Super Bowl XL MVP
DMZ · February 5, 2006 at 7:29 pm · Filed Under Off-topic ranting
I don’t watch a ton of football. I have trouble picking a 4-3 defensive alignment out, for instance, though I understand what’s going on. Even I can’t believe that game. The MVP was clearly the officials, who made more game-changing plays than any player on either team, almost all against the Seahawks (“Touchdown? Let’s toss a flag.”). I haven’t seen bad umping like this since the Indy-Pittsburgh game. Maaaaaaaaaaaaan. This sucks.
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151 Responses to “Super Bowl XL MVP”
WHY DIDN’T YOU SLIDE, JEREMY GIAMBI?!
As usual – the refs find a way to job us. I especially liked the Vinny Testaverde style TD in the first half. GO HAWKS.
Find the similarities:
WHITE SOX BEAT THE ANGELS!
STEELERS OVER SEAHAWKS!
Hmm…
10 Days to Pitchers & Catchers reporting
56 Days to Opening Day
“I haven’t seen bad umping like this since the Indy-Pittsburgh game.”
You mean the one two weeks ago?
The officiating was one-sided, but I think you can see officiating that bad in any 4 of 16 games on a given weekend in the NFL. Whoever was the crew in the Denver-New England game made a lot more poor, game-changing calls than the crew did today. I’ll just be glad that MLB officials are much better than NFL officials (with the exception of the above-noted White Sox-Angels fiasco this year, that was inexcusable).
That was an ugly situation. Go Mariners!
Did you guys hear?
Bud Selig was on the radio just now, and he said that the Mariners will start the season 0-6, after losing 6 straight games to the Pirates.
When pointed out that the Mariners’ aren’t scheduled to play the Pirates this year, Selig changed the topic to the new playoff Yankees seeding system that will replace the Wild Card.
I normally don’t ascribe to tinfoil hat style theories, but:
At best, that was the worst officiating I’ve seen in nearly 20 years of watching NFL football.
At worst, well, the league and ESPN got the exact story they wanted.
Bring on the Mariners!
What was weird is watching all those ads with the Steelers throughout the broadcast with the trophy: there was one ad I saw with any Seahawks at all, and those were just short shorts, but Bettis & Co got whole commercials with how great it was and stuff. Crazy.
It’s the Mob, of course. Their influence used to be a lot less obvious, though.
If it was me, I wouldn’t get withing spitting distance of the trophy until after the game. I’m waaaay too superstitious to take any kind of risk like holding the trophy before I’ve won it. I’m a little surprised that so many of the players/coaches were actually willing to pose for that sort of thing.
Wow. haven’t commented on the new USS, though i do read daily. I’m so glad to hear you say the officiating was weak, to say the least. I wasn’t certain if it was just my own bias…. i now feel i have vindication and verification.
uh… mat. what game exactly were you watching? the officiating was brutal.
1) D-Jack PI
2) Holding on a VERY questionable call that would have led to a first down in “certain” field goal range.
3) Holding on a long Peter Warrick punt return that was, once again, VERY questionable.
Now I’m not going to say that it was ALL the officials, but as an individual who coached many high school athletic events, i can say that little calls like those make for HUGE advantages. Momentum is is precarious thing, and when you’ve owned an entire half of a game, and yet look up at the board and see yourselves down 7-3, you know strange things are afoot.
i hate officials. HATE HATE HATE HATE. i wouldn’t feel so miserable about losing the game if the steelers won, but fact is the better team lost, and the officiating didn’t allow the two teams to square off equally.
I don’t think it was deliberate, but when a team gets a lot of media coverage that seems to romantacize them, I think officials see that and it sticks in the back of their minds. Perhaps if a call comes down that could go either way it goes the way of the “team of destiny” or the team that “deserves” to win more often than it doesn’t. Plus, that was a terrible holding call…
oh, i also saw at least 3 occasions when calls could have been made the other way and weren’t. two were holds on steelers #64, and one was blatently shown on replay.
i couldn’t hear the announcers though, because the jackass behind me in the Bus jersey that kept shouting annoying nonsensical steelers crap.
I’m mad as hell and i’m not going to take it anymore!!!
of course.. i have no other options…
i’ll simply watch and get mistreated and manipulated once again next year, thinking everything is equal and it is the two teams that decide things on the field.
WRONG WRONG WRONG.
okay… i’ll unrant now, leaving space for others.
GO M’s. As Harry Dean Stanton said in Red Dawn, “Avenge me boys… AVENGE MEEEEE!!!!!”
WOLVERINES!!!!!!
You could totally feel the ship getting underway, only to be blind sided.
By the end of the game, there were no sails on the Seattle ship to catch the wind .
There was a football game on today? Huh, who knew?
Pitchers and catchers report in 10 days, w00t w00t!
Jimmie the Geek
Come on, Rothlisberger clearly broke the plane of the 2 yard line on that play, and as we’ve konwn for a few years, that counts as a TD in the NFL postseason, if you’re playing the Seahawks.
And there were dozens of times that a Seahawk tackled a Steeler ballcarier, and the refs only called it once, on Hasselbeck’s tackle. I didn’t realize it was illegal to tackle a Steeler ballcarier in the Superbowl, but apparently it’s a 15-yard penalty. We’re lucky they didn’t call more of those on us.
Really, the refs tried to give us the game…
Well, it’s official. . .
I go into depression until April 3.
And I think most of you who post here know what happens on April 3, so until then, KILL THE REFS!!!!
Hit ‘em.
Then, hit ‘em again.
It will come. You must believe. Whether or not they can speak grammatically correct sentences.
Yeah, april 3rd. beginning of my next bout of depression. Worse, its tough to blame the refs in baseball. Why not a post on why baseball is the most objective game?
There were questionable calls by the refs, yes, but the Seahawks didn’t bring their “A” game. They didn’t resemble the team that spanked the Panthers two weeks ago.
>The pass interference call on D-Jax was questionable but he did make contact with the defender and he was right in front of the ref. I think the pass interference call against New England in the Denver game was worse.
>The TD by Roethlisberger? Who knows? He dove, had the ball in his right hand, it just has to cross the plane of the end zone, and the ball kind of disappears behind his arm. It’s possible a milimeter of the ball grazed the plane of the end zone. If it wasn’t a TD, it might have been at the 1-inch line. It wasn’t as brutal as the Vinny Testaverde touchdown years ago.
>Seahawk’s punter Tom Rouen had 4 touchbacks. How about pinning the Steelers back deep once or twice, especially when the Steelers kept going 3-and-out in the 1st half?
>The Seahawks messed up at the end of the first half, with terrible clock management, leading to a 54-yard field goal attempt that was missed. With the time they had and 2 timeouts, they should have gotten the ball closer. Later, they missed a 50-yard field goal. Again, they could have moved the ball closer.
>The holding call on the Seahawks’ pass to the Steeler’s 1-yard-line looked like a bad call. Hasselbeck’s interception a couple plays later looked worse. There was no Seahawk anywhere near that ball.
>Pittsburgh had the big plays: a 3rd-and-28 completion in the 2nd quareter led to TD #1. A 75-yard TD run by Parker was #2. A flea-flicker from Randle El to Ward for #3.
>Jeramy Stevens had 3 or 4 drops.
>Darrell Jackson disappeared after catching 5 passes in the 1st quarter. He had no catches after the 1st quarter.
>Down 21-10 with 8:48 to play, the Seahawks needed to get a score. They couldn’t, with Hasselbeck getting sacked on 3rd-and-8 at the 47.
>Down 21-10 with 6:15 left, they needed to make a defensive stop. They couldn’t, allowing 2 first downs as pittsburgh took over 4 minutes off the clock on 9 straight running plays.
Injuries hurt also, as the flea-flicker play came against a depleted secondary.
Three big plays by Pittsburgh was the difference.
Okay, go ahead and attack me back if you’d like, I can take it.
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one who noticed Rouen’s punting… he was brutal. And each one in the middle of the field, not a single one towards the corner.
Rouen’s punting was mediocre, but it wasn’t close to a difference maker in the game. What does it matter that the Steelers started their three-and-out drives at the 20 instead of the 10?
The three big plays by Pittsburgh were huge, but the half dozen big plays by the officials were huger. That was the difference.
The fact that this game is even considered to have been determined by an official is troubling….
Which leads to an interesting point re: baseball v. football…
Why is it that so baseball umpires go through years of schooling, during which many of whom never make the major leagues? And yet, NFL officials (umpires, referees, side judges, etc) never seem to have gone through the same apprecentiship? That is, when a striped-shirt makes a mistake in a Super Bowl, the ready excuse is, ‘Well, after all, he’s only a part-time official, he has to hold down a job in the real world, too, after all.’
Would we accept this excuse in the World Series? I think not. And yet, this is one of the geniuses of the NFL, is that they have been able to get away with part-time, not-official-employees-of-the-league.
On the international feed, Daryl Johnston was highly critical of the officiating. How was the commentary on the ABC feed?
Guys, ive seen 7 Steeler games this year and the superbowl was over by halftime. You think youre close. You think you had a chance but the Steelers are like a rising river…make all of the sand bags you want but if youre not significantly ahead by halftime, your house will be under water at the end of the game.
The Seahawks are a nice team but they never had a chance.
