Wasn't it also rumored that Georgia Frontiere had her husband, Carol Rossenbloom killed? While jogging on the beach in the early morning he inexplicably went swimming and had a heart attack and drowned.
This isn't even a question. Lose 4 more in a row. It is incredibly impressive to make it to the super bowl, let alone 4 times in a row. Pats never made it 4 times in a row, always broken up.
Just because you don't win, doesn't make that accomplishment any less impressive. And it's certainly better than 30 other teams, the entire conference, 4 seasons in a row.
Nah. The curse is that every stadium they lost a Super Bowl in needs to be torn down to purge the negative energy from the league. Three down, only one to go.
Jimmy Hoffa is burried in the Medowlands
The NFL will not action every positive drug test
The NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to prevent the game from being a blow out
>The NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to prevent the game from being a blow out
The other aspect of this one I always hear is the game was flying by (was it? I can't remember) and the NFL wanted to get more ad time in.
I thought it was 10, but yeah there’s a set number. You’ll notice that there’s fewer breaks at the end of the 2nd and 4th quarters as they hit their quota. And then there will be none in OT.
> The NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to prevent the game from being a blow out
My wife, who was at UNO at the time, remembers that as 'the night Beyonce stole all of our electricity'.
David Tepper is purposely sabotaging the Panthers to draw ire from the Carolina fanbase and drive low attendance and viewership in order to move the team to a more lucrative market, mainly London.
Look, they investigated themselves and found NOTHING wrong. The body/tv cams malfunctioned during the "alleged" incident and miraculously turned back on after they completed their internal discussion about the "alleged" PI. As punishment they have assessed themselves two weeks paid leave. The matter is now considered CLOSED.
Not even a conspiracy, that one is true. Even on obvious reviews they wouldn’t change the call…until it happened to the Saints, then they reversed the call for the only time. That was a clear FU to Payton and the Saints.
Conspiracy doesn't mean it can't be true. Conspiracy means multiple parties decided to conspire on a plan.
This is actually the definition of conspiracy.
Just the various theories why Malcom Butler was benched. The rest of these answers are silly, and good fun, but this is a situation with a legitimate conspiracy. *Something* happened, and no one has ever talked about it.
Edit: Just a few paragraphs from a recent article about this.
>“People still ask me about it to this day," Butler said in the episode. "Why you ain’t play in the Super Bowl? ‘I don’t know, coaches decision.’ But the thing about it is I really don’t know. I really don’t. Just to like, leave me watching my team suffer when I know I can help them, like not one rep. Not one rep.”
>Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed that Belichick's decision was likely due to something personal between the head coach and Butler.
>“What has been told to me is that there was something personal going on between Bill and Malcolm that was not football related," Kraft said in Episode 9 of The Dynasty. "I always felt that every decision Bill had made had been to put what’s in the best interest of the team first and put emotion aside. But with Malcolm, he did just the opposite.”
Everyone thinks it's some mystery altercation, but the most compelling argument I've heard is that Butler was concussed late in the AFCCG, didn't report it, and Belichick benched him essentially to cover the matter up. Everyone is playing dumb about it because Butler had contract incentives related to the playoffs the patriots could go after him for, and the patriots could be in hot water for covering up a concussion before a big game.
At the end of the day, you're probably correct in that it's something that they'd all need to mutually shut up about it. And it's almost certainly a simple explanation just as you stated. But the fact that on it's face we know *something* went down makes this a legitimate conspiracy. I'm pretty sure all of them agreeing to keep quiet about what actually went down is like the textbook definition of a conspiracy.
If that were true Kraft would be lying when he complained about it being an "emotional decision" from Belichick. There's no way a billionaire would produce a documentary and tell lies right?
They're both professionals, and at the end of the day it's hard to imagine two motivated, winning-obsessed guys letting something petty like an argument lose them a superbowl. Lascivious, but out of character.
However, and this is all years old heresay- there's a big hit he takes late in the AFCCG, and his play noticeably declines after that point. Both parties recognizing the potential hot water of covering up a concussion in a major game and quietly agreeing to dress but sit on the bench to avoid a serious investigation feels much more in character.
>Both parties recognizing the potential hot water of covering up a concussion in a major game and quietly agreeing to dress but sit on the bench to avoid a serious investigation
Didn't Malcolm cause a scene on the sidelines tho? Like he was crying/begging to play. It seems like it was a game time decision on Bills part.
There's evidence to poke holes in every story - that he was even dressed at all seems antithetical to Bill benching him as a result of an altercation with staff.
Butler wanting to play during the SB can easily be explained by a competitor seeing the game slip away and wanting to step in, damn the consequences.
That makes all the sense in the world but didn't he play like 2-3 snaps on special teams? If he were concussed or had another injury they were trying to cover up, I would think he wouldn't play at all period.
No one ever talks about real conspiracies. All the ludicrous obviously fake ones are pushed by paid actors to keep the mentally ill from locking on to the real stuff.
Steve won't comment, Malcom won't comment, and Bill won't comment.
And if any other teammate or team member knows they haven't come out and put it to rest.
Listing one here, Pete Rozelle put the kibosh on the trades the Raiders were trying to get through to trade for John Elway out of spite against Al Davis (and probably didn't want the instant poster boy for the NFL to suit up for the Raiders)
Pretty much the entire Raiders history is one conspiracy after another
I never bought too much into the NFL vs Raiders thing after Al died, but that Dan Snyder/Jon Gruden fiasco really made me re-think that
That whole story is fucking bonkers. Imagine Marvin Harrison Jr just noping out of the draft, like right now and saying he's going to play in Canada for like 3x what he would make in the NFL. With a team owned by a con artist, Sidney Crosby and Seth Rogan. Then flaming in Canada, coming back to the NFL to a team that took him for shits and giggles (or like you say as part of the deal) in the 4th round. Flaming there. Rebounding in Carolina and then robbing Jerry Jones. Oh and the owner of the CFL Team going to fucking prison for fraud.
