Posted on 02/07/2006 4:55:05 PM PST by bikepacker67
The refs made more big plays for the Stealers than did the Stealers. More yardage too, when you factor in the disallowed downfield yardage lost and add in the penalty yards.
The Not Fair League got what it wanted. All Stealers fans, players and personnel know the game was handed to them. Few will care.
I'm not. Getting jobbed this badly, well there is no statute of limitations.
The NFL brass has shown itself to be on a par with most any 3rd world dictator. Hugo Chavez for commish?
Seahawks beat themselves... blaming the Zebras is just sour grapes... Your receivers dropped pass after pass... and caught touchdown passes out of bounds because they didn't pay attention to where they were on the field....
The only bad call of the night against the hawks was the one on the Seattle QB after the INT....
The refs let the seattle O line hold all game, so to complaing about non calls is rediculous.
Seattle had every opportunity to win, Pittsburgh definately did not show up with their A game... and Seattle could not get it done. Seattle wants to blame someone for the loss, they need to look squarely at their receivers who dropped so many catchable passes it was comical... and to twice in a row beat your defender, only to catch the ball out of bounds twice in a row because you didn't pay attention to where you were on the field, was inexcusable.
I know blaiming the refs makes for good copy and sells more papers, but reality is... you guys should be blaming your receivers for your loss, not the zebras.
Between missed TD passes, missed field goals, and missed 3rd down conversions that would have put Seattle in FG range the Seahawks easily left 16 points on the field in the first half on drives that had not one single flag thrown against them. If you want to know why Seattle lost just look at those drives.
Great link...Wojciechowski wraps it up pretty well.
I'll give you that....but no team does everything right, such as making every 50+ yard FG. However, the Seahawks easily did do enough to win if their legitimate gains & scores were allowed to stand.
OTOH, the Stealers' level of play that day wasn't nearly good enough to win on their own without help. Which was why things degenerated into the sorry state of gimmie football we all witnessed. But maybe the Stealers could have won without the refs help. We will never know now.
Yeah, The Bus went out on top, albeit driving on a stolen license.
But it's not a matter of doing everything right, it's a matter of just how close to everything Seattle did wrong. On their 1st three possessions they got into Steelers territory and near FG range, on two of them they were sacked out of FG range. Having three possessions getting close and only getting points on one is bad. Then late in the half they had those two consecutive TD passes caught out of bounds, that's 7 more points they left on the field, I won't hit them for the missed FG on that possession since they wouldn't have kicked it at all if either pass is caught inbounds. Then you've got the final possession with the horrid clock management.
Really what it boils down to for Seattle is 3rd downs. In the regular season Seattle tied with Pittsburgh for the 2rd fewest 3rd downs in the league at 12 a game, and tied for 13th in the league in conversion percentage at 29.6%. In the SB Seattle was 5 for 17 on 3rd downs. They convert a few more of these 3rd down and they get those FGs. No they easily did NOT do enough to win if their "legitimate" gains and scores stand. None of the no points drives I outlined above had ANY flags thrown against Seattle in the final set of down, they failed on those drives entirely on their own. And those drives gave them the potential for more points than their margin of defeat. They lost the game because they failed to finish drives.
The Steelers level of play was so-so. The big difference maker is on the drives when they had an opportunity to score they finished, and finished with TDs. Seattle couldn't stop the big plays, and couldn't score when Pitt put themselves on the ropes for he first 20 minutes. The Steelers got to the SB by scoring early, Seattle had a chance to do to Pitt what Pitt did to Indy and Denver, but they couldn't manage to get the final 10 yards on those drives to get the points. They lost.
Will do know the Steelers won without the refs "help". A most of the calls Seattle fans are complaining about were 100% correct, B Seattle failed to score on numerous drives where they had the opportunity and the refs threw no flags and made no remotely questionable spots. That's how the Steelers won, because Seattle lost.
Its a big game. The refs should ignore penalties that may affect the outcome.