It would have been possible to overcome the officiating and the breaks if the Seahawks had played a perfect game. That’s asking a lot against the Steelers.
As for why baseball doesn’t seem to have that sort of thing happen, it’s because an umpire’s job is a lot easier. At most, there are two spots to look at at once (e.g. on a tag up play where you have to see if the runner left before the ball was caught), and the calls that they have to make are more objective. In football, a penalty can occur anywhere on the field from any of the 11 players, and you have to worry a lot more about if something is incidental contact or worthy of a flag.
Football, alas, is becoming like basketball. There are fouls on every play in the NBA and which ones are called are a manner of how the ref is feeling. When that is the case, it’s easy for conspiracy theories to loom large. The same plays that drew flags for the Seahawks didn’t for the Steelers, and there’s no way of knowing why.
Terry, nice to see you were watching the game. Apparently you were watching on the pittsburgh alternate reality channel, the one where the steelers were not getting pushed around in the first half by a stronger tougher meaner more physical team.
The media world is not saying “the seahawks are a nice team but they never had a chance,” they are saying the seahawks lost this game, not the STEALERS won it.
as far as your metaphorical skills, perhaps you are right about the rising river. but we seriously could have done without the guys in stripes cutting holes on the ends of our sandbags before we could get them to the dike.
and for the record, be thankful and gracious.
after all, if your quarterback would have gotten called for the same “blocking below the waist” 15 yard penalty while making a TD saving tackle ours was, you may not even have tasted the AFC championship game.
yes, our QB was called for blocking below the waist while making a tackle. yours was given a gift TD. hmmm….. as Hamlet said, “Something is rotten in Denmark.”
consider yours a media/sentimental/conspiracy theorist’s dream superbowl.
you got your wish. the bus is home, one for the thumb, cowher’s local pitt boy does good, leads hometown team to first superbowl.
now go home lucky and happy and pray you can make it back next year…
we’ll be there.
That AFC playoff picture looks a little rocky for you though… especially since you used about 2 decades worth of luck in the past month or so.
#29 said: **Terry, nice to see you were watching the game. Apparently you were watching on the pittsburgh alternate reality channel, the one where the steelers were not getting pushed around in the first half by a stronger tougher meaner more physical team.***
First, im a Bengals fan…believe me when I say a Steeler’s victory gives me no pleasure. However, your rant proves my point….the Hawks dominated the first half and were down by 11 only two minutes into the third quarter…. At that point, against the Steelers any team is toast.
Some call penalties silly, others see penalties like holding and offensive pass interference as the result of great defense. It shouldnt be a surprise that the Hawks who played clean all season had an unusually high number of penalties against a team that displayed a ferocious pass rush during their playoff run.
As for some of your observations (whining) about the officiating. First, Big Ben’s *touchdown* was so close that you lose all credibility by claiming the ball obviously was not in. The two replay angles I saw weren’t even close to the standard required to overturn a call on the field….especially when viewed by an offcial that is well known to be a tough sell on overturns. Assume for a minute that the call was overturned. My money is on the Steelers punching it in from the half inch line on the next play.
Your claim that Big Ben’s tackle was analogous to the bad call following Hasselbeck’s interception is weak. Randle El throws that touchdown pass from the 35 just as easily as he throws it from the 50. Either way, the Hawks were already toast.
As for the pass interference in the end zone, a rule is a rule. A receiver is not allowed to use his hands to gain and advantage any more than a defender is. Was it a major pushoff? No. But, that call is made 9 out of 10 times when it occurs 5 feet in front of an official.
Finally, it wasnt officials who missed two field goals, ended both halves with abyssmal clock management, prevented Alexander from hitting the century mark or scoring for that matter, couldnt prevent a run specialist from getting his first sack in three years, or prevented the Hawks from stopping the Steeler pass rush when it really counted. It certainly wasnt the zebras who forced Hasselbeck to throw that gawd awful interception.
As for throwing down the challenge, even I as a Bengal fan has to acknowledge the rich tradition and class of the Steeler organization. And yes, I have to admit these factors make the Steelers a threat to win the superbowl nearly every year. Your challenge is a bit weak given the Steelers have won 5 times as many superbowls as the Hawks have appeared in… In any event, Im sure the Steelers are up to it.
The one call that bothered me most was the holding call when we drove to Steelers’ 1 yard line. We had the momentum (again) and we were about to take the lead. The ref flagged. I knew we were done by then. How many questionable calls could one team get and overcome?
Sure we made some mistakes but looking at the box score, we dominiated the Steelers in most categories: first downs, turnovers, time of possession, pass efficiency. We just couldn’t beat the refs.
Nice guys finish last. The problem with Seattle sports teams in general is they are too nice and too family-friendly. Seattle needs to be tougher, meaner, and get more fiery players like Carl Everett on their rosters.
Also, Seattlelites should stage a riot or two like those anti-WTO protests a while back.
#32: ya and what was with that whimpy *bouncing everything to the outside* running game?
If Willie Bloomquist were the quarterback of the Seahawks, they would have won the Super Bowl.
Willie was quite the high school football star back in the day. He was the Vince Young of Port Orchard.
The problem I have with the Rothlisberger TD call is that it was called a TD on the field, thus requiring complete proof to overturn it. In my paranoid mind, that’s how games are influenced by the officials. The guy who made the call did have to think about what he was supposed to do.
My take – for what it’s worth….lol:
All I am hearing this morning is about how the officiating cost the Seahawks the game. That is just flat out wrong & is a component of seeing things through Blue shaded glasses. Let’s review:
1. The pass interference call on Darrell Jackson WAS, in fact, pass interference. That gets called 9 out of 10 times. The one time it doesn’t get called is because the official is looking at something else or falls down. You just can not impede the progress…especially on that critical/flagrant a play. Any time you get your arm extended right in front of the official like that, it will get called.
2. The TD by Roethlisberger? He dove, had the ball in his right hand, it just has to cross the plane of the end zone, and the ball kind of disappears behind his arm. It’s possible a millimeter of the ball grazed the plane of the end zone & you can’t overturn a call without conclusive evidence. the rule of thumb here is, if it’s so close you can;t overturn it, it jsut can’t be labeled as a bad call. The fact is, if they rule it down it’s 4th and 1-inch and Pittsburgh goes for it & gets the TD anyway. And before you whine about how the Hawks would have stopped them on 4th down…I call BS. Teams score the TD 89% of the time when there is less than a yard to go for a TD. Better yet, Pittsburgh is one of the best at that particular situation. In fact, I would say the momentum would have been worse for the Seahawks had he been ruled down because then Jerome Bettis would have come in and got a TD…Thee crowd and the Steelers would have really had momentum on their side if that happened.
3. Seahawks punter Tom Rouen had 4 touchbacks. How about pinning the Steelers back deep once or twice, especially when the Steelers kept going 3-and-out in the 1st half?
4. The Seahawks messed up at the end of the first half, with terrible clock management, leading to a 54-yard field goal attempt that was missed. With the time they had and 2 timeouts, they should have gotten the ball closer. Later, they missed a 50-yard field goal. Again, they could have moved the ball closer.
5. The holding call on the Seahawks pass to the Steelers 1-yard-line looked like a bad call. Nothing you can do about that but hitch up your jock strap and move on.
6. Hasselbeck’s interception a couple plays later. There was no Seahawk anywhere near that ball.
7. Hasselbeck blocking below the waist penalty. This was bad call # 2. It only cost the Seahawks 15 yards though. It certainly wasn’t a game changing call. The interception was much bigger. I keep hearing how people are saying Rothlisberger did the same thing on the reverse a flew plays later. That’s just a joke. Rothlisberger hit his man above the waist. Hasselbeck hit his man at the knee cap. Hasselbeck’s call was wrong because it was a tackle, not a block. Had it been a block, the call was correct. Rothlisberger’s, under any definition, was a legal hit.
8. Pittsburgh had the big plays: a 3rd-and-28 completion in thequarterreter led to a TD. A 75-yard TD run by Parker. A flea-flicker from Randle El to Ward for the third TD.
9. The goat of the game: Big talker Jeramy Stevens had 4 drops. The two in the first half could have made this game totally different. With the exception of the one long run, Pittsburgh could not run the ball and Rothlisberger looked awful. I fthe Hawks jump out to a 14-0 or 14-7 lead & force Pittsburgh to try and pass, they win this game 34-7.
10. The 75 yard TD run. This is on the coaching staff of the Seahawks. Holmgren’s team has been stopping the Steelers with a 7 man front the whole game. For some unknown reason, with his 3rd string Safety in due to injury, he switches to an 8 man front. turning what normally would have been a 7-15 yeard run into a 75 yard TD run (the longest in SB history). Boulware, the 8th man up, bites into the wrong gap and now Parker only has one man to beat…the third string safety…who takes the wrong route and gets burned by the fastest running back in the NFL.
11. Darrell Jackson disappeared after catching 5 passes in the 1st quarter (a SuperBowl record). He had no catches after the 1st quarter.
12. Down 21-10 with 8:48 to play, the Seahawks needed to get a score. They couldn’t, with Hasselbeck getting sacked on 3rd-and-8 at the 47. For some unknown reason they decided to punt the ball away knowing they needed two scores. If they give up a first down or two, the game is over.