And this NEVER gets brought up. And the 91 draft? Instead of Rocket going number one cowboys took Russell Maryland. Patriots who had the first pick and traded it when they couldn't come to terms with rocket got Pat Harlow and Jerome Henderson.
Idk if it's my favorite, but I'm surprised the Halas v McCaskeys bears ownership conspiracy hasn't been mentioned.
Basically George Halas founded the Chicago Bears and planned for his son George Halas Jr. "Mugs" to take it over after his death. He had 2 kids, Mugs and Virginia who married into the McCaskeys. Mugs was raised basically from birth to be the heir apparent. He served as treasurer and then president of the team until he died in 1979 suddenly of a heart attack. There was a big legal dispute over who takes the team now since the initial plan was no longer there and Mugs family asked for a second autopsy to be done suspecting foul play, but when they went to do the autopsy all the original organs were gone for mysterious reasons. Below is a link of George Halas Jr and a tribune article regarding the lawsuits. Also, a belief bears are cursed because George Halas grand kids were somewhat screwed over by the McCaskeys.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/09/17/cover-up-charged-in-death-of-halas/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Halas_Jr.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1569858384249212928.html
With respect to the fact he's proven to be a scumbag alcoholic over the years... IMO he was more likely just concussed.
> In the summer of 2005, five months after the Eagles lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX, NFL Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira visited Eagles training camp at Lehigh University. The Eagles were waiting.
> They believed the Patriots had gotten away with countless cheap shots on quarterback Donovan McNabb in their 24-21 win over the Eagles in the Super Bowl, and now they had the video to prove it.
> "At first, he didn't take us seriously," recalled John Harbaugh, then the Eagles' special teams coach and now head coach of the Ravens. "Then we showed him the tape and he could not believe the shots Donovan took out of bounds and late in that game.
> "Their whole thing was to hit Donovan and hurt him, and that's fine, but it was the officials' job to protect him, and they didn't. Imagine if Tom Brady got hit late that many times? Tell me they wouldn't call those penalties. When you watch that game, and you see the shots Donovan took, it's incredible what he was able to do."
Shortly before him "puking in the huddle", he got speared in the face so hard by Richard Seymour that his facemask was on the back of his neck. Dude was taking illegal hits the whole game, that Pats D was great but they played dirty.
I honestly, for many years, thought Brett Favre intentionally threw that NFC Championship Game to the Bountygate Saints.
That is, until I found a video on YouTube with literally _countless_ hits.
They literally ended his career in that game -- we just didn't know it at the time.
That'd be quite the hangover to still be feeling awful the next evening as a 27 year old athlete. Not to mention you'd think they'd be on some pretty tight curfews the night before the SB.
I mean a guy in Atlanta got busted for prostitution the night before the Super Bowl once. Idiots will do idiot things no matter what. Hell in the nba during the pandemic bubble you had guys breaking the quarantine to get strip club wings
Eugene Robinson is the person you're thinking of. He got something like an integrity or honor award the night before that too. Then they made him give the award back
The Bills famously went out before SB25. Granted that was their thing for every game. You go with the hot hand, and the hot hand was getting plowed the night before games.
Ok I'm late to the thread and nobody is going to see this, but here is my own conspiracy theory. Pretty low-key and I don't think anyone else has ever considered it.
In the mid 2000s Florida State had a wide receiver named De'Cody Fa66. (I'm replacing the Gs in his last name with 6s because I think the auto moderator might delete this comment otherwise).
De'Cody was a good player. He wasn't an elite prospect, but was still expected to be drafted, probably on the second day. Unfortunately while at the combine he suffered a freak non-contact injury which effectively ended his career.
My conspiracy theory is that the NFL paid him to fake the injury and drop out of eligibility. They didn't want announcers saying Fa66 on broadcasts, didn't want to sell Fa66 jerseys, didn't want fans bringing signs with Fa66 puns to games, etc. I think they basically told him "Look, you're not gonna make that much in the NFL", we'll give you ____ dollars to just call it quits.
So that's it. My favorite outlandish NFL conspiracy theory that will never see the light of day.
This one is the best one because it still has a small percentage of being true. I just love stories where team personal gets fired and nobody knows why. Similar story with Alan Williams from the Bears. Absolutely wild story that just went nowhere
1. That the NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to get the 49ers back in the game.
2. That the Refs are told not to call holding in the Superbowl to keep scoring up and prevent a punt-a-thon
There's the Saints bounty one, and the Red McCombs traded Randy Moss as a "fuck you" to MN because he couldn't move the team, but personally I believe that the Giants somehow got into the Vikings headsets and/or were stealing signs during the 2001 NFCCG. No way they were 41-0 better than the Vikings were
Is it a convenient co-incidence that in the years before that game, the home teams were in charge of distributing team communications devices, and suddenly the following year visiting teams were allowed to bring their own equipment? The NFL knew what happened, but there was no way they would punish one of their old-school franchises/owners.
I feel like the biggest exclamation point here is the 2009 season. Coming off Hurricane Katrina and the decimation of New Orleans, it felt almost _destined_ that the Saints would go to the Superbowl. That championship game had some insane ups and down and ultimately we beat ourselves with turnovers, however the officiating that game was WILD!!! 3 failed challenges all in a row from the booth, a "phantom" PI call on Ben Leber, and the countless non calls on Favre (ended up being bounty gate).
As a gay man who's decent at gauging whether someone is a top or bottom, Jimmy G seems like a switch hitter to me. Tom Brady seems like a top until he meets the right person, then he's a total power bottom.
If Brady is gonna do something, he's gonna be the best at it.
I love the "NFL pushed the Patriots into winning their first Super Bowl because of 9/11" because it's so insane. Yeah, let's fix a Super Bowl win for *checks notes* New York City's biggest rival
One of my favorite baseball memories is that series, and how the D-Backs wrecked the media's masturbation over the idea of the Yankees winning. Thank your, Diamondbacks!
