Just how corrupt is the NFL?

[JonLP24]

38. They changes showed this benefited the offense more

fewer holding calls were the biggest change.

I will say by the rule book Baltimore should have been charged with pass interference on one of the 49ers final plays. The receiver was past the 5 years with the defender engaging contact which was defensive holding. Once the ball is in the air if the contact is still there then it becomes pass inteference. There are people still out there that defend the call and argue a penalty shouldn't be called.

I will also say it was consistent as there were pass interference calls that could have been called against either team but wasn't. I do hate if they call games loose to suddenly get tight on some plays.

There is a Patrick Peterson wired from the Detroit game last season where he goes up to the ref and lets him know that since he is a physical corner & Megatron is a physical receiver that there will be some contact basically appealing to him to call the game loose.

NFL actually keeps making things harder for the defense though.

The NFL has instructed its officials to include two defensive penalties -- both of which restrict contact by pass defenders -- among their major points of emphasis for the 2014 season, I've confirmed. Historically, points of emphasis can lead to at least a temporary spike in penalties as players adjust. In this case, it would be reasonable to conclude that defenders will have even less margin for error in stopping offenses that already are operating at historic levels.

The league has not yet confirmed this development publicly, but officials will soon begin communicating it with coaches, players and media members during camp visits. Former NFL vice president officiating Mike Pereira, who now works for Fox Sports, first revealed the information after attending the league's annual officiating clinic last week.

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For those who need a refresher: Regarding illegal contact, defenders are not allowed to use their arms or hands to restrict receivers when they are 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, as long as the quarterback is in the pocket with the ball. Defenders also can't hit receivers in the back within that 5-yard zone. Violation of these mandates leads to a 5-yard penalty and an automatic first down.

Defensive holding, meanwhile, refers to a defender grabbing an eligible receiver or his jersey with his hands, and also prohibits defenders from using their arms to cut off the receiver or guide him in another direction. Like illegal contact, it carries a 5-yard penalty and an automatic first down. We can probably expect officials to apply special focus to grabbing jerseys, a move crafty cornerbacks have learned and refined in order to hide it from officials.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/132346/inside-slant-pass-defense-takes-a-hit

As a practical matter, it’s the Legion of Boom rule. In 2013, the Seahawks brazenly committed illegal contact and holding, knowing that, if illegal contact happens on every play, the officials won’t throw a flag on every play. In an intriguing segment that aired on NBCSN’s NFL Turning Point, Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman was displaying to a teammate on the practice field techniques for concealing illegal contact.

This year, the officials may be far more inclined to throw flags. Per Pereira, the 2004 push to stop defensive backs from pushing and tugging and shoving receivers resulted in an increase in illegal contact fouls from 79 to 191.

That will lead to more intriguing comments from Sherman, especially in light of what he said in January.

“The game was allowed to be played physical, and that’s why you had so many run games,” Sherman said regarding the way the NFL used to be. “That’s an old school brand of football. I don’t know how old the rules are, but since these rules have come, you look up and every receiver, every play they could drop a wide-open pass and turn around and look for a flag. I think that kind of ruins the game. That kind of ruins the intensity, the whole DNA of football and what it is if you see flags every single play.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/21/get-ready-for-the-legion-of-boom-rule/