Bah.
If I was a Seahawks fan I'd be pissed. But I'd also know that all my team had to do was play sound football and they'd have blown out the Steelers AND the refs.
Anyone wonder what happened to all those extra yards Seattle got? Their punter gave them all back by putting every single punt into the end zone, so the Steelers were never backed up. So even when they went three and out, the Steelers were putting the Hawks back to their own 20-30 yard line, keeping field position equal. If the Steelers would have started just a couple drives from lets say, their own 7, the Hawks would have eventually been starting their drives from the Steelers 45, and that short field means fewer plays, which means less mistakes and gives more importance to Alexander's 5-6 yards every carry. Notice that the drive during which Hasslebeck threw the pick started on the 1 yard line... start that drive on the 20 and the entire set of plays is different.
Hit the two field goals. In a dome, with that guy's leg, that was 6 free points.
How about the guy who caught the touchdown pass and forgot to drag his feet?
How about the coaching staff's moronic clock management at the end of BOTH halfs? Holmgren got distracted by something he had no control over, and thus lost control over something that mattered.
And the quickstep offense had the Steelers way out of whack; where'd it go?
ESPN Radio had Donivin Darius, the Jacksonville strong safety on last evening. He said that the end zone offensive interference call, as slight as it was, was correct. The teams were advised at the beginning of the season that that specific push would be called, and it has been called all year. The receiver's mistake was doing it right in front of the official; he HAD TO call it. Point being that THE RECEIVER DIDN'T HAVE TO DO IT. It would have been a touchdown if he'd have moved left without the push. Darius said that the receivers have learned to do that little push subtly, when they know they won't get caught, and this guy did it right out in the open when he didn't need to. Another example of not playing sound football.
And ALL THE CALLS NOTWITHSTANDING, the Seahawks were down 14-10, but had the ball and the momentum after the Steelers punted to the Hawks' 1; and on that drive Hasslebeck threw the interception. If the Hawks would have driven the length of the field and scored, the story would have been overcoming the refs' mistakes... in other words, that late in the game the Hawks could have still won it. But they didn't. Hasslebeck got picked, and Randle-El threw a touchdown. Neither play had anything to do with bad calls.
All in all it was a crappy game. As a Steelers fan I'll take the trophy, but as a football fan I feel ripped off, not by the officials but by the Steelers and the Seahawks. How can you ask the officials to step up when the players on the field don't? That game had all the intensity of Week 2. If it hadn't been the Super Bowl I'd have quit watching at halftime and gone and worked in the garage.
Oh; and the Rolling Stones. My 14 year old daughter is a Stones FREAK. She knows all the lyrics to Exile on Main Street. When the halftime show was over, I asked her how they sounded. She answered, "Old."
Tom