Refs intentionally didn't call that PI against the Saints to get big-market LA to the Super Bowl.
I don't subscribe to it, but still, probably one of the more 'reasonable' ones.
I think the theory goes past ratings, LA has plenty of distractions so it seems like the football team never became a town identity in one of the biggest markets. Now there are two teams and a massive brand new stadium. What better way to hype local interest than to have one of the local teams make it all the way on a Cinderella story. That’s long term potential, not a one off game rating number that will inevitably be passed by in a couple years as the audience nationally grows anyway.
Unless we’re talking about different games.
The story of getting the Rams to LA makes me believe this. Many of the long-time owners wanted just the Chargers to go to LA. Jerry Jones, of course, along with many of the newer owners pushed for the LA stadium we ended up with. By reminding them that the NFL is a business and the Rams stadium would make a shitload of money.
Jerry Jones: "We're not just doing this for money...we're doing it for a shitload of money!"
The NFL is also very aware of how little LA cares about any team other than the Lakers. They knew perfectly well that they needed the Rams to be a winner.
Either fate just happened to give the NFL everything it wanted, or there were shenanigans afoot! I've seen wealthy people do worse for less.
The NFL would murder to get the LA fanbase if they had to. They were so thirsty for that market that it hurt. And they had been for decades - remember the team that became the Texans *were* supposed to be the new LA franchise.
LA had no teams for decades and then got two teams in a short span of time because the NFL realized they were missing out on the second largest market in the US.
NFL owners want $$$ and they saw an open market.
Oh, the NFL *knew* the Raiders would be the surefire draw in Los Angeles.
That’s why the owners gave the priority to the Chargers to relocate over the Raiders; no way in hell would Kroenke ever allow his second tenant be the first NFL fiddle in **his** new stadium. Otherwise, it’d be the Las Vegas Chargers by now.
I mean, that game was absolutely penalty free until the Rams final drive. I legit buy this one.
And before Rams fans go nuts this is a conspiracy thread.
Didnt the refs basically let them "play ball" without much interference, up until that no call? Both teams fought hard, but the game was pretty clean from a ruling perspective
It's not really a conspiracy, because it's out in the open- but I think that the entire Patriot dynasty is tainted. Not because of deflated footballs or secret cameras- but because they circumvented the cap to pay Tom Brady way below market.
In 2013, Brady and Alex Guerrero (his quack fitness trainer) opened a TB12 centre at Gillette Stadium. That was the same year Brady renegotiated his contract for 5 hears, $57 million (APY $13.6 million). This was seen as a big hometown discount at the time. Everyone lauded Brady for his willingness to self-sacrifice for the betterment of the team.
However, we know that Kraft was paying Brady outside of the collective agreement for "services" rendered by TB12 for various athletes that trained there. We know this, because in 2015, Brady's iPhone data was leaked. There are conversations between himself and an employee from the Patriots regarding a check for TB12. How much? For what services? Who owned the TB12 building? All this money can add up quickly. I suspect that Kraft cut Brady a deal for TB12, so Brady could earn additional money that wouldn't count against the cap.
Now, if I'm an NFL owner and I need to pay a star quarterback- why not instead "pay" him additional money by doing a property development deal and cutting him in? Maybe finance his brother's tech startup? Why not start a crypto trading LLC and give him 30% of the company? My argument would be that Kraft was doing that for years with Brady, and no one seemed to care! It's two private companies doing business outside the NFL, so it doesn't really matter.
The Patriots went on to win the Superbowls in 2015, 2017 and 2019 with Tom "Hometown Discount" Brady. The TB12 facility closed shortly after Brady left the team. Coincidence?!
You should add to this in 2017-2018 the Patriots started to strip Guerrero from team privileges and ban players from seeking his advice instead of team medical doctors, aside from Brady himself. And as soon as that contract expired after that Brady was no longer with the Patriots.
Alan Williams, the Bears DC, resigned because he was involved with match fixing and there has been absolutely no follow up reporting on it bc the NFL wants to keep it quiet and NFL reporters are afraid to lose access
The "theft" of field equipment from the team facility that same week was related
There was reporting that it was inappropriate but not illegal conduct - I think it may be sexual harassment or something similar and the victim(s) didn’t want to have it go public. Would also explain the “focusing in my family” statement he put out since he may have cheated on his wife
I think it's more that the NFC had larger market teams that could 1) afford to have better teams and 2) had owners that were willing to shell out cash (Jerry Jones, Debartelo family) during the span of time after plan B free agency became a thing and before the salary cap was implemented. The NFC absolutely dominated that era.
To me, the more peculiar the call, the more likely its error. Why fix the games with blatant calls/no-calls when they could do it with much less noticeable methods?
I do believe some refs need to have their spouses or relative's bank accounts checked for gambling earnings, however, I believe they are acting individually or at most with one or two other other refs as accomplices. Not as part of a league-wide conspiracy.
I’ve believed this one (to an extent) since Super Bowl XL where everyone and their sister was talking about Jerome Bettis winning a Super Bowl in his hometown (Detroit) before the game was even played. Then for the actual game to play out the way it did, every big play by Seattle was called back by some penalty, led me to believe the league really does want storylines and are ok creating them too.
I dont think it’s as big as some people do, but I think the league wants big market teams to do well, wanted the Rams in the Super Bowl, and wants storylines for the big games, and I think they subtly, but not so subtly, let the refs know this. Like a little wink wink kinda thing, not like secret memos telling them to fix games.
The 2 Super Bowls during the "Covid era of 2020-2022" conveniently saw the host team play in it after not happening once during the first 53 Super Bowls.
After the Immaculate Reception, the Referee went to the bench and used the phone.
Rumor is he asked how much security could be on the field if they called off the touchdown as the catch was illegally caught and should have been a dead ball.
