Thread: ESPN's Jeff Dickerson Answers Questions From Fans;

Quite a few bad calls. Poorly officiated.

I didn't catch the disputed fumble by Jennings but I did see the hit on Rodgers. That was a perfect example of how the league goes overboard to protect QB's at the expense of good defense and a good pass rush. First of all the hit wasn't late. He arrived just as Rodger let go of the ball. A half second sooner and he'd have either sacked him or maybe caused a fumble. Second there was no helmet to helmet contact period. I think when the ref through the flag he knew he was on shaky ground with a late hit call so he's covered his ass with the helmet to helmet call.

That call kept a drive alive at a time when the Packers were still very much in the game. In the final analysis it made no difference but it's a great example of how that rule needs to be looked at again. Incidental contact where the rusher is not leading with his helmet and the contact is nothing more than one helmet glancing off the other shouldn't be a penalty period. DE and DT need to be able to hit a QB around the shoulder to prevent his opportunity throw and so many times they call a helmet to helmet hit when it was purely unavoidable and there was no intent to injure.

Being an NFCN team I was hoping the Packers might win and face off with the Pats in the Super Bowl. It would have been interesting to see two of the worst defenses in the league matched up against two of the best offenses. The Giants came to play yesterday and exposed that defense pretty well. They also proved, as the Bears have at times as well, that if you put pressure on Rodgers and block his escape routes you take their passing game away from them. The Giants did a great job of that.

But on that penalty, our Packer fan members will squawk about this, but that team gets more breaks on penalties especially playing at Lambeau Field than any other NFL team and it has been that way for the 35+ years I've been watching them play. Part of the Lambeau "mystique" is the number of homer calls that tend to pile up during a game. With replay some of those calls are made right but you can't challenge a penalty call and there is no doubt the Packers got the benefit of the doubt on that roughing call.

Originally Posted by MPBears68

There were two clearly blown calls with big impact and both went incorrectly in GB's favor. One was the roughing the passer call which was obviously neither a late hit nor a helmet-to-helmit impact. The other was the fumble by Jennings (I think) that was ruled down by contact--bs, the ball was definitely out before his knee or hip touched the ground and recovered by the NYG.

Really amazing that NY was still able to win handily with those two big breaks going against them. GB was totally outplayed especially on 3rd down conversions and via TOs. The Giants are looking like GB did last year at this time--a team who barely made the playoffs but is playing their best football at just the right time.

Couldn't agree more.

Originally Posted by Zelezo Vlk

They should learn to build a defense and then they can complain. 32nd overall? I can't really see why I thought that the Giants might LOSE the game. I was rooting for them anyways.

I was rooting for the Giants as well. Now, next week, I will be rooting for the Niners.