just noticed that…didn’t see the original, but yeah, now on the closeup they have a link to ‘Los Angeles Rams vs New York Jets – Full Highlights – November 13, 2016 – NFL’ right smack dab in the key spot. The Empire censors have really boldly stepped up their game you must admit 😉
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The Falcons Chargers game a few weeks ago was an obvious rig. Atlanta was running the ball for big chunks of yardage late in the game, then had two consecutive illegal motion penalties by linemen before Matt Ryan threw an interception directly to a San Diego linebacker. Then in Overtime, the Falcons went for a fourth and one on their own 40 yard line, losing a yard with a pitiful play call.
Earlier one of the tackles who committed the motion penalty made so little effort to block on a sack that the color guy said something like, “you’ve got to try a little harder than that…”
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There’s a college football game on right now where I’m having lunch and it occurred to me: what if practice in the off season (and during the regular season) is partly devoted to practicing how to make make-believe play look real? Actually it would have to be if they are going to make it look real during games. So that means they are practicing fumbles, interceptions, etc. Just like professional wrestlers practice how to avoid hurting each other. It helps explain how athletes are so good at faking their plays: practice makes perfect.
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you might be right, but probably more for the ‘rookies’, I’m guessing the veterans probably have had enough practice LOL. The vets probably just discuss the script ahead of time, ie: I’ll fumble forward and you recover, or I’ll slip on a banana peel and you get the interception and return it, or whatever the case may be. As Mark pointed out, it seems you really only need a few key players and the referees of course and any outcome can be virtually guaranteed, even if there are screwups. It does seem they are very good at this, and its only in a few cases where all of the elements become blatantly obvious, like the case outlined in this post appears to be.
Coming to the conclusion that professional sports is scripted and fake as well was certainly one of the harder pills to swallow for me initially, and the NFL was probably the hardest of all, it being a sacred cow they’ve developed over decades and tied into Americana, but I’m over it now. I spend my Sundays on more useful activities, like mowing grass and stuff. Some people look at you like you’re a Communist if you don’t watch football or have a favorite team, or give a rat’s ass about it. If I say I have no interest in watching the Super Bowl, I’ll probably be tarred and feathered and shipped to Guantanamo, so I’ll just avoid that battle for now and play along and drink beer, eat chicken wings and enjoy the ‘entertainment’ for what it’s worth. I guess I’m a heathen now.
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Glad you Sundays are freed up – I find it hard to watch football unless I have an iPad in my lap, and more times than not I am missing the action. I also record the games to avoid the advertising, which is oppressive.
But I am trying to take it a step further – as I sit in my chair at night unwinding, I am instead of turning on the tube reading. The only show I have watched repeatedly these past ten twelve years is 2-1/2 Men. It is wickedly funny, but so in-your-face attacking normalcy and manliness. Someone, Daddieuhoh or Straight, said humor is our enemy. So right, that is.
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Right on.
Training camp is open to the public so I have no problem believing that they are practicing real plays and getting in football shape. But once the season starts the practice moves indoors and out of view of the public.
We’re always told of these great battles of the mind in football where coaches are drawing up X’s and O’s and thinking of ways to beat the other team. Well if all of that is fake, then all of the weekly preparation is, as you said, focused on fixing the games. They watch film to shore up their mistakes, the practices and walkthroughs are for going over the script for Sunday, and going over any contingencies in case a mistake is made.
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