Dear God...What Was That?!

Right out of the starting gate it started. The minute I saw it happen I simply knew the team was doomed and it was not only going to be a long night but we were headed for a loss. When was that? Well the very first drive. The Seahawks were driving but the defense stuffed them and was about to force them to a field goal. But wait....suddenly out of nowhere came a flag and the Rams were called for holding. Funny thing is, after the announcers showed us a variety of different camera views none of us, including the announcers saw any holding. So right off the bat the Rams were doomed with a phantom holding call!

Am I going to blame the loss on the officiating? No, but it is something that must be addressed. The Rams however; lost for a variety of reasons and let me list those before I go on with my officiating rant!

A Variety of Reasons:

1. Only running Jackson 11 times. What was up with that? Against a team that ranked at the bottom of the list in run defense.
2. Dink and dunk passes of just 3 and 4 yards.
3. Dropped passes by each and every one of the wide receivers including SJ39. Oh, one exception...Hoomanawanui....couldn't drop any passes because even though he was suited up and cleared to play, they didn't utilize Bradford's huge target.
4. No Hoomanawanui....what was up with that?
5. Very little blitzing and pressuring of Whitehurst. Didn't they look at the game the week before? Pressure the guy and he can't play worth a damn! We pressured him only a handful of times and you bet ya, he couldn't play worth a damn and always threw if away or was incomplete.
6. Coaching was the worst ever, plain and simple.
7. Officials had their hand in part of it as well.

Now, speaking of the officiating, win or lose, of all the games I watched all season, this game was indeed the worst officiated game of the year. I've never seen anything like it. Just to name a few:

• Of course the phantom holding call
• At least 4 missed holding calls that should have gone against the Seahags.
• The blatant off sides call that wasn't called against the Seahags, one that the entire Rams team thought was a free play including Bradford who could be seen saying to the officials dumbfounded "Wasn't that offsides?!" The announcers pointed it out several times as well, showing the infraction several times.
• And last but not least close to the end of the game the Rams stopped the Seahags on 2nd down forcing a 3rd and short, they even called it third and short and just as they began their play, the officials magically called it a first down, before Spags could even send out the challenge hanky! Unbelievable!

I'm sure there were more but those are some fine examples of just how horrible the officiating was in such an important game. It was sickening, I did not believe what I saw and am still in shock over the entire fiasco.

Something needs to be done with the state the officiating is in and Goodell should sit down with those in charge and take a good, long and hard look at what is going on with the officials. This kind of officiating is simply inexcusable and unacceptable!

As for the Seahags winning the division....no, they did not deserve it, but obviously the Refs and the Rams thought they did and helped them out in any and all ways that they could. As for next week's Wild Card game......I hope the Saints destroy the Seahawks, embarrass the hell out of them and have them scrounging around looking for a place to dig a hole and hide somewhere in Qwest Field. GO SAINTS!

GO RAMS in 2011