The refs didn't hand this game to anyone. The Steelers did their best to try and lose it but four big plays made the difference (Ward x2, Parker and Taylor). As far as the "bad" calls go...
1) The 1st touchdown: the reply was uncertain so even if the call had gone the other way, it wouldn't have been reversed. IMO Ben made it in when the ball was about 6 to 12 in off the ground. The ball arced into the white paint and then was outside again when it made contact. It's close but that's a touchdown.
2) Holding calls: I don't remember the sequence but I think there were two significant ones. The one that ended up as a takedown was definitely holding; the other was a bad call in my opinion, just a good block.
3) Offensive pass interference in the endzone: both players have an equal right to the ball. If the roles had been reversed and the corner had pushed off the receiver in the exact manner in order to get the pick, everyone would be crying for pass interference and they'd be right. The ref was right too.
4) Some calls went in Seattle's favor: the refs correctly reversed the call that Hasselbeck fumbled the ball during his 4th quarter scramble. Also, I think it was Stevens that "dropped" a pass after getting hit in the first half. He took two steps and turned around - that should have been a fumble...
At first, I thought so too. But the more I think about it, especially with all of the Seattle whiners nit-picking about other calls, I'm not so sure. Hasslebeck was going down of his own voilition (he stumbled). While he was already on the way down, but not yet down, there was incidental contact with a defender. When he hit the ground, he was not touched before the ball came loose. The question is, does that incidental contact constitute "down by contact"? I'm not sure sure... I thought you had to either be touched while down or have gone down as a result of contact with a defender.