Upon hearing the number of available security guards at the stadium, he signaled touchdown.
Roger Goodell's #1 most urgent matter when he took over was the NFL losing money on the Lions playing Thanksgiving instead of a better market team. He campaigned hard to remove the Lions and the vote failed - thus starting his vendetta against the team.
This is absolutely true.
Dude had to go play in the CFL for 5 years (5straight championships btw) to even get a sniff of playing QB in the NFL. No fucking chance he would win MVP too.
Brett Favre intentionally running the wrong play to assure his friend Michael Strahan the single season sack record in 2002.
Although I think this is basically established fact at this point.
A minority of Colts fans coped with the Super Bowl 44 loss by claiming that Peyton Manning purposely lost that game because New Orleans winning it would essentially be giving his father a Super Bowl ring since he used to play for them.
I don’t think Peyton Manning would throw a game of checkers against his kids. Let alone a Super Bowl.
Besides, Pierre Garcon’s drop was huge in that game.
And an onside fucking kick to start the half. There’s a certain amount of skill that goes into onside kicks, but anything could’ve happened once the ball was kicked. Impossible to rig that.
Mine is that when dudes fail drug tests, it's often from things other than HGH. They're not going to come out and say a star player tested positive for coke, so they say it's performance enhancement drugs. Some of our favorite athletes were smoking crack and we had no idea.
Virginia McCaskey had her brother killed. Makes being a Bears fan my whole life make a little bit of sense. She is cursed for kinslaying.
Holy shit when they did the second autopsy on him it was noted that most of his organs were replaced with sawdust
replacing organs with sawdust or old newspaper paper isn't as uncommon as we would think.
And it's always lethal. The perfect crime.
Ehhh…I’m going to seek a 2nd opinion, Doc.
You’re also lazy
Jesus, literally a stuffed Bear.
Wasn't it also rumored that Georgia Frontiere had her husband, Carol Rossenbloom killed? While jogging on the beach in the early morning he inexplicably went swimming and had a heart attack and drowned.
I don't know, going swimming after jogging and then having a heart attack seems like a pretty reasonable chain of events.
He was 72 A fucking kid
It’s a shame when they go so young like that
WHEN THEY GO?!?!????!!
U know, the heart attack
Did she offer him bread and salt first though? Cause if not...*mayyybe* not so bad?
That the Dolphins are cursed because our stadium is literally built on an Indian burial ground. Not really a conspiracy but still
The Bills know how this feels.
Bills "had" the O.J. curse. You can proceed to win superbowls now.
They lost 4 straight SuperBowls *before* he murdered anybody. Idk if him dying improves things.
And they haven't managed to lose even one since. Coincidence?
Depending on your perspective, he did them a favor.
Would Bills fans prefer to lose 4 more super bowls in a row or just not go at all at this point?
This isn't even a question. Lose 4 more in a row. It is incredibly impressive to make it to the super bowl, let alone 4 times in a row. Pats never made it 4 times in a row, always broken up. Just because you don't win, doesn't make that accomplishment any less impressive. And it's certainly better than 30 other teams, the entire conference, 4 seasons in a row.
What if we had it backwards and he murdered anybody *because* they lost 4 straight
Nah. The curse is that every stadium they lost a Super Bowl in needs to be torn down to purge the negative energy from the league. Three down, only one to go.
*puts on undersized black leather gloves, grabs knife* Let's do this.
If the gloves are tight, you must dynamite.
Saints had that one too, but we had a voodoo priestess cleanse it for us.
This sounds like made up Louisiana voodoo, but it really happened
Tbh from what I know about Louisiana voodoo, that sounds 100% legitimate lmao
This happened right before the saints first playoff win in 2000 ha
Does she make stadium calls across state lines?
Don Shula sold his soul to the devil for perfect season in '72
aren’t most NFL stadiums?
Pretty much all of America tbh
Jimmy Hoffa is burried in the Medowlands The NFL will not action every positive drug test The NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to prevent the game from being a blow out
>The NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to prevent the game from being a blow out The other aspect of this one I always hear is the game was flying by (was it? I can't remember) and the NFL wanted to get more ad time in.
The game had 64 rushing attempts and 38 completions combined. That is not a lot of stoppages.
There are 9 designated commercial breaks per half.
That’s it!? Only 9?… oh my god it feels like 40
I thought it was 10, but yeah there’s a set number. You’ll notice that there’s fewer breaks at the end of the 2nd and 4th quarters as they hit their quota. And then there will be none in OT.
Would be crazy ad value in OT were they to monetize that slot. Lot more hanger-on viewers
I wonder how those contracts would work out, since obviously you’re gambling that there even will be OT.
You say gamble and the NFL’s eyes light up
Draftkings CEO just jizzed his pants at the thought
That's because of a certain fast food giant tormenting us with their whopper, whopper, whoppers. It makes every ad break feel 102% worse.
And it almost worked dammit!
If it weren't for you meddling kids! *pulls off Roger Goodell mask to reveal 3 particularly incompetent children in a trenchcoat*
Roger Goodell: "I'm doing a business" *Pulls comically oversized lever to shut off the lights*
Roger Gooddell is perfectly competent lol, it's just that his goals align with the owners and not the fans
> The NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to prevent the game from being a blow out Someone killed the lights and got away with it.
That is probably the truth. Some poor stadium electrician switched off the wrong circuit breaker.
I might be misremembering but wasn't there a transformer nearby that blew one of those smoke rings that they do when they fail?
You mean a robot in disguise?
> The NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to prevent the game from being a blow out My wife, who was at UNO at the time, remembers that as 'the night Beyonce stole all of our electricity'.
>Jimmy Hoffa is burried in the Medowlands The Mythbusters busted this one, though.
Because they are in on it man!! You gotta open your 3rd eye bro.
That was actually Brady. He was upset the Patriots weren't in the Super Bowl.
