OT: Holy Terrible Super Bowl Officiating!

[Illiterati-migration]

Wow, I am a fan of neither team, but it's pretty obvious someone wants the Steelers to win. Terrible call after terrible call against the Seahawks - it's becoming embarassing to watch this game.

 

Sorry, I had to vent!

 

Let's count:

 

- Darryl Jackson's TD: Called for a phantom push-off, Seattle settled for a FG. Steve Young and Michael Irvin both said it was a TD.

 

- Darryl Jackson's catch at the end of the half. His right foot was in, his left hit the pylon and looked like a Touchdown. It was within 2:00 minutes of the half, it SHOULD have at least been reviewed. Gary Horton, long-time NFL analyst and scout on ESPN.com, agreed and pointed this out during the live chat.

 

- Sean Locklear gets called for a hold on a play where Jerremy Stevens catches the ball on the 2-yd line. Even Madden, who NEVER disputes the officiating, said he didn't see a hold. Instead of first and goal on the 2, the Hawks get penalized, then sacked, then intercepted. Total game changer.

 

Total and complete B.S.

 

1. The push-off was there. Don't debase yourself by arguing a call that was as obvious as the elastic on Greggy's sweatpants.

 

2. D.J's foot was CLEARLY OUT OF BOUNDS. I can't believe you people are actually trying to argue this. He has to have BOTH feet inbounds, and the other foot wasn't even CLOSE. It's fine if you think it should have been reviewed, but it would have come out the same.

 

3. I agree about the phantom hold. However, that did NOT cause the Seahawks to completely flame out and melt down afterward.

 

(BTW, I'm a Chiefs fan. Booya!)

[skybolt]

I kept saying to myself "It never used to seem that officiating played such a role in a Super Bowl".

 

Well the 1st Half of the St Louis - Pats game was probably the worst officiating I've ever seen, and it was obvious the NFL wanted to keep it close at Halftime, and not let St Louis run away with it against the outmatched Pats. So they basically let the NE defence mug the STL receivers for an entire half.

 

And I'm a big NE fan, so it must have been pretty bad.

 

But as a whole game, start to finish, this one takes the cake.

 

Don't remind me of the Patriots. I'm a Raiders fan and am still P'd about the obvious fumble that was called a forward pass a few years ago.

 

The officiating definitely stunk in this game. The on-field calls made a huge difference since if the quarterback sneak was called short of the goal line, there's no way they could of reversed it and given Pittsburgh a touchdown.

[FlyingDonut]

Oh please. Nothing's "up". Did the referees have a bad game? Probably. Did they blow some calls? Probably, but...

 

The pushoff call? Called every single time, it was blatant. If you're going to call a pushoff, that's what you call.

 

The Seattle "touchdown" where the ref immediately called him out of bounds? Clearly out of bounds. He didn't get ONE foot in, let alone two.

 

The Roethisburger touchdown? Tell me you have conclusive evidence to overturn it. There wasn't - it was too fuzzy to tell.

 

Seattle lost because they couldn't score in the first quarter when Pittsburgh was playing like [embarrassing lack of self control], and Roethisburger was like a deer in the headlights, they couldn't defend against a third-and-28, and they had lousy clock management in the fourth quarter. The better team won today.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I thought the offensive pass interference call wasn't that bad. There's no doubt the receiver DID push off..now you might argue it wasn't that bad a push off, but if you look at the replays, you'll see the pushoff actually caused the defender to back up for a split second, which in turn allowed Jackson the opening to make the catch.

 

As far as the Roethlisberger sneak at the goal line, it could've gone either way. I didn't see evidence that he did NOT get into the endzone. It was realy close and could've gone either way. In this case, the ref called it a TD and there was no way a replay could provide conclusive evidence to overturn the call.

 

The only other questionable call I thought was the catch where the Seahawk receiver didn't get both feet in bounds. I thought it was possible the ball broke the plane of the endzone, but the bottom line is, the receiver should've done more to try and keep the feet in bounds.

 

The better team won today. The Steelers played better and made the plays when they needed them.

 

 

Edit: The below the block call on Hasselback was obviously an error, I'll give you that. But the rest are open for debate.

