Beoshingus

Sorry Stealers fans, survey says... (drumroll)...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/fl...e&pollId=35171

The referees were jackasses. Almost half of Pennsylvania and West Virginia even agree to that. If you Pittsburgh fans are so rabid that you turn a blind eye to the facts, then you're not doing the sport any favors. I like the Steelers, but I wanted Seattle to win this one. But I would rather have had the Seahawks lose a fairly officiated game than win a biased one. Too bad so many Stealers fans can't say the same thing.

If you think it's only Seahawks fans who are crying foul, then:
1.) Check the link above ^^^
2.) Check these links below:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/fl...e&pollId=35171

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5310192

You can argue that the refs called a clean game if you want, but it will only make you look as stupid as they did. More stupid in fact, because you've had the benefit of replays ad nauseum and still stand beside it.

Beoshingus

Do you think the officials stole the Superbowl? Vote here:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sports...?event_id=2011

(AND see how America voted! I dare you, Stealers fans!)

seattle dale

Great finds with the surveys Beo. I knew it just wasn't me being an avid Hawk fan. Its nice to know the nation agrees we got cornholed by a pack of incompatent Zebras!!!

seattle dale

Damn nomatter where you go. Esph, fox,cnn, local, national,. The story isn;t the superbowl, its the superbowl officiating.

I think something might happen in the off season with the fuckin refs finally. It will be for ever refered to as the seahawk factor!

cazzy

The officals made mistakes...they are human so get over it.

The "push off" - Correct call, but probably would not have been called if it wasn't done in front of a ref and if it didn't result in a touchdown.

Ben's score - Very close play but the nose of the ball touched the goal line...which is a TD any way you look at it.

The hold - Bad call any way you look at it.

The low block - Bad call as well.

The fumble - very easy to confuse that a real fubme considering Foote barely touched him.

Bottom line, if Seattle would have closed drives, made the field goals and the tough catch, it may have been a different outcome. Also, YOUR team's coach poorly managed the game clock and the play calling during crunch time. Not a champion's performance if you ask me.

Maximized

The reciever faked to the right side and cut to the left. If you can catch a replay it's clear as day. The "separation" didn't affect the play. If the refs were calling a tight game for both sides, I would have no problem calling questionable calls. The refs on the field had some of the lowest overturn percentages in the league.

seattle dale

One thing no one talks about, is on the touchdown taken away from jackson, on the so called "push off" is what that db or saftey was doing to jackson while the ball was being thrown. There was blatent & obvious pass interference, dude was all over jackson. I want you all to do me a favor 'cause the video don't lie. Replay that play & watch the pittsburg DB while the ball was being thrown & what he was doing to jackson. Point proven, the ref just saw what he wanted to see. After watching the replay of that play can anyone tell me why it is not defensive pass interference. They where both jockying for position. The rule states our receiver can not be touched until the ball arrives. Looked like a mugging in an alley in Newyork! Watch it then tell me i'm wrong. Should of at the very least been a no-call!!

lowpost

The point is, as I was saying in full, the receiver will always have the advatage if the ball is well thrown and the defender has not reacted before the receiver has reacted. They are both at a stop, but the receiver had already reacted and began to move in the opposite reaction. The ball is thrownfar and away from the defneder, who doesn'thave equal reach. So wheter the arm was extended or not, I think the ball gets caught. to me it's a non-call.

I just finished watching an entire night of ESPN and BDSS, and it's too bad that everyone...I mean EVERYONE fomr NFL players to the anchors, to the talk hosts, to the sports columnits, thnks the poor officiating had serious affects on the outcome. I can't rember the last time there was this much controversy about poor officiating - and that so many people agree across the board about it.

jlukja

1) What grade would you give referee Bill Leavy's officiating crew for Super Bowl XL?

50.7% F
24.4% D
14.0% C
8.9% B
2.0% A

2) How do you rate the overall state of officiating in the NFL?

34.4% Average
32.5% Bad
19.3% Good
11.8% Abysmal
2.0% Excellent

3) Did the officiating in Sunday's game unfairly favor one team?

79.3% Unfairly favored the Steelers
16.1% The right calls were made
4.7% Unfairly favored the Seahawks

4) Which played the biggest role in determining the outcome of the game?

57.6% Officials missing calls
28.5% Seahawks not making plays
13.9% Steelers making plays

5) Do you think the official made the right call on Darrell Jackson's offensive pass interference in the endzone, negating a Seattle touchdown in the first quarter?

