This weekend was all about controversy in the NFL, from the small minutiae of RGIII's post game comments, which seemed to rip his coaching staff, to the big flags that were thrown (and sometimes taken back) in two of the biggest games of the week. The first was a controversial personal foul penalty called on 49ers' linebacker Ahmad Brooks, who appeared to wrap his arms around Saints' quarterback Drew Brees on a sack that caused a fumble. The officials threw a flag and instead of the 49ers receiving the ball with little time left on the clock and up by three, the Saints got the ball well into 49ers territory and made a field goal on that drive to tie the game. After first watching the play in real time I thought a flag was certain to be thrown, because it looked like Brooks was twisting Brees' neck, which is certainly not something you want to see done to one of the star quarterbacks of the league. Slow motion though, reveals that Brooks' hit was a little lower than that and may have been legal, even though it was still nasty. Was it the right call? This one is not as clear as the other big one from this weekend, but this is the state of the NFL right now. If a quarterback gets hit badly, flags will probably be thrown because the NFL is doing everything they can right now to protect those guys. If it prevents another McCown from taking the field instead of Drew Brees, I can't say I'm totally opposed to that. Today Brooks was fined $16,000 for that hit, so it's clear the NFL is in support of that call. The other play was a key non-call at the end of Monday Night Football, where with six seconds left on the clock Tom Brady heaved a pass to the end zone that was intercepted, but his target, Rob Gronkowski, was clearly being held by Carolina linebacker Luke Keuchly. It looked like the official wanted to call pass interference, but another deemed the ball uncatchable and the game was over. It was ridiculous. Even if it was technically not pass interference, Kuechly had his arms wrapped around Gronkowski more than 20 yards down the field. That's a penalty. New England should have received one more shot at the end zone down by four. Would they have won? Maybe, maybe not. A holding call would have given them the ball around the 13 yard line so a touchdown would be far from a sure thing. But they deserved that chance. This is one call the NFL should feel free to back away from. Now, on to the Wednesday Power Rankings!
1. Denver Broncos: 9-1 (2)
2. Seattle Seahawks: 10-1 (3)
3. New Orleans Saints: 8-2 (5)
4. Kansas City Chiefs: 9-1 (1)
5. Carolina Panthers: 7-3 (6)
6. Indianapolis Colts: 7-3 (8)
7. New England Patriots: 7-3 (4)
8. Cincinnati Bengals: 7-4 (10)
9. San Francisco 49ers: 6-4 (9)
10. Philadelphia Eagles: 6-5 (13)
11. Detroit Lions: 6-4 (7)
12. Chicago Bears: 6-4 (14)
13. Arizona Cardinals: 6-4 (15)
14. Green Bay Packers: 5-5 (16)
15. Dallas Cowboys: 5-5 (16)
16. New York Jets: 5-5 (11)
17. Miami Dolphins: 5-5 (21)
18. San Diego Chargers: 4-6 (17)
19. Pittsburgh Steelers: 4-6 (24)
20. New York Giants: 4-6 (22)
21. Cleveland Browns: 4-6 (18)
22. Baltimore Ravens: 4-6 (19)
23. Buffalo Bills: 4-7 (25)
24. Oakland Raiders: 4-6 (26)
25. St. Louis Rams: 4-6 (23)
26. Tennessee Titans: 4-6 (20)
27. Washington Redskins: 3-7 (27)
28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 2-8 (32)
29. Minnesota Vikings: 2-8 (28)
30. Houston Texans: 2-8 (29)
31. Atlanta Falcons: 2-8 (30)
32. Jacksonville Jaguars: 1-9 (31)
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