SUPER BOWL EXTRA LARGE

Game's third team upstaged Steelers, Hawks
By Michael Smith
ESPN.com
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DETROIT -- Three weeks ago, after the Steelers held on to upset Indianapolis, Joey Porter was unhappy about the overturning of Troy Polamalu's fourth-quarter interception that could have sealed the win much earlier. Believing that deep down the league preferred Peyton Manning and the Colts to win, Porter publicly criticized the game officials, asking them not to "take the game from us."

Well, the Steelers can call it even now, as the officials who performed well enough throughout the season to earn the privilege of working Super Bowl XL performed Sunday as though they were trying to make it up to the Steelers by giving them the game -- not just any game, but the biggest game. And, yes, this time the other guys, the Seahawks, cried conspiracy, only not quite as loudly as Porter.

"You know, that's what happens when the world is against you," one Seahawk said after the 21-10 loss at Ford/Heinz Field. "No one wanted us to win. They wanted Jerome Bettis to win and go out a hero, and they got it."

Seattle had its share of goats: in particular, tight end Jerramy Stevens, who dropped four balls, and kicker Josh Brown, who missed two field-goal attempts. Almost to a man, the Seahawks pointed the blame finger at themselves for converting only one of three red zone attempts (when they had been the best in the league in that area, scoring a touchdown on 71.7 percent of their trips inside the 20-yard line); for allowing Ben Roethlisberger to improvise and complete a 37-yard pass to game MVP Hines Ward to the 1; for giving up a 75-yard touchdown run to Willie Parker; and for getting beaten by a trick play on Antwaan Randle El's pass to fellow receiver Ward for a touchdown, a first in Super Bowl history. If you read between the lines, though, they pretty much spelled out in bold letters that they had plenty of help in handing Pittsburgh its fifth Lombardi Trophy.

Namely, the boys in black and white.

"Those things are out of our control," Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said of the three major penalties that helped change the game completely. Not saying the outcome of the game would have been any different, but for sure it would have been a different game. "That's the way [the officials] called them," Hasselbeck continued. "The Steelers played well enough to win tonight, and we didn't. They should get credit. It's disappointing, it's hard, but what are you going to do?"

Here's what referee Bill Leavy's crew did, point blank: It robbed Seattle. The Seahawks could have played better, sure. They could have done more to overcome the poor officiating. We understand that those things happen and all, but even with all the points Seattle left on the field, there's a good chance the Seahawks would have scored more than the Steelers if the officials had let the players play.

In the biggest game of the year, the biggest game in sports, even, the officials were just a little too visible. In that regard, the Super Bowl provided a fitting conclusion to a postseason packed with pitiful performances by the game's third team. There were incorrect down-by-contact rulings in both NFC wild-card games; a touchdown that could have gone either way and should have gone the other way -- in favor of Tampa Bay -- in the Bucs' loss to the Redskins; the Patriots got no love in Denver in being hit with a bogus pass interference penalty and not catching a break on Champ Bailey's fumble at the goal line that looked as though it could have been a touchback; and, of course, the Polamalu play.

Still, what happened to the Seahawks wasn't the same as, say, New England going into Denver and playing badly (five turnovers) on top of the bad calls. Seattle gained almost 400 yards and turned it over just once.

You see, you can spend weeks -- and we did; two, in fact -- analyzing and dissecting matchups and giving each team the edge in certain areas and trying to figure out how the game is going to play out, but the two things you can't account for are turnovers and officials. The latter were the X-factor Sunday. Edge: Steelers.

It actually was a fairly clean game from a penalty standpoint, without a whole lot of yellow on the field -- 10 accepted penalties between the teams. Seven were against the Seahawks, though, a team that tied with Indianapolis for the second-fewest penalties (94) in the regular season. But those calls against the Seahawks stuck out like the Space Needle on the Seattle skyline.

Consider: The Seahawks lost 161 yards to penalties when you combine the penalty yards (70) and the plays the flags wiped out (91). By halftime alone, when it trailed 7-3, Seattle had had 73 hard-earned yards and a touchdown eliminated.

Hasselbeck hit Darrell Jackson with an apparent 16-yard scoring pass in the first quarter, but the play came back when Jackson was called for offensive pass interference. It was a touch foul. Jackson extended his arm, yes, but both players were fighting for position, and he didn't create any separation by doing so. It was like a referee calling a hand-check in a key moment of Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

The Seahawks had to settle for three instead of seven.

Still, that was early, and that one didn't change the game as much as did a holding call against Sean Locklear early in the fourth quarter with Pittsburgh leading 14-10. That one wiped out an 18-yard catch by Stevens that would have taken the ball to the 1. Locklear supposedly held Clark Haggans, so instead of first-and-goal at the 1 and the chance to complete a 98-yard touchdown drive and take a three-point lead, Seattle faced first-and-20 at the 29.

Three plays later, Ike Taylor picked off a Hasselbeck pass, and Hasselbeck went low to make the tackle on Taylor's return and was called for a 15-yard personal foul for a low block. The Steelers set up shop at their 44. That one right there made no sense.

Pittsburgh likes to run its trick plays in the middle of the field. Boom! Four plays later, from Seattle's 43, Randle El took a reverse and threw a sweet strike on the run to Ward. It was 21-10, and that was all she wrote. Everyone knows how important it is to play Pittsburgh with a lead or with the score tied. The Steelers don't lose when they're up by 11.

Eleven just so happens to be the total points taken away by bogus calls. Some penalties meant points; others meant field position. A holding call in the second quarter negated Peter Warrick's 34-yard punt return that would have started Seattle in Pittsburgh territory.

