My thoughts on Super Bowl XL

Who knew Pittsburgh would come to the game with their own 12th man?

First of all, I don't want to take anything away from Bill Cowher or the Steelers team. They worked against the odds to get to the Super Bowl and played a hard fought game. But, that being said, they didn't earn the Lombardi trophy last night. They were handed it by the officiating crew.

Overall, the Steelers had three big plays in the game, two of which actually resulted in an "earned" touchdown. The first was a touchdown given to the Steelers when Ben Rothleswhatshisname was downed inside the 1 yard line on 3rd and goal. Although he made a valiant effort to get the tip of the ball past the plane of the goal line, after watching it several times in replay, it's obvious that this didn't actually happen. After the officials watched it several times in replay, though, it was obvious that this was going to be a night of one-sided officiating. One would wonder if these clowns were previously employed by Diebold.

The other two Steeler plays were non-disputable. Willie Parker's 75 yard touchdown run was embarrassing to watch, and the Randle El to Hines Ward touchdown in the fourth quarter was perfectly timed. But really, what else was there?

The Seahawks ended up with almost 400 total yards, but only 10 points on the board. The Steelers had less, at about 330, with most of the yards coming on the big touchdown plays.

Roethlisberger ended up with an abysmal 22.6 passer rating. Hasselbeck's clock management at the end of both halves was horrible.

But the difference in this game would have to go to the refs, who were consistently calling (and no calling) penalties in favor of the Steelers. It was so horribly one sided that I actually had to sit back and wonder if there was some sort of fix going on. Although you could argue that Seattle squandered it's chances and lost the game on their own shortcomings, it's hard to see how they could have lost had the officiating been honest. Let's review.

1. Offensive pass interference - Derrell Jackson on Chris Hope
Come on... Jackson's push-off was borderline if anything. Hope was well out of the scope of play on the ball..and if he hadn't turned around and whined at the official, no flag would have been thrown. Or maybe it would have...

Score should be: Seattle 7, Pittsburgh 0

2. During the Steelers first touchdown drive, Roethlisberger fell short of the goal line on 3rd and goal. Even after review, the officiating crew went ahead and gave him the touchdown. Now who knows if they would have went for it on 4th and goal. Cowher is a conservative coach and I would think he would have taken the safe field goal at that point.

Score should be: Seattle 7, Pittsburgh 3

3. Second quarter... a great punt return is negated by a phantom block-in-the-back call. This wouldn't be the first time this would occur.

4. Pittsburgh scores quick after the half with Willie Parker's 75 yard gallop.

Score should be: Seattle 7, Pittsburgh 10

5. Kelly Herndon's interception sets up Steven's touchdown. Well, at least Steven's was able to hang on to one of the balls thrown to him.

Score should be: Seattle 14, Pittsburgh 10

6. The Seahawks drive from their own 2 yard line to the Pittsburgh red-zone. The zebras get their flag hands ready in anticipation.

7. Another phantom holding call is made against right guard Sean Locklear, negating a 20 yard pass from Hasselbeck to Stevens at the one yard line. Without the call, a Seattle touchdown would have been almost certain.

Score should be: Seattle 21, Pittsburgh 10

8. Hasselbeck throws an interception to Ike Taylor, and then gets flagged for 15 more yards for legally tackling him.

Score should still be: Seattle 21, Pittsburgh 10 (interception would never have happened if it weren't for bad holding call)

But let's give the Steelers the benefit of the doubt here. There was some 8 minutes left in the game. Lets say they did actually score again at this point, still it would be Seattle 21, Pittsburgh 17. But given the offensive lack of performance on Pittsburgh part, I doubt this would have happened.

So lets hear it for the game MVP... the NFL officiating crew. Go F*@& yourselves.

*can you tell I got some sour grapes to chew on this morning?*

Comments

  1. Anonymous8:47 PM, February 06, 2006

    Drew,

    You forgot the FUMBLE that Seattle made during the first few minites of the game, which was ruled an incomplete, on or near the 15 yard line in Seattle's turf..the money I had to pay to get things set back right..
    Anyway it was a good game.
    Sorry you, REX & Blogenfreude called it wrong.
    Please don't cry.
    After all, there's allways next year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:11 AM, February 07, 2006

    I just loved the way Vince Young took matters into his own hands and scored that last TD as the clock was running down . . .

    damn, sorry. Wrong game. Wrong league.

    ReplyDelete
  3. enigma4ever8:11 AM, February 07, 2006

    Anony I came here to cry and be pissed...and what about the TOUCHDOWN that was stolen away ...it was a thing of beauty...and then some bogus call about touching- please....that was the 1st sign that all hell was about to befall the poor little hawks...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:10 PM, February 07, 2006

    The big question on MY mind is this: how do they fit ROESTHLESBURGERMEISTER on that damn jersey?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Crackpot Press5:24 PM, February 07, 2006

    Ya know what Drew... I thought at first it was More Hasselback's arm that wasn't working that ws the real downfall here.

    Untyil Ir ead this, you're right. And Holgrem was right to say what he said.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Drew Dallons9:18 AM, February 08, 2006

    Hasslebeck's arm was okay, Jeremy Stevens hands weren't. He dropped at least three easy passes.

    Oh well...next year... if we can hang on to Alexander that is.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Universal Healthcare or Corporate Welfare?

Ever since Hillary Clinton's overreaching Universal Health Care project fell flat in the 90's, we constantly hear Republicans tying the very idea of government sponsored healthcare to Communism and Socialism. Privatization supposedly offers more choices and provides a lower overall cost to the consumer. In theory, they are somewhat correct. In practice, however, that is not the case. The healthcare industry is rapidly consolidating. There are maybe five major players nationally at this point, and as with what is happening to many American industries, you can pretty much make a safe bet that in the next few years, there will be even less choices. Much of this is due to deregulatory legislation that has been very healthy for corporate America over the last few years. I think this is one of the major drawbacks of an unfettered Capitalistic economy. When there are no stops in place, the Corporation is allowed to grow and absorb all that it can, thus eliminating competition and incr...
Read more

Right Wing Cheerleader of the Week Award

Image
I'm a frequent reader of right wing propaganda. I'll admit that. I think there are quite a few decent, straight forward Republicans out there who run excellent commentary on their blogs. They are typically warm and open to respectful debate. Mike M. 's blog is a good example. However, I am convinced that there are some real nut jobs out in the blogosphere, who's primary goal is to berate and destroy any opposition to their polar ideology. So, with all due respect, I've opted to create a weekly award to highlight randomly selected right wing nutjobs' hate filled contribution to our online community as well as the political landscape. This section will appropriately be labeled "The Right Wing Cheerleader of the Week Award", in honor of everyone's favorite Yale cheerleader! Without any further ado, this week's Right Wing Cheerleader of the Week Award is given to Ottman, over at The Creative Conservative . Otto is a fearless general of mis-informa...
Read more

How to Cheat, Lie, and Steal and Blame it on Your Opponent - For Dummies

Image
Blognonymous has a great post on a new Washington Post chart that basically shows what Democrats have said all along... Abramhoff was lining three Republican pockets for every one Democrat pocket. But if you read sites like anti-Dem No Agenda or Espella Humanzee , you'll see how Republican apologists are trying to spin the whole "they did it too so it's okay" arguement. In fact, No Agenda makes no note of the blatent corruption happening on their side of the aisle. Typical. Still, I haven't heard squat from the MSM about Bush's $100,000 in campaign contributions received from the lobbyist. Of that $100,000, the Administration has agreed to return 6% of the amount to charity. That's kinda like donating a small portion of your bank robbery pot to the Red Cross.
Read more