I didn't care who won the game last night

[BOSSHOG]

but apparently the officiating crew did. I've read posts saying how poorly the SeaHawks played and while that may be true, if they were given an honest and true shake by the Zebras they would have won the game. What does that say about the Steelers performance? Poorly played and poorly officiated. Certainly not XL. Damned not Super. Thank God for the baby Clydesdale.

[erpowers]

1. Wrong

I really think you are wrong. Something that many people have not said about the officiating is this. Had the refs not given Pittsburgh the touchdown they most likely would have made the touchdown on the next play whether it was 3rd down or 4th down. So for all the people claiming that the refs robbed the Seahawks of 14 points the fact that Pittsburgh most likely would have scored on the next play brings your point total down to 7. Secondly, as far as the Seahawks touchdown that was reversed goes their are some people who have claimed that the call was good in that the push was enough to push the defender backwards away from the ball. So that brings your total down to zero.

Now lets take a look at how many times players from the Seahawks dropped the ball, threw the ball out of bounds, or caught the ball out of bounds. I will calculate that that brings you score down to about -28. For those that are unhappy with my -28 I think I am being generous to your team. Just from memory I counted the ball thrown and caught out of bounds twice and the ball dropped twice. I think the ball was thrown out of bounds about three and the ball was dropped probably more than three times. Something like about five times. So if I wanted to count all eight that would make it about -56. That is not even counting the bad time management. So if I were to add the bad time management and the eight bad throws and bad catches that would be about -70. At this point I think any fan of football and any fan of the Seahawks should just be happy that the Pittsburgh Steelers did not bring their A game and/or that the Seahawks were not playing one of the great teams of the yesteryears. If either of those two things would have happened you would have seen what a foot ball massacre looks like. I contend that the Seahawks should have at least lost by about 50 points. The Seahawks played a terrible game. That is what cost them the game not the officiating.

[BOSSHOG]

2. Thanks for making my point

And by the way, the Seahawks aren't my team. You chronicle how poorly the Seahawks played and I agree, but despite your subjective objectives, the Zebras clearly aided and abetted the Steelers and yet they only won by 11. The Steelers did not bring their "A" game? I have to chuckle. Piss poor officiating gave the game to the NFL darlings. Barely. Against a team which didn't play very well. And the one for the thumb does not belong on the thumb of any members of the current crop of Steelers. And can you tell me, does Cowher coach thuggery? The Steeltown reps looked more like a roaving gang of punks last night then a football team, and yet they still only won by 11, having been given more than that many by the Zebras and against a team which had a bad night. One ring does not make a dynasty.

[erpowers]

4. Did Not Make Your Point

I did not make your point. I negated your point. What many people are missing is that even if you take away the Big Ben touchdown they would have scored one second later. Then the Steelers scored two more times. I do not think you can dispute the next two scores by the Steelers. How many scores did Seattle score after the first touchdown? None. The game was not stolen from Seattle, they just lost the game. Seattle fans and anyone else complaining about the game needs to just accept that. My point in the last post was that even if you give the Seahawks the point that were taken from them by penalities they still would have lost. The Seahawks just played a horrible game last night and lost as a result. One ring does not make a dynasty, but they did win that one ring. Nobody stole it from Seattle.

[timber84]

11. Were you there?

I was and there was none of that. Where's your proof?

[Beetwasher]

3. Heh? You Have No Way Of Knowing the Steelers Would Have Scored Anyway

Sorry, but that claim is ludicrous.

[northzax]

15. right, given recent history

maybe Bettis fumbles on the one and the Seahawks run it back? who knows? most likely doesn't count. otherwise, let's just move the goal line to the one, after all, you are most likely going to score from there, right?

