Patriots Lose on Controversial Non-Call: I'm All Broken Up Inside

 The Rule In Question

Monday night's officials determined there was no chance for tight end Rob Gronkowski to catch the last pass thrown by Tom Brady. Here is the rule in question:

Rule 8, Section 5, Article 3 Permissible Acts

Article 3 Permissible Acts by both teams while the ball is in the air. Acts that are permissible by a player include, but are not limited to: (c) Contact that would normally be considered pass interference, but the pass is clearly uncatchable by the involved players, except as specified in 8-3-2 and 8-5-4 pertaining to blocking downfield by the offense.

As the rest of the league shows bits of sympathy for the New England Patriots losing on a controversially bad non-call last night, we Raiders fans are reminded of that preposterous, conspiracy filled, bad call that allowed the Patriots to steal a playoff game from the Raiders and launch the careers of Tom Brady and Bill Belichik.

Yes my friends, its time once again to shine the spotlight on the 2002 AFC Divisional Playoff game where the "Tuck Rule" echoed like the shot heard around the world.  

Last night's Patriots 24-20 Loss to the Carolina Panthers was due to Cam Newton and company outdueling New England. The non-call was right.  

The analysts and experts will talk about the reversal of the pass interference call the rest of this week and then it'll be forgotten.  As for the Tuck Game, its still talked about and still unbelievable. It's just one of those games that sticks in the craw of Raiders fans and just about any fan that detests bad calls changing the outcome of games. The bad call against my Raiders cost us a possible trip to a super bowl. They don't get much worse than that.

One Raiders fan said it best in a comment to an article in the Charlotte Observer:

Posted by: charlottean | Nov 19, 2013 10:51:21 AM

To all panthers fans, as a long suffering but fanatical raiders fan, i cant help but invoke karma in the end zone last night, it wasnt a championship game, it wasnt snowing, but didnt Mr.Tom celebrate another bad call some years ago? How about the tuck rule? He didnt scream at the refs when he fumbled and cost the raiders a trip to the super bowl. The Panthers won, Pats, tuck it in and move on


We Raiders fans have endured the baddest of bad calls, non-calls and questionable penalties against our team since forever.  We survive, endure, pick ourselves up and move on. We expect other teams to do the same.  But the one thing we don't do is forget, ever.  To forget an injustice is to accept a lie.

Here you go Pats fans, chew on this while you suffer what seems an injustice.  Maybe it'll make the Panthers win easier to swallow. Maybe!