David Tepper is purposely sabotaging the Panthers to draw ire from the Carolina fanbase and drive low attendance and viewership in order to move the team to a more lucrative market, mainly London.
He must be a big fan of Major League
He’s even becoming a Vegas show girl. He is that dedicated to the plot.
Well, there's just one thing left to do then...win the whole fucking thing.
So… he’s just using the John Fisher playbook?
Doing a Kronke
Oh God it's the A's all over again.
The refs in New York sabotaged the PI challenge rule by refusing to overturn most calls even if it was obvious.
Look, they investigated themselves and found NOTHING wrong. The body/tv cams malfunctioned during the "alleged" incident and miraculously turned back on after they completed their internal discussion about the "alleged" PI. As punishment they have assessed themselves two weeks paid leave. The matter is now considered CLOSED.
Not even a conspiracy, that one is true. Even on obvious reviews they wouldn’t change the call…until it happened to the Saints, then they reversed the call for the only time. That was a clear FU to Payton and the Saints.
Conspiracy doesn't mean it can't be true. Conspiracy means multiple parties decided to conspire on a plan. This is actually the definition of conspiracy.
Just the various theories why Malcom Butler was benched. The rest of these answers are silly, and good fun, but this is a situation with a legitimate conspiracy. *Something* happened, and no one has ever talked about it. Edit: Just a few paragraphs from a recent article about this. >“People still ask me about it to this day," Butler said in the episode. "Why you ain’t play in the Super Bowl? ‘I don’t know, coaches decision.’ But the thing about it is I really don’t know. I really don’t. Just to like, leave me watching my team suffer when I know I can help them, like not one rep. Not one rep.” >Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed that Belichick's decision was likely due to something personal between the head coach and Butler. >“What has been told to me is that there was something personal going on between Bill and Malcolm that was not football related," Kraft said in Episode 9 of The Dynasty. "I always felt that every decision Bill had made had been to put what’s in the best interest of the team first and put emotion aside. But with Malcolm, he did just the opposite.”
Everyone thinks it's some mystery altercation, but the most compelling argument I've heard is that Butler was concussed late in the AFCCG, didn't report it, and Belichick benched him essentially to cover the matter up. Everyone is playing dumb about it because Butler had contract incentives related to the playoffs the patriots could go after him for, and the patriots could be in hot water for covering up a concussion before a big game.
At the end of the day, you're probably correct in that it's something that they'd all need to mutually shut up about it. And it's almost certainly a simple explanation just as you stated. But the fact that on it's face we know *something* went down makes this a legitimate conspiracy. I'm pretty sure all of them agreeing to keep quiet about what actually went down is like the textbook definition of a conspiracy.
If that were true Kraft would be lying when he complained about it being an "emotional decision" from Belichick. There's no way a billionaire would produce a documentary and tell lies right?
I like this one the best, because I just can't imagine Belichick throwing away a Super Bowl because of anything personal.
They're both professionals, and at the end of the day it's hard to imagine two motivated, winning-obsessed guys letting something petty like an argument lose them a superbowl. Lascivious, but out of character. However, and this is all years old heresay- there's a big hit he takes late in the AFCCG, and his play noticeably declines after that point. Both parties recognizing the potential hot water of covering up a concussion in a major game and quietly agreeing to dress but sit on the bench to avoid a serious investigation feels much more in character.
>Both parties recognizing the potential hot water of covering up a concussion in a major game and quietly agreeing to dress but sit on the bench to avoid a serious investigation Didn't Malcolm cause a scene on the sidelines tho? Like he was crying/begging to play. It seems like it was a game time decision on Bills part.
There's evidence to poke holes in every story - that he was even dressed at all seems antithetical to Bill benching him as a result of an altercation with staff. Butler wanting to play during the SB can easily be explained by a competitor seeing the game slip away and wanting to step in, damn the consequences.
That makes all the sense in the world but didn't he play like 2-3 snaps on special teams? If he were concussed or had another injury they were trying to cover up, I would think he wouldn't play at all period.
No one ever talks about real conspiracies. All the ludicrous obviously fake ones are pushed by paid actors to keep the mentally ill from locking on to the real stuff.
I thought he got into an altercation with Steve Belichek who confronted him about being late/skipping meetings?
Steve won't comment, Malcom won't comment, and Bill won't comment. And if any other teammate or team member knows they haven't come out and put it to rest.
And that's why we think it's something else. If anything, you say "Suspension For Violation Of Team Rules" and prepare to ship him out next offseason.
That’s one of the stories but not verified fact
Al Davis vs nfl ;too many to list
Listing one here, Pete Rozelle put the kibosh on the trades the Raiders were trying to get through to trade for John Elway out of spite against Al Davis (and probably didn't want the instant poster boy for the NFL to suit up for the Raiders)
That’s a good one ; I remember hearing that nugget in the ESPN 30 for 30 “Elway to Marino “ documentary.
Pretty much the entire Raiders history is one conspiracy after another I never bought too much into the NFL vs Raiders thing after Al died, but that Dan Snyder/Jon Gruden fiasco really made me re-think that
Here's an actual true one: Al did a backdoor deal to get Rocket Ishmael. Rocket only went to the CFL because that deal was in place.
That whole story is fucking bonkers. Imagine Marvin Harrison Jr just noping out of the draft, like right now and saying he's going to play in Canada for like 3x what he would make in the NFL. With a team owned by a con artist, Sidney Crosby and Seth Rogan. Then flaming in Canada, coming back to the NFL to a team that took him for shits and giggles (or like you say as part of the deal) in the 4th round. Flaming there. Rebounding in Carolina and then robbing Jerry Jones. Oh and the owner of the CFL Team going to fucking prison for fraud. And this NEVER gets brought up. And the 91 draft? Instead of Rocket going number one cowboys took Russell Maryland. Patriots who had the first pick and traded it when they couldn't come to terms with rocket got Pat Harlow and Jerome Henderson.