74.0% No
20.3% Yes
5.7% I'm not sure

6) Do you think the football broke the plane of the goal line on Ben Roethlisberger's touchdown run in the second quarter?

59.3% No
26.3% Yes
14.4% I'm not sure

7) Do you think the official made the right call on Sean Locklear's holding penalty in the fourth quarter, negating an 18-yard reception to the one-yard line by Jerramy Stevens?

74.6% No
14.9% Yes
10.5% I'm not sure

8) Do you feel that you understand what constitutes a ''football move'' on plays involving potential fumbles?

64.1% Yes
35.9% No

9) How much would creating full-time officiating positions, instead of the current part-time positions, help improve the quality of NFL officiating?

45.2% A lot
42.8% A little
12.1% Not at all

10) Which major sport has the best officials?

45.0% MLB
22.9% NHL
20.5% NBA
11.5% NFL

Total Votes: 110,975




Interesting

cazzy

I will watch a replay again tomorrow morning. On the other hand, tell me I am wrong that Seattle didn't beat them selves in many aspects of the game. Champions make the tough catches. Champions make field goals. Champions close drives. Champion caliber coaches manage the clock and put their teams in the best position to score points.

cmark

yes, a good football team would've brushed off the offensive pass interference call in the 1st quarter. they would've survived a very questionable touchdown play too. and just about when the good football team completed a pass to the 1 yard line, the refs take away a 1st and goal to make it 1st and 20. from the 1 yard line, the seahawks are one of if not the very best at converting it into a TD.

Go back and watch the game. Listen to Madden, Young and even Steeler fanboy-Irvin. They all said that those penalties were bad calls.

But I'm not bitter.

lowpost

Bad call according to Willie Mcguiness, Tom Jackson, Ron Jaworski, Michael Irvin, Eddie Gorge, shit...who else tonight.....Rodney pete, everson walls....and the rest of the football world

seattle dale

Yes i understand that fully & it definatly was not one of our better games, but pittsburg was definatley not championship material yesterday either. Flockenburger looked like a junior college quarterback @ best. There was one big difference though. Pittsburg did not have to play the Seahawks & the Refs.

seattle dale

Rest of the football world, with the exception of Pennsylvania & Virginia. According to the espn pole neway

cmark

bottom line, Steelers vs Seahawks = Seahawks win

Steelers + refs vs Seahawks = Superbowl XLame

lowpost

The point is this - take the bad calls away - would the Hawks win? Maybe not. It would definietely have been closer. But what killed the Hawks was that the bad calls always came at a critical time for the Hawks, which either stopped theri momentum, or gave Pittsbrugh some, and that's how the Hawks got jacked.

seattle dale

You hit that nail square on the head.

cmark

yay, we get 2.5 of the top ten!!!

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5311162

Jonesi

Yea, we had #2, #4 and #7 all from the Indy game and won..

03 CLS

But # 4 helped your team?

Beoshingus

I don't care WHO you are - if you get burned on every call, if the referees overturn your big plays whenever they are made - it will take the heart out of ANYBODY. It's hard to play frustrated, and the Seahawks were being frustrated at EVERY turn. I think they held up remarkably well. People jump all over Jeramy Stevens for his bobbled catches, but remember that he made a spectacular catch at the one yard line - only to have it brought back on a trumped up holding call (and the person being "held" was offsides when the ball was snapped!) You try to play when you have that kind of stuff going against you and see if your frustration doesn't cause you to make mistakes. Football is a game of momentum, and the zebras did everything they could to stifle Seattle's momentum. People say that if Seattle had made their plays they might have won anyway - I say that if they had made their plays they would have had bigger and stupider calls made against them. Only a fool could ignore the bias.

Beoshingus

(He should have said "to keep the OFFSIDES Steeler pass rusher off his quarterback..."

Jonesi

Tough call..

Beoshingus

Not a tough call at all. He's clearly using a legal block. And when was the flag thrown? Show the frame from the snap where your boy was offsides, please.

Jonesi

Pic #2 has what looks to be a hold. #3 his kness are buckling from it and #4 his hands look in the face mask..

Beoshingus

Ahem. Show me the offsides, please. #53 was offsides on that play. AND the one before. Let's see the shots, please. That should have been a free play, and Seattle would have had the ball on the 1. It would with high probability have been a Seattle touchdown shortly thereafter. But the refs couldn't have that, so they flagged the play.

