So, now it can be asked: Was the Patriots dynasty built on a lie?
OK, maybe that’s a little harsh. But the NFL rules committee on Wednesday eliminated the phony “Tuck Rule,” which means the team’s first championship never should have happened.
Dan Shaughnessy
Comments
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Charles Woodson's right hand slam Brady in the helmet on this famous play? And I believe in 2001, rules prohibited QB's from being hit in the head (as it does today). So Tuck rule or no Tuck rule, Woodson should have flagged for Hands to the Head and 15 yards, automatic first down.
Most Pat fans don't remember/admit that on Ty Law's interception return for a TD against the Rams in the Super Bowl that Vrabel hit Warner's helmet when pressuring him. That was also never called.
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One would like to believe that this game was the yang for that playoff game Oakland won many years ago on a bogus referee call. I believe Oakland, with Kenny Stabler went on to win the SB.
brownmustgo,
You are correct. Sugar Bear Hamilton's hand grazed the helmet of Snake Stabler, Ben Dreith looked down the field and saw the pass was incomplete, and then turned and threw the flag on Hamilton. I remember throwing a shoe at the TV in late 1976/early 1977 and screaming in rage. In 2002, some 25 years later the Pats finally got retribution. It was definitely karma and Shaughnessy, to hell with your tainting of our fiirst Super Bowl victory!!! And the Steelers wer heavily restricted with injuries that year as well so that would have been SB #1 for the Pats.
Agree. Agree. Agree. What goes around eventaully comes around and things get evened out. And all the jealous Patriot haters (and I know you're not one Dan)can kiss my a$s.
Rats! I thought I was was going to be the only one who remembered Ben Dreith.
Worst call ever.
First line: Only if you're the last one living, and even then there will probably be children who heard about it.
Secon line: Probably not, but it's way up there
OK the best old game was the snowplow game. Don Shula having coniption fits on the sidelines. Shula never recovered...............
That WAS funny. The convict (had to be a convict, right, I mean with the Pats?) running the snowplow out there. And the riot was, was that once it was done it was too late to do anything aout it. What were they going to do, throw snow back on the plowed area?! I hear Shula can't even look at a snowblower without his head spinning like Regan in The Excorcist.
Of course it was a fumble and luck. The Pats won the early Super Bowls with some luck and lost the later ones with some bad luck. Maybe if they hadn't won one of the early ones they would have concentrated more on the later ones. It all evens out. A trophy goes to the winner.
Ya win some (2001), ya lose some (2007)............
Leave it to Shank...the rule was called correctly, period. What's wrong with you Dan?
You can complain all you want about the Tuck Rule; Coleman made the correct call according to the rule.
The purpose of the rule was to avoid making the ref judge at what point in the forward arm motion was the QB no longer intending to make a pass.
How many significant times did the Tuck Rule ever come up since 2002? Once maybe, in last year's DEN - BAL game.
Without the rule, you will have lots more controversies, was he passing or was he tucking?
Keep it simple. The rule should be: It's a forward pass once the ball leaves the QB's hand. If the ball is knocked down/away before leaving the QB's hand, it's a fumble.
Another great article by our boy Dan. I really wish you would go away with the tuck rule Dan because you have become insufferable.
Payback for Ben Dreith.
David Tyree catches a pass with his helmet to win the Super Bowl for the Giants over the Patriots. Would that really happen to the luckiest team in football? What if the Globe offered a buyout and you actually took it?
Tom Brady and Derek Jeter can laugh about wrong calls establishing dynasties together...Jeffrey Maier and the tuck rule...as much as i hate to admit it in Jeter's case, these moments, had they been reversed, would have just delayed, not derailed these guys on a path to their hall of fame careers
A "lie"? A "lie"? Really, Dan, a "lie"???
A lie implies that a rule didn't exist and said rule wasn't followed correctly. Seriously Shank, why do you create bs when there's plenty in real life
And don't forget that if the game was played today, Oakland would have had the chance to get the ball back in overtime and tie/win the game.
Hey Shaughnessy, is it a lie or luck? Pick one.
First let me say I'm a Pats fan. Now let me ask you if that same exact situation happens next season will you think it's a fumble? It was in the Snow Bowl game and the only thing that made it not a fumble was the rule. The NFL corrected that bad rule. Put your pom-pom's away.