By contrast, the Steelers might have gotten a break on Roethlisberger's 1-yard touchdown plunge on third-and-goal in the second quarter. Leavy reviewed the play under the booth's orders, since it occurred inside the two-minute mark, and while still photos of an airborne Roethlisberger showed that the ball might have broken the plane of the goal line, he landed short of it and reached the ball over. It was close. Head linesman Mark Hittner didn't seem so sure of it, hesitating before signaling touchdown.

"I don't think he scored," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said.

It was that kind of evening for the Seahawks, who represent a town where residents know all too well that when it rains, it pours. If having what seemed like 90 percent of the 68,200 in attendance waving Terrible Towels wasn't enough to make Seattle feel as though it was playing on the road, the officials called it as though the Seahawks actually were.

Pittsburgh capitalized on its opportunities. And guys like Bill Cowher, Ward, Dan Rooney and The Bus are all very deserving of a championship -- and it's nice to see them win one -- but it would have been better had it not happened like this. It's like the Seahawks said: Not taking anything away from the Steelers, but keep it real.

"We had a touchdown taken away from us, the first one we scored," said Hasselbeck, who was measured in his words but clear in his frustration, "and then we had the ball at the 1-yard line, they called a penalty on us. That was unfortunate."

"I thought they were offside [on the play Locklear was called for holding]," center Robbie Tobeck said. "I thought we had a free play on because they had two guys come across. You know, that's the game. In a game, there's situations you have to overcome, and all night long we didn't do a good job of overcoming those things, and that's something we've done all year."

In the offseason, 31 teams will be back at the drawing board, evaluating what they need to do to knock off the Steelers in the fall. After the postseason they just had, Mike Pereira and the NFL's crew of officials would be wise to take a long, hard look at themselves. It's a real shame when, on the game's biggest stage, the major players aren't players at all. We saw too much of the third team in Super Bowl XL and not enough Seahawks and Steelers.

puppy bowl: 10++++++++!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but then i suppose i would

xpost!!!!

(I watched the first 20 minutes in the vain hope that it would transform into something watchable, as if they had the REAL Puppy Bowl just waiting around the corner. I switched back later for the kitty halftime show but it turned out to be more of the same horseshit, except with disco music instead of Starbucks bluegrass. I have cats, I can just fuck around with them whenever I want.)

(I probably deserved this, as I read the Directv info box description beforehand and elected to believe it wasn't meant to be read literally [it was]. There were only two words: "Puppies play".)

Yrs,
GBNB

This doesn't even make sense. Turn off the delusional Seattle fans network, dude.

I really, really don't get the big hard on everyone has this year ("this year" etc) for announcing every. single. game. the "worst officiated game ever." mostly everyone on thread OTM upthread about how if Seattle wanted to win they shoulda paid attention to the REAL clock and the REAL 75 td runs instead of the REAL score or the REAL penalties/calls???? Rofflesberger looked in to me; I mean he def threw up chalk so it was just a matter of when his knee hit. The Hasselbeck call was crap, true.

uh xpost

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20020207/chiefseattle07.jpg

Roethlisberger to shave beard for money on 'Late Show'

...

1) Kimo von Oelhoffen cost the Bengals a clear SB victory and should therefore be suspended by the league and possibly jailed.

2) Tom Brady would have never been called for a 15-yard blocking penalty in the SB which is why he has three rings and Hasselbeck has none.

3) If Peyton Manning was the Steelers QB then they would have been ahead 41-3 at the half and nobody would be talking about the questionable officiating because GREBTNESS doesn't require a CHICKENSHIT assist from the officials, etc.

Which is, like, a td + go for 2 + field goal, wtf?

But perhaps Seattle brought this on themselves by coming out of the tunnel to The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony." Note to the Seahawks: That's probably not the best choice of pump-up tunes. Next time, why not just play Beck's "Loser"?

I'm not griping about the officiating because I'm a Seahawk fan, or a Steeler hater, but because I was hoping for a good, close, exciting game, and if the "breaks" were not so lopsided, we would've probably got one. The offensive PI call, and the Roethlisberger "TD" call could've gone either way (and I have few doubts that the Steelers would've punched it in on 4th down anyways). The two holding penalties --- I'll watch again tonight, but nobody disagrees with how badly the officials missed the Hassellback "chop" (I have more doubts that Randel-El's TD pass would have necessarily been called, or been as successful if that 15yrd penalty had not been called).

xpost

You did get a fairly good, well played game, you just didn't get a close score. Tom Brady woulda scored 73 points to make up for "worst officiating ever".

Actually, the ref's first instinct looked like he called it down before the end-zone.

He still signaled touchdown. He NEVER signalled down at any point.

Not only that, replay shows the ball threw up chalk. Which means it did, in no uncertain terms, break the plane--so the ref was correct about that to begin with. So now you're talking about a replay judgement call as to whether or not the ball broke the plane BEFORE Roethlisberger's knee went down, or afterwards. It appeared to me, as it did to the refs, that it was not 100% certain, but certainly nowhere near any kind of evidence that the ball DIDN'T pass the plane before his knee was down.

And that is how the rules work. People can piss and moan all they like, and they'd be right to bitch about the Hasselbeck block, but the bottom line is that Seattle got sonned in a Bettis beef and if they deserved to win the game, they would've won it.

Is this really that hard for people to get? See also: The Pitt/Indy game where, by all appearances, the refs stopped just short of just SHOOTING Pitt players on the field.

THEM BONES

...if they deserved to win the game, they would've won it.

I don't know what that means.