I was rooting for the Steelers but the Seahawks were robbed.
The Refs are going to Disneyland!!
Bad officiating, absolutely. But let's assume that (as it should have) Darrell Jackson's touchdown was allowed.
Then the whole game would have been different. Pittsburgh calls different plays than they otherwise would have, and those other controversial calls probably would never happen. So you can't say that the referees gave the game to the Steelers. But they sure made it much harder for Seattle to win the game, although Holmgren's horrible clock management probably in the end had more to do with that.
But the NFL has a big problem, perception-wise, and Tagliabue needs to address it.
"I was rooting for the Steelers but the Seahawks were robbed."
I agree. I was also rooting for the Steelers, but a series of bad calls kept Seatle from recovering from its many mistakes and regaining some momentum. I walked away feeling that the game was rigged, even though my team won.
I like Bill Cowher and rooted for the Steelers so he could get a ring, but the one-sided officiating was a travesty.
I don't know if the Hawks could have pulled out a win in any case, but they had three HUGE bogus calls go against them at critical situations.
For us in Washington State it felt like the last gubanatorial election - a bogus Guv'nor and now bogus Superbowl Champs. But I have to say that Matt Hassalbeck was classy. Afterwards he just said that the Seahawks' own mistakes were the problem, and the "official calls" were nothing they could change, and that the Steelers had won. The Steelers did have some great plays - I thought their fake outs were very well done and effective. However, it was disheartening to watch after a while - our partygoers had many comments about "another flag down yet?" It must be difficult for any team to keep playing when they are losing. Lets just say that the cleverest statement I heard here in the Seattle area was that the Refs should have been voted the MVP's. ;)