13. Speaking of which….down 21-10 with 6:15 left, they needed to make a defensive stop. They couldn’t, allowing 2 first downs as Pittsburgh took over 4 minutes off the clock on 9 straight running plays…after the Hawks had stopped the run all day. It looked like the D had given up.
So, two plays I thought could be classified as bad calls. One was on Hasslebeck after the interception…which had nothing to do with the outcome of the game & the other a holding call after a pass down to the 1 yard line. This certainly did have something to do with the outcome of the game, but if you can’t overcome a bad call or two, your not a Superbowl champ anyway.
Now, on to some random thoughts:
1. The National Anthem was absolutely horrible. Could be the worst NA I have ever heard sung outside of me in my car.
2. Halftime Show. I never was much of a Stones fan, but it sounded awful. I would never pay a penney to go see tham live. In fact, if they were playing a mile from my house for free and I was guaranteed a seat, I’d pass.
3. The only good commerical was the rotating refrigerator….and that wasn’t even a brand new commercial.
#36: lest we never forget Rosanne’s stirring rendition….
Right. The ref didn’t immediately signal touchdown he didn’t raise both arms until he saw that the ball was in the end zone. He ran up, saw Rothlisberger laying on the ball, and assumed that it had broken the plane on the initial surge. From the replay, it’s clear that the ball was repositioned after Rothlisberger was down. Would it be too hard to coat the ball with some kind of reactant and make the goal line react chemically, so that on a replay the goal line lights up or something? Could put a stop to the gray area on plays like this.
Keys to game:
1) Seahawks’ inconsistency: inability to finish drives, be it through penalties or mistakes.
2) Steelers’ 3 big plays (read Art Thiel’s column if you don’t know which ones).
3) Dubious officiating.
Medicine Hat: Here’s the rule for pass interference:
http://www.nfl.com/fans/rules/passinterference
Please explain what Jackson did to violate it.
I only heard the last minute of the anthemn and liked it. You should go to some high school games and listen what some of the marching bands do to it.
Neither teams offense played well. How much that is due to well playing defense is anyones guess. The thing is: If all the borderline calls on big plays go one way, than that team faces a huge uphill climb.
The officiating was just part of the theme. We just didn’t get any breaks at all. Dropped passes, barely missed field goals, bad calls, it all added up to it just not being our day alas.
MedicineHat #36, in your point 2, you mentioned Steelers would “really had the momentum” if Ben’s touchdown was ruled against them and they got in on 4th down anyway. So you acknowledge momentum is important. Then in your point 5, with the bad call against the Hawks, you said they should hitch up their jock strap and move on. That was a momentum and game killer if there ever was one. Getting turned back at the 1 yard line when there is a high percentage that Hawks could have scored and taken the lead?
Ali is a great boxer but I doubt he could win any title if the ref chopped off a few of his fingers.
Here’s the thing about that no-TD pass interference call: the defender touches him first, and then the receiver makes pretty minor contact.
If you’re going to toss a flag, you flag them both. Or you don’t call either contact.
“but if you can’t overcome a bad call or two, your not a Superbowl champ anyway.”
I hate this logic. So the Seahawks should not just be better than the Stealers, they need to be at least one huge play better than the Stealers to be the rightful champs? How does that make any sense. And furthermore, no, most teams don’t overcome officiating that one-sided. No matter how good they are. Name one team that did. And don’t even try to say Pitt @ Indy, the refs were bad to both team in that game. What they screwed up in the botched int call they made up for in not calling a clear false start on 4th and inches, resulting in Pitt clearing over 4 minutes off the clock and a lot of field position.
Darrell Jackson disappeared after catching 5 passes in the 1st quarter (a SuperBowl record). He had no catches after the 1st quarter.
… other than the touchdown catch that was called out of bounds by the officials. If a player catches the ball with a foot inbounds, and knocks over the pylon with the shin of his other leg while his foot is still on the ground, it’s a touchdown. Yet another call they screwed us on, and I am surprised that more people aren’t talking about it.
I thought it was pretty clear from the replay that when Jackson made contact with the defender, he changed the defender’s momentum (real momentum, not emotional momentum). I thought what made that a bogus call was that, in general, offensive players seem to get the benefit of the doubt on stuff like that, so I think it was a penalty, but it’s not something that usually gets called. It was the worst call that went against the Seahawks. The other really bad call was the Hasselbeck tackle, but the trick play was going to work for a TD regardless of those 15 yards, so I’d say that didn’t have much of an effect.
Other than those two penalties, I just see complaints about a couple of holds. Holding is likely the hardest penalty to call in the NFL, especially when they’re watching at full speed without the benefit of replay.
So again, the officiating was one-sided, but it’s not like it was so one-sided that we need to invent a conspiracy theory to explain how bad it was.
The Steelers had ZERO holding penalties called on them. How often does that happen?
Meanwhile, the Hawks had at least 3 that I can think of, and they were all huge – on plays where the Hawks not only were penalized 10 yards, but had big, succesful, plays taken away. Not to mention the offensive pass-interference call.
All that and the Hawks still had more total yards. I have no idea whether the officials were biased, but they certainly were the difference in the game.
“Yet another call they screwed us on, and I am surprised that more people aren’t talking about it.”
They aren’t talking about it because Jackson was out of bounds. His other leg went behind the pylon. Even the really die-hard Seahawks fans I was watching with were willing to concede that call.
No it doesn’t. I see receivers do that move all the time. Most would consider that “incidental” contact.
That’s true, but the official was in no position to conclusively rule it a TD initially. In fact, he only ruled it a touchdown after Roethlisberger was on the ground and did his little Testaverde move. If the official had made the right call in the first place, the replays would not have overturned it.
You can’t say for certain they would’ve gone for it and you certainly can’t say for certain they would’ve made it. Even your percentages agree that the call gave Pittsburgh a slight advantage.
The trick play with Randle El is only called when they’re at midfield. If the officials made the right call, Pittsburgh wouldn’t have called that one. That’s a significant change in the game.
After Seattle used their two timeouts, Roethlisberger made a rushing TD for first down, effectively ending the game. However, there was a holding on that play against Pittsburgh that wasn’t called.
But, make no mistake, Seattle had every chance to win this game despite the officials and so their bad play in certain situations (especially that INT, ugh) was as much of a contributor to their loss as anything else. Even though I’m admittedly biased, I cannot say with certainty the better team won that day.
Bottom line though, the officiating was unacceptable for a Super Bowl (and the playoffs in general) and I hope the NFL does something about during the offseason.
#49 said: ******The trick play with Randle El is only called when they’re at midfield. If the officials made the right call, Pittsburgh wouldn’t have called that one. That’s a significant change in the game.*******
Interesting assertion since that was the first time the Steelers have ever used that play in a game with Randle El.
Ive seen alot of Steelers games and anytime they get past the 35, youve got to watch for Cower’s gadgets…… BC will spend the whole game setting one up and he feels the time is right the trap is sprung-whether the ball is on their own 35, the 50 or the other team’s 35.
I thought I was pretty clever in calling them the STEALERS on another message board, but I see you guys are a step ahead of me…
Now I’m going to go out and look for some sportswriters’ stories. I’d like to see that catchy nickname get picked up nationally, as well as a few pointed comments about the referees.
Medicine Hat.. .C’mon… seriously?
>”All I am hearing this morning is about how the officiating cost >the Seahawks the game. That is just flat out wrong & is a component >of seeing things through Blue shaded glasses.”
isn’t that something of an overstatement.
>1. The pass interference call on Darrell Jackson WAS, in fact, pass interference.
first, Hall made contact with D-Jack with his hand pushing off, then they both made contact and then D-Jack broke away with a much lighter touch, but because Hall was already beat his momentum pushed him away from D-Jack. Then D-Jack caught the ball. THEN, and ONLY THEN, after about 2 seconds of watching Hall do what every DB in the world will do– make the motion of throwing the flag in the officials face, the official apparentally justified his bad call because the stealer defender said it was a PI. Well, when the defender says it, it must be true!
>2. The TD by Roethlisberger? He dove, had the ball in his right >hand, it just has to cross the plane of the end zone, and the ball >kind of disappears behind his arm. It’s possible a millimeter of >the ball grazed the plane of the end zone & you can’t overturn a >call without conclusive evidence.
yeah… well… perhaps the late TD call by the official was not the proper call, and it couldn’t be overturned either way… but the official did not signal on the initial surge, he signalled testeverde style, after the “already on his knees and down ball push forward.” that isn’t a td in my book.
>And before you whine about how the Hawks would have stopped them on >4th down…I call BS. Teams score the TD 89% of the time when there >is less than a yard to go for a TD. Better yet, Pittsburgh is one >of the best at that particular situation. In fact, I would say the >momentum would have been worse for the Seahawks had he been ruled >down because then Jerome Bettis would have come in and got a TD…>Thee crowd and the Steelers would have really had momentum on their >side if that happened.
bud, they already had crowd momentum, who scores is irrelevant. and if a very questionable hold call (Chris Gray/Farrior) didn’t negate a 20 yard reception, we would have had at least a 30 yard fg on possession one. and then of course the second possession the D-Jack TD. then… the stealers are down 10 or 14 to 0. They’ve gotten stopped THREE TIMES at the 1. I’m not so certain in that case they don’t kick a field goal. Down 3 nothing… easy choice.
