OT: Holy Terrible Super Bowl Officiating!

[FlamingCarrot]

 

 

[FlamingCarrot]

In a way, I don't blame Seahawk fans for feeling ripped off. Most of them have been following the team since early January.

 

 

[Rob]

The only people I hear complaining about bad officiating or a boring game are those who wanted the Seahawks to win. I thought it was a very exciting game. Super Bowl record longest TD run....Super Bowl record longest int return (at the goal line)....trick play where the WR threw a long bomb TD. It doesn't get more exciting than that! Yes, there were some questionable calls, but take away Roethlisberger's TD, and the Steelers still win. Jackson's TD should have been called back. There's no question about that, he pushed off. And the Seahawk's other TD was clearly out of bounds. I'm not a fan of either team (my team's the Colts) and I thought it was a great Super Bowl.

[Illiterati-migration]

In a way, I don't blame Seahawk fans for feeling ripped off. Most of them have been following the team since early January.

 

 

 

[Illiterati-migration]

Still haven't heard you comment on the time-out call with -2 seconds on the clock.

 

Sorry MK, now you're telling me everything and everyone else has and agenda or is wrong, and yet you defend the officiating in that game.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree, ESPN and water cooler crazy theories aside...

 

First, your big "time clock scandal" is something that happens ALL THE TIME (no pun intended). Try watching an NFL game more than once a year...

 

...wait, maybe THAT'S the problem. We've got a bunch of uninitiated, unaware, naive "armchair quarterbacks" who all want to watch ONE game a year and then play "Monday Morning Quarterback" the next day! (Pardon all the technical jargon, I realize you're out of your depth here.)

 

Second, I think the REAL conspiracy here is the obvious collusion between the NFL and the fine folks at Kleenex. Can you imagine the sales on tissues after a game like this?!?! Why, they must be making money over snot-soaked fist!

 

Seriously. I love the people that preface their paragraphs long person_without_enough_empathyfest with "I hate the NFL and never watch it, but the Superbowl sucked". If you don't WATCH the NFL, chances are you don't know what you are talking about when you TALK about the NFL. Before lecturing people try taking an active interest in the subject you are going to discuss.

 

Indeed, brother. Would that we could actually deliver salvation unto these unwashed masses... alas, the world will always be populated with people like Shield. All we can aspire to do is treat them with as much kindness and sympathy as is deserved of a retarded, three-legged wolverine with halitosis.

[thanos_oftitan]

Seattle has no one to blame but their coaching staff. Nice clock management.

 

Steelers rule.......

[Shield]

So true.

 

It kind of takes away any credibility when someone claims to never watch the NFL and not even be a fan, but they could clearly tell the refs were biased and making bad calls. If you don't even know the game, then don't try to be a professor of the rules.

 

That's ridiculous. So I don't watch the NFL - I never miss OSU college games! I know what holding is; and even MK admits it was a horrible call. You don't need to be a NFL season-ticket holder to watch the clock count down to zero BEFORE the quarterback calls a time-out. And how can it be sour grapes when I wasn't rooting for any team?

 

There's a reason so many people are upset by it, and most are NOT Seattle or Pittsburg fans. Get your collective heads out of the sand!

[Shield]

Indeed, brother. Would that we could actually deliver salvation unto these unwashed masses... alas, the world will always be populated with people like Shield. All we can aspire to do is treat them with as much kindness and sympathy as is deserved of a retarded, three-legged wolverine with halitosis.

 

Another link:

 

Steeling One: Hawks got robbed

 

By Skip Bayless

Page 2

 

 

DETROIT -- Dear Seahawks fans:

 

 

I've been tough on your team the last few weeks. I've called your club the Sea Frauds and said they didn't belong in a Super Bowl. After watching Sunday night's game, I believe that more than ever.

 

But, as I've also written, your team was blessed all the way to Detroit. This was the first Super Bowl that found itself with two Cinderella stories. These Steelers, the AFC's bottom seed, weren't exactly Terry Bradshaw's Steelers of the late '70s.

 

But although these Steelers were favored by 4 -- and although I picked them 24-14 -- I'm not sure they deserved to win this game.