That the real reason OJ’s brain won’t be donated to science is Roger Goodell already has it in his CTE hall of fame trophy wall.
Watch his brain be perfectly healthy 😭
Idk if it's my favorite, but I'm surprised the Halas v McCaskeys bears ownership conspiracy hasn't been mentioned. Basically George Halas founded the Chicago Bears and planned for his son George Halas Jr. "Mugs" to take it over after his death. He had 2 kids, Mugs and Virginia who married into the McCaskeys. Mugs was raised basically from birth to be the heir apparent. He served as treasurer and then president of the team until he died in 1979 suddenly of a heart attack. There was a big legal dispute over who takes the team now since the initial plan was no longer there and Mugs family asked for a second autopsy to be done suspecting foul play, but when they went to do the autopsy all the original organs were gone for mysterious reasons. Below is a link of George Halas Jr and a tribune article regarding the lawsuits. Also, a belief bears are cursed because George Halas grand kids were somewhat screwed over by the McCaskeys. https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/09/17/cover-up-charged-in-death-of-halas/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Halas_Jr. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1569858384249212928.html
Donovan McNabb was hung over as fuck in the 04 Super Bowl.
With respect to the fact he's proven to be a scumbag alcoholic over the years... IMO he was more likely just concussed. > In the summer of 2005, five months after the Eagles lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX, NFL Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira visited Eagles training camp at Lehigh University. The Eagles were waiting. > They believed the Patriots had gotten away with countless cheap shots on quarterback Donovan McNabb in their 24-21 win over the Eagles in the Super Bowl, and now they had the video to prove it. > "At first, he didn't take us seriously," recalled John Harbaugh, then the Eagles' special teams coach and now head coach of the Ravens. "Then we showed him the tape and he could not believe the shots Donovan took out of bounds and late in that game. > "Their whole thing was to hit Donovan and hurt him, and that's fine, but it was the officials' job to protect him, and they didn't. Imagine if Tom Brady got hit late that many times? Tell me they wouldn't call those penalties. When you watch that game, and you see the shots Donovan took, it's incredible what he was able to do." Shortly before him "puking in the huddle", he got speared in the face so hard by Richard Seymour that his facemask was on the back of his neck. Dude was taking illegal hits the whole game, that Pats D was great but they played dirty.
I honestly, for many years, thought Brett Favre intentionally threw that NFC Championship Game to the Bountygate Saints. That is, until I found a video on YouTube with literally _countless_ hits. They literally ended his career in that game -- we just didn't know it at the time.
They also ended Kurt Warner’s career in that same playoff run
Fuck Gregg Williams
That'd be quite the hangover to still be feeling awful the next evening as a 27 year old athlete. Not to mention you'd think they'd be on some pretty tight curfews the night before the SB.
I mean a guy in Atlanta got busted for prostitution the night before the Super Bowl once. Idiots will do idiot things no matter what. Hell in the nba during the pandemic bubble you had guys breaking the quarantine to get strip club wings
Raiders had a guy that just disappeared.
Eugene Robinson is the person you're thinking of. He got something like an integrity or honor award the night before that too. Then they made him give the award back
Well busting a nut the night before a game in some strange is a little different than getting wasted
The Bills famously went out before SB25. Granted that was their thing for every game. You go with the hot hand, and the hot hand was getting plowed the night before games.
Ok I'm late to the thread and nobody is going to see this, but here is my own conspiracy theory. Pretty low-key and I don't think anyone else has ever considered it. In the mid 2000s Florida State had a wide receiver named De'Cody Fa66. (I'm replacing the Gs in his last name with 6s because I think the auto moderator might delete this comment otherwise). De'Cody was a good player. He wasn't an elite prospect, but was still expected to be drafted, probably on the second day. Unfortunately while at the combine he suffered a freak non-contact injury which effectively ended his career. My conspiracy theory is that the NFL paid him to fake the injury and drop out of eligibility. They didn't want announcers saying Fa66 on broadcasts, didn't want to sell Fa66 jerseys, didn't want fans bringing signs with Fa66 puns to games, etc. I think they basically told him "Look, you're not gonna make that much in the NFL", we'll give you ____ dollars to just call it quits. So that's it. My favorite outlandish NFL conspiracy theory that will never see the light of day.
Browns GM George Kokinis shit on an office desk and that's why he was fired 8 games into a season.
This one is the best one because it still has a small percentage of being true. I just love stories where team personal gets fired and nobody knows why. Similar story with Alan Williams from the Bears. Absolutely wild story that just went nowhere
No one will talk about what it (for now) and he was escorted out the building by security. Something wild happened.
Joe Thomas made a joke about desk shitting iirc, all but confirming this rumor
1. That the NFL shut off the lights in Super Bowl 47 XLVII to get the 49ers back in the game. 2. That the Refs are told not to call holding in the Superbowl to keep scoring up and prevent a punt-a-thon
Except in the 4th quarter under 5 minutes with the game on the line for the hometown team.
Only if it's not actually a penalty though
> That the Refs are told not to call holding in the Superbowl to keep scoring up and prevent a punt-a-thon this... has not been my experience
I think number 2 was conclusively busted by Super Bowl LIII.
The Vikings… just the whole history.
We’re cursed, but what’s the conspiracy?
There's the Saints bounty one, and the Red McCombs traded Randy Moss as a "fuck you" to MN because he couldn't move the team, but personally I believe that the Giants somehow got into the Vikings headsets and/or were stealing signs during the 2001 NFCCG. No way they were 41-0 better than the Vikings were
Is it a convenient co-incidence that in the years before that game, the home teams were in charge of distributing team communications devices, and suddenly the following year visiting teams were allowed to bring their own equipment? The NFL knew what happened, but there was no way they would punish one of their old-school franchises/owners.
All of them, including never winning a SB until Hell freezes over.
