The Patriots were called for 1 penalty against the Jaguars
It is the fewest penalties called on one team in a playoff game since the 2011 AFC Championship… when the Patriots were called for 1 penalty in a win over the Ravens
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 21, 2018
This one is for the conspiracy theorists out there who think the NFL is rigged and Roger Goodell made sure the Patriots were in the Super Bowl because it’s great for business, etc. How many penalties were called on the Patriots during the AFC championship game? One.
Who congratulated Tom Brady first? A teammate or a ref? It was a ref.
This should keep conspiracy theorist guy busy for several weeks, months and years.
Ref congratulates Tommy before the Patriots congratulate Tommy:
First guy to congratulate Brady? Number 34. What a teammate! pic.twitter.com/azXq3qgN43
— OurState CSU (@OurStateCSU) January 21, 2018
And then there was this where conspiracy theorist guy thinks that the ref smiling as he’s telling the Patriots to break it up is smiling because he’s on Bob Kraft’s payroll.
https://twitter.com/SouthFlaVet/status/955215599994621953
And then there’s this:
Patriots last 5 games 13 penalties 110 yards. Opponents 35 for 390 pic.twitter.com/4vcW0yV8gc
— sethgrossman (@tennseth) January 21, 2018
I went back and did some research into the Patriots penalties in the AFC Championship game for the conspiracy guys and here’s what I came up with – penalties, yardage, won/lost:
I even went a step further for the conspiracy guys…did some research while watching the Vikings get blown out. Let’s take a look at the Patriots penalties by season going all the way back to 2009-10 thanks to NFLPenalties.com:
My conclusion: There’s no conspiracy. The numbers pretty much even out over time. Take the 2013-14 season. Patriots opponents were crippled by penalties compared to yardage flagged on the Pats. The Pats also lost the AFC title game that season. Of course in 2011-12, the Patriots were flagged 151 fewer yards than opponents and won the AFC title game, but then lost the Super Bowl to the Giants.
Today, the Jags had their chances and couldn’t get the ball out of their end late in the game. They punt, give great field position to Brady and he grabs the lead. There’s your game. There was also the drive right before half where the Jags couldn’t get the ball snapped and it cost them 5 yards. That was a 3rd and 7 from the Patriots 44. Bortles hits Mercedes Lewis for 12 and the play was called back for the delay. The Jags end up punting, the Patriots go down and score a touchdown, they go to half at 14-10.
