“That’s Just A Stupid Opinion”
October 12th, 2022
Photo of the Scotty Miller mauling that was not called for pass interference on Sunday.
It’s great to hear an ESPN reporter ditch the corporate speak and give candid football analysis not neatly packaged into TV sound bites. And piss off some folks in the process.
That’s fun. And sports are supposed to be fun.
ESPN NFL insider Jeff Darlington has been at the last two Tampa Bay games (must be working on a big story) and sat down Monday with the Buccaneers’ Nothing But Bucs show on the official team website.
Darlington, the pride of Seminole High School, talked about how Falcons fans have been attacking him on Twitter because Darlington was adamant on social media that the uproar over the roughing-the-passer call on Grady Jarrett, which wiped out a key fourth-quarter sack of Tom Brady, is wasted and almost irrelevant moaning.
Why is the Falcons-fan/Brady-hater argument moot, per Darlington?
Because the play shouldn’t have happened immediately following a terrible non-call of pass interference on Scotty Miller that would have ended the game.
The Darlington rant even goes so far to say some fans have “stupid” opinions.
“I understand that calls get missed throughout a game. And you’re never going to have an even outcome as far as who gets the most calls. But in that instance, at the very least, you can look toward the play before that was an egregious pass interference [non]call, a ridiculous one, that would have ended the game,” Darlington said, referring to the complete body push of Scotty Miller shown in Joe’s photo above.
“So my thing is like, ‘Ok, I understand the outrage towards an awful call [on Jarrett]. It was, but it never should have been a call at all.’ So, for me, it had zero impact on the game itself because the game should have been over. And anybody who says otherwise, again, is either a Falcons fan or is not taking in the entirety of the context with which the game occurred.
“Both were ridiculous calls. Both were terrible. One happened before the other and would have ended the game. Look, the only people are really truly outraged are the people who gets pissed that Brady gets calls and whines for others. So if that’s your stance on it, fine.
“But my only point is from the perspective of ‘the Falcons got screwed out of the game.’ No they did not. That is like, that’s just a stupid opinion, if you didn’t watch the context of it and you also didn’t understand that [the Bucs] still had a lead and the Falcons still would have had to [drive for a touchdown]. I just think context was very important to what ultimately is a controversial moment … because it’s Tom Brady.”
Great stuff from Darlington and on point.
So many national media types are crying about the Jarrett call and pointing at Brady at getting special treatment. Years of statistical data don’t back up the argument, and neither does the missed interference call on the prior snap.
As Joe has said to friends, “If Brady gets all the calls, where was the pass interference flag on his deep ball?”
October 12th, 2022 at 4:41 pm
Indeed
October 12th, 2022 at 4:43 pm
He’s 100% correct.
Unfortunately context and nuance are hard things to find in most discussions these days, and don’t sell as well as sensationalist headlines and outrage.
October 12th, 2022 at 4:47 pm
Finally somebody nationally said it
October 12th, 2022 at 4:48 pm
Drop the microphone. End of story. The internet is over. Thanks, Joes for posting and thanks to Darlington for telling it like it was/is.
What’s surprising though, given resident insider expertise on Bucs WRs, is that is was Miller who Brady threw to and not the little feller from North Texas, who we assured is the best WR not named Evans or Godwin.
October 12th, 2022 at 4:49 pm
Word.
October 12th, 2022 at 4:53 pm
Perfectly stated! This game had so many 1-sided bad calls! How was Evans not a TD (yes we scored a play later)? How was Cade’s catch not a 1st down? How was Scotty interfered with TWICE and not called? There were several times jerseys were yanked and no flag…it was a bad, bad day of reffing!!
Like he stated, it wasn’t like the flag continued a game winning drive….we were up by 6 and they had NO timeouts left! Funny how the media only talked about the bad roughing the passer call.
