Regarding Stevens "fumble," I believe it was, but come on the Steelers wouldn't have recovered the ball until it got to 5 yard line. Even if they returned it 30 yards, there is only a 15 yard net.
When was Ben clipped? You mean when he was running in front of the ball carrier with his back turned? The blocker can hit you in the back when he is between the ball carrier and the tackler.
I think the Steelers would have recovered it a little earlier than that. And there's still the emotional momentum of getting the ball via a turn over rather than a punt.
No the blocker cannot hit you in the back ever. The short version of the rule every coach drills into his player is "if you can see his name don't hit him". Blocks in the back are dangerous and cause injuries, this is why they're against the rules. As far as the NFL is concerned if the only way you can stop a guy from tackling your teammate is to hit him in the back then you should have gotten better position earlier in the play.
Classic close call. You say it was a fumble, while another poster thinks I'm crazy. I'm not sure it was a fumble. The point I was making is that it was certainly close enough that the ref should have swallowed his whistle. Ultimately, it's a close call that WENT TO SEATTLE. As for where it would have been returned to, we'd know IF the refs had let the play continue. Does anyone really believe the ref was thinking "I know we're giving the game to Pittsburgh, but I'm going to blow this play dead just to make it look good, cuz I don't think they would have returned it very far anyway...*TWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!* I mean, come on. Everyone likes to call the refs idiots, morons, etc., yet they are somehow evil geniuses who can intentionally alter the outcome of games via conspiracy and never get caught. Reminds of how democrats like to portray Bush with an IQ of an onion, yet he's behind all kind of sinister conspiracies and plots and manipulating everything like a puppet master.
Again, I'm not going to give someone a big argument if they say the game officiating wasn't sharp or favored Pitt to some degree. If you think all of the close calls that went Pitt's way were the wrong calls, then I can see someone saying the Steelers had an edge there, but it's a matter of opinion on judgment calls. Was it OPI on Jackson? You can make a case either way. I WILL disagree strongly if they want to say "it's the worst reffed game ever!" or if they want to say "the game was fixed!"
You aren't suggesting that this was the worst game ever reffed or that it was fixed, are you?
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