 

Regarding the first "TD"...look at the replay again, the defender makes initial contact with Darryl Jackson in the endzone, by contacting his arm in the endzone (well beyond the 5-yd zone). If that wasn't called, the "push-off" was total B.S.

 

As for Big Ben's TD, the official on the goal line who was in the best position to make the call WAS RUNNING IN TO MAKE THE CALL AS DOWN...half-way there (well after Ben is down), he raises his hands to make the TD call. WTF? Sure reminded me of the non-call in the NFC Championship game during the Steve Smith runback where the official picked up a flag for blocking in the back against the Panthers (a call the NFL admitted was wrong the following week). If a referee is going to make a call, he should make the call....this official changed his mind half-way through. B.S.!

 

As for the second Darryl Jackson catch before the half....that should at least have been reviewed. It looked close to me, as it obviously did to you. Why wasn't it reviewed? Within 2 minutes of the half, the coaches can't challenge the play, it has to be deemed "reviewable" by the officials, who obviously didn't want to review it. Advantage: Steelers.

 

And for that B.S. holding call on Sean Locklear that cost the Hawks the 1st and Goal...at least four Analysts have said there was "no hold", (Madden, Jaws, Sean Salisbury, Eric Allen) and I'm sure others will agree.

[Illiterati-migration]

I kept saying to myself "It never used to seem that officiating played such a role in a Super Bowl".

 

Well the 1st Half of the St Louis - Pats game was probably the worst officiating I've ever seen, and it was obvious the NFL wanted to keep it close at Halftime, and not let St Louis run away with it against the outmatched Pats. So they basically let the NE defence mug the STL receivers for an entire half.

 

And I'm a big NE fan, so it must have been pretty bad.

 

But as a whole game, start to finish, this one takes the cake.

 

Don't remind me of the Patriots. I'm a Raiders fan and am still P'd about obvious fumble that was called a forward pass a few years ago.

 

The officiating definitely stunk in this game. The on-field calls made a huge difference since if the quarterback sneak was called short of the goal line, there's no way they could of reversed it and given Pittsburgh a touchdown.

 

THE BALL BROKE THE PLANE! It was evident in the replay. Don't let the fact that he tried to scoot the ball up afterward fool you.

[Psiknight]

I kept saying to myself "It never used to seem that officiating played such a role in a Super Bowl".

 

Well the 1st Half of the St Louis - Pats game was probably the worst officiating I've ever seen, and it was obvious the NFL wanted to keep it close at Halftime, and not let St Louis run away with it against the outmatched Pats. So they basically let the NE defence mug the STL receivers for an entire half.

 

And I'm a big NE fan, so it must have been pretty bad.

 

But as a whole game, start to finish, this one takes the cake.

 

Don't remind me of the Patriots. I'm a Raiders fan and am still P'd about obvious fumble that was called a forward pass a few years ago.

 

The officiating definitely stunk in this game. The on-field calls made a huge difference since if the quarterback sneak was called short of the goal line, there's no way they could of reversed it and given Pittsburgh a touchdown.

 

The QB sneak was questionable, but Cowher would have gone in on 4th and inches and there's no way Seattle's smallish defense could stop Pittsburgh's huge O-line and Bettis. That was just a time saver.

[Scheradon]

If you even pretend to be objective, you can't seriously think the game was called fairly.

 

How can a Steelers fan be objective? Me, I like the Chiefs and the Pats, so I'm just wanting to watch the Super Bowl, not the Toilet Bowl.

 

At least, I know, there is another Chiefs fan out there!!!!

 

Big Chiefs fan here too...they are my hometown team!

 

I didn't care too much about the outcome, but was rooting for the Steelers as they were my favorite team as a kid in the 70s. I didn't think the officiating was that bad really.

 

I clearly saw the push off for the called back TD on Seattle and the other near TD catch, the guy didn't get both feet in (wasn't even close). Big Ben's TD was very close, but it looked like the ball just shaved the white line while he was in the air, which has to be ruled a TD.

 

The only call, I thought was botched against Seattle was the low block call after the INT against their QB. He was making the tackle and didn't appear to be blocking anyone. Not really a game difference maker.

 

The Stealers played an outstanding game and Seattle just made too many mistakes to recover.