I saw that play several times in replay from several different angles - just like the rest of the world did - and only the zebras and Stealers fans could imagine a hold had taken place - and ignore the offsides.

And now Jonesi (and all other Pitt fans), there is one play I haven't heard you guys talk about much. It's not the most detrimental call (although it wound up hurting Seattle a lot in subsequent plays), but it is the most telling call - the one most indicative of officiating bias: Hasselbeck's personal foul.

Please explain to me how that was worthy of a 15 yard penalty. (If you can rationalize that away, you need to be in a padded cell.)

You can dismiss all the other bad calls if you want (it would take a lot of brainwashing to do so, but there you are), but you simply CANNOT justify 15 yards for tackling the ball carrier. You can't say he deserved it, and you can't say that the ref "made a mistake." It was an intentional, malicious decision by the entire officiating crew to hurt Seattle. One bonehead threw the flag, and all of the others nodded in approval. TOTAL

Can you explain how a rational fair-minded referee could make such a call? I say the reason he got flagged is because the ref was mad that the interception wasn't run back all the way for a touchdown.

Also, how about the non-call on Rothlisberger's delay of game? The play clock was CLEARLY down to zero. Undeniably. But then Ben signaled for a timeout and it was granted. This avoided a 5 yard penalty and kept the time-draining drive alive for the Stealers. You can't deny that one either. The refs kept the drive alive to prevent Seattle from getting the ball back. Intentionally.

You say the refs are human and make mistakes. The personal foul was most certainly not a mistake, but deliberate. As for all the other bad calls or non-calls, the fact that they invariably went against Seattle is called BIAS. If all your "mistakes" favor one side, they aren't mistakes at all.

03 CLS

This was the first holding call which I think was holding. The second one when they completed a pass that would have made it first and goal was the more disputed one.

Jonesi

I don't have any other stills that I can find offsides. I will search for you though..

I agree the Personal foul wasn't the correct call. But Ward still had the safety beat pretty bad which probably should have resulted in a TD.

I'll have to search for the delay of game to see if it was called a timeout..

Jonesi

The pictures are from the more disputed one..

Jonesi

I never said it was the best called game.. We were there against Indy in the same boat.. I'm just providing visual evidence for discussion that is all..

YOTH

As a neutral fan, but sentimental towards the Steelers, they were given a whole bunch of gifts from the refs. Those bad calls just sap away any momentum you can muster.

I think the whole Superbowl referee crew should be sent packing. There are so many better refs I've seen this season than this crew.

Beoshingus

Ward wasn't even on the field.

I'm talking about the play after the pass to the 1 was revoked by the holding call. Hasselbeck threw the interception and then tackled the guy who intercepted it. He was then flagged 15 yards for an "illegal block below the waist," even though he was tackling the ball carrier. What does that have to do with Ward?

jlukja

One time is an incidence,
two times, a coincidence,
three times, is enemy action

Jonesi

I was saying the 15 yds really didn't matter because two players later came the trick play which probably would've been a TD..

Although I agreed it was a bad call..

Beoshingus

I'm saying that it was a totally indefensible and biased call that demonstrated that the officiating crew would make up ANY excuse to penalize Seattle. Do you have any other justification for such a call?

Yes, that trick play was a good one and it definitely worked. But if not for three bad calls in a row (1 - not calling offside on Pitt, 2 - calling holding on Seattle, 3 - advancing Pitt 15 yards on a total BS personal foul) then that trick play would never have had the opportunity to happen like it did.

hornyleprechaun

all of you who are saying that all the espn guys are saying it was a bad officiated game, they are also saying that jerramy stevens should not have talked pregame because he didn't back it up on the field.

Beoshingus

What does that have to do with anything? Red herring. That is supposed to justify officiating bias?

Besides, Stevens made an awesome catch on the 1 yard line which the refs took away.

Mike 350Z

I can't dispute the offisides (although it was close) or the hasselback 15yder. But anytime the O lineman uses the crook of his elbow (i.e. hugging him with one arm) to prevent the defender from continuing his pass rush, it's holding. You don't have to tackle the guy to get called for holding.

I'm horrible at noticing holding calls without seeing 3 replays, but I picked up on both of those by just watching the live action.

Beoshingus

But in any case, even though you think you saw holding - you agree that it should have been a free play since the defensive lineman was offsides. Correct? Seattle should have had the ball on the 1 after the completion to Jerramy Stevens.

ccannizz11

The holding and offsides would offset, replay the down.