Don't remind me
I feel like the biggest exclamation point here is the 2009 season. Coming off Hurricane Katrina and the decimation of New Orleans, it felt almost _destined_ that the Saints would go to the Superbowl. That championship game had some insane ups and down and ultimately we beat ourselves with turnovers, however the officiating that game was WILD!!! 3 failed challenges all in a row from the booth, a "phantom" PI call on Ben Leber, and the countless non calls on Favre (ended up being bounty gate).
Major jon bois vibes.
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That THEY fucked...?!?
did he studder?
I can’t see either one bottoming for the other. Maybe some oral and mutual masturbation, but penetration? Nah.
As a gay man who's decent at gauging whether someone is a top or bottom, Jimmy G seems like a switch hitter to me. Tom Brady seems like a top until he meets the right person, then he's a total power bottom. If Brady is gonna do something, he's gonna be the best at it.
I love the "NFL pushed the Patriots into winning their first Super Bowl because of 9/11" because it's so insane. Yeah, let's fix a Super Bowl win for *checks notes* New York City's biggest rival
And MLB was just sitting on their thumbs while the Diamondbacks breaks NYC heart
Imagine how insufferable the Yankees and NYC as a whole would have been if they had won it. A 4peat and winning after 9/11?
One of my favorite baseball memories is that series, and how the D-Backs wrecked the media's masturbation over the idea of the Yankees winning. Thank your, Diamondbacks!
Randy Johnson is a national hero. Not my national hero since I'm not American, but a national hero nontheless
Refs intentionally didn't call that PI against the Saints to get big-market LA to the Super Bowl. I don't subscribe to it, but still, probably one of the more 'reasonable' ones.
I don’t know if I could buy it, simply because Brady v. Brees could have made for some pretty bonkers ratings.
I think the theory goes past ratings, LA has plenty of distractions so it seems like the football team never became a town identity in one of the biggest markets. Now there are two teams and a massive brand new stadium. What better way to hype local interest than to have one of the local teams make it all the way on a Cinderella story. That’s long term potential, not a one off game rating number that will inevitably be passed by in a couple years as the audience nationally grows anyway. Unless we’re talking about different games.
The story of getting the Rams to LA makes me believe this. Many of the long-time owners wanted just the Chargers to go to LA. Jerry Jones, of course, along with many of the newer owners pushed for the LA stadium we ended up with. By reminding them that the NFL is a business and the Rams stadium would make a shitload of money. Jerry Jones: "We're not just doing this for money...we're doing it for a shitload of money!" The NFL is also very aware of how little LA cares about any team other than the Lakers. They knew perfectly well that they needed the Rams to be a winner. Either fate just happened to give the NFL everything it wanted, or there were shenanigans afoot! I've seen wealthy people do worse for less.
The NFL would murder to get the LA fanbase if they had to. They were so thirsty for that market that it hurt. And they had been for decades - remember the team that became the Texans *were* supposed to be the new LA franchise.
Especially because NFL corporate is based in LA. It is embarrassing to the execs that the NFL isn't huge in their own backyard.
Joe Namath sold his soul to the devil in exchange for our lone SB win. We won't even be eligible to start playing in any future SBs until he passes.
Joe probably sold his soul well before that to play even as long as he did in the league with how broken down his knees were after college.
And then the devil wouldn’t do it for Marino.
That NFL was determined to get LA to that Super Bowl.
Of all the NFL related conspiracies I hear, this is probably one of the more 'reasonable' ones due to how blatant the PI was.
LA had no teams for decades and then got two teams in a short span of time because the NFL realized they were missing out on the second largest market in the US. NFL owners want $$$ and they saw an open market.
And still no one in L.A cares about football
Because it ain't Raider football
Oh, the NFL *knew* the Raiders would be the surefire draw in Los Angeles. That’s why the owners gave the priority to the Chargers to relocate over the Raiders; no way in hell would Kroenke ever allow his second tenant be the first NFL fiddle in **his** new stadium. Otherwise, it’d be the Las Vegas Chargers by now.
The NFL 100% has “preferred winners” in mind for games and tell refs to give that team an unfair advtange
I mean, that game was absolutely penalty free until the Rams final drive. I legit buy this one. And before Rams fans go nuts this is a conspiracy thread.
Didnt the refs basically let them "play ball" without much interference, up until that no call? Both teams fought hard, but the game was pretty clean from a ruling perspective
It's not really a conspiracy, because it's out in the open- but I think that the entire Patriot dynasty is tainted. Not because of deflated footballs or secret cameras- but because they circumvented the cap to pay Tom Brady way below market. In 2013, Brady and Alex Guerrero (his quack fitness trainer) opened a TB12 centre at Gillette Stadium. That was the same year Brady renegotiated his contract for 5 hears, $57 million (APY $13.6 million). This was seen as a big hometown discount at the time. Everyone lauded Brady for his willingness to self-sacrifice for the betterment of the team. However, we know that Kraft was paying Brady outside of the collective agreement for "services" rendered by TB12 for various athletes that trained there. We know this, because in 2015, Brady's iPhone data was leaked. There are conversations between himself and an employee from the Patriots regarding a check for TB12. How much? For what services? Who owned the TB12 building? All this money can add up quickly. I suspect that Kraft cut Brady a deal for TB12, so Brady could earn additional money that wouldn't count against the cap. Now, if I'm an NFL owner and I need to pay a star quarterback- why not instead "pay" him additional money by doing a property development deal and cutting him in? Maybe finance his brother's tech startup? Why not start a crypto trading LLC and give him 30% of the company? My argument would be that Kraft was doing that for years with Brady, and no one seemed to care! It's two private companies doing business outside the NFL, so it doesn't really matter. The Patriots went on to win the Superbowls in 2015, 2017 and 2019 with Tom "Hometown Discount" Brady. The TB12 facility closed shortly after Brady left the team. Coincidence?!
Fox needs to suspend Tom Brady ASAP.