[Ravenseye]

25. Just like the holding call

Just because the Seahawks get a 1st and goal at the one, doesn't mean they automatically score either. THey could throw an intereception like Ben did at the 7 yard line, or fumble like Bettis did in the Colts game...

to say "if this play turned differently then the score would have been closer" is absurd. The whole dynamic of the game changes. IF the steelers are up by 11 points, they go into conservative mode and practicily do nothing BUT run the ball, or make ultra safe dump passes. To say that they wouldn't have gone into gear is crazy. Also if they had gone down by say 10 points, do you think they wouldn't have turned it on and fired up Roethlisberger? Who knows...If one play changes, the whole game changes. Totally. Completely. To say the score would have been this or that, is just assinine, imho.

[DaveinMD]

5. Seattle was robbed of 11 points on offense

the offensive PI that preceded a field goal and the phantom hold on a pass down to the one. A couple of plays later an int sets up a Pitt TD. The game is completely different if the refs didn't fix the game for Pitt.

[erpowers]

8. Not True

It is not true that the it would have been a completely different game if the refs had made better calls. Noone forced Hasselback to throw the int. In addition, what really hurt the Seahawks was their bad play. They had other occasions where they had to ball and did nothing with it. The Seahawks made too many mistakes. They lost the game.

[DaveinMD]

10. its completely true

Seattle was robbed of 11 points, which happened to be the margin of defeat. The interception never happens if that hideous holding call isn't made and Seattle likely scores on the next play. The refs gave this game to Pittsburgh.

[erpowers]

14. Crazy

It is just crazy that people want to say that the Seahawks would have scored on the next play, but refuse to admit that the Steelers would have scored on the next play if the touchdown play which pictures prove was actually a touchdown would have been called back. Seattle was never robbed of 11 point they just played poorly and lost those 11 points. Even if you give the Seahawks each of the two touchdown that you say were stolen from them they still would have lost. The only time they came close to scoring were to two times everyone is talking about. The Steelers scored three times. Therefore, the score would have been 21-14. Still the steelers would have won. If you want to argue that the bad call set up the interception that lead to the touchdown think about this. Had Seattle scored on the play that was called back the Steelers would have gotten the ball anyway had still could have scored in the same amount of time that they scored after the interception. THe Seahawks lost this game. It was not stolen from them.

[DaveinMD]

17. its not crazy

the Steelers would have a 4th down. Regardless, even giving the Steelers that TD, that horrendous holding call kept Seattle from taking the lead. Its a completely different game without that horrid call. The officiating in this game took that game out of hands of the players. Your Steelers bias is shining through.

[erpowers]

20. Not a Steeler Fan

My Steeler bias is not shining through in that I am not a Steeler fan. I am just going on the facts. The game did not change due to bad officiating it changed due to the Seahawks making too many mistakes. The Seahawks had the game in their hands until the end of the game they just did not do anything with it. Even if they had scored on the next play the Steeler would have gotten the ball back with even more time than when they got it after the interception. So they could have made those two scores regardless of whether the Seahawks were given the touchdown you are talking about.

The dropped balls and the out of bounds throws hurt the team more than the bad officiating. Also, bad play calling hurt the team. Instead of Holmgren going for fields from 54 and 50 yards he should have just punted the ball and dealt with the Steelers getting the ball on their own 20 instead of at midfield. Also Holmgren should have told his punter to stop punting the ball in the end zone. Most of the punts for the Steelers did not go into the end zone so the Seahawks were starting from their own 1, 5, or 10 instead of from their own 20. If you want to blame someone for handing the game to the Steelers you should blame the coaches and players from Seattle because they are the ones who really handed the game to the Steelers not the refs.

[DaveinMD]

21. no doubt the Steelers may have won the game anyhow

but the phantom hold, followed by the hideous penalty on the int return changed the entire complexion of the game. Something needs to be done about the officiating in the league. Its gotten out of hand.

[LisaM]

6. I think Pittsburgh would have won even with good officiating

but to say that the officiating didn't affect the game is ridiculous. First, I don't think that Pittsburgh would have gone for it on FOURTH and goal after barely moving the ball the whole first half, so you can probably take away four points right there, had they not called that a TD. I'm sure they remember the fumble in the Indy game, and wouldn't have risked it on fourth down.