>3. Seahawks punter Tom Rouen had 4 touchbacks. How about pinning >the Steelers back deep once or twice, especially when the Steelers >kept going 3-and-out in the 1st half?
yeah… i know.. he was crappy. but 3 touchbacks came on 3 and outs. that means they were irrelevant. far more relevant was the questionable holding call on Peter Warrick’s great run-back. yes, technically it was a hold… but c’mon. why was every hold called on key situations against one team? explain me that, mr. blue shade glasses.
>4. The Seahawks messed up at the end of the first half, with >terrible clock management, leading to a 54-yard field goal attempt >that was missed. With the time they had and 2 timeouts, they should >have gotten the ball closer. Later, they missed a 50-yard field >goal. Again, they could have moved the ball closer.
yes. i can’t really argue… other than to say this possession should have been started with a 10/13/14/17 to 7/3/0 lead. That would have made it far less significant.. now it is a point for the “See it is the Hawks fault” crowd to dwell on.
>5. The holding call on the Seahawks pass to the Steelers 1-yard->line looked like a bad call. Nothing you can do about that but >hitch up your jock strap and move on.
convienient how we had to do all the jockstrap hitching up. ALL GAME. I thought the stealers were supposed to be the tough team that can handle adversity… guess what– they weren’t given as much as they should have been.
>6. Hasselbeck’s interception a couple plays later. There was no >Seahawk anywhere near that ball.
still not nearly as bad as the bearded one’s 2 int’s… and he was DAMN lucky that cross field throw to Hines at the one wasn’t intercepted. had it of been either, this game is completely different. the throw was a lucky prayer, and he fluked it.
>7. Hasselbeck blocking below the waist penalty. This was bad call # >2. It only cost the Seahawks 15 yards though.
if that only your second bad call of the game, you are definitely seeing only one side of the argument. What about Jerremy Stevens’ “dropped pass” that was really a first down and fumble that went out of bounds? whistle made it unreviewable. convienient. and typical if you are a hawk fan, you would remember the same call only in reverse against the hawks against GB in the playoffs a couple years ago… i recall the commentators saying “it was good they didn’t blow the whistle, then it can be reviewed.” so we used a challenge there… and didn’t have one later for the 3rd bad call against us.
>It certainly wasn’t a game changing call.
my point wasn’t that it was game changing… my point– at what time was the officiating equal? at what time was it simply insult on top of injury.
>The interception was much bigger.
of course… they typically are. duh.
>I keep hearing how people are saying Rothlisberger did the same >thing on the reverse a flew plays later. That’s just a joke.
I didn’t say that. I said in the Indy game he apparently blocked below the waist, because that is the only way QB’s (who rarely block) can tackle, by blocking below the waist. But it was close, it was a big play, and it WASN’T called on the stealers… and if you had gotten jerked around by the zebras as much as we had by that point, we wanted one to go the other way.
>8. Pittsburgh had the big plays: a 3rd-and-28 completion in >thequarterreter led to a TD. A 75-yard TD run by Parker. A flea->flicker from Randle El to Ward for the third TD.
and a time out after the play clock had expired that allowed a continued clock eating 3rd and short instead of longer. once again…insult to injury… the clock CLEARLY expired before the bearded boy signalled for time.
>9. The goat of the game: Big talker Jeramy Stevens had 4 drops.
that is just insulting. he wasn’t a big talker… he said one small thing that was taken WAY out of context, by the biggest mouth in the game this side of T.O. and then he spent another 45 minutes the next day politely and calmly and rather eloquently avoiding further controversy or miscontruence.
you are SO overstating his role in that whole media contrived “war of words.” And like the man he is, he made no excuses after the game. I’m disappointed in his drops, but I’m more disappointed that ANYBODY would say that the Porter thing had any relevance at all. I promise you the last thing on his mind was some mindless verbal sparring that occured earlier in the week.
>The two in the first half could have made this game totally different.
Yeah, but I already mentioned one– it was a completion then fumble out of bounds… called correctly it severely minimizes the “Stevens drop/goat factor.”
Yes, he blew it. But the goats of the game were the officials. here’s the thing– in the super bowl, THERE SHOULD BE NO OFFICIATING CONTROVERSY, PERIOD!!!!! it should only be about the teams on the field. this game, there was. and the signicance of the game will always be shrouded in that controversy… which is too bad. it minimizes the steelers win, and it overshadows anything that happened on the field. That should NEVER happen.
>10. The 75 yard TD run. This is on the coaching staff of the >Seahawks. Holmgren’s team has been stopping the Steelers with a 7 >man front the whole game. For some unknown reason, with his 3rd >string Safety in due to injury, he switches to an 8 man front. >turning what normally would have been a 7-15 yeard run into a 75 >yard TD run (the longest in SB history). Boulware, the 8th man up, >bites into the wrong gap and now Parker only has one man to beat…>the third string safety…who takes the wrong route and gets burned >by the fastest running back in the NFL.
Interesting perception. It was a big play by a fast player. It should not have been the difference in the game, and perhaps it was a coaching error.
I do think that too much has been made of holmgren coaching poorly.
-if that was the case, how did the bearded boy with the sterling qb rating end up with one in the 20’s?
-if that was the case, why did we dominate the vaunted blitzburgh packages and move the ball consistently (aside from when the boys in stripes decided it was time to stop our drives).
-if that was the case, why, minus that long run, did pittsburgh get held to about 70 yards rushing?
>11. Darrell Jackson disappeared after catching 5 passes in the 1st >quarter (a SuperBowl record). He had no catches after the 1st >quarter.
Good point. I don’t know, myself. Perhaps the Steelers did something different defensively.
>12. Down 21-10 with 8:48 to play, the Seahawks needed to get a >score. They couldn’t, with Hasselbeck getting sacked on 3rd-and-8 >at the 47. For some unknown reason they decided to punt the ball >away knowing they needed two scores. If they give up a first down >or two, the game is over.
Had they gotten one more 3 and out, this could have been a great field position play. It ended up not being so.
>13. Speaking of which….down 21-10 with 6:15 left, they needed to >make a defensive stop.
True. But of course if the officials made the proper call on the expired play clock, the extra 5 yards may have made a huge difference.
>So, two plays I thought could be classified as bad calls. One was >on Hasslebeck after the interception…which had nothing to do with >the outcome of the game & the other a holding call after a pass >down to the 1 yard line. This certainly did have something to do >with the outcome of the game, but if you can’t overcome a bad call >or two, your not a Superbowl champ anyway.
pure garbage.
The final reckoning of this game– it will forever be tainted by the poor officiating. Michael Smith said so at ESPN.com. Mike and Mike in the morning said so. Mark Schlereth. Even Skip “Seafraud” Bayless said so.
I’m not saying it was the 72 Olympic Basketball game… but it was pretty damn close.
The game should ALWAYS be decided by the players on the field. This one was far too heavily influenced by the officials… for whatever reason, preferrably accidental. But it was heavily on the shoulders of the men in stripes…
And that is a shame.
They’ve used other trick plays with Randle El, though, and the ones I’ve seen have always been at midfield.
Here’s some of the headlines from the Pittsburgh Gazette:
Steelers emerge triumphant
The Steelers’ long search to repeat as Super Bowl champions ended after 26 years last night when they beat the Seahawks, 21-10, at Ford Field, capping a storybook run and finishing the Jerome Bettis saga in grand style.
Super Bowl XL: One for the ages
No team had ever won three playoff games on the road and then won a Super Bowl, but the Steelers last night completed a magical ride.
More …
Seahawks have difficulty explaining how they lost
A vocal Steelers Nation takes over Ford Field
Seattle tight end drops the ball after catching flak
There were 2 polls in the online newspaper, one asking about the officiating. In 6614 votes, the percentage was 56% yes, 44% no. There’s voting going on right now, so the total # changes by the second.
The URL is http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/ if you’d like to vote your 2c worth…
For all the anguish caused as a result of the Seahawks laying an egg I don’t think I could have stood the chest thumping and other celebratory shennagians (the usual overturned cars, small fires, and assorted vandalism) if they had managed to pull out the big win. Does anyone else find it offensive when the fans start describing the team as “we” such as “we was robbed” and “we played poorly”…etc. I always want to ask what position the fan played when the pronoun “we” is used in describing the team.
Yes yes yes the issue of fan identification with their team.
#55. Roc, I got pretty roundly criticized, then banned, on another message board for pointing out that same euphemism: “we” as used by fans for their team. It was particularly offensive because it was a NYY fan board. Everyone knows NYY fans get their [another euphemism] off by fantasizing they’re a NYY player…
Since the team’s success is predicated on the financial backing of the fans, it’s appropriate to use “we”.
Kevin Hench on Foxsports wrote a column on this that does a fairly good job running down what happened when, and why it sucked so bad.
Play this game over ten times and the Steelers win 9 times…..
Given the same officiating, of course. The tenth time I assume that after having to run three plays in a row, Bettis collapses on top of Ben Roethlisberger in the huddle and smothers the QB to death.
I assume you mean if they met 10 times, the Steelers expected number of wins would be 9.