 

How about that sweet trick play to Ward for the TD?

[FlamingCarrot]

I thought the offensive pass interference call wasn't that bad. There's no doubt the receiver DID push off..now you might argue it wasn't that bad a push off, but if you look at the replays, you'll see the pushoff actually caused the defender to back up for a split second, which in turn allowed Jackson the opening to make the catch.

 

As far as the Roethlisberger sneak at the goal line, it could've gone either way. I didn't see evidence that he did NOT get into the endzone. It was realy close and could've gone either way. In this case, the ref called it a TD and there was no way a replay could provide conclusive evidence to overturn the call.

 

The only other questionable call I thought was the catch where the Seahawk receiver didn't get both feet in bounds. I thought it was possible the ball broke the plane of the endzone, but the bottom line is, the receiver should've done more to try and keep the feet in bounds.

 

The better team won today. The Steelers played better and made the plays when they needed them.

 

 

Edit: The below the block call on Hasselback was obviously an error, I'll give you that. But the rest are open for debate.

 

The push off would NOT be called in 98% of games. A push off like that in the end zone would not be called 99.8% of the time in a normal game. In the Super Bowl, the refs should let the players play.

 

 

What you're arguing is for a referee to purposely ignore an OBVIOUS pushoff just because it's the Super Bowl, and that's something I can't agree with. Keep in mind, it was NOT incidental contact (which I think is what you're referring to with those 98% and 99.8% stats), but a receiver pushing off right in front of an official.

 

If the Seahawk fans want to complain, they should complain about the horrible play calling by Holmgren before the half and throughout the game.

 

Blame the Seahawk defense for getting gashed repeatedly on numerous big plays. The Seahawks were unable to muster anything on offense, and that's the reason they lost. Don't blame the officials, don't blame the horrible singing by Aaron Neville and don't blame the colony of chinchillas that had to die for Aretha Franklin's coat.

 

[Psiknight]

Oh please. Nothing's "up". Did the referees have a bad game? Probably. Did they blow some calls? Probably, but...

 

The pushoff call? Called every single time, it was blatant. If you're going to call a pushoff, that's what you call.

 

The Seattle "touchdown" where the ref immediately called him out of bounds? Clearly out of bounds. He didn't get ONE foot in, let alone two.

 

The Roethisburger touchdown? Tell me you have conclusive evidence to overturn it. There wasn't - it was too fuzzy to tell.

 

Seattle lost because they couldn't score in the first quarter when Pittsburgh was playing like [embarrassing lack of self control], and Roethisburger was like a deer in the headlights, they couldn't defend against a third-and-28, and they had lousy clock management in the fourth quarter. The better team won today.

 

I'll argue the push off call forever. The other two I agree with, but the push off was in no way flagrant. There was equal contact and nothing was called until Jackson made a play on the ball. That's a horrible call.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

The Seattle "touchdown" where the ref immediately called him out of bounds? Clearly out of bounds. He didn't get ONE foot in, let alone two.

 

TIVO it. His left foot was in bounds after he caught the ball, and his right foot hit the pylon BEFORE it hit the chalk.

[skybolt]

The QB sneak was questionable, but Cowher would have gone in on 4th and inches and there's no way Seattle's smallish defense could stop Pittsburgh's huge O-line and Bettis. That was just a time saver.

 

That's not the point. The point is that once a call is made on the field, you need conclusive evidence to overturn it. The refs called it for Pittsburgh every single time, and you probably need a 70% assurance on the replay to overturn the call.

[The Black Hand ®]

I think that there's something funny going on. I think the owners of the Steelers are about ready to have their comic book collection declared a pedigree by CGC. Some of the officials have purchased some of those books and stand to realise a large jump in the value of those books once they achieve pedigree status. This Stinks to high heaven!

[Psiknight]

I thought the offensive pass interference call wasn't that bad. There's no doubt the receiver DID push off..now you might argue it wasn't that bad a push off, but if you look at the replays, you'll see the pushoff actually caused the defender to back up for a split second, which in turn allowed Jackson the opening to make the catch.

 

As far as the Roethlisberger sneak at the goal line, it could've gone either way. I didn't see evidence that he did NOT get into the endzone. It was realy close and could've gone either way. In this case, the ref called it a TD and there was no way a replay could provide conclusive evidence to overturn the call.

