Do you think that professional football is rigged?

I doubt it. It would take the cooperation of too many people in order to institutionally rig the NFL.

I am certain however, that there are circumstances where individual players may give less than their best effort. I know for a fact that some players, who know they have no hope to win the Super Bowl, would just as soon not participate in the one and done playoffs for the money they get. But those are individual decisions, not organized fixing.

More likely that the referees are paid off, than the players rig the game.

In my past, I was quite fit. Frequently I accomplished things people thought I should not, because it was too dangerous. However, what they could attempt, versus what I could, varied a great deal.
This comes to mind when I read your list of reasons.
Knowing what someone else can or cannot accomplish is nothing more than loose guessing.
There are times when an entire team is trying to play with the flu. There are times when a player or two are “in the zone”, and seem to pull off fantastical plays.
No doubt there are occasions when one or more persons allow themselves to be counter motivated, but on the whole I believe there is no fix.

I’ve seen numerous ‘heroes’ of mine fall from grace, in several different sports, for several kinds of cheeting, that I no longer follow sports/athletes with more attention and interest than I do politicians and other liars.
The only ones that I still have (sort of) on a pedestal are Roger Federer, Novac Djokovic, and Usain Bolt.
I hope I won’t be disappointed with these three.
For the rest, I would not be surprised if football, or any other popular sports, turns out to be rigged.
It has happened to be so with cycling, soccer, swimming, track and field, speed skating, weight lifting, you name it.
Dope and manipulation.

It’s the governing bodies who are mostly corrupt cheating bastards, i’m talking to you fifa/uefa.
Players & officials have of course been bought but they are thankfully few & far between.
Doping is still not uncommon though & poses a far greater threat to the integrity of sport across the board.

I think there have been occasional games thrown but I believe it’s rare.

There are a lot of performance enhancing drugs in pro football, but it is considered okay, because they all use them to build bulk and muscles. The only drigs that get the NFL upset are marijuana and cocaine.

But given the huge amount of money in NFL betting, I doubt the fix is in, because then you’d have the casinos and bookies after you.

I have suspected for a long time that the refs are on the take, making calls to tilt the game one way or the other. Or not making calls if that works better. Want the best evidence? Try finding a replay of the whole game of Superbowl XL between the Seahawks and the Steelers. I watched the game. The referees were doing everything they could to throw the game for the Steelers. I watched one play where the Seahawks needed a first down. The running back got just enough and when he went down, he went straight down and held the ball exactly where he had been carrying it…not extending it to get extra yardage. The pile got off him, he took his hands off the ball, not moving it, and getting up. He knew he had the yardage. The ref walked up, moved the ball back a yard and they were a couple inches short. Another play the Seahawks threw a surprise touchdown pass. The ref in the end zone was standing there doing nothing until suddenly the ball was caught in the end zone. Then he scrambled to pull out his flag. He called offensive pass interference because the receiver stopped suddenly to catch the ball and his hand brushed the jersey of the defender. Even the announcers were astounded. Later Hasselbeck threw an interception deep in Steeler territory. He was running over to tackle the Steeler with the ball and was blocked in the back. He fell forward towards the runners legs. Out came the flags. They called an illegal chop block against Hasselbeck for trying to tackle the runner at the legs. That gave the Steelers another 15 yards tacked on to the end of the run. The list goes on and on. In the end, it was the officials that gave the Steelers the win. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. I suspect they were on the take from the people controlling the odds. But to this day, no channel will ever show the entire game. They only show highlights.

Here you go. You might do a quick review @seawulf575, and tell us at what minute markers the plays you referred to so we can see for ourselves.

Also, when you’re being tackled you don’t stick your ball hand out to “get extra yardage.” Maybe for a touch down, but not on a tackle. You tuck it in close and hang on to it for dear life. If you stuck out your ball hand you’d be kicked off the time for being an idiot.

(1) Time 40:23 – The call was offensive pass interference. This is a Seahawk receiver catching the ball in the endzone. He barely touched the defender, caught the ball, and then the ref starts scrambling for his flag. Even Madden noted it wasn’t much of a touch.
(2) Time 1:00:11 – Seahawk receiver catches the ball is brought down. This is the one I thought was a running back. He comes straight down, not stretching the ball out, not tossing the ball forward when he gets up. the ref moves the ball back about a foot and Seattle misses the 1st down by about 2”.
(3) Time 1:12:04 – Steeler QB dives for TD and gets hit at the endzone, ball is knocked loose. He comes down with it and then, from the ground, moves the ball to the goal line. Line judge initially was going to spot the ball and then, seeing the ball on the goal line calls it a TD.
(4) 2:14:11 – Steeler DE jumps offsides, this is not called. But the refs do throw a flag for holding against Seattle. Even the announcers don’t see a hold.
(5) 2:15:00 – Steeler DE jumps offsides again…again no call.
(6) 2:15:55 – Steeler does a horse collar tackle on the Seahawk. Not called.
(7) 2:16:37 – Hasselbeck throws an interception. As the defender is running the ball back, Hasselbeck is running over to tackle. He gets hit from behind by a Steeler and goes down, into the legs of the guy with the ball. The refs throw a flag saying it was a low block on a Steeler that was on the other side and behind the ball runner.
(8) 2:28:02 – Steelers blitz, Hasselbeck is tackled by a helmet to chin hit. Not called.

All of these either negated touchdowns, big plays or necessary yardage to keep a drive alive. Even Bill Leavy, the head referee admits (several years later) he blew some big calls in the 4th quarter of this game. A little too little, a little too late.

@seawulf575 HA! Oh that was an absolute rigged game. I would not doubt that both teams were in on the fix. It’s more about money than by winning or losing even if they have to corrupt the officials and piss off the fans. There’s always next year. But some games you just never forget.

The 2014 Super Bowl was so bad, I just have never recovered from it. Never will.

@seawulf575 Yeah, the rulings in that game were terrible and one-sided. Also the way the announcers were talking, it was pretty clear they wanted the story about the Steelers winning, and were not willing to say anything about the bad calls that were getting them the win.

Ref and announcer bias is definitely a thing, whether it amounts to “rigging” by someone, I don’t know.

The Patriots have been caught doing quite a few nefarious schemes of their own. Certainly some people do try to “rig” some things to get advantages for one team.

@Dutchess_III yes, a running back or receiver will extend a ball as they are being tackled to get the necessary yardage for a first down…sometimes even to get just a little extra if it is that kind of game. They won’t do it if they are in a pile when they are going down, but if there is a little chance someone will just take it out of their hands, of course they will. When they hit the ground, if the ball comes loose, it isn’t a fumble and the spot is where the ball was when he went down. And many times, after they are down they will stick the ball out hoping to fool the refs. Or they will toss the ball forward when they are getting up, again to try fooling the refs.