Not So Super Bowl of Sour Grapes

Well it looks like we are going to have yet another postseason game in which the officiating will be remembered more than the game. It's happened throughout the NFL playoffs, and it happened in the American League Championship Series, hell it happens basically every postseason for some team and it's fans. Then next year when it happens again we all talk about it like it's the first time ever all over again.

Seattle fans, coaches, and players, (Actually the players have been pretty quiet) have been complaining ever since the end of Super Bowl XL Sunday in Detroit. "I knew the Steelers were going to be tough, but I didn't know we'd have to face the guys in black and white shirts as well." said Seattle coach Mike Holmgren at a pep rally upon returning to Seattle. Yes Mike, your players had an uphill battle on their hands all right, and they sure weren't helped at all by your inept coaching at the end of the first half. Somebody forgot to tell Mike Holmgren 1st half timeouts don't carry over to the 2nd half.

Seattle players though sure have been quiet about the whole thing, and there is a reason for that. They seem to know something Holmgren and Seattle fans don't. That is bad calls or not, they did not deserve to win that game. This is a game in which there were five big plays. Four of those 5 were made by Pittsburgh, and 3 resulted in a touchdown. Kelly Herndon's interception and 76 yard return was Seattle's lone big play, and did result in their only touchdown. Of course if you ask Seattle fans there were 2 touchdowns scored by the Seahawks in the game. Though a yellow flag and a pushoff (any time a WR uses his arms to deliberately get space between him and a defender it's a push off. Jackson did this. Sorry Seahawk fans.) negated the first one. Once again Seattle fans seemed to be more bothered by the call than the player who pushed off, Darrell Jackson, was at the time. Maybe cuz DJack knows that while pushoffs are a common occurrence that are seldom called, they always are when you commit them no more than 2 feet in front of an official.

Then there was the Big Ben touchdown. I honestly cannot be sure whether that ball crossed the plain of the goalline or not. Replay angles don't give us that true look at the goalline. They are all a little off, so our point of views are skewed. This play can be debated for decades (it won't be) but here's a simple truth. If Seattle's defense could somehow have stopped the Steelers from converting a 3rd and 28 3 plays before it's Seahawk ball at this point. So even if it wasn't a touchdown, convincing me that the same defense that couldn't stop a 3rd and 28 would have stopped a 4th and an inch on the next play just isn't going to happen. The way Seattle's defense was so worried about crashing down on Bettis all night, all Pittsburgh would have had to do was play action and Ben could have either walked in or had Heath Miller wide open for the TD.

Unless a referee tackled a few Seahawk defenders, I don't think they had anything to do with Willie Parker's Super Bowl record 75 yard touchdown run. That had more to do with a hole the size of Detroit itself, and a horrible angle by a Seahawk safety.

After that play Seattle had just completed a pass to Jerramy "I catch one out of every 4" Stevens to the 1 yard line that was called back by a holding call. I'll admit, this call wasn't correct. Locklear did not hold anyone on this play. Holding is not an easy call to make though, as it genuinely happens on every play. Have you ever seen an offensive lineman NOT think it was a bad call when it goes against him though? This play was a killer though, but that's the thing about championship worthy teams. They overcome such adversity,(Like maybe when a holding and a sack had Pittsburgh facing a 3rd and 28?) Seattle just crumbled. A few plays later Hasselbeck was soft arming a pass into Steeler cornerback Ike Taylor's arms and Seattle had blown yet another red zone oppurtunity. The personal foul call on Hasselbeck was just a dumb call as in that's just a horrible rule, and not a horrible call kind of way.

Either way it wouldn't have mattered when Hines Ward was running past the Seattle secondary on one of Pittsburghs infamous gadget plays. Back the Steelers up 15 yards and Hines is still getting to the endzone on that pass from Antwaan Randle El. (The game's best QB on this night sadly.)

At the end of the day though this is what matters most, anytime a team can rack up 420 yards of total offense against a team and only muster 10 points, they don't deserve to win. Anytime a league MVP (The leagues MVP, yet he's not even the most important player on his team) and leading rusher can't get anything going, his team doesn't deserve to win. I know Alexander had 90 yards, but besides the one 20 yarder I don't remember any of them being for a first down. They were all little 3 yard gains that didn't do much. Fullback Mack Strong and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck had more runs for first downs. Pittsburgh Wide Receiver and game MVP Hines Ward had one first down run, on only one carry.

This game left a lot of questions unanswered, but it did answer one for me. Mike Holmgren is an idiot in my opinion. I was always of the opinion he was nowhere near the coach he thought he was, and that the only reason he had a Super Bowl ring was because he had a quarterback named Favre in his prime. The fact he only got 1 ring out of that is what led to my belief he was never that great a coach. Then he went to Seattle and kinda kept proving that to me year after year. Then this year he started to earn a little bit of my respect. Well that is until Sunday. Holmgren was seemingly unprepared as I mentioned earlier with the way the Seahawks ran their two minute drills.

The final straw for me was this though, was I the only one who noticed Bill Cowher standing on the field for a few minutes before celebrating with his team waiting for Holmgren to come over so they could shake hands? Am I the only one who noticed Holmgren never showed up? Nobody is talking about this. When Isaiah Thomas and the Pistons did that to the Bulls after they finally beat them in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals this was a huge story. People still talk about it today. Was Holmgren that kinda kid growing up too? Did he take his ball and go home when things didn't go his way? What a completely classless move. I know Holmgren is mad at this point, but what in the hell did Cowher do to him? Cowher wasn't throwing those flags. Cowher was too busy out coaching Holmgren. Then the first thing Holmgren does when he gets back to Seattle is start complaining about the officiating. Smart move Mike. Keep the "Death to The Refs" fire burning so hopefully Seattle fans forget about your horrible coaching performance in this game, and you can keep the heat off of yourself. Seems you have been doing that for years in Seattle, and they keep buying it.

Now before people go accusing me of being some sort of Steeler fan, know this. I had money on Seattle to win this game. I lost money because of some "suspect" calls. I'm not mad at any officials though. I'm mad at the Seahawks for choking. They had this game in complete control in the first half but still somehow managed to trail 7-3 at halftime.

Don't blame the referees Seattle.

Blame Holmgren.

Blame Jerramy Stevens.

Blame Antwaan Randle El.

Blame Hines Ward.

Blame Bill Cowher.

Blame yourselves for giving Pittsburgh the first ever homefield advantage in a Super Bowl.

But don't blame the officials, they didn't lose this game, the Seahawks did.

Random Thoughts

• Ok, I was pretty sick this weekend and slept through Saturday. So somebody please tell me that the Illini losing at home to Penn State Saturday was just a bad dream and that boxscore I saw Sunday was a figment of my imagination.
• The Minnesota Twins won an off field battle this weekend. Well, the Twins did anyway, I'm not sure about Minnesota. Maybe Vegas.
• I wish I had a magic fridge.
• Were you wondering why Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw weren't in the Super Bowl MVP parade before the game?
• Thank God February is only 28 days long. March Madness and Spring Training aren't that far away.
• So I guess that means I WILL get into the Olympics, I have no other choice. Coming next week an exciting look into the life of Apollo Anton Ohno!!
• One last thing about officials. Super Bowl XL be damned, I just hope the NFL realizes they need to hire some full time officials. It would really help, and c'mon Mr. Tagliabue, we know the league has the money. Just convert all those kidneys and limbs people had to give up for their Super Bowl tickets into currency.
• The Chicago Bulls are constantly amazing me with their ability to lose a basketball game in anyway possible. Talk about versatile. Thanks for that tease of a season last year boys. (Note to John Paxson:Paul Pierce.)