October 12th, 2022 at 4:53 pm
Keep being told he caught it out of bounds or it was t catchable. Sure looks like he’s in bounds there ready to catch it. He may have had to catch it a little higher, like above his head, but that’s about it
October 12th, 2022 at 4:57 pm
There are no stupid opinions, just stupid people having opinions. 🤣🤣🤣
October 12th, 2022 at 5:04 pm
I’m pretty sure it was Monday nights game that had a play look EXACTLY like this. Like to a freaking t. Guess what happened? FLAG FOR DPI! I audibly scoffed and I said to my buddy, a play veeeeery similar to what happened to Scotty got a flag and we didn’t. Very peculiar
October 12th, 2022 at 5:08 pm
This is a big story because it’s Brady……..he makes the news on far less……
The mugging of Scotty Miller isn’t news…..it’s an every week occurrence
This will all end with the next Brady story.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Wow, a national guy sticking up for one of our players and our team while being articulate and passionate about his opinion?!? Darlington is offically my 4th favorite sports writer just behind Ira and the Joes.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:15 pm
Coburn Says:
October 12th, 2022 at 4:53 pm
Keep being told he caught it out of bounds or it was t catchable. Sure looks like he’s in bounds there ready to catch it. He may have had to catch it a little higher, like above his head, but that’s about it
Lol, everything is above that dude’s head
October 12th, 2022 at 5:18 pm
Yes, I am really happy that you found and quoted this, Joe. I am also glad that a “national” guy spoke about what we all saw, so eloquently.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:19 pm
The dude was airborne into Scotty before the ball. There shouldn’t be any questions based upon that pic
October 12th, 2022 at 5:38 pm
People are sheep. The Bucs got screwed on the Atlanta TD where one of the DBs got blatantly held. Scotty was out of bounds because he was knocked out of bounds before the ball got there. Same in Raiders-Chiefs. Raiders got robbed in the second half . Literally half the Chiefs team was holding on one TD.
Bucs interviews today everyone got asked about roughing the QB. Players were dumb enough to bite.
If there’s Smoke there’s Mirrors. People cant think for themselves.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:53 pm
Exactly!
The bad calls need to be addressed, especially the roughing the passer’s. That does not change the fact that, overall during the course of a game, it evens out. At the very least, during the course of a season it evens out. Bad calls are not favoring one team or another
October 12th, 2022 at 5:53 pm
That contact before the ball arrived with the defender not seeing the ball was just an obvious PI call that any #1 or #2 receiver in the NFL gets every time.
Miller is a shrimp and the officials are letting DB’s interfere with him because it is so easy for a DB to force him out of bounds before the ball arrives just with their weight and size advantage.
When receivers get mugged like he did, they always get that PI call, except for little Scotty.
I hope Brady and Leftwich learn a lesson and don’t waste sideline throws on Miller. If he is gonna get behind the defense throw it in the middle of the field so they can’t use the boundary to bump him out and make it appear that the ball isn’t catchable. Throw that play away unless its to a taller WR.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:54 pm
IMHO Darlington still got it wrong. The Brady body slam was roughing the passer which we now call the Tua rule. That call was widespread this past weekend, the NFL doesn’t want any more QBs in the hospital.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:56 pm
Thank you TBBF!!!
This is what I’ve been saying every day practically since the game.
Scotty Miller gets mugged & screwed EVERY WEEK with dumbass officiating and not calling DPI on defenders.
It’s soooooo beyond RIDICULOUS now..
I saw it happen twice in this game and let’s not forget about the Saints game and what led to that fight with ME13 getting ejected…
A NON-CALL for DPI on Lattimore that was so obvious when Miller was forced out of bounds on the pass……
October 12th, 2022 at 6:12 pm
Yeah, I feel for Scotty. One week he’s getting hand slapped to death, then he’s got guys jumping in to him and basically tackling him and not getting any PI calls whatsoever. He’s like Rodney Dangerfield out there, no respect.
October 12th, 2022 at 6:12 pm
I’ve always liked Jeff Darlington. I think of him as a person who calls it like he sees it.
Bottom line is each team needs to hire a guy to stand on the sidelines. His job is performed after a bad call. He goes to the ref that just blew an obvious call, sticks glasses on him hands him a cane and a tin cup, then hangs a sign around the refs neck that reads, “Blonder then blind.”
October 12th, 2022 at 6:17 pm
Media driven garbage. There’s bad roughing calls every year. They must be afraid Brady might get more than one this year.
October 12th, 2022 at 6:35 pm
That call made up for the missed Pass Interference on Miller. Even Steven.
October 12th, 2022 at 7:00 pm
FACT CHECK: TRUE.
October 12th, 2022 at 7:26 pm
You guys are comparing apples to bowling balls. The two plays have nothing to do with each other. So every time the zebras miss a call, they should make up for it with an even more egregious one? PI is like holding. You could call it on nearly every contested catch. It’s a bang bang play. The roughing on Brady isn’t the same. It’s hard enough for defensive players. You guys want arena league, until it doesn’t benefit you. As fans of the game, you should be ashamed.
