No, the NFL is not cheating

After a bizarre rework in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship on Sunday, Patrick Mahomes posted a short message on Twitter as he moved to mulligan to convert to 3rd and 9th.

Fraudulent.

It was tongue in cheek. I do not believe the NFL is being rigged. Specifically, the NFL rig game is unbelievable. First, the NFL doesn’t care who wins or loses the game. it’s not. Second, the NFL can’t run the rigging game and shut it down.

Yes, the commissioner said he was rooting for the team losing in certain games. And as the Bucks did when trying to wipe out a 13-point deficit against the Saints, and was blatantly held by Tackled Novan, a slam dunk for teams trailing multiple scores to narrow the gap. It’s hard to question whether you get the implied opportunity every now and then.Smith was ignored on every play.

Still, the outcome is not predetermined. they are not.

This tweet reflects the reaction of many when something strange happened. And that reaction was justified by the events of the past five years.

The legalization of sports betting in 2018, coupled with widespread advertising of gambling that the NFL directly benefits from, makes people think that when strange things happen, a fix has been made. is not a problem, what is important is awareness.

The NFL knows this. In fact, it was one of the major arguments against legalized gambling when Delaware tried to challenge her federal law in 2009, and New Jersey entered the United States nine years after him. It finally overturned in the Supreme Court.

“Normal occurrences of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalty flags and play calls will inevitably fuel speculation, mistrust and accusations of point shaving and game modification,” said the then-commissioner. says Roger Goodell.

he was right For the most part, explanations are incompetent, but the prevalence of legalized gambling, as promoted by the NFL and various media outlets covering the game, has led many to think something bad is going on. more likely.

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it’s not. At least not from the league’s perspective as it tries to push the end result of the game in some direction.

That said, there are a lot of avenues in store for a potential Tim Donaghy scandal. Type his name into the search box (or click here). There have been several times when someone has mentioned issues or wrinkles that make their way to trying to influence the final score of a particular game.

The NFL must identify and fill those gaps and close the opportunity for anyone to exercise such discretion and influence. It’s one of the various subjects covered in the last section of . playmakera book of essays about the last 20 years of professional football — and the direction the sport is going.

If the league isn’t firm on certain things (such as many aspects of refereeing), it’s headed in a direction with a lot of potential complications for anyone who cares about the sport.

No, the NFL is not cheating