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Is the NFL Rigged for the Patriots?

Patriots Conspiracy? Or Are People Just Stupid?
Publish Date: 01/26/2018
Fact checked by: Mark Lewis

Conspiracy theories fly all over the place whenever the New England Patriots win a game, especially when it’s a championship game. Is there any fact to any of this? Let’s take a look at the facts.

Even Former Governor Ed Rendell said the Patriots cheated in every Super Bowl win

Governor Rendell, who is now an analyst for the Eagles radio team, has said that the Patriots are cheaters. Rendell on the Chris Stigall show had this to say, “…there’s a chance it was the difference in the game. Make no bones about it, this is traditionally a great team, and Tom Brady is the best quarterback, I think, to ever play the game. So they’re talented, which is ironic because they don’t have to cheat. So, I can’t say that cheating definitely won them a Super Bowl, but they definitely are cheaters and they’ve been caught several times.”

Rendell was a politician so I am sure he knows all about cheating, and if you read this article you will see that he knows a lot personally about cheating.

The NFL fixed the AFC Championship game for the Patriots

The truth of the matter is more that the Jaguars choked. Not that there was some far-flung conspiracy for the Patriots to win. Lets look at the evidence:

Of course conspiracy theorists scream and point to a pass interference call on Jacksonville’s A.J. Bouye. But there’s no follow-up about the Jaguars leaving two timeouts on the board with the ball and 55 seconds left before the half. If you are playing to win a game against the Patriots and you are up 14-10 with 55 seconds left and two timeouts, why would you not at least try to get in field goal position? I know what a conspiracy theorist will say: the Jags were getting the ball to start the second half. To me, that’s all the more reason to try to score. It gives you the chance to extend your lead even more, which gives you an even better chance to win.

Nobody mentions the biggest play of the game, when on third-and-eighteen, a pass from Brady to Danny Amendola kept a touchdown drive alive late in the game. No flags helped that play, as it was all Patriots’ execution. How was a conspiracy helpful on this play? It wasn’t. It was the greatest quarterback who has ever played football making a spectacular play in crunch time.

Then you have the play that everybody outside of Patriots fans complain about: the Myles Jack fumble recovery. Of course,  if not whistled down, he scores a touchdown and the Jags win the game. But, nobody ever mentions the fact that the replay booth upheld a Myles Jack fumble recovery when it could have been argued Dion Lewis was down. If the NFL did indeed fix the game, why wouldn’t they just overturn the play and give the ball back to the Patriots? That play in and of itself shows this game wasn’t fixed. The Patriots just won the game.

How come fans are so stupid as to believe the conspiracy theories?

Most college basketball fans hate Duke and most baseball fans hate the Yankees, but hatred for the Patriots is even worse than both. Hatred of the Patriots means that you aren’t looking for them to lose, you are looking for reasons to explain why they won. Watching a Patriots game for a Patriots hater is much different. When you hate the Patriots, you tend to spend three hours looking for questionable calls that will explain why they won. If you don’t see any, you will make them up, especially if you are a Dolphins, Bills, or Jets fan. Let’s face it, if you hate the Patriots because they beat your team all the time, maybe your hatred and anger should be turned towards your own team’s front office, who gets out-worked and out-thought every season by Bill Belichick.

Success breeds contempt

This is why nobody hates the Browns, Cardinals, Lions etc… There is no reason to hate a team that doesn’t win. That is why the hatred towards the Patriots is unprecedented. The Patriots are the most successful team in the entire history of the NFL. This all boils down to nothing more than envy and jealousy.

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