If you’re a Cleveland Browns fan, then I already felt sorry for you before I saw the videos below. But it seems as though you can now rest a little easier knowing that the whole world is indeed against you. Or the NFL rigged yesterday’s game against the Washington Redskins at the very least.
The matchup looked promising in the fourth quarter, with the Browns in possession of the ball with a little under 10 minutes to play. Even better, they were driving down the field and likely to score, which would have put them up by three late in the game. Then this happened:
Is the NFL rigged?
Last week the bogus taunting penalty. This week the phantom fumble. Johnson never lost the ball. How does this happen?? pic.twitter.com/Uo8JZ39Wu0
— Jay Crawford (@jaycrawfordespn) October 2, 2016
Pretty standard fumble/recovery if you weren’t paying close attention. But folks like Twitter user @3lone were, and decided to voice their frustrations on the matter. Let’s hear what he had to say about the ruling:
Duke Johnson "fumble" is the worst call by refs in the history of the NFL. @NFL just dont like the #Browns huh? SMH pic.twitter.com/VkJcNGrMag
— (@3lone) October 3, 2016
Sure enough, the NFL has already fired back with a haphazard and somewhat convoluted explanation for the call. Apparently, the referee saw a Redskins player recover the ball, and then the Browns’ Duke Johnson immediately snatching it back and claiming he recovered it. Since there was no camera angle that could directly dispute this, that was that. But the fact that the turnover resulted in the Redskins not only driving down the field and scoring, but also covering the 10-point spread on the game–for you gamblers out there–says to us that there may have been more to the call than just “calling ’em like I sees ’em.” We don’t want to fan the flames of conspiracy, but considering this was kind of a pointless game between two fairly shitty teams, what better time to test the waters and see who’s actually paying attention?
h/t eBaum’s World
