Whine Festival Northwest
Okay, I am sick of hearing all of the whining about the Superbowl referees. I am a Seattle fan, but the fact of the matter is that the calls that are in question where marginal, not egregious.
If I where a referee, and I saw a receiver push the defender take two steps away from him in the opposite direction and catch a Touchdown pass, I would throw a flag. The rule is no pushing after 5 yards.
If the ball breaks the plane by a millimeter it is a touchdown. It doesn't matter how far back the player is shoved back after breaking the plane. Roethesburger's touchdown was marginal, but the refs gotta call it like he sees it. He was within a few centimeters of the plane, one way or another.
Matt Hasselbeck was penalized 15 yards for a bad block. It was argued that the block was incidental. I don't think it matters. You can't selectively enforce the rules. If Hasselbeck hit the guy below the knees, and hitting folks below the knees is against the rules, it seems a bit much to ask the ref to lift the flag because it was an accident.
If the Seahawks had played just a little bit better all of these calls would be trivia..
I'm with you. In my opinion, the offensive pass interference nullifying the touchdown was the only real bad call - because the way I saw it, he didn't really apply any force at all with his "push".
All of the other calls were about average for a regular NFL game - some good, some bad.
The Steelers didn't really play great, but did well enough versus a team also not playing great, and cranked out the victory through some nice gadgety plays. Works for me!
It was not a fun game to watch and there is not a lot of joy in winning a super bowl with such a crappy performance. I didn't have a problem with the TD call. Could have gone either way. Anyone who says they know one way or the other on that play is full of hot air.
The push off was a picky call but it was technically correct. I'd rather see them let the players play but it wasn't a horrible call.
I do, however, have a problem with the chop block call. Hasselbeck was tackling, not blocking so I don't think you should make that call. Unfortunately, it was the second time I have seen that call made this season. I can't remember the game but that exact call was made, against a QB I believe, during the regular season.
Bottom line, the officiating was poor (full time refs anyone?), but I didn't see a ref run up the middle for 75 yards or throw a td pass on reverse play. Poorly played by both teams but the Seahawks could have taken matters into their own hands and won the game but they didn't.
Yay Stillers!
Yep, You gotta put points on the board to win. Seahawks didn't make many memoroable plays. That is why they lost. Calls are going to go one way or another.. If you have points on the board, it doesn't matter as much how the calls go..