Absolutely not. They should apply the rules identically in the playoffs and SB as in the regular season. That which is against the rules in week 3 should be against the rules in week 21. They're using the same rulebook, it should be applied the same way.
They only had one sort-of-a scoring drive, and even on that one it took a low percentage throw & catch on 3rd and very long. Then followed the QB dive "into" the end zone, after getting stopped on the runs. Your other two "drives" were the break-through-the-line run and the gadget play TD pass. Depending on those type plays to win in the NFL will get you few wins. Not without help. Sunday was a bad day for true football fans of the game.
And though the rule clearly states that if any part of the ball breaks the forward plane of the endzone, a touchdown results, we're talking about the Super Bowl, fer cryin' out loud. Unless a player clearly makes it all the way into the end zone, borne on the wings of angels, then it shouldn't count.
And if an offensive lineman can't hold a defender by hooking him under the arm in the Super Bowl, then what's so Super about it?
They had three scoring drives, two were quick to score but they got the TDs, all revolved around Seattle's defense giving up big plays. And why couldn't Seattle stop them on 3rd and 28? Seattle got no big plays on offense, largely owing to receivers losing track of the sideline, and gave up 3 big plays on offense. That's a formula for losing a game. In a pit fight of a game where neither offense is doing a good job of sustaining drives it's going to come down to the big plays. Sure you don't want to depend on those plays every game, but sometimes you're going to have to. Seattle was in the same position as Pitt on that front, they too needed big plays to get big scores, and other than the interceptions (and really just the 2nd INT, the first one functioned mostly like a punt, Seattle got the ball at their own 16 which is probably where they'd have gotten it on a normal stop in those downs) Seattle just didn't get the big plays.
I don't. One of the things that drives me nuts in all sports is how refs tend tend to put their whistles and flags away in the post season. The rules are the rules. The receiver pushed off in the end zone, that's against the rules, if we don't believe that rule should count in the SB then we should get rid of it all together. Any rule not good enough for the SB isn't good enough for the book at all. Not calling the penalty would effect the outcome too, it would allow the receiver to break the rules to make a play. Once a player breaks a rule it's having an outcome on the game, the only question is will the outcome be leting him get away with it or not letting him get away with it.
Again the rule says what it says. If we want to change what has to be done to get a TD then lets change it for the whole season. Why should something that would get a TD in the regular season not be a TD in the post? It's either a TD or it isn't, what week we're in shouldn't change that.
And if we let the OL hold in the SB what would make it Super? How would a ruleless SB ever be super? The rules are the rules. They don't write a new book for the SB, they shouldn't make up a new book on the fly during the SB.
Yeah, but the Steelers won with cheap trick plays. In the Super Bowl, only the points scored with a hand off straight up the middle (no zig-zagging by the running back allowed), or a pass at 90 degree angles to the hash marks, should count. And only if the quarterback throws the ball. I mean, its the Super Bowl, for gawdsakes.
I'm sensing sarcasm now. You willie wolf.
OBE
Time to move on. The Olympics are about to start and we all need to stop beating this particular dead horse.
'Bout time. I thought I was gonna have to drag you all the way into the boat.
But, if you look at it, those are exactly the arguments the Squealhawk fans are making.
Sorry you were doing too good a job masquerading with the authetic wierdos. There's always somebody who says "oh that's too minor to count in the playoffs".
Matt Hasselbeck hits Darrell Jackson for a 16-yard touchdown pass for a 7-zip lead? Nope. The incidental contact that occurs on nearly every NFL passing play was, actually, offensive interference...
Darrell Jackson pushed off of the defender, leaving the defender with no chance to catch the pass. Just because it happens on a lot of plays doesn't mean the penalty shouldn't be called when they are caught red-handed.
No poor ref calls prevented Seahawks from tackling Willie Parker or breaking up Antwaan Randle El's throw. I think the Seahawks were unlikely....Rothlesburger was in by a hair and that reciever was out of bounds by a hair, but they were the right calls.
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