[McGahee]

I don't remember claiming to be the guru of NFL rules, nor do I recall saying that the game was fixed.

It was not enforced in the spirit of the "rule" - which was why nobody expected the ruling - because it had never been made before.
Obscure rules are obscure rules because they aren't enforced in such common situations. You don't find it the least bit strange that these obscure rules are discovered ONLY during Patriots games? If there are "10 rule changes every year" and "nobody but the refs know the rules" - then surely these kind of shocking obscure rulings that nobody other than the refs know about could/should happen every week. Why don't they?
If those games weren't fixed (I don't think they were) then the Patriots were just lucky as hell. I mean - you won the last 2 SB's in dominating fashion - congratulations - I can give you that. The refusal to admit the painfully obvious fact that they were lucky as hell in 2001 is just mind-bogglingly stubborn homerism.