 

And after spending a week in Detroit, I thought the city had cleaned up most of its crime.

 

The first-quarter offensive pass interference called on Darrell Jackson that turned a touchdown into a field goal was robbery enough. But the fourth-quarter holding call on Sean Locklear made you wonder whether the refs had even less of Aretha's r-e-s-p-E-c-t for your Seahawks than I do.

 

At that point, your guys had overcome enough mistakes to get blown out in most Super Bowls. In fact, this one had nearly gotten out of hand midway through the third quarter, when the Steelers drove to a first-and-10 at your 11-yard line with a 14-3 lead. But on third-and-6 from the 7, Ben Roethlisberger tossed a throw into the flat that cost him the MVP award and nearly caused coach Bill Cowher's head to explode.

 

It was, of course, picked off by backup cornerback Kelly Herndon and returned 76 yards. Matt Hasselbeck's 16-yard touchdown fling to Jerramy Stevens rather shockingly turned what looked like a 21-3 game into a 14-10 margin.

 

And suddenly your Seahawks were going to Motown.

 

Momentum Town.

 

The Seahawks forced another Pittsburgh punt, and here they came again. Hasselbeck still makes me nervous because he always looks as if he's running a frantic two-minute offense. But the biggest surprise of this game was how much time Walter Jones and Co. were giving him to throw. Blitzburg, schmitzburg. Your guys had continually knocked the bullies back on their heels and turned down the volume of a Ford Field crowd that looked and sounded more like a Heinz Field crowd.

 

Joey Porter, the loudest Steeler, was having the quietest game.

 

And on first-and-10 at the Steelers' 19, Hasselbeck had enough time to listen to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Second that Emotion" before firing another strike to Porter's favorite pregame target -- Stevens. Eighteen-yard completion! First-and-goal at the 2! Seattle about to take a 17-14 lead!

 

I could almost hear Mount Rainier erupting.

 

But on this night, the Steelers had their own version of your 12th Man. He wore a striped shirt and a whistle. He threw a flag.

 

And Locklear went down in Seahawks history.

 

Way down.

 

Until the week before the NFC Championship Game, I barely knew who Locklear was. But he made national news by being charged with domestic violence after an incident with his girlfriend outside a Seattle nightclub. He did a couple of nights in jail, but coach Mike Holmgren allowed him to play pending his Feb. 13 hearing.

 

Now Locklear will be forever remembered in your fair city for an entirely different reason.

 

Holding, No. 75!

 

On the replay, I couldn't see Locklear do anything different from what most linemen do on every play. These days, you have to tackle to hold, and Locklear didn't tackle.

 

Phantom, killer penalty.

 

Your guys wound up in a third-and-18, and Hasselbeck cut loose one of his mystery balls that Ike Taylor intercepted, as he should have in the first quarter. Worse, Hasselbeck was wrongly flagged for a below-the-waist block when he was trying to make the tackle. Hasselbeck was punished 15 more yards.

 

At that point, your guys seemed to be hanging their heads as if they had decided the NFL just couldn't live with them winning its showcase game.

 

Moments later, it took another Pittsburgh trick play -- a reverse pass by Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward for a 43-yard touchdown -- to basically ice the game on a snowy night. That made it 21-10, and that's the way it stayed.

 

Too bad your Seahawks didn't have Porter in their postgame locker room. Had he been a Seahawk, he surely would have filled tapes and notebooks telling the media how the refs stole the game.

 

Jackson definitely gave Steelers safety Chris Hope a little push. But it didn't give Jackson enough of an advantage to prompt a penalty. The ref called it only after Hope turned and begged for it.

 

That cost your team four points, a little momentum and a little more psychological edge. The Pittsburgh offense isn't built to come from behind or to win a shootout. A 7-0 Seattle lead would have tightened the Steelers' throats more than 3-0 would have.

 

The holding call on Locklear clearly cost your Seahawks seven more points. Four plus seven equals 11 -- Pittsburgh's margin of victory. And who knows how the Steelers would have responded if they had suddenly found themselves behind early in the fourth quarter?