Well then, you must’ve not watched the same game. Seattle played better except when it counted (look at the stats), and as any sabermetrician will tell you, general performance is better at predicting the future than “clutch” performance.
In other words, if one is going by how the teams played yesterday, it’s obvious bias if you think the Steelers have a 90% chance of winning.
Ah heck, I wouldn’t even say the Colts playing the Texans have a 90% chance of winning.
I want to point a couple things out for the record since we are on the topic of who would win if the game were played again.
I think the wrong team won yesterday. The better team went home without the ring. Given ten games, the Hawks would win 6 or 7.
that being said, I stand by my recap above. You just can’t blame everything on aofficials. We always want something to blame it on. Everyone does it. From 3rd grade basketball to beer league softball, everyone blame sthe officials. They did make a couple bad calls. The others were just blown out of proportion by the magnitude of the game/perception once the bad calls were made.
I’m not trying to tell people not to feel what they are feeling, because it is valid. But, if you want to place blame…blame it on losing three Defensive players to injury (pruitt got burned on two of Pitt’s three TD’s). Blame it on Jeramy Stevens…who I stand accountable as the goat of the game. While his “small” comment seems insignificant in and of itself, it was one which never should have been said by someone who couldn’t back it up. Blame the coach or, more spcifically, his clock management at the end of both halves. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
OR, as a better suggestion, pitchers and catcher are packing their bags as we speak!
How about just blaming it on the better team winning?
Even I’m not arguing that the loss is to be blamed on the officials.
My argument is that their effect on the game far outweighed that of any individual player on either side.
great foxsports article. scoop jackson references the poor calling over at ESPN, as does Michael Smith, who is far more vocal, and Bill Simmons laughs about it as well.
on the “we” euphemism…
consider this:
fans in regions that have a sport team probably pay taxes on the stadiums— that amounts to some form of “we.”
the seahawks in particular have a huge home field advantage due to “us” so we should have the right to use “we.”
now i’m not the beer swilling guy who thinks my ticket price and stadium consumption allows me to voice my expletive filled diatribe on the other team, but i do believe that paying for seats/concessions/parking/merchandise allows for a certain amount of ownership to any sports team.
i was in a denver bar wearing my tatupu jersey (bought at the giants game) and dealing with a Dr.John looking/sounding guy in a Bus jersey who was watching that alternative universe pittsburgh channel (strangely on the same TV i was watching.)
i had to put up with his crap all game. i’m using “we.” You don’t like it, bite all of “us” who use the pronoun.
I love that line…..****the Hawks played better except when it counted*****
On the *we* issue….its never *we* got pummeled by the other team….it seems the pronoun is used selectively by fans…
Some stats for those who are saying that Pittsburgh clearly played the better game:
First downs: Seattle 20, Pittsburgh 14
Time Of Possession: Seattle 33:02, Pittsburgh 26:58
Total Net Yards:Seattle 396, Pittsburgh 339
Had Intercepted: Seattle 1, Pittsburgh 2
Punts-Average (this one surprised me, I thought the Seahawks punting sucked): Seattle 6-50.2, Pittsburgh 6-48.7
The only major stats that favored the Steelers:
3rd-Down Conversions: Seattle 5-17, Pittsburgh 8-15
Net Yards Rushing: Seattle 137, Pittsburgh 181
Sacked-Yards Lost: Seattle 3-14, Pittsburgh 1-8
Oh, and of course:
Penalties-Yards: Seattle 7-70, Pittsburgh 3-20
For the record, I’m not discrediting the Pittsburgh win, the officials did that for me.
And I have been on the losing end of some bad officiating in my playing and coaching days. We all have. But not on the grandest stage of all, when the game should not be in the hands of the stripes.
Pittsburgh players earned the right to celebrate– they had more points at the end of the game, despite being dominated statistically. props to them…
But also….
I’m saying that when ESPN has a poll in which 63% of the country sees the officials as affecting the outcome of the game (Penn and WV are the only states that voted the officials were a non-factor– small surprise)– when 63% of the country including many people who truly could care less vote that it was poorly officiated…
when every media outlet has some form of commentary that connects to the fact that the officials played far too large of a part…
when the team with the superior yardage, time of possession AND winner of the turnover battle loses a game of this magnitude in this way…
you have to admit that it is a shame.
the game will live in infamy, and be remembered not as the steelers winning, but for seattle losing– and the role the officials played in that loss.
was it solely the officials? hell no. but dammit, it was the superbowl, and we as fans of football expect (and deserve) better on such a stage.
#71: you forgot the most important stat in football:
Steelers 21 Hawks 10
MedicineHat… In any football game, you can point to any number of mistakes or events by the losing team, and make a decent argument that’s why they lost the game. But, in this particular game, the Seahawks:
- won the time-of-possession battle, 33 minutes to 27
- won the turnover battle, 2 to 1
- won the yardage battle, 396 to 339
Find me another box score where the winning team “lost” in all three of those categories. It’s very rare. In fact, the only battle the Hawks lost was the “penalty” battle, a fact which stood out like a sore thumb to anyone who watched the game:
Hawks: 7 penalties, 70 yards (and at least another 100 yards called back).
Pitt: 3 penalties, 20 yards (and ZERO called back).
That’s huge – undeniably the difference in the game. And, it’s not as if the good folks in Seattle are the only ones who noticed it… just about every analysis of this Superbowl in the national media at least mentions the apparently lop-sided officiating, and their are countless articles focusing on it.
Funny thing is even with all these gigantic mistakes the Hawks made, they lost by 11. And that’s not even counting the refs blowing a few calls. Steelers needed all the help they could get.
While I understand you were trying to be witty by saying that, terry, it really comes off as disingenuous.
No one is disputing what the final score was; we’re disputing what it should have been. And if you didn’t know what the score was, just looked at those two stat lines; who would you have thought would have won the game? What would be your guess?
Disregarding the penalties, of course, since that’s the point of contention here.
Terry, I lived, taught and coached in the LA region when Spezio hit his homerun that made him millions with “US.”
The M’s were my team then, I said “we” then, and got a tremendous amount of grief for it by the locals. Like the time my entire frosh baseball team all came to practice in Angels hats.
I had a Seahawk mug on my desk. Before they/we were “good” again. I would often find mysterious “Go Raiders” or “Go Rams” on my chalkboards. Every Monday after a Hawks loss, I would be greeted with smack talk from 14-18 year olds.
A true fan ALWAYS uses we, winning and losing, year after year.
Don’t generalize that we only say “we” when we are winning. Sometimes we lose, too. I feel pain when my teams lose. I couldn’t sleep last night. To me, if the outcomes of the team affects your sleeping patterns, that is enough to be able to us “we.”
#72: youre right unscientific polls should be the guiding cornerstone of everyone’s perception of truth.
Lets face it people….the media is searching for any spin that could make an otherwise boring and nondescript superbowl a worthy topic of discussion for a few more days…. the fact that the media is trying to squeeze every last drop of blood out of this cash cow shouldnt be used as evidence that the officiating cost the Hawks the game.
People, Pittsburgh won by 11 points which if you adjust for style of play really is about a 20 point margin. The Hawks were in serious trouble going in the half trailing by 4. The game was over when Parker hit the 75 yard bomb. 11 points might as well have been 50. Pittsburgh just doesnt lose in that situation-irregardless of the officiating.
[i]People, Pittsburgh won by 11 points which if you adjust for style of play really is about a 20 point margin.[/i/
I’m not even sure what you could possibly THINK this means, much less what it would actually mean.
terry, the game was over when Parker scored? Far from it. Hawks drove it to Steelers’ 1 yard line. They could have taken a 17-14 lead there if not for the refs.
Pittsburgh wins ugly…. Id look at the box score and see Pittsburgh hit the hawks for 180 on the gound will keeping Alexander under 100 and predict a Steeler victory EVERYTIME.
#79- The Hawks were in serious trouble going in the half trailing by 4.
of course they should have gone into the half up by 7
#81: everyone is operating on a couldve ,wouldve, shouldve mentality…
Trust me when I say the Steelers have broken my heart far more times than your current pain (though I wouldnt diminish yours).
Supposedly getting to the one (which didnt happen of course because the Hawks held on the play) is a far cry from taking the lead. Ive seen it for what feels like a million times. You fall behind Pittsburgh by 11 in the second half and it takes an act of God to over come it.
Given their ability to jam the ball down your throat (i.e. shorten the game dramatically) makes an 11 point lead adjust to a 20 point lead. Simply put, sure the Hawks came within 4 and had a chance to take the lead, but, it was only a mirage as the final score indicates.
Since everyone has a big case of the if only, if only Carson Palmer doesnt get hurt, the Bengals wouldve won yesterday 49 to 42.
Lets deal with reality. The better team won. Its that simple.
terry–
by calling those polls “unscientific” then following that broad generalization with a VERY unscientific assertion that 11 points ACTUALLY is 20 points…
what parallel illogical universe to you live in?
the media doesn’t need to squeeze anything out of this… they finally have something real to talk about, instead of a guy averaging 3.0 yards a carry and how he retires.
T dawg….. the Steelers are like 110-1 when leading by 10 or more under Bill Cohwer….