October 12th, 2022 at 7:41 pm
I agree Cap, it definitely looked like the Tua swing sack. I don’t think it should be illegal necessarily. If the dolphins would have done the right thing, this wouldn’t have been an issue. And yeah I know they actually followed protocol, so I get it’s hard to not play the guy, but I mean anyone could tell he wasn’t right after that and then to have the same thing happen 96 hours later or so? Not good.
Just like the Rodgers rule with the body weight crap that lead to his broken collar bone, Chris Jones did the same thing to Carr. It’ll be corrected. What also needs correcting is Scotty not being able to draw PI’s
October 12th, 2022 at 7:55 pm
What cost the Falcons the game was the fact they only scored 15 points.
October 12th, 2022 at 8:24 pm
Mahomes got swung around too. How many times have we seen him get out of that. I think the league needs to revisit the in the grasp rule. If the league wants to really protect these QBs, then blow the play dead. That way, tacklers wouldn’t be forced to put them on the ground. The artificial surface is another huge component. Concussions, and lower body injuries have been exacerbated by that crap. It’s essentially a concrete surface, covered up with ground up tires, and out door carpeting.
October 12th, 2022 at 8:41 pm
a common sense way to look at it. One could easily make the case that if you follow the spirit of the rule, the more obvious missed call was the non PI on Scotty Miller. Tom Brady’s reaction was exactly what it was because he was swung to the ground with excessive force in a league that protects quarterbacks. Plain and simple.
October 12th, 2022 at 9:55 pm
Excessive force Rick? You tell me what else Jarrett is supposed to do, grab Brady and wait for the ref to blow the whistle? Defenders are handcuffed enough. In the Raiders Chiefs game, Mahomes was swung to the ground. It’s the only way to get that guy on the ground. Are we going to start calling flags based on a QBs ability to get out of a sack? Jarrett grabbed Brady around the waist, and took him to the ground. Plain and simple.
October 12th, 2022 at 10:20 pm
It seems as if most people, including the announcers of both the Bucs/Atlanta game and the Chiefs/Raders game do not know the actual wording of the rule, which is …
“a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to wrap up the passer with the defensive player’s arms and not land on the passer with all or most of his body weight.”
I can’t recall how many times the numbskulls on MNF claimed that the rule stated “all of his weight”, choosing to ignore the “most of his weight” part of the rule.
I had no problem with either call but definitely had a problem with the one called on Vita Vea during the Atlanta game where the Atlanta O-lineman pushed Vea into the QB who was barely tapped but Vea drew the flag.
October 12th, 2022 at 10:46 pm
The extra body whip gets the penalty
S Miller being 150 lb loses him some credibility when it looks like his movement is redirected
I think the PI missed call was less of a penalty than the TB body slam
Hopefully people didn’t lose too much money on spread
October 12th, 2022 at 11:03 pm
I knew it when I saw it, but im used to it…. conditioned…always happens to us….is what it is.
October 12th, 2022 at 11:28 pm
I’ve yet to hear or read so called professions mentioned the fact that Jarret spun TB around as it tackled him and slammed him to the ground on his left shoulder.
Yes, I know his head did not hit the ground, which would have caused a concussion for sure, but he could have ended up with a separated or even broker shoulder and it sure seemed that’s what pissed TB off and why he kicked his leg up in the air.
So all those talking head experts should shut the f-up about Falcons got screwed, the last thing the NFL wants (or us Bucs fans) is TB’s career end on a roughing the QB sack, whether it be from a concussion, separated or broken shoulder!
October 12th, 2022 at 11:34 pm
Geez, my iPad can’t spell worth a damn! Go Bucs!
October 13th, 2022 at 6:14 am
Exactly my take Sunday.
October 13th, 2022 at 6:34 am
Been making this point all week. The non call was so bad. The RTP was terrible. But. This is a classic make up call situation. And for one I’m suuuuper tired of all of these ‘experts’ pretending they’ve never seen one before.
October 13th, 2022 at 9:51 am
So what is a “legal” tackle on a quarterback? Can’t hit the knees, can’t center him up (your body weight will land on him) high is a no no (helmet to helmet) can’t off center with the shoulder (you might incidentally “sling” him)? I know! Just ask him nicely to fall over and then touch him gently.
October 13th, 2022 at 9:54 am
Hate the Falcons but I do understand a defensive players frustration over all of these rules.
October 13th, 2022 at 9:54 am
Truth.
Falcons fans are about as credible as Stacy Abrahms.