And to Denver and Dallas, for that matter, because all four teams were deserving today! But the difference today was Aaron Rodgers and his amazing performance on one and a half legs, and the performance of the Colts' defense today, restricting the Broncos passing game to dink and dunk without sacrificing all the run defense at the same time.
As for the ridiculous rule that reversed the critical call on fourth down, where Tony Romo connected on a brilliant throw to the equally brilliant Dez Bryant...only to have the "Calvin Johnson" rule invoked and nullify the catch? Well, first of all, given the way the rule reads and has been enforced, the call was indeed both consistent with precedent and correct to the letter of the law. The explanations given on television by Mike Perrera and others were extremely clear, as was the sentiment provided by several talking heads to the effect that the rule sucks. Of COURSE it sucks. It's insipid on the surface, and it defies common sense.
But what's worse is the same thing that makes the Detroit loss to the Cowboys last week distressing: the ugly nonsensical call will overshadow the great season the teams had. Of course Dallas deserved better, but neither they nor the Packers deserved to lose. Generally, at this stage of the season, NOBODY deserves to lose. It just FELT like they'd accomplished what they were supposed to accomplish on the play and drive. And when you're following the game on Advanced Football Analytics, and the shift in the potential win percentage for Dallas moves from upwards of eighty percent to below twenty...it just didn't seem fair.
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