 

The only other questionable call I thought was the catch where the Seahawk receiver didn't get both feet in bounds. I thought it was possible the ball broke the plane of the endzone, but the bottom line is, the receiver should've done more to try and keep the feet in bounds.

 

The better team won today. The Steelers played better and made the plays when they needed them.

 

 

Edit: The below the block call on Hasselback was obviously an error, I'll give you that. But the rest are open for debate.

 

The push off would NOT be called in 98% of games. A push off like that in the end zone would not be called 99.8% of the time in a normal game. In the Super Bowl, the refs should let the players play.

 

 

What you're arguing is for a referee to purposely ignore an OBVIOUS pushoff just because it's the Super Bowl, and that's something I can't agree with. Keep in mind, it was NOT incidental contact (which I think is what you're referring to with those 98% and 99.8% stats), but a receiver pushing off right in front of an official.

 

If the Seahawk fans want to complain, they should complain about the horrible play calling by Holmgren before the half and throughout the game.

 

Blame the Seahawk defense for getting gashed repeatedly on numerous big plays. The Seahawks were unable to muster anything on offense, and that's the reason they lost. Don't blame the officials, don't blame the horrible singing by Aaron Neville and don't blame the colony of chinchillas that had to die for Aretha Franklin's coat.

 

 

There was quite a bit of contact between the cornerback and Jackson prior to the push off. I didn't see it as a push that warranted an offensive interference call. How often is offensive interference called in the NFL? Seriously. To call it on what I feel was no where near a flagrant push off in the Super Bowl to erase a TD is just bad, IMO.

[Psiknight]

The QB sneak was questionable, but Cowher would have gone in on 4th and inches and there's no way Seattle's smallish defense could stop Pittsburgh's huge O-line and Bettis. That was just a time saver.

 

That's not the point. The point is that once a call is made on the field, you need conclusive evidence to overturn it. The refs called it for Pittsburgh every single time, and you probably need a 70% assurance on the replay to overturn the call.

 

Right, and the call on the field was a TD. There wasn't enough evidence to overturn it. I actually thought I saw the ball cross the plane.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

The QB sneak was questionable, but Cowher would have gone in on 4th and inches and there's no way Seattle's smallish defense could stop Pittsburgh's huge O-line and Bettis. That was just a time saver.

 

That's not the point. The point is that once a call is made on the field, you need conclusive evidence to overturn it. The refs called it for Pittsburgh every single time, and you probably need a 70% assurance on the replay to overturn the call.

 

Even better, just change your mind on the field. That's what the line judge did. He was running in along the goal line to mark the ball as down, then raised his hand to indicate TD when he got there.

[jimm94]

There were some bad calls, but the Steelers earned their victory today.

 

BTW, I had a great time watching the game today with my fellow forum buddies Jeffreykli, FFB and Divad. And let me tell ya, Divad is one fired up football enthusiast!

[joe_collector]

I'd bet if we put the forum to a lie detector, we'd find that every single person who agrees with all the calls and thinks anyone who doesn't is a conspiracy theory whiner, is in actuality a Steeler fan.

 

As an unbased observer who did not care an iota which team won, I don't see someone like Donut being in the same boat. Obviously a Steelers fan or leaning towards them to win.

[ericc123]

Obviously I'm happy with the outcome but like mentioned before they made big plays when they needed to. The Steelers got hozed on a lot of bad calls during the season and came out on top which was previously mentioned. Were the calls the best I had ever seen? No. But to complain the the officials cost you the game is just bad form. There are a heck of a lot of plays in a game. Most don't have flags thrown on them and the Seahawks still didn't do enough to win the game.

[mosconi]

Conspiracy?? You're giving these geriatric, senile officials way too much credit. Send them back to their day jobs and bring in some new blood. Just a thought, but how about doing as the NBA and having some former players enter the referee profession and also making it a full-time job (no school teachers or bus drivers making the game deciding call).

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

For all of you who seriously think the play-calling was just and fair:

 

Link to ESPN Forums where NFL fans are speaking out....

 

Apparently, its not only us "whining" Seattle fans who see what's really going on.