Listen, it is pretty well agreed by most of the civilized world that the officiating yesterday was awful, and very much skewed towards the Jaguars. The Mathis INT and subsequent TD were the result of a blown non-call. The refs knew they blew it because, after the game, they barely made eye contact with Dungy. Rashean Mathis was getting killed all day by Marvin Harrison, and compensated by holding and shoving all game long. He got away with it because the refs didn't call the game according to the NFL rulebook.
Yes, the league will look at it. Yes, the refs will likely get demerits. Yes, they truly suck and I hope they do not ref any playoffs games because they clearly do not understand the rules in which they league is played under.
But moaning about officiating, or lack thereof, is not what cost the Colts the game. I realize that without the Manning INT, which should not have been an INT had the ref done what he is paid well to do (throw a flag), was a big difference in the score. Yes, the dumb pass inference call late on Freddie Keiaho (I believe) was utter crap. Calling that, but not calling all the Mathis dry humping during the game was hypocrisy defined. But that is not what cost Indy the game.
The 236 rushing yards allowed was.
Whining and moaning about refs is sooooooooooo New England. No offense to our new friends at Pats Pulpit (who are great fans and are building a good community over there) but the Patriots ownership are notorious for complaining about refs and calls. Their President (Jonathan Kraft, Bob's sniveling son) does it all the time, which is why he has a rep as a whiny punk. We don't do that. The refs didn't miss easy tackles, blow assignments, and look incompetent playing defense. The refs didn't call only 18 running plays on offense despite the running game averaging 6 yards a carry.
The Colts did that.
Believe it or not, I am actually up beat about this team. Yes, at 1-2 with almost 600 yards rushing allowing in three game, that makes me sound crazy. I realize that. But, the Jaguars (the team everyone thought was THE team to beat in the AFC) needed lots of blown calls and a 51 yard FG with 4 seconds left to beat our team. Had Indy played any semblance of run defense, they would have blown out the Jags, like they did last year. The Jags' coach continued to botch game decisions and give Indy chances to steal the game. Jack Del Rio is still a clueless moron, and as long as he is there Indy will continue to have Jacksonville's number.
With the bye week here, the Colts have a chance to finally heal up, take stock, and get their butts in gear. The players, coaches, and management have all done horrible jobs leading into and starting this season. All of them. Now, they get a chance to start again. From now until the start of Week 5, we will see just how they take advantage of this new start.