I thought NHL officiating was bad

[randy]

NHL refs having nothing on the NFL. That was the worst officiating I have ever witnessed in any sport-ever. And ALOT of folks everywhere are saying it

no doubt the outcome of those games is rigged. Its all about $$$$$$$$

[Kovy27]

no doubt the outcome of those games is rigged. Its all about $$$$$$$$

If this was even remotely true, don't you think the Colts would have won? The Seahawks would not have won either. Not alot of attention on them, they are up in the middle of no where in the NW.

If the NFL wanted to rig the Super Bowl, it would have been the Colts vs. Giants...The Manning vs Manning Bowl.

....not the freakin Seahawks vs the Steelers.

[Stoosh]

Did it ever occur to anyone that the Seahawks may have REALLY committed all those holding calls? Or that Jackson did in fact actually push off of Hope in clear view of the official, gaining an advantage over Hope and thereby qualifying the play as a penalty?

And how can Seattle fans complain about the Roethlisberger touchdown? The rule states that in order to score a touchdown, some part of the ball must break the plane of the endzone, and to break the plane of the endzone, it only needs to cross the front edge of the goalline. The call on the field was made as a touchdown by the official who had the clearest view of it. The play went to review, and as the review rules state, there had to be indisputable video evidence to overturn the call. While the slow-motion replays left a little bit of room for second-guessing, it wasn't INDISPUTABLE.

The only call I could say the Seahawks fans had rights to complain about was the call on Hasselbeck, when he was flagged for going low to block Townsend. I thought it was pretty clear that he was trying to make a tackle.

And none of the calls by the officials were as egregious as the overturning of what was clearly a textbook interception like the refs did in the Indy game. Nothing that happened yesterday was even in the same ballpark as that.

But for God's sake...is it the refs' fault that Jerramy Stevens can't friggin' catch, especially when two of those catches would've set them up inside the 10? Is it the refs' fault that Mike Boulware took a pi$$poor angle on Willie Parker? Is it the refs' fault that Kelly Herndon couldn't outrun Randle-El, despite having two or three blockers out in front of him? Is it the refs' fault that the whole Seahawks defense bit on the trick play? Is it the refs' fault that the Seahawks were 5-for-17 on third down? Is it the refs' fault that the Seahawks grossly mismanaged the clock at the ends of each halves, or that the Seahawks played the last eight minutes with little, if any, sense of urgency?

Last time I checked, there are sixty minutes in a football game. The Seahawks ran eighty plays, and yet somehow they lost because of calls on five or six of those? I don't think so.

[randy]

Yeah. It seemed to me that Chris Berman, Micheal Irvin, and the other two guys on the abc team, as well as writers from all over the country are wrong about the officiating. Did you notice they ALL seemed to be in agreement. And they know alot more about football than any of you

Oh yeah, they all have it in for the steelers, right

Numerous bad calls. The "push off" on the Td, was more like a bicth slap
"holding" on the pass to the 2 yrd line.
That ball never crossed the goal line plane. His helmet did, but the ball didnt. Not till after he was down.

Let the plays on the field determine the game. Not the officiating.

[DelPen]

Let the plays on the field determine the game. Not the officiating.

Hey, I'm all for that. But when the defense almost has two sacks if not for those holds, and they were holds, you have to call them. Could they have not been called, sure, but there were no bad calls. On the INT return I could have sworn Ben got leveled in the back about 15 yards before the guy was eventually brought down. That could have meant them Sea Hawks not getting that TD.

Seattle simply didn't do enough things right to win the game. You can cry all you want but that's what it comes down to, not three somewhat questionable calls that were penalties but go uncalled often.

[rasbatch]

***** about now that "Cowher can't win the big one" is over. That's right Over. Sorry to spoil the party hater we won.

[randy]

Im not a hater of the steelers. Actually i could care less. I thought the refs were bad, apparently others do to. So what.

Who is sabu?

[Kovy27]

The officials did a decent job. The only BAD call I saw the whole time was the Hold. He was not holding, but the official saw it differently. The push off by Jackson was pass interference. Good Call. Seattle fans can whine all they want, they did not get the job done on 3rd down. The Steelers won the game, plain and simple, by beating the Seahawks with defense. They got the job done on offense, also.

Not to take anything away from the Seahawks, they deserved to be in the Super Bowl. When they sign Shaun Alexander, they have another chance to win the thing next year.

[tifosi77]

The push-off call seemed to be one of those things like holding; if you called it by the textbook definition of the foul, then you could call it on almost every play. It was a push-off, but it was still marginal. The call on the low block was bad.

But the ball crossed the plane. The defender (I forget who now) came within about two inches of making a great play and stopping drive. But he didn't. End of story.

[Bowser]

The irritating part of the Ben TD was ABC refusing to do an ultra slow motion and freeze frame of the ball actually cross the white edge of the goal line.

If I'm the NFL, I blow the play up and send the picture to the media and then demand Holmgren to apologize or face a major fine.

[Diddy]

That call on Hasselback also was called against us in the Indy game regular season, was it not? I recall Faneca tackling a guy below the waiste and getting penalized for the same thing.

