I'm a conspiracy "theorist" which means I can certainly be wrong.
But, if you look at things completely objectively - The highest rated TV game this season was the N.E. @ Pitt game. That game was decided ultimately by a non-call on a PI, but everyone remembers the controversial James overturn that Unca Al Riveron can't seem to call consistently to save his soul.
It is absolutely, from a money point of view, in the league's best interest to get a grudge game between the Steelers and P*ts. That will, should it happen, be without a doubt the highest rated playoff game short of the SB. The commercial spot money alone would be a worthwhile reason for the league to desperately WANT that matchup to occur.
Now - Did Jalen Ramsey survive the ground? Not if Unca Al slowed the film down to single frame high-def images and looked at each one individually. He undoubtedly would have seen the ball touch the ground and THEN move in Ramsey's hands. We can see that in slow-mo without the benefit of superior high-def. Yet Unca Al couldn't be bothered to overturn a call that he obviously should have caught fairly easily. Why not? I don't know. Maybe he just doesn't give a ****. Maybe he was saying "Dear God, we don't want an entire extra 15 minutes of these two incompetent offenses slogging it out cause there's a real chance this game could go for 8 hours before one of these ******* manages to score again." I don't know.
But I do know, based on his bullshit description of his ruling on the James catch, certainly the Ramsey catch and the Cooks catch earlier in the season should have been ruled incomplete following the same criteria. They were not.
Maybe he's just dumber than **** and can't remember how he rules from one game to the next? Who knows?
I do like watching the games though for obviously stupid officiating to the point of being, WTF? For example... It seems as if Marcus Mariota is physically incapable of fumbling a football. That dude is so physically, overwhelmingly talented that he can stop his physical movement in a millisecond and halt "forward progress" as the situation dictates it. So sayeth the Luckett, so sayeth the flock.
The good news is, Phil is universally a fuckup. Travis Kelce has the intellectual prowess of a rock when he's conscious. Unconscious he STILL can't lose grip on a football. That's ******* spectacular athleticism right there.
What I can say is Thank God Phil retired. Because he is nothing but a danger to himself and the rational sanity of fans when he's out there officiating. He seems to have an extremely limited grasp of the rules and his visual acuity has clearly slipped significantly. Couple that with what can only be described as a desperate need to throw in a couple of "Make up calls" and you have the ****-show that was the KC-Titans officiating debacle.