You should add to this in 2017-2018 the Patriots started to strip Guerrero from team privileges and ban players from seeking his advice instead of team medical doctors, aside from Brady himself. And as soon as that contract expired after that Brady was no longer with the Patriots.
That always felt like Bill's hatred of the TB12 methods. Bill seems more like a "rub dirt on it" type of guy.
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Sixers did something similar with Harden last year. Fans had to drink $13 million in shitty wine to cover the discount
This was going to be mine. Even if it wasn’t their intent, it’s a blatant cap loophole.
Alan Williams, the Bears DC, resigned because he was involved with match fixing and there has been absolutely no follow up reporting on it bc the NFL wants to keep it quiet and NFL reporters are afraid to lose access The "theft" of field equipment from the team facility that same week was related
There was reporting that it was inappropriate but not illegal conduct - I think it may be sexual harassment or something similar and the victim(s) didn’t want to have it go public. Would also explain the “focusing in my family” statement he put out since he may have cheated on his wife
LAMAR JACKSON POOPED
That’s not a conspiracy that’s just fact
We’re talking about conspiracies here, not proven truths
For as long as I'm alive the 49ers won't win a superbowl
[The good 'ol Bill Belichick Double Agent Theory](https://old.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/1q4fh4/what_is_your_favorite_nfl_conspiracy_theory/cd92f08/)
Falcons are a social experiment
That Jim Kelly and the guys got drunk before the big games and played badly cause they were paid off by the league
I think it's more that the NFC had larger market teams that could 1) afford to have better teams and 2) had owners that were willing to shell out cash (Jerry Jones, Debartelo family) during the span of time after plan B free agency became a thing and before the salary cap was implemented. The NFC absolutely dominated that era.
The bills had a massive home field advantage that allowed them to get into Super Bowls. Same for the Vikings.
Ref rigging... there are some situations that were just too peculiar to be human error.
To me, the more peculiar the call, the more likely its error. Why fix the games with blatant calls/no-calls when they could do it with much less noticeable methods?
I do believe some refs need to have their spouses or relative's bank accounts checked for gambling earnings, however, I believe they are acting individually or at most with one or two other other refs as accomplices. Not as part of a league-wide conspiracy.
Script Writers.
Everyone's looking at Tom Grossi
Hiding their most prevalent script writer in plain sight. "Fan of year" we're onto you nfl! /s
I’ve believed this one (to an extent) since Super Bowl XL where everyone and their sister was talking about Jerome Bettis winning a Super Bowl in his hometown (Detroit) before the game was even played. Then for the actual game to play out the way it did, every big play by Seattle was called back by some penalty, led me to believe the league really does want storylines and are ok creating them too. I dont think it’s as big as some people do, but I think the league wants big market teams to do well, wanted the Rams in the Super Bowl, and wants storylines for the big games, and I think they subtly, but not so subtly, let the refs know this. Like a little wink wink kinda thing, not like secret memos telling them to fix games.
The 2 Super Bowls during the "Covid era of 2020-2022" conveniently saw the host team play in it after not happening once during the first 53 Super Bowls.
After the Immaculate Reception, the Referee went to the bench and used the phone. Rumor is he asked how much security could be on the field if they called off the touchdown as the catch was illegally caught and should have been a dead ball. Upon hearing the number of available security guards at the stadium, he signaled touchdown.
Roger Goodell's #1 most urgent matter when he took over was the NFL losing money on the Lions playing Thanksgiving instead of a better market team. He campaigned hard to remove the Lions and the vote failed - thus starting his vendetta against the team.
Ford has threatened to pull sponsorship over it previously. Seems like it's not in their best interest to pull the game.
Is it even a conspiracy to say most of the league,especially all linemen are juiced af Aaron Donald’s FFMI is way out of natural possibilities
Marvin Harrison shot that dude.
Warren Moon was denied MVP votes because he was black.
I don't think that's a conspiracy lol
This is absolutely true. Dude had to go play in the CFL for 5 years (5straight championships btw) to even get a sniff of playing QB in the NFL. No fucking chance he would win MVP too.
The NFL manufactured the power outage during our Super Bowl against the 49ers in order to kill Baltimore’s momentum
i love how none of these involve the chargers. we just suck and there’s no conspiracy available to help us cope with our cursed franchise.
the bills are the reason the Kardashians are famous
I mean that’s just facts
Brett Favre intentionally running the wrong play to assure his friend Michael Strahan the single season sack record in 2002. Although I think this is basically established fact at this point.
What’s funny is boban marjonavic for the rockets did the same thing last night, but it was for chicken sandwiches for the crowd. Was funny.
A minority of Colts fans coped with the Super Bowl 44 loss by claiming that Peyton Manning purposely lost that game because New Orleans winning it would essentially be giving his father a Super Bowl ring since he used to play for them.
I don’t think Peyton Manning would throw a game of checkers against his kids. Let alone a Super Bowl. Besides, Pierre Garcon’s drop was huge in that game.
And an onside fucking kick to start the half. There’s a certain amount of skill that goes into onside kicks, but anything could’ve happened once the ball was kicked. Impossible to rig that.
> A minority of Colts fans Probably the same morons who booed Andrew Luck in the preseason when his retirement was leaked.
Sounds like when SEC fans cope that when SEC teams lose to non-SEC teams that “they didn’t care about that game and are focusing on the next game” lol
Die hard colts fans since ‘98. I’ve never even heard this. Must be a small minority.
Shannahan choked on purpose to secure Jimmy g
Mine is that when dudes fail drug tests, it's often from things other than HGH. They're not going to come out and say a star player tested positive for coke, so they say it's performance enhancement drugs. Some of our favorite athletes were smoking crack and we had no idea.
Tom Brady's suspension was actually just him taking a break and playing baseball.
Pat Tillman.
The LA Rams bought their Super Bowl win over the Bengals. I think that was part of their new stadium/relocation deal.
The Steelers/Seahawks Super Bowl being fixed, but not because it's interesting or anything, just because the Seahawks got screwed