[PensFanBryan]

Yeah. It seemed to me that Chris Berman, Micheal Irvin, and the other two guys on the abc team, as well as writers from all over the country are wrong about the officiating. Did you notice they ALL seemed to be in agreement. And they know alot more about football than any of you

Oh yeah, they all have it in for the steelers, right

Numerous bad calls. The "push off" on the Td, was more like a bicth slap
"holding" on the pass to the 2 yrd line.
That ball never crossed the goal line plane. His helmet did, but the ball didnt. Not till after he was down.

Let the plays on the field determine the game. Not the officiating.

Ok now i have to disagree. Ive been watching NFL network, listening to Sirius NFL Radio, and everyone is saying that Ben's TD was a TD. Many are using this analogy, "If there was a piece of glass at the goal line, the tip of the ball would have broken the glass." I myself believe the ball crossed the plane before his foward progress was impeded.

And the pushoff, most are saying that It could have been called because he extended his elbow. I listened to Shannon Sharpe this morning saying all morning that Jackson didnt have to pushoff to make the catch, but he did. And if Shannon Sharpe believes he pushed off, I think ill take his word for it.

The holding calls you speak of, by rule, could have been called, Its just a matter of if the refs call it or not. John Madden has the best quote "You can call holding on any play." He has said it many times, and i believe if you play Madden NFL 06 the video game and get a holding penalty, he will say it.

The only penalty I see as being a gift is the Hasselbeck 15 yrd penalty for blocking low. And Diddy, it was Hartings who got called for the penalty against Indy. He took out the legs of the blocker to make the tackle. Hasselbeck didnt take out Townsend to make the tackle, Townsend had to jump over him and that might be the cause of the penalty, but I dont beleive he took Townsend out of the play enough to make the call.

Im not going to dispute that there werent bad calls, because i believe there was. And i believe some of the holding calls were borderline, but by rule, they could have called it, and they did last night. I believe if Locklear didnt drag Clark Haggans down, Haggans would have gotten a sack, on the one holding call (the pass to the 2 yrd line). And I believe that is the definition of the holding call.

[DelPen]

Hasselbeck didnt take out Townsend to make the tackle, Townsend had to jump over him and that might be the cause of the penalty, but I dont beleive he took Townsend out of the play enough to make the call.

I don't know the exact wording of the rule but if it's for the attempt to cut block, like spearing in the NHL, they should call the penalty. Cut blocking has the potential to be career ending, anything to discourage it is good and getting 15 yards for trying and missing might be what they are going for.

[Ron`]

It's all in the eye of the beholder on each of those calls except the QB low tackle call. That was bad. As someone put it on NFL network today, how do you get credited with an illegal block and a tackle on the same play?

In my opinion, the TD was a TD, ball breaks plane with Ben in air and then driven back. The offensive pass interference was rule book called although weak, he stupidly did it right in front of the official. I don't agree with this pitty pat pass interference rules. But they are what they are. I'd have to agree with Shannon on that one, no need for the Michael Irving push off move. He had position and would have caught the TD pass anyways.

On both holding calls he was beaten to the outside and pulled haggens down. On one he actually hooks his neck with his arm and spins him down. Again, by the rules holding.

Most impressive play of the game was the Casey Hampton sack. One arm swatted the center away and unobstructed to the QB.

Seattle just played worse when it mattered than the steelers. Bad penalties, key dropped balls, biting on the gadget play and missed two field goals. They have no one to blame but themselves for not taking this game. Not exactly the epic performance by either team in this one.

[Daniel]

I think thing with the push off is that it gave Jackson a clear advantage, since Hope couldn't follow him. Hope had good coverage and was looking at Jackson when he was pushed. It is logical to think that Hope moves with him and swats the ball away.

As for the holding penalty, one would assume that after the RT got called for one (that no one talked about), that he would quit doing the same thing on Haggans.

All the whining about the refs, but no one mentions the Stevens fumble. Farrior stopped running after the whistle was blown. I think he would have easily gotten the ball about the 10 yard line and ran back at least to the 30. One can say that he gets tackled inside the 20 and Seattle punted, but that doesn't include the momentum change of not only causing a fumble, but a fumble of someone who was mouthing off.

[pfim]

It's all in the eye of the beholder on each of those calls except the QB low tackle call. That was bad. As someone put it on NFL network today, how do you get credited with an illegal block and a tackle on the same play?

Ask Randle-El, I believe. The Steelers were called for this twice this season.

As far as the hold on Haggans/Locklear, Lincoln Kennedy said it was a good call, he's a former OT so I think his opinion should be valued.

[relantel]

It's all in the eye of the beholder on each of those calls except the QB low tackle call. That was bad. As someone put it on NFL network today, how do you get credited with an illegal block and a tackle on the same play?

Ask Randle-El, I believe. The Steelers were called for this twice this season.

As far as the hold on Haggans/Locklear, Lincoln Kennedy said it was a good call, he's a former OT so I think his opinion should be valued.

Once was against Jeff Hartings on Ben's INT with 27 seconds to go in the 1st half of teh first Indy game this year. BilL Leary called that game as well.