Does Peyton Manning get favorable calls?
Written November 29, 2009 by Nick Jones
I can’t count the emails I have received with someone who complains they aren’t making winning NFL picks because of favorable calls going to certain players. They ask if I think certain players are getting calls they don’t deserve and the short answer is yes. However, I have never seen a situation that these calls have any real impact on a game. Yes it may keep a scoring drive alive but it happens in games in which it is a multiple score victory. Let me break it down for you.
The Indianapolis Colts are always accused of receiving calls in the favor of Peyton Manning. It is obvious that Peyton Manning is a very marketable football player for the NFL. One argument I have heard is that officials protect him more because it is better for the NFL. They use him in many of their ads promoting professional football. If Peyton Manning misses four to six weeks because he had his eyes gauged due to hands to the face it is not good business. But this simple has no credibility to it. The real reason he gets calls that could go one way or the other is because officials like him. He does not create a scene or have any questionable ethics or morals that reflect poorly on the NFL as an organization, nor does he degrade the officials during a game like many players past have done. Not convinced?
Look at an NFC team like the Arizona Cardinals with wide received Larry Fitzgerald. A true gentleman is just one of the names this remarkable football player has been referred to. While making NFL picks on Arizona is probably not profitable long term, the fact is those questionable interference calls usually go in his direction. He picks up the ball and hands it to the officials. If there is a pass interference call that gets missed he does not signal for a flag or yell at the officials. He goes back to the line of scrimmage to do what he gets paid to do. Next time their is a questionable call, the officials are more likely to make good on the missed call by making one in his favor.
With all the flamboyant players in the NFL it is simple to see which ones are going to get more of those questionable calls. I can assure you, in a league like the NFL “the fix” is never in. Put yourself in the place of the officials. They do not consider your nfl football picks nor the nfl lines and odds on the game when making the call. They simply make a judgement call that could go one way or the other. Who would you make the call for? The player that just cussed you out on national television for missing a call, or the classy gentleman that went back to the huddle to do it again.
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