I wont even break out the calculus to suggest thats so repeatable that it just HAS to have predictive power…
#48, Mat. We did get screwed on that one. He kicked the pylon, doesn’t matter what side his leg is on, he kicked it. Also, he kicked it with his right (outside) foot so the ball probably broke the plane of the goal line. This was after having possession of the ball with his left foot inbounds. It was inside two minutes, the replay officials totally missed it. They even had a timeout called after the play so they had extra time to call for a review. They should have at least reviewed it. They didn’t. I hope the Stealers enjoy their Lombardi Trophy, gift wrapped in zebra striped paper.
Look, there’s at least 7 points that were taken off the boards and the refs didn’t even review the play (under 2 minutes so it had to come from the booth). DJ’s out of bounds catch in the end of the first half was in bounds. His left foot is in and his right foot hits the pylon on the way out of bounds.
I didn’t know it at the time so I didn’t get mad over this until this morning when I found out the rule (and TiVoed it to make sure), but that’s a touchdown:
“A player will be ruled in bounds if he touches the pylon at the goal line before going out of bounds. For example, a pass would be considered complete if one foot touches the pylon and the other foot is in bounds.”
http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/clayton_john/1354105.html
terry, you said you are a Bengals fan earlier. Now you came out and said the Steelers have broken your heart before. Your tail is showing.
Yes, the Hawks came within 4 and had a chance to to take the lead, if not for the refs.
[dupe]
Except they didn’t do that. Pittsburgh played relatively little defense and saying Alexander didn’t get 100 yards as a plus is shortsighted. He only had 20 carries, which gives him a 4.75 YPC. That’s not good on the Steelers part.
The problem with you is that all you can see is the final score. You don’t seem to be able to look at the numbers objectively and determine who really played the better game. It’s unbelievable that you really think the Steelers have a 90% chance of winning considering how poorly they played yesterday.
#89: Im not sure what youre trying to say about my tail (my wife likes it) but as a Bengals fan (*we* play them twice a year and hopefully 3 times a year with Marvin now running the show in Cincy), ive had my heart broken about 25 times in the last 15 years. The Bengals/Steelers rivalry is a deeply felt one….
Everyone who still wants to talk the what if game….how ’bout this one… what if Big Ben doesnt throw that ridiculously bad interception on the ten. The Steelers win 28-3 then…. What if goes both ways…thats why I prefer to deal with reality. Ive seen what happened to the Hawks yesterday play out a ton of times before.
You werent as close as you thought you were.
Terry…
you are so very very wrong on so many levels..
>everyone is operating on a couldve ,wouldve, shouldve mentality…
>Trust me when I say the Steelers have broken my heart far more times than your current pain (though I wouldnt diminish yours).
that’s pure crap. you have NO IDEA what it is like to be a lifelong Seahawk fan. I’m 30. We just had the most successful season in our history. Other than this it has been gutshot preceded by gutshot. At least your team had a chance many times, at least at the beginning of the season, you knew you had a chance to go all the way.. we always were left to pray.
And if you are older than me, you have no right to bitch EVER about your poor steewers bweaking your heart, because you got 4 championships in the late 70’s.
>Supposedly getting to the one (which didnt happen of course because the Hawks held on the play) is a far cry from taking the lead. Ive seen it for what feels like a million times. You fall behind Pittsburgh by 11 in the second half and it takes an act of God to over come it.
whatever, once again. Shakespeare said, “The play’s the thing.” And the play on the field was one sided. But every time a wooden stake was about to be plunged into the steeler heart, a terrible towel… uh.. i mean a penalty flag would fly.
>Given their ability to jam the ball down your throat (i.e. shorten the game dramatically) makes an 11 point lead adjust to a 20 point lead. Simply put, sure the Hawks came within 4 and had a chance to take the lead, but, it was only a mirage as the final score indicates.
once again, 100% pure total unadulterated pooh. the steelers didn’t jam anything. and if you were watching that game, you would know that aside from one very long run, the steeler ground game was held in relative check. as for the “brilliant” bearded boy– he looked like a boy out there, and i truly believed as long as he was going to throw the ball, we still had a chance to intercept it.
>Since everyone has a big case of the if only, if only Carson Palmer doesnt get hurt, the Bengals wouldve won yesterday 49 to 42.
now you are losing all of the slight credibility you may have had left. c’mon… didn’t the steelers win that game because they physically dominated the bengals? and didn’t we physically dominate the panthers and the steelers, two teams that supposedly were going to push us around? pshaw… useless to argue against your “I’m a Pittsburgh fan so the game was evenly called and won by the better team” argument.” You have no basis in fact, outside of a flukey final score.
>Lets deal with reality. The better team won. Its that simple.
let’s deal with reality. The better team lost. The “team of destiny” won, perhaps because too many officials read that storyline in the 2 weeks preceeding the super bowl.
The team that dominated this game deserved to win and didn’t. the headline of the post is about the MVP. simply put, DMZ was right– there was no steeler that deserved the award, Hines won on default.
But the thing that MOST AFFECTED the game was the officiating. And everyone outside of those that carry terrible towels knows that to be the case.
#91…why did Alexander only get 20 carries I wonder to myself out loud….did it have anything to do with being down 11 points in the second half and having the Steelers pound it down the Hawks throat in the 4th quarter?
As for looking at the numbers objectively, 21-10 is as objective as it gets. There is no more important stat.
Bad play calling. The Steelers didn’t do any “pounding down the throat” defensively in the 4th quarter. The numbers don’t indicate it.
When attempting to predict future performance, the final score is not adequate enough. When attempting to mitigate the official’s influence on the game (i.e. a “what if” scenario), one has to look at everything else besides the official score.
oh… Terry… didn’t realize you were a Bengal fan.
But, then, in the time I’ve been alive you’ve been to 2 superbowls, which by my count, prior to yesterday, was 2 more than us.
>”You weren’t as close as you thought you were.”
If the D-Jack TD call is made correctly, the Hawks would have never looked back. I’m even more pissed now that I’ve heard the official NFL rule on the OB call on the pylon.
This game was always, right up until the final 4th down play, still within our grasp. big ben was horrible. the steelers D was over-rated.
The Hawks shot themselves in the foot time and time again, and had big play after big play taken away by the stripes, and yet even late in the 4th we still had a chance. How much closer can it be?
And that previous paragraph (from which I could site numerous examples) added to the stat lines, pretty much explains that the better team DID NOT win this game.
and terry,
why in the hell is a bengals fan arguing FOR the steelers in this case. is it just to rub salt in our already painful wounds?
seriously, how can a guy who should dislike the steelers on principal argue that they were the better team and the officiating didn’t play any significant factor…
err… principle.
Of course what if goes both ways. The point of the entire exercise is figuring out which behaviors are repeatable and which ones aren’t . Those individual plays are a tiny sample in and of themself, so maybe Roethlisberger doesn’t throw the INT. But that’s irrelevant. Looking at the overall numbers, who played better on both sides of the ball? It certainly wasn’t Pittsburgh.
Well, we’re not talking about “reality” here and since we framed the debate, if you don’t wish to discuss hypotheticals then refrain from commenting.
So what? If you’re trying to make the contention that the team that played better usually loses and we can use that to determine the outcome of a hypothetical rematch, then… I’d really love to see the proof.
I know it hurts when somebody is blatantly wrong, but people, stop arguing with terry. You’re not going to convince him. It’s fruitless.
Neutral perspective for whatever it’s worth – I’m in the UK and haven’t watched a game for years owing to our broadcasters’ habit of putting these things on pay channels.
Anyway, it looked like an extreme case of ‘Murphy’s Law’ for the Seahawks: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I agree with everyone who wonders which game Terry was watching.
And I really enjoyed the game. When we used to get live Superbowls over here the NFC usually racked up 55 points and we all got disappointed again. Welcome change!
Rich
When I really think about it, one huge aspect of the Seahawks loss was that, after getting stabbed in the back by the refs numerous times, the ‘Hawks were not able to stick with their normal flow, and it had an effect on their play throughout the latter stages of the game. One can look at the final 2 minutes of the 2nd and 4th quarters, and notice a visible lack of focus and execution. I think our contention is, if the plays on the field stood without the direct interference from the refs, the situations during those two periods would have been completely different (instead of being down 7-3 and 21-10, respectively). The issue isn’t that any one bad call from Bill Levy’s crew changed the course of the game (like Don Don Denkinger in the ‘85 World Series), but the combination of every anti-Seahawk call (most of which came during critical moments) had a lasting effect on momentum, not to mention what the score might actually have been. Our death was one of attrition.
This is why I can’t watch football. There are too any rules, with too great an opportunity for the officials to determine the outcome.
The Six Nations* rubgy tournament started on Saturday. It offers a much more open, free-flowing game, and it has far less structure and fiddly little rules about what you’re allowed to do. Get ball, run with ball, toss ball to teammate. I recommend it.
* England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Italy.
I would absolutely abandon football is there were viewing opportunities for other sports here in the U.S. I’m a big fan of rugby, “soccer”, and cricket, but since I can’t watch it over here, I’m forced to care about what I can see.
Man, I ripped up some big tickets in Vegas yesterday. But I’m hanging on to my Mariners to win the World Series bet — at 85 – 1.