Dan, if you really believe that the Boston Globe is going down and you are going to lose you job, you have the freedom to write articles that you can use to help get you a job outside the Boston market. Outside the Boston market the standard view is that the Patriot are a bunch of cheaters, led by cheater-in-chief Belichek. All their attention to detail and meticulous coaching and teamwork and training about how to play cleanly WITHOUT seriously injuring the other team's players, and... accounts for NOTHING, because it is settled wisdom that the Patriots are a bunch of cheaters and their successes all a big lie. For your sake, I hope articles like this land you a good paying job with the New York Times or.... Take the money and run.
You are dead on correct. I grew up in Foxborough/Mansfield but have lived south of the Mason/Dixon line for over 20 years. The Patriots outside of New England are like Barry Bonds outside of San Francisco. They're hated because of BB. He was specifically warned by Goodell to stop taping and his arrogance got the best of him. I know, who cares what people outside of NE thnk? But Dan's stupidity about calling it a "lie" only adds fuel to the fire of an already-dubious national view of the Patriots.
Luckier than Franco Harris and the Steelers? Also against Oakland. That was a rules violation, Pats saved by the rules. Refs blew it in the Oakland game. And get a new haircut you look like a dope.
"Was the Patriots dynasty built on a lie?"
No, but it looks more and more like Shaughnessy's career has been built on lies, distortions and omissions.
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I agree with commiefagjunkie (quite a handle it hurt to type it) that "The purpose of the rule was to avoid making the ref judge at what point in the forward arm motion was the QB no longer intending to make a pass." And I also agree that it was called correctly in that playoff game. And I also think it would have been a reasonable rule for the pre- replay error, however, replays have been used to review calls since 1986. Not sure why they would have instituted such a rule in 1999. In any case - with the current state of replay officiating, there is no need for it. I also don't like to put down columnist, but I also have to agree that this was a terribly written article without much of a point.
Spygate and Tuck Rule taint the Patriot Legend. Also this year's Ravens SB victory should have an asterisk because of the replacement refs. Also I think the rule was changed that questioned the Steeler's Immaculate Reception in 1972- if that play gets thrown out- who knows what they go on to do? Oh yeah and they all used then-legal steroids then. Also Emmitt Smith used the crown of his helmet during the Cowboy glory years (2d version). And another thing....
Its funny. Dan tries to rattle you guys with over the top sarcasm and you fall for it hook, line, and sinker EVERY time.
I looked forward to the comments section as much as the Shaughnessy piece itself.
I sort of liked this....until the end. Spygate and the resulting lost draft pick, blown Perfect Season to suspect calls and Tyree.....Giants x2, Brady out for the year, bad draft picks, bad signings, now Welker, etc. They haven't been lucky AT ALL in quite some time. I think you could argue that since the last Championship they've been the UN-luckiest team, if not in sports, at least in the NFL.
Dan wrote:
"So, now it can be asked: Was the Patriots dynasty built on a lie?
OK, maybe that’s a little harsh." That's pretty close to sensationalism, the bread and butter of tabloids. It's unnecessary.
Think back to the days when you were a young reporter. McDonough would have ripped the copy and told you the Globe front page is not written for juveniles. Do it over!
Is a game with a 120-page rule book really a game?
BORING... Write about the present and the future, not the past. What's done is done, who really cares? This is like stupid sports talk-radio blather. You are better than this. If I was your editor I'd say write something relevant not this drivel.
p.s. what if pigs could fly or if scotch bubbled out of the ground.
Aside from the fact that this is a ridiculous column, where is the "lie"? You can argue about the merits of the rule, but who was lying? A column generally has a point. This one, not so much.
"It really was a fumble, after all."
EEERRRR well....in '01 it wasn't so what really is the point? In fact NFL rules have determined outcomes of important games throughout history!
Nobody will ever win the "what if?" argument!
What if Asante Samuel intercepts Manning? What if Harrison detaches the ball from Tyree's helmet? What if Welker extends that late drive? What if I won the PowerBall? That one I can answer.........I probably wouldn't have wasted my time reading or responding to this article!
If we are going to go all 'revisionist' with the rules then we can also wonder if the Raiders would have tied or won that game with their possesion in overtime. The rules now state that both teams get a possession in overtime unless the team with the ball first scores a touchdown. The Patriots got the ball first in overtime and marched down for a field goal. And if we want to 'taint' past teams that have won Super Bowls on bogus calls (or non calls) why don't we go ahead and taint the Giants Super Bowl win in '07. During the play that Eli Manning threw that epic pass to David Tyree, there were 2 CLEAR holding penalties that weren't called during Eli's scramble. And lastly, taping the opposing teams sideline in plain view of 70,000 people was not made illegal until 2006. So none of the three Super Bowl vistories by the Patriots are tainted by anything.