Cris Collinsworth Still Believes the Patriots Got Screwed in Super Bowl LII

Source – During the Super Bowl, NBC Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth garnered the anger of Eagles fans across the country when he incorrectly predicted that two touchdown catches — one by running back Corey Clement and one by tight end Zach Ertz — would be overturned by officials.

“I would have called that incomplete,” a frustrated Collinsworth said during the Super Bowl broadcast after officials confirmed Clement’s touchdown catch. “If that ball’s not loose in his arms when that last foot came down, I give up.”

Since making those calls, Collinsworth has had the entire offseason to watch the two plays over and over. But speaking to a small crowd of Comcast employees in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, he said he stands by his opinion that Clement’s touchdown catch should have been overturned and ruled an incomplete pass.

“The Corey Clement play — I probably wouldn’t change my opinion on it,” Collinsworth said. “All season long — I did 30 games — if you bobbled the ball and stepped on the line, it was incomplete. That was incomplete.” …

During the broadcast, after initially saying he wasn’t going to make a guess, Collinsworth predicted Ertz’s catch would be overturned because the tight end briefly lost control of the ball when he hit the ground after diving for the end zone. To both Collinsworth and play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, the play mirrored a touchdown catch by Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jesse James that was overturned during a late-season game against the Patriots.

Look, I have nothing against Cris Collinsworth, who is a man of impeccable credentials, unassailable judgment and the keenest eye for analyzing a replay in all the land. Someone who is right 100 percent of the time.

But isn’t this kind of … sad? Imagine a grown man going through life thinking the Patriots got screwed by the officials after all these months? I mean, the game is over. It’s decided. The Eagles have their trophy and that Patriots book coming out (endorsed by Julian Edelman and noted literary critic KFC, cha-CHING) is called Five Rings, not Six and Collinsworth has got to get over himself and learn to just … move on.

I’m amazed, though, by how much of this “the Patriots got screwed” talk we’ve been hearing. It’s probably been the biggest, most discussed issue of the offseason. Not by me, mind you. I’m long, long past any sort of suggestion that the officials blew a bunch of calls, all of which went Philly’s way. You’ll never catch me promoting such loser talk. Instead, I leave it to the experts. Like former NFL Head of Officiating Mike Pereira on Talk of Fame Network. who said the Philly Special play should’ve been a penalty:

“The down judge, who was the one that [the play] was on his side of the field, they felt that it was his judgment, and [receiver Alshon Jeffery] was close enough. Well, he wasn’t. They lined up wrong.

“Not only that, it’s a trick play. And if you’re going to run a trick-type play, then you have to be lined up properly. … We always use a yard [within the line of scrimmage], maybe a yard and a half. But that’s two [yards], and even a little bit beyond two. It’s kind of one of those that has no effect on the play. I get it. But they didn’t line up properly. And it really should’ve been called.”

But again, I leave it for others to decide. Like a 3-time Super Bowl champion linebacker:

And on Ertz’s touchdown, the 6-time Super Bowl champion Steelers:

Again, that’s someone else complaining, not me. No one could ever accuse me of being a sore loser. I’ve worked through whatever issues I may have had when Chris Hogan appeared to get earholed well upfield on the final Hail Mary. Because you need clear and convincing proof and it’s hard to tell from this angle if he was interfered with:

Advertisement

So yeah, enough of this talk out of Cris Collinsworth, a bunch of former champions and Pats fans on Twitter. I’ll not be a party to the suggestion we the Patriots got repeatedly jobbed throughout that game. I’m not saying the Eagles’ championship is tainted,,  just because all these bogus calls went their way and because they had a felon playing  linebacker. That’s for others to say. In fact, I never even talk about it. Because to even bring these things up would be wrong. Forget I ever mentioned it.