Re: #101
If you’ve seen the flick The 25th Hour (starting Edward Norton), Murphy’s Law is referred to as ‘Doyle’s Law’ — which may explain a lot for one oft-injured Mariner.
look at it this way…all of the Seahawks’s past demons were excercised yesterday:
1. Dropped passes – Check (Stevens)
2. Phanton TD by Testeverde – Check (Rothlisberger)
3. Injuries costing in crunch time – Check (3 D-men gone in 1st two quarters)
4. Officiating – Check (covered that)
the only stat that matters right now is that since we’ve slipped the calendars to the 2000’s no team that lost the Superbowl has had a winning season the following year. It’s called the hangover effect. How the Hawks respond next year is what counts.
#99 said: ******So what? If you’re trying to make the contention that the team that played better usually loses and we can use that to determine the outcome of a hypothetical rematch, then… I’d really love to see the proof.********
No. My point was that the better football team wins more than it will lose if the same two teams were to play each other over and over irregardless of peripheral statistics. This of course is evidenced by yesterday’s score (once again the one statistic that trumps all others) where the better team won. The Haawks didnt have what it took.
The Steelers had 140 rushing yards in the second half, the Hawks couldnt stop them in the fourth quarter when it was essential to keep the Steelers from getting a first down (the Steelers were 3/4 on 3rd down in the 4th quarter).
Hey people, the Bengals have *the second play*, the colts have *the tackle*, the Hawks apparently have *the refs*. The Steelers have the championship. America was treated to one of the least compelling suberbowls of my lifetime. Quit whining about *what if*….. its unbecoming of a sabermetrician….
no way you are going to insult us AND get the last word in.
the best team, AS EVIDENCED BY NEARLY EVERY STATISTIC AND VISUAL EVIDENCE did not win the game. your argument is 1/3 logic and 2/3 salt in wounds and insults.
we weren’t whining about “what if” we were COMPLAINING about the officiating, which is NOT what the day after the Super Bowl is supposed to be relegated to.
to smirk and “neener” us is unbecoming a person with any integrity or class.
No. My point was that the better football team wins more than it will lose if the same two teams were to play each other over and over irregardless of peripheral statistics. This of course is evidenced by yesterday’s score (once again the one statistic that trumps all others) where the better team won.
Let me see whether I follow. The better team wins, which is evidenced by yesterday’s game where the Stealers were the better team, as evidenced by the fact that they won. Nice circular logic.
“Irregardless” of what you say, everybody besides the most hardcore Stealers fans has caught on to the fact that the officiating was a major factor in determining the outcome of yesterday’s game. Heck, even is finally catching on. You are just arguing for arguing’s sake.
But it’s not. This is a circular argument, in that we’re trying to argue the score yesterday isn’t accurate in determining which team was truly better yet you’re trying to counter our arguments by saying it is accurate because… it just is..?
75 of those yards came on one play, and it certainly wasn’t a “smash mouth” play. And by the time the Seahawks “had to” stop the Steelers from getting a first down, the game was essentially over. This is hardly proof that Seattle wasn’t the better team overall, all it shows is that Seattle played poorly near the end of the game.
This is an ad hominem argument.
Well, y’know, in the 1960 World Series, the Yankees outscored the Pirates 55-27 in 7 games, but in the end, guess who won 4 games and the championship? The Pirates.
That’s just sort of the way it works. At the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins, and at the end of the series, whoever wins the requisite number of games wins. Unfortunately, in football there’s only one game, and whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.
What do people remember about the 1960 World Series? Mazeroski’s homer in the bottom of the 9th, not Hal Smith’s homer in the bottom of the 8th.
I watched the whole game yesterday, and today the only play I really remember well was Randle El’s throw to Ward. That was *cool*.
While it’s true that the better team (in a fair game) will win more than it will lose, if it’s possible for for the lesser team to win from time to time, then a single game (the Superbowl) is an insufficiently large sample to determine which team is stronger.
As mentioned above, it’s a circular argument.
Matthew -
I’m in Canada – it’s not that easy to find rugby here, either. Aside from the M’s, my biggest sports are Formula One, open ocean yacht racing, and rugby. It takes some doing, but I manage it.
Speaking of Bill Simmons the Sports Guy, I’m working my way through his Super Bowl diary right now. He commented “I love how everyone copies the 2001 Patriots now — both the Steelers and Seahawks teams were introduced all at once. One catch: For the Seahawks, the same song that ended “Cruel Intentions” (“Bittersweet Symphony”) was playing in the background as they came out. Apparently that choice edged out “Everyday Is Like Sunday” by the Smiths and “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt. No way they win now. It’s impossible.”
I noticed that too, and thought to myself, “that’s great, the Seahawks get a funeral dirge and the Steelers (I was spelling it that way BEFORE the game) get a real charge out of their intro music…not good, not good at all…”
#112: That’s the thing about playing only one game to determine a championship, instead of best of seven: momentum swings and bad officiating have a lot more impact on the final outcome. And while unexpected plays happen in both sports: two late-inning home runs in the ‘60 series, and the Randel El pass to Ward in the Super Bowl, it’s especially disheartening to have men, supposedly impartial, making decisions that adversely affect the outcome. These weren’t random, unavoidable situations, or acts of God, but judgments made by people not playing the game. And when that, as much as anything else, determines victory, then that is cause for concern and anger.
#115: Another great quip from the Sports Guy: “Shouldn’t the refs just replace the yellow flags with Terrible Towels at this point?” I’m sure that joke will get old in 24 hours, but it’s very apt. He also called the horsetackle on Shaun Alexander before the big Hasselbeck INT (another Steeler non-call). When you add it all up, the refs handed the Steelers the trophy on a silver (or black and gold, I guess) plate.
just to get a nice urban-legendy vibe going, there was a Hawks fan on the radio today claiming that when he was in Ford Field sunday, the ushers were handing out the towels to the fans
Officiating in the NFL has gotten worse and worse the last few years, and Super Bowl XL kind of caps it off. [Hypothesis, no data to cite] It seems to me the decline in officiating has coincided with an increase if complex and goofy rules [/hypothesis] Look at all the wierd calls. Helmet-helmet-contact? Blocking below the waste while the guy is engaged by another player? A receiption defined by whether the player makes a “football move” after catching the ball? Intentional grounded, but not if the QB is outside the pocket and throws the ball near the line of scrimmage? Penalities for excessive celebration and, shudder, taunting?
Honestly, none of the players look french?
But if they keep going like this, they’ll need to switch the post-game coverage from ESPN to CourtTV. Replace Chris Berman with Gretta Van Sustren.
Evan – Welsh heritage?
Wales got jobbed a few times during Saturday’s rout, turning a comfortable defeat into a hiding. I guess these things happen…
I take no pleasure in ranting against officials in any sport, and in general avoid it if at all possible. That said, the officiating in this Super Bowl was incredibly, incredibly one-sided. There wasn’t a single signicant call in the entire game that went Seattle’s way; the refs picked up the flag on one, and were reversed upstairs on another, but even including those every significant _initial_ call went against the Hawks. That’s just . . . tooo weak for words. The flag on Jackson’s touchdown was a terrible call; the flag on the RT for holding on the pass to the 2 was simply inexcusable. Several times Pittsburgh made crucial, deep passes after their QB or guy holding the ball did a bunch or running around; in that situation, there is certain to be holding on the lineman—if you want to see it, and if you want to call it. The refs didn’t choose to, but saw minor or phantasmal occurrences against the Seahawks at the most crucial times. I don’t believe that you can bribe enough guys in stripes to make a difference, and I tend to discount that theory: to me, it was sheer disrespect, and a free pass to victory for the ‘famous team.’ Pittsburgh was outplayed for the entire game except inside both two-minute warnings, but the refs never let Seattle in the game. Awful.
Im shocked by alot of people’s inability to understand that the only statistic in football that counts is the final score.
#111: uh…no it wasnt an ad hominem argument…it was an observation…
#113: if you cant bring the goods in the biggest game of your career, then you really cant claim youre better…
I think alot have allowed emotion to get in the way of judgement…..like Ive said, Ive seen Sunday play out a like what seems a billion times… I couldve scripted that game after about 3 minutes into the second quarter and beleive me, I was rooting for the Hawks.
and I bet we’re all collectively shocked at your total inability to see that the refs had a meaningful impact on said final score.
Alright, I concede…the refs had meaningful impact…the final score shouldve been 21-13.
Jeez, terry, can you really not see how the refs hatchet job on the Seahawks affected the game? Here, let me run this hypothesis by you: without changing any other aspect of the game, if the refs do not flag Jackson for the “pass interference” on the touchdown, and if they don’t throw the flag of the phantom holding on Jerramy Stevens catch at the 1-yard-line (which would set up an easy Shaun Alexander TD run), the score is 21-21. And that’s just changing TWO calls! And that does not take into account how both teams would have played in the last 5 minutes, with a tied score. You CANNOT believe the refs did not have any control of the outcome, one way or the other, I’m sorry.
Throw in the TD that wasn’t called correctly at the end of the first half and it’s 28-21 Seahawks. Seriously, ya gotta check it out if you have Tivo. Jackson got his left foot in with possession and he kicked the pylon with his right foot before going out of bounds. It should have been a TD. The replay officials should have called for a replay and they didn’t.
