I've always said the games are heavily influenced by the refs. The San Diego 11-10 game with Troy confirmed my suspicion years ago. I remember that scoop and score and told my wife they aren't going to count it because it will screw up the spread. Sure enough, they wiped that TD off and of course, admitted they made a mistake after the game but the score remained the same.

People who says the game can't be scripted or the players would blow their cover have no clue what they are talking about. The players aren't in on it. This is why they get fined for criticizing the refs. It's not every game, it's not ever play, it's going to be games with heavy bets or games where ratings could kill a SB. You really think the NFL and the TV station wanted to see Oakland vs Pittsburgh in 2001 for the championship? No, they wanted the North East ratings to win.

How do we see Jesse James not completing a catch vs the Pats but in the SB they "changed the rule" for the definition/interpretation of a catch IN THE SAME SEASON!. That's illegal.

Now that betting is legal we see our Guard get called for being offsides on a FG. Something they never call. The penalties on routine sacks is hilariously bad as well.

Below is the amount of money and penalty totals from that Pittsburgh, Chargers game. Keep in mind we were playing AT HOME!!!
https://www.salon.com/2008/11/17/steelers/

"Betting expert R.J. Bell of the gambling advice site Pregame.com estimates that about $100 million was bet on the Steelers-Chargers game, with about two-thirds of the money down on the Steelers. So the bad call that cost Pittsburgh a touchdown created a swing of some $60 million in favor of the bookies. And Bell said in an e-mail that his $100 million figure is conservative.
The Steelers were also penalized 13 times for 115 yards, the Chargers twice for a total of five. Again, if there were going to be an effort by the officials to keep the Steelers from winning, or from covering, wouldn't this be what it would look like?"