As the 2017-2018 NFL season comes to a close, we saw the semi-final conference championship games played this last Sunday. The Jacksonville Jaguars took on the New England Patriots, while the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Minnesota Vikings.

The first game of the night was a clash between the controversial Patriots, led by quarterback Tom Brady and tight-end Rob Gronkowski. The underdog Jaguars were spearheaded by one of the top secondaries in football, with 21-year-old Jalen Ramsey dominating at the cornerback position alongside veteran A.J. Bouye.

The game started out in the favor of the Jaguars, seeing them take an early 14-3 lead. Quarterback Blake Bortles has received criticism so far in his short career, with critics citing his poor accuracy and decision making for the Jaguars’ mediocre performance since his joining the team.

However, this season, Bortles finally gained control of his wild arm, connecting with his limited receiving core and raising the Jaguars’ offensive level of play. This was helped by the acquisition of first round pick Leonard Fournette as running back, who quickly rose to prominence behind the Jacksonville line.

This lead fell, however, after some less than stellar officiating, which saw A.J. Bouye get cited for defensive pass interference against slot receiver Brandin Cooks, seeing a huge third and long turn into a first down in the red zone.

From my standpoint, Brandin Cooks had no chance of successfully bringing the ball into his possession without committing a penalty as he stepped out of bounds after Bouye pressed him. This same sequence occurred later in the game as another long yard situation was turned into a red zone first down on a similar pass interference call.

Cornerbacks A.J Bouye and Jalen Ramsey have been cited for a league-low seven times for this penalty in 17 games this season. So, these calls were out of the blue for a talented and experienced defensive back.

The penalty totals were what lost the game for Jacksonville, plain and simple. Two stops turned into two touchdowns by debatable 50/50 plays that were called as pass interference.

“I was pissed because I seen Amendola head-butt the hell out of Gip in front of the ref, and you all don’t call nothing?”  AJ Bouye said after the loss. “It don’t make no sense, man; it’s a lot of stuff that don’t make no sense.”

A second half saw Jacksonville linebacker Myles Jack strip a ball and attempt to return it, untouched; the refs blew the play dead. Jack’s impressive 4.46 speed makes him faster than any of the Patriots players near him and could have easily brought the stripped ball back for a touchdown, uncontested, ending the game. This was the third instance I’ve seen of the officiating giving the Patriots a distinct advantage over their opponents.

I started this article naming the Patriots as controversial, and I believe that is the most fitting description of a team that has set playoff records for the least penalties called against them in the playoffs, lost draft picks to cheating and abused the injured reserve list to benefit themselves.

When asked about this game during the third quarter, UNI sophomore Tyler Willmsen said, “If these calls lead to the Patriots coming back, I will count Tom Brady’s legacy tainted.”

New England’s star quarterback Tom Brady has been as controversial as the team he plays on, missing the first four games of last season to a suspension due to cheating and being congratulated after winning the game by officials. This brings up big claims against Tom Brady being named the greatest of all time (GOAT).

I consider the legacy tainted, just as I consider Barry Bond’s homerun record tainted. There are far more honest and more talented quarterbacks who have done statistically more than Brady without suspensions for cheating.

The second game of the night was much harder to watch, as the fan favorite Minnesota Vikings were demolished by the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-7.

Both teams have had interesting seasons to say the least, as second year starter Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz saw his MVP season ripped to shreds by torn ACL. Wentz, at the time, was leading the league by a landslide for passing touchdowns, and at 23 years old was looking like the future of football.

Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford saw his season start out strong, and after three weeks was the NFL leader for quarterback rating. However, similar to Wentz, he fell to an injury and was replaced by veteran Case Keenum.

The game does not have many talking points, as an abysmal showing by the Vikings’ offense saw them fail to score more than seven points.

Second string quarterback Nick Foles put on a clinic against the Vikings’ defense, which had looked like one of the best in the NFL with a dominant secondary, including Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith, and a great pass rush, including Anthony

Barr and Danielle Hunter. However, Foles picked apart the defensive backs, throwing for 352 yards and three touchdowns, nearly earning himself a perfect quarterback rating.

The main attraction of this game were the Eagles fans, known as some of the most extreme fans on Earth, even booing their own team on draft day. It was an explosive collision of two teams, which saw the Eagles fans riot after their victory, assaulting the Vikings’ player bus and carrying banners saying terrible things about 100-year-old Viking superfan Millie.

Additionally, before and after the game, Eagles’ fans clashed with police, causing damage to local businesses.

In conclusion, the playoffs were controversial for a lot of reasons; this will surely drive up dwindling NFL viewership in the season to come, as this level of recklessness shown by fans, and the conspiracy surrounding the Patriots’ questionable dynasty, will be sure to spark interest.