There you go. Another debatable call that went against the Seahawks, in a situation that (more than likely) would have put points on the board. It isn’t the number of calls that went against the Seahawks, or the level of incompetence in regard to the person throwing the flag, but the situations where the flag was thrown. We have pinpointed THREE missed calls or bad calls against the Seahawks, three plays that affected the score of the game. That’s a swing from 3 points actually scored, to 21 points that more than likely should have scored, minus the flags. The refs screwed up, it’s only a debate wether it was intentional, or just stupidity.
Blah Blah Blah….
Bottom line, your cant push off even just a little,
Bottom line, you cant hold even just a little,
Bottom line, you can’t argue calls that even the Hawks staff in the box didnt deem replay worthy,
Bottom line, the Hawks put themselves into all of those situations (dropped passes, incredibly horrible interception, inability to stop the Steeler’s rush straight up)
Bottom line, 21-10 is a butt whooping.
Bottom line, Troy Polamalu dropped the interception.
Blah, blah, blah.
Bottom line is, in reality, the Steelers won, with a lot of help with the refs. Unless you count the leadership skills of Ben “22.9 QB Rating” Roethlisberger.
This is a great point to end on I think….as #129 said *****Bottom line is, in reality, the Steelers won****** I agree 100%.
Yes yes, I’m sure by now everyone agrees that you’ve made your views on the topic clear.
Yes, the Steelers did win. But it will always and forever be a tainted championship.
I can’t believe that guy is an M’s fan and a reader of this place, a place of logic and rationality.
so, we, the team, and the nation all agree that the Hawks needed to play better, but just to wrap up the theme of this particular blog entry, a brief summary from the paper today:
“The Seahawks were penalized seven times for 70 yards, tied for the third-most penalty yards in any Super Bowl since 1980 and second-most in the past 10 Super Bowls. Even that doesn’t measure the impact. The penalties nullified one touchdown, two first downs and 86 total yards — 52 yards receiving and 34 yards of a punt return. Pittsburgh was penalized three times, none in the second half.”
terry, you do realize that several of those calls were non-reviewable, right?
I am also amazed by two things:
1) That you can call any 21-10 score, much less one where almost all of the major game stats favor the losing team, a “butt whooping”;
2) That you can come to this site and spout nonsense like “the only stat that matters is the final score”. Have you never read this site before, at all?
After reviewing the “tape” (I recorded it in EP quality on DVD, which isn’t much better quality than VHS, but I digress…), here’s a couple of things:
1) The D-Jack touchdown flag should’ve been called against the defender. He clearly touched D-Jack first, before the ball got there. His hand on D-Jack clearly impeded D-Jack’s movement much moreso than D-Jack’s later hand. Both contact was clearly in front of the ref. At worst, the penalties should’ve offset — there should’ve been two
2) There’s much made about the 2 first-half Steelers’ flags being False Starts, but the third was an offensive pass interference call against the Steelers. I’ll have to review the call again, because I wasn’t specifically watching it, but IIRC, it happened before the D-Jack call.
3) All angles of Roethlisberger’s touchdown clearly, and I say CLEARLY show the football never made it even close to the plane of the end zone. That Roethlisberger even admitted on Letterman last night that he never got in (but says he would’ve gotten in on 4th down anyway, which is moot) makes it all the more frustrating. What’s also very, very clear is that the line judge initially was marking the spot short of the goal line (and raising 4 fingers in the air, perhaps signalling 4th down, but I’ll admit to ignorance of hand signals), and only after Roethlisberger reached the ball across the goal line (when he was clearly down, and the line judge himself was halfway between the sideline and the players) did that judge raise his arms up to signal the touchdown. One could only assess he was basing this on the ball being across the plane at that point (upon Roethlisberger’s reaching it across after the play was dead), and not when Roethlisberger was up in the air. Again, all angles clearly show that the ball might’ve touched the line, at best, but never ever crossed that line.
4) Pittsburgh’s #64 could have been called for holding Marcus Tubbs (#90) on the long pass to Ward on the 1. There was arguably a push-in-the back non-call that could’ve been made, too.
5) One of the criticisms of the Seahawks is their poor clock management at the end of the half. Were the game score different (i.e. a 7-7 tie, at worst, or, as it should’ve been, a Seahawks’ lead), that would not have even been an issue in the first half. Even still, it’s certainly arguable whether or not the pylon contact should’ve been called a completion, but indeed (without question) he made some kind of contact with the pylon before his right foot touched out of bounds.
I haven’t reviewed the second half yet, but certainly at best, the refs judgement in the first half was horribly, horribly bad. Going into the locker room, Holmgren clearly should have game planned for this, and I’m not convinced he didn’t. Certainly the Seahawks could have played better. But they would have played much, much differently being ahead or tied going into halftime (which very clearly should’ve been the case) than they did being behind. As would’ve Pittsburgh.
Considering the national scandal this has caused, the NFL has to address the situation. If it doesn’t, then that could further the conspiricy theory. Certainly, at the very least, Pittsburgh’s claim to the title is tainted, as evidenced by the multitude of non-Seahawks fans everywhere who have expressed such an opinion. I’m not arguing that the Seahawks should have won the game. I’m just saying that we’ll never, ever know. And that’s truly a shame, because I really respect the Steelers as a worthy opponent, and I love Jerome Bettis and Ben Roethlisberger. It’s too bad that a majority of the 91 million reported viewers were treated to an inferior product. But, at least people are talking about the NFL, and any press (good or bad) is great publicity for the NFL.
The Seahawks now moreso than ever, have motivation to run the table next year — and the front-office staff (including their owner), as well as a solid nucleus of a team and coaching staff, that should be around to make things happen in 2006-7 (and beyond). Even if Alexander leaves, I see little-to-no-chance of next season’s Seahawks’ team collapsing like the 2002-2005+ Mariners and the 2005/6 Sonics. I’m excited about the future of the Seahawks. This “injustice”, while painful in the short-term, should be of long-term benefit to both the team and its fans.
#136– Considering the national scandal this has caused, the NFL has to address the situation.
they have.
“Overall it was a well-officiated game. There’s no question about it.”– Greg Aiello, league spokesman
Wow. That’s an pretty high lie-to-word ratio there.
Yeah, I just read that quote.
I wonder if he managed to get it out with a straight face. Maybe he got a Botox before he went out to talk to the media so that he could stay carefully expressionless.
Well, I’d feel a lot better if Bill Leavy and/or Greg Aiello held a news conference, and told us that he was not a crook. And also that he did not have sexual relations with that woman. That should end all this nasty, controversial talk.
#135: Hey Jeff, if you get to look at the second alf, have a look at the Sean Locklear holding call. Not only is it as flimsy a call a ref can make, but can you see if Haggans lined up in (or beyond) the neutral zone? And have a good look at all the other crappy calls, too. Thanks.
PINCH-HITTING SPECIALISTS – Not to change the subject, but The Hardball Times has an excellent history of the pinch-hitting specialist. http://tinyurl.com/cnept
#135: of course your comment assumes this thread has been littered with a scientific discussion of football.
Football is a quite different *sabermetric beast* than baseball, however, whining about officiating and making plays to the emotions isnt really a scietific discussion.
There are really two bottom lines about Sunday:
1. the perception of a majority of disputed calls really is influenced by both the viewer’s bias and limited camera angles (obviously of course, Hasselbeck shouldnt have been flagged for attempting a tackle). Clearly emotions are a major part of the mix (would we watch sports if they weren’t?). Nobody saw any of those plays from the angle of the officials.
2. Just about any team that made the playoffs this year couldve knocked off the Hawks on Sunday given the way they played penalties notwithstanding.
3. Clearly the match up the world really wanted to see was the Bengals vs. the Seahawks. Your anger should really be directed at the conspiritors that refused to allow that marquee game to happen.
Guys here is a *stat* that should provide a little perspective concerning Sunday’s game:
NO team has ever given up 181 yards rushing and won the superbowl.
” Nobody saw any of those plays from the angle of the officials.”
Including, as you point out here, the officials.
Terry, how many teams managing only 158 yards passing have won the supperbowl?
#146: There have been 14 teams that have won the superbowl given your criteria. If you expland the criteria to the number of teams that have won the superbowl with under 200 yards passing (which would still be considered below the league average), then over half of the superbowl winners qualify.
’supperbowl’
no team has ever won the Super Bowl while giving up more first downs, more total yards, and having possession of the ball less than their opponent, except for this years gift to the Steelers.
Alright how about this as a perspective:
No team has ever dropped 5 passes, missed 2 field goals, allowed a 75 yard rushing touchdown, allowed a 43 yard touchdown pass, and whiffed in two 2 minute drills and won a superbowl.
I think youre right about one thing….superbowl 40 was a gift to the Steelers but not for the reasons alot of Hawks fans are offering….
Bottom line, just tackle Parker and use the clock more efficiently in the closing minutes of both halves while not missing the fieldgoals (in as conducive of an environment as there will ever be for kicking fieldgoals) and the Seahawks probably had a good shot of winning. Given these realities, blaming the officials seems a little silly. It wasnt the officials that gave the game away. At best you could argue the officials made the Hawks mistakes more costly by decreasing their margin of error.
The Seahawks are a nice team-I really like how theyre constructed-but they made enough mistakes to doom themselves irrespective of things that were out of their control.
Closing comments, as this has gotten pointless.