 

No, I haven't yet mentioned Roethlisberger's dive for the goal line that was ruled a touchdown late in the first half -- and upheld after a replay review. To me, it looked as if the nose of the ball barely crossed the white line while Roethlisberger was airborne. Either way, it was so close that it was inconclusive and didn't warrant a touchdown reversal.

 

Besides, the odds were that Pittsburgh could have scored on fourth-and-inches. Then again, Cowher can be so conservative that he might have opted for the field goal that would have only tied the score 3-3.

 

The Jackson play, the Roethlisberger play, the Locklear play -- as the Rolling Stones sang in their halftime finale, you couldn't get no satisfaction, Seahawks fans.

 

Your team had only one turnover to Pittsburgh's two … and your team lost.

 

Your team held Roethlisberger to a 9-for-21 night for only 123 yards, with two interceptions … and your team lost.

 

Your Shaun Alexander surprised me by running for almost 100 yards (95 on 25 carries) … and your team lost.

 

Your offense had almost 400 yards (396) against that vaunted Steelers defense … and your team lost.

 

In the end, it lost because of two bad calls and because Pittsburgh simply made three or four more good plays. The Steelers converted 8 of 15 third downs to your 5 of 17. Too many drops and near-TD catches, too many off-target flings by Hasselbeck at crucial times, too much high-schoolish clock management by the quarterback and coach at the end of the half and game.

 

I'm sorry, I still don't think he's a top-echelon quarterback. Then again, I'm not convinced Roethlisberger is the next Elway.

 

The play he made that salvaged a first-half lead for the Steelers -- the scramble left and deep heave from barely behind the line of scrimmage -- should have been batted down or even intercepted by your safety Michael Boulware. Instead, Boulware made a poor play on the ball and Ward caught it.

 

On Randle El's trick touchdown pass -- Pittsburgh's best pass of the night -- your cornerback Marcus Trufant took a bad angle and ran underneath it.

 

So two bad plays by your defensive backs helped Ward -- who had dropped two passes, including one that should have been a touchdown -- win the MVP award. Oh, well, it was the kind of game that should have been played in Week 9. The Steelers didn't have one player on offense or defense who was clearly the difference maker.

 

Your Seahawks lost this game a little more than Pittsburgh won it.

 

Your defense battled its guts out and mostly stuffed Pittsburgh's run. But one breakdown allowed Willie Parker to escape untouched for a 75-yard TD. You can't overcome mistakes like that in a game like this.

 

But, no, you can't overcome 11 lost points worth of penalties, either. On this night, you belonged in the Super Bowl as much as Pittsburgh did, for what that's worth.

 

On this night, the only frauds wore stripes.

[Illiterati-migration]

Indeed, brother. Would that we could actually deliver salvation unto these unwashed masses... alas, the world will always be populated with people like Shield. All we can aspire to do is treat them with as much kindness and sympathy as is deserved of a retarded, three-legged wolverine with halitosis.

 

Well, now I know what you really are, MK. It's nice to know we can have these debates and you'll end up resorting to name calling. Classy.

 

Instead, I'll just post articles of people who have watched NFL all year (like that makes you some elite football scout by watching Monday Night football anyway)

 

 

 

Wow! And here I thought we were just playing around... Who's classy now?

[Shield]

Seattle has no one to blame but their coaching staff. Nice clock management.

 

Steelers rule.......

 

I've never once said Pittsburg should'nt be champs, nor that Seattle did anything worthy of the title. Again, all I'm saying is that the officiating stunk. Period.

[Shield]

Indeed, brother. Would that we could actually deliver salvation unto these unwashed masses... alas, the world will always be populated with people like Shield. All we can aspire to do is treat them with as much kindness and sympathy as is deserved of a retarded, three-legged wolverine with halitosis.

 

Another link:

 

 

Wow! And here I thought we were just playing around... Who's classy now?

 

Hmm, I guess I take exception to being called akin to a retarded 3 legged animal.

[Shield]

I'll retract what I said about the vacuum cleaners if you retract yours. I just don't like being jumped on a pile by people thinking I was rooting for Seattle! Like I said, it's NOT sour grapes - I'm glad the Steelers won! I live in Ohio and we're swarmed with Steeler garb around here!