But taking away Seattle's TD on that "pushing off" call was pretty bad, and calling Matt Hasselback for a "chop block" was really strange.

[HuckleB]

7. Thinking is great.

But the refs actions mean we will never know.

[erpowers]

9. It's the Superbowl

Of course they would have gone for it on fourth and one it is the Superbowl. Even if they would have not made to touchdown the Seahawks would have been on the one yard line. So yes they would have gone for it on fourth and one. In addition, even if the refs had spotted the ball they most likly would have spotted in about and inch away from the goal line so yes within one more second the Steelers would have had a touchdown anyway.

[Baclava]

12. The stink of envy is starting to smell pretty sweet

Fast Willie!

[Bill McBlueState]

13. officials make mistakes all the time

To win the Super Bowl, you have to overcome that. It's kind of pathetic to see everyone whining about the officiating. If Matt Hasselbeck was so upset about the way the game was going, he shouldn't have thrown that interception. If the Seattle defense was angry about the officiating, they shouldn't have been fooled by the same trick play the Steelers had run twice in recent games.

[northzax]

16. right, but everyone, including every sportswriter

is complaining about it. That and Randle-El getting robbed of MVP are the stories of the game. you can't avoid it. Especially from a team that complained vociferously about the reffing earlier this month?

Where's Joey Porter saying that both teams should have a fair shake? Where's his press conference complaining about fairness? Be a man, Joey, complain when you get screwed, and complain when the other guy gets screwed as well. I would think Pittsburgh fans would be pissed off that the refs stank up the joint so much that no one thinks it was fair. You were just as robbed of a great victory, but it will always be known as the game the refs screwed up, not the game the Steelers won. They should put that on the rings.

[timber84]

18. Where's Rummy?

[timber84]

19. Hines Ward caught his pass.

I think Parker should have been MVP.

[KitchenWitch]

22. I personally had it between Hines Ward and Willie Parker for MVP

If the game had gone the other way, I have no idea who the MVP would have been.

[HuckleB]

23. That is one of the interesting things.

The Steelers were the whiniest team in the league all year, when it came to refs and calls. And their fans backed this whining up all the way. It's interesting that some of these same fans have a problem with other people doing the same thing.

[Ravenseye]

24. How were the Steelers the whiniest team all year?

That's a kind of absurd blanket statement. Other than after the Colts game, which the NFL apologized for the horrible refing which they don't do every day, how were they the whiniest team all year when it came to refs and calls?

[HuckleB]

26. Please.

They constantly ran to the refs crying about play after play, game after game. This was noted by many of the Steelers fans that I know and love throughout the year, but, for others, it was an excuse to whine, week after week, right along with the players.

[Ravenseye]

27. I don't recall that

Does my anecdotal evidence trump yours?

[HuckleB]

30. Conveniently you don't.

LOL!

I suspect you do recall it, but won't admit that at DU.

[Ravenseye]

33. No I don't

And thanks for intimating that I'm a liar...

No, I'm sorry but I don't recall any whining about calls all year. I remmeber lots of moans when Ben got hurt the first time. I remember lots of shrieks when Tommy Maddox (the number 3 quarterback) threw more touchdowns for the Jaguars than their quarterback did. I remember lots of wincing when Ben's knee got hit...

But all through the year I don't recall any whining about playcalling.

Sorry.

Never happened, and I bet I know more Steelers fans than you do.

[kathy14-0]

31. They werent

If you ask me people just want to see the champions be tarnished in some way.

[kathy14-0]

32. Perfectly stated eom

[friesianrider]

28. Oh really? Are you a psychic?

Give me a fucking break. Why do people insist on having a big controversy to bitch about, then harping on it over and over playing the "if" game? It's so pathetic.

I mean gosh...it couldn't have been horrific play calling, ridiculous time management, or all the dropped passes, could it? No, it must have been the refs who lost the game for them! :sarcasm: Never have I seen a bigger bunch of whiners and sore losers. Excuses, excuses, excuses.

The Steelers won, they are the champs. Suck it up and get over it.

[Name removed]

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