Good luck Harry C!

[JimHow]

I got no dog in this fight, just looking for a good game.

[JimHow]

Erin Andrews is from... Lewiston, Maine.

[jckba]

Another brutal call to decide a game.

[JimHow]

Ridiculous. Same thing happened to Cincinnati last year.

[ericp]

Seriously terrible call in a regular season game, let alone the Super Bowl. Terrible way to have the game be decided.

[JCNorthway]

I've seen much worse not called. Oh, wait, I did not even see it. That was definitely unfortunate.

[jal]

I didn't like that call either but:

https://www.nfl.com/news/eagles-cb-jame ... as-holding

[JCNorthway]

I agree it was technically holding, but that happens on a lot of pass plays, and is rarely called. I would not mind that call if it was getting routinely flagged.

[Nicklasss]

I agree with you John, and it is a problem. Why call it there, at that time, and not on other similar faults? It kills any chances for the Eagles to come back.

At the same time, do not hold (or half hold) anyone if you don't want any chance to be caught. A referree won't call a holding penalty if you never ever touch the other player.

But i agree with what is in the article Jal posted: the Eagles defense played a very bad second half. This is the thing that really make the change.

[Nicklasss]

Also, everybody's commenting because this call happened at the end when it was 35-35. At any other time of the game, nobody would talk about it.

[JimHow]

I would still call it a ridiculous call in the first quarter of the first game of the year.
And, yes, exponentially more ridiculous in the last two minutes of the last game of the year.
Ruined a perfectly fine game for me, exactly like the holding call at the end of last year's Rams/Bengals Super Bowl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApvEU1jht4s

[Harry C.]

This officiating crew has a reputation for most willing to pull a flag. They just sat on them for the most part until the end. But Philly made more mistakes than KC so my hat's off to them. Good game except for the outcome!

[marcs]

It’s not that Philly deserved to win except for the penalty, it’s that the penalty ruined it for fans. Really egregious IMO

[JimHow]

Ha a story about Erin’s Lewiston roots. Okay, she was only here til age 5, but…

https://www.boston.com/sports/nfl/2023/ ... age-proud/

[Jay Winton]

and the field was pretty bad-lots of slipping. Evidently the grass mixture included one that is very slick. You had one job to do...

[JimHow]

I mean, was it like that for the Cardinals all year? That was ridiculous.

[RPCV]

I mean, was it like that for the Cardinals all year? That was ridiculous.

I'm a turf agronomy guy. They likely used perennial ryegrass to overseed the Bermudagrass to fill in the gaps and make the turf look nice on camera. This turf species has a very slick cuticle and is known to produce a playing surface prone to slipping. It grows fast and looks nice but the downside is slippery conditions. Too bad for the players.

[JCNorthway]

I'm a turf agronomy guy. They likely used perennial ryegrass to overseed the Bermudagrass to fill in the gaps and make the turf look nice on camera.

I saw an article today that said that is exactly what they did and the likely reason why. I also learned that they moved that entire field of turf outside during the day to get sun, and moved it inside at night, up until a few days before the game.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2 ... ns-issues/

[DavidG]

Oddly enough, this is the first year that I recall there being a lot of pre-Super Bowl media attention paid to George Toma, the groundskeeper. Well, OK, maybe it was all driven by just one NYT article published 3 days before the big game (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2 ... ns-issues/), but it appeared in all sorts of news feeds.

Its headline read:

All Hail the ‘God of Sod,’ Groundskeeper for All 57 Super Bowls

With this sub header:

On Sunday, George Toma’s perfectionism will be on display for hundreds of millions of people who will have no idea who he is or how he suffers for his work.

Talk about slipping up!

[jckba]

Ha!

[Harry C.]

Is his nickname Zamboni?