[Illiterati-migration]

Indeed, brother. Would that we could actually deliver salvation unto these unwashed masses... alas, the world will always be populated with people like Shield. All we can aspire to do is treat them with as much kindness and sympathy as is deserved of a retarded, three-legged wolverine with halitosis.

 

Well, now I know what you really are, MK. It's nice to know we can have these debates and you'll end up resorting to name calling. Classy.

 

Instead, I'll just post articles of people who have watched NFL all year (like that makes you some elite football scout by watching Monday Night football anyway)

 

P.S. - This man below gets PAID writing sports columns. Of course, he and I both make much more than a man selling vaccum cleaners door to door (Good luck with that career by the way - have you ever broken $30k a year?)

 

 

Wow! And here I thought we were just playing around... Who's classy now?

 

Hmm, I guess I take exception to being called akin to a retarded 3 legged animal.

 

How about a thin-skinned five-legged jackasss?

[Shield]

Indeed, brother. Would that we could actually deliver salvation unto these unwashed masses... alas, the world will always be populated with people like Shield. All we can aspire to do is treat them with as much kindness and sympathy as is deserved of a retarded, three-legged wolverine with halitosis.

 

Well, now I know what you really are, MK. It's nice to know we can have these debates and you'll end up resorting to name calling. Classy.

 

Instead, I'll just post articles of people who have watched NFL all year (like that makes you some elite football scout by watching Monday Night football anyway)

 

P.S. - This man below gets PAID writing sports columns. Of course, he and I both make much more than a man selling vaccum cleaners door to door (Good luck with that career by the way - have you ever broken $30k a year?)

 

 

Wow! And here I thought we were just playing around... Who's classy now?

 

Hmm, I guess I take exception to being called akin to a retarded 3 legged animal.

 

How about a thin-skinned five-legged jackasss?

 

Now THAT'S much better. I just don't like retarded jokes.

[Shield]

NFL- Seahawks won everything but the game

 

Kevin Hench / FOXSports.com

Posted: 12 hours ago

 

 

 

In case the football fans of the Pacific Northwest aren't sick enough in the aftermath of the big game, they may want to know that no Super Bowl loser has ever dominated a title game like the Seahawks did on Sunday.

 

I was so sure that Seattle's edge in total yards, time of possession and takeaways in a losing effort was unprecedented that I scoured all 39 previous Super Bowl box scores to prove it. Yep, just as I suspected, no losing team had ever matched the Seahawks' trifecta. Quite a few teams had won the time of possession battle and lost. A handful had put up more total yards and lost. And a couple had even won the turnover battle and lost. But no team had ever done all three and come away with an L.

 

 

Not until Sunday. Not until the Seahawks outplayed the Steelers on the vast majority of plays and still lost, thanks largely to two dubious penalty calls that cost Seattle a TD and a first-and-goal at the 1.

 

This was a historic, first-of-its-kind Super Bowl loss. I don't want to take anything away from the Steelers, except, of course, the Lombardi Trophy.

 

Seattle outgained Pittsburgh 396 yards to 339. Only five times in Super Bowl history had the loser gained more yards than the victor. And only twice — in Joe Montana's first win over the Bengals and Tom Brady's first win over the Rams — had a team been outgained as badly as the Steelers and won. (I guess this bodes well for Ben Roethlisberger.) But in both those victories, the Niners and Patriots had been +3 in the turnover battle. Pittsburgh was -1. More on that later.

 

Seattle had the ball for over 33 minutes, building a large time of possession edge as Pittsburgh failed to get a first down in the game's opening 19 minutes. While 10 teams have won the time-of-possession battle and lost the Super Bowl, only four losers surpassed the Seahawks' 6:04 edge in possession. And only twice in the history of the big game had a team gained more yards and led in time of possession and lost. Brady's Patriots were not only outgained by the Rams, but Kurt Warner's quick-strike attack actually held the ball for seven more minutes than New England. The lone other time this statistical quirk occurred was when Pittsburgh lost to Dallas in Super Bowl XXX. So maybe Sunday was a kind of karmic payback for the Steelers, who outgained the Cowboys 310-254 and held the ball for 7:38 more than Dallas in 1996.

