Close Games Are The Rule, Not The Exception In The NFL

[NoGain]

Why do we continually get surprised by this fact? I've already watched game after game this season where people have remarked that the game shouldn't have been as close as it was. The Ravens should have easily won that game against the Bills. No way the Packers should have lost to the Browns. How did the Eagles ever end up beating the Rams in that game? Etc...

Guess what? NFL games are usually close. You should be happy whenever you win one. Like we did tonight. Good teams figure out how to win them. We did so.

That is all.

 

[NoGain]

Oh and, in our only loss this year so far to the 49ers, I'm sure their fans are saying that game should have never been as close as it was.

 

[strohmin]

I enjoyed this game. I felt like we played pretty well against a good team. Divisional games are always ugly especially on the road.

 

[glenwo2]

Why do we continually get surprised by this fact? I've already watched game after game this season where people have remarked that the game shouldn't have been as close as it was. The Ravens should have easily won that game against the Bills. No way the Packers should have lost to the Browns. How did the Eagles ever end up beating the Rams in that game? Etc...

Guess what? NFL games are usually close. You should be happy whenever you win one. Like we did tonight. Good teams figure out how to win them. We did so.

That is all.

I get it but this game in particular was close only because our kicker missed a FG and Reek Woolen SUCKS MASSIVE DONG.

This particular game should not have been close.

 

[NoGain]

I get it but this game in particular was close only because our kicker missed a FG and Reek Woolen SUCKS MASSIVE DONG.

This particular game should not have been close.

No really, it's just the same with other teams. If only Jordan love didn't throw that ridiculous interception the game was won. If only Derrick Henry didn't mind-bogglingly cough up that fumble. If only, etc, etc, etc... I see what you're talking about on a regular basis.

 

[glenwo2]

No really, it's just the same with other teams. If only Jordan love didn't throw that ridiculous interception the game was won. If only Derrick Henry didn't mind-bogglingly cough up that fumble. If only, etc, etc, etc... I see what you're talking about on a regular basis.

Yeah yeah...I get it.

A game is always full of what-if's.

I guess the bottom line is the team found a way to win and that is what matters.

 

[Jac]

To quote JSN, division games on TNF..."that's some bulls#t". The Bills barely hung on (at home) against Miami last week. And then TNF division games where you're the road team, c'mon...

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Well, sometimes the final score doesn't come close to being the real story. The Hawks controlled 3 plus quarters. Period

 

[Trackhawk]

If JSN doesn’t get called for a BS hold, the game isn’t a nail biter. Though it’s still close.

 

[CallMeADawg]

I get it but this game in particular was close only because our kicker missed a FG and Reek Woolen SUCKS MASSIVE DONG.

This particular game should not have been close.

These are not the only reasons this game was close. There’s a lot of blame to go around. Self inflicted wounds played a big role and blaming Meyers for missing that 53 yard FG is silly. Those aren’t automatic.

Maybe don’t throw a ball at a dude on 3rd and 3 in FG range, or fumble on an interception return, or engage on a block with a defender irrelevant to a run play for a TD, or drop easy money picks all game long.

They definitely weren’t sharp but they did get the W and don’t have to play on Thursday again this season.

 

[Tusc2000]

I get it but this game in particular was close only because our kicker missed a FG and Reek Woolen SUCKS MASSIVE DONG.

This particular game should not have been close.

Agreed. Everything started to fall apart after the Woolen PI. He sucks and he always sucks at the worst possible time. If you want to lose a game, stcik Riq in during the 4th quarter. Watch the lead disappear. Why is this guy still on the roster?

 

[Tusc2000]

To quote JSN, division games on TNF..."that's some bulls#t". The Bills barely hung on (at home) against Miami last week. And then TNF division games where you're the road team, c'mon...

I dunno. Last week, you always felt like the Bills had things in hand, even when the Dolphons started to get close. That was not the case last night, things got very precarious at the end, and while the Cardinals are better than the Dolphins, we are clearly not as good as the Bills, at least not yet.

 

[kidhawk]

One thing that seems to push games closer is officiating. They seem to mostly call blatant calls both ways but if a team starts to dominate a game there seems to be more ticky tack calls against them. I don’t believe it’s a Seahawks thing but a way for the league to keep games more interesting which raises revenues.

 

[NoGain]

One thing that seems to push games closer is officiating. They seem to mostly call blatant calls both ways but if a team starts to dominate a game there seems to be more ticky tack calls against them. I don’t believe it’s a Seahawks thing but a way for the league to keep games more interesting which raises revenues.

I don't know what's said behind closed doors in league offices or in officiating meetings and training sessions. Maybe there needs to be more transparency about such things, although I don't know how you might achieve that. I also wonder how much of it is a human nature thing. Officials are emotionally fallible human beings, not machines. Is it human nature to be less lenient to teams that are ahead in games? I don't know, I don't know...

 

[Jac]

I dunno. Last week, you always felt like the Bills had things in hand, even when the Dolphons started to get close. That was not the case last night, things got very precarious at the end, and while the Cardinals are better than the Dolphins, we are clearly not as good as the Bills, at least not yet.

Yeah, it's not a perfect analogy. I just don't think it's fair to have these important division games on the unfair TNF timeline (no time to heal, no time to gameplan, travel on Wednesday for the road team). However, I'm sure the NFL is thinking 'it'll be good TV viewing since division games are generally close and the teams don't need to gameplan as extensively since they know each other so well...' My same frustration with having a division game in Week #1 since that's quirky league-wide coming out of preseason (we'd beat the 49ers if we replayed that game now).

 

[pmedic920]

Close games are exactly what the NFL wants!

This is obviously only my opinion because I have no evidence otherwise.

In spite of reasonable arguments otherwise, nobody can convince me that INTENTIONAL steering of games by the refs/NFL doesn’t happen.

There are WAY too many instances of blatant bad calls/ no calls even under replay that happen to suggest that it’s merely coincidence.

IMHO, the only way to counter this phenomenon is for a team to be so dominant that steering can’t ultimately effect the final outcome.

Sure the push for close games/ parity can and certainly does exist but that can be overcome if/when a team is the shit.

Eff the refs, Eff the NFL….

GoHawks, kick that ass.

 

[CalgaryFan05]

Reek Woolen SUCKS MASSIVE DONG.

Awesome. Gonna put that on a T-Shirt!!!!

 

[CalgaryFan05]

One thing that seems to push games closer is officiating. They seem to mostly call blatant calls both ways but if a team starts to dominate a game there seems to be more ticky tack calls against them. I don’t believe it’s a Seahawks thing but a way for the league to keep games more interesting which raises revenues.

 

[CouchLogic]

This is still a young team, games like this build character. Short week, on the rosd, and a division rival...damn. Gotta win these close, ugly games, and they did. The extra days off were earned.

 

[ivotuk]

We controlled the game because Marvin Harrison was horrible for the first 3 quarters. As soon as he started making plays, it was a tight game.

We have a high margin of victory this year because of one game vs New Orleans and Spencer "Rattled"

I tried an AI answer, but it has zero common sense sometimes.

Here's some interesting data. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-scoring-margin