 

Of course that loss was marked by the fact that Neil O'Donnell kept throwing the ball to Larry Brown. The Steelers were -3 in turnovers in that loss to the Cowboys, just as the Rams were against the Patriots.

 

Winning the turnover battle has been the single best harbinger of victory in Super Bowl history. Only twice prior to Sunday had a team given the ball away more than it had taken it away and yet still taken home the trophy.

 

In Super Bowl V — the ugliest Super Bowl of all time — the Cowboys managed to lose to the Colts despite a +3 edge in turnovers. The game featured a record 11 turnovers, an astounding seven by the somehow victorious Colts. Dallas also had a slight edge in possession (+2:46), but Baltimore had a substantial — 329-215 — edge in total yards.

 

The only other time the turnover winner had lost was in Super Bowl XIV when the Steelers overcame three Terry Bradshaw interceptions and a -2 turnover deficit to beat the Rams and win their fourth championship (one for the pinkie?). Despite the three picks, Bradshaw was named MVP because he threw for 309 yards as Pittsburgh compiled a 393-301 edge in total yards.

 

So the only two times a team had coughed the ball up more than its opponent and won the Super Bowl, it did so by handily outgaining the loser. But turning the ball over more while being outgained? Surely Roethlisberger's two interceptions to Matt Hasselbeck's one would sink the Steelers.

 

Not on Sunday. Super Bowl XL was the perfect storm for stormy Seattle. The Seahawks moved the ball better than the Steelers. They kept the ball longer than the Steelers. They held onto the ball more securely than the Steelers. They had six more first downs than the Steelers (20-14), a feat surpassed only twice by losing teams in SB history.

 

And yet the Seahawks lost.

 

Seattle fans have a right to feel sick. Their team just suffered the most unjust loss in Super Bowl history.

 

I'm guessing knowing that the previous 25 teams to gain more yards, keep the ball longer and not lose the turnover battle all won the Super Bowl won't make them feel any better.

[Illiterati-migration]

 

Hmm, I guess I take exception to being called akin to a retarded 3 legged animal.

 

How about a thin-skinned five-legged jackasss?

 

Now THAT'S much better. I just don't like retarded jokes.

 

Well, it WAS a retarded WOLVERINE... the most feral and dangerous of all the retarded mammals.

[Shield]

Well, it WAS a retarded WOLVERINE... the most feral and dangerous of all the retarded mammals.

 

Never call a lifetime Buckeye a Wolverine! Them's fightin words!

 

Seattle clearly should've deferred to Chuck Norris in the 4th quarter. That's why they lost...

[Illiterati-migration]

Well, it WAS a retarded WOLVERINE... the most feral and dangerous of all the retarded mammals.

 

Never call a lifetime Buckeye a Wolverine! Them's fightin words!

 

Seattle clearly should've deferred to Chuck Norris in the 4th quarter. That's why they lost...

 

Please. Chuck Norris would have won the game for the Texas Rangers. Chuck would roundhouse kick the football through the uprights into a perfect orbit around the Earth, thus guaranteeing his ultimate victory as the opposing teams and officials could only watch helplessly as his score tallied onward to infinity, three points at a time.

[Shield]

You know Chuck's counted to infinity - twice.

 

Seriously, I thought the officiating sucked. It just made for abysmal Sunday football for myself and my wife. I don't think there was a wide-spread conspiracy and the Steelers do deserve the title. That is all for me on this topic.

[Illiterati-migration]

You know Chuck's counted to infinity - twice.

 

Seriously, I thought the officiating sucked. It just made for abysmal Sunday football for myself and my wife. I don't think there was a wide-spread conspiracy and the Steelers do deserve the title. That is all for me on this topic.

 

And you are wrong on all counts:

• You thought the officiating was as perfect as a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick.
  
• It was a fine Sunday; particularly earlier in the day when you caught the end of "Delta Force" on cable.
  
• You believe in the conspiracy and you think it was actually perpetrated by the same people who set Paula Abdul up for a fall last year.
  
• That is all for you on this topic.
  

Okay, I guess you got ONE right.