Posted on 02/06/2006 8:53:10 AM PST by highlander_UW
You see, it's silly statements like this that invalidate your comments. It should read, where there bad calls, ABSOLUTELY...and they quite possibly changed the result of the game.
As a fan of course I'd like my team to win, but if they lose fair and square that's the way it goes. If they lose because the refs are taking the game away from them, well that I don't find as cool. Call stating the facts whining if you wish, but it's not only Seahawk fans that saw how horrific the officiating was.
First let us disassociate the team names, to get the emotion out of the equation. Does not matter who won or lost.
Then start looking at the point spreads and overlay bad or questionable calls on this info.
It will start to raise eyebrows when you see the results.
I remember AL Michaels would even comment on the point spreads occasionally after something would happen on MNF after a call that seemed to keep the game within the margin.
I remember seeing him interviewed one time and the point spread thing came up and he would not talk about it saying that the league frowned on such discussions.
I am not big into conspiracies but as the years pass I become more and more suspicious of professional sports.
There are specific rules about open field tackling in a situation like that. You cannot tackle below the knee on returns.
I actually think he could have still caught the pass without the push -- he had the inside already. But it was most defiantly a push off. Receivers do it all the time and usually get away with it, but you can just about guarantee when you do it in the end zone, directly in front of an official not 10 feet away, you will get a flag.
Well then you'd be wrong. That was not a break for Seattle, that was the correction of a bad call. The refs converged and another referee with a clearer view said that the Steeler (Ward Hines?) was not contacted helmet to helmet by Bouleware so they picked up the flag. My point was that the officials should have converged later on in the game on the low-block call against Hasselbeck for "blocking" the guy with the freakin' ball.
And the officials refereed as if they hadn't officiated before in their lives as well.
I'd also like to see more emphasis on allowing defenders the right to their own position -- if a receiver changes his route and comes back through the defender, it should be offensive pass interference. --- very true!
Too many teams are intentionally underthrowing receivers to pick up cheap pass interference calls because the defender is playing the receiver correctly. --- very true again.....by the way, I can't believe Hines was able to get back to that crazy floater Ben miraculously threw to him on about the four yard line.
Jackson did not extend his arm. He pushed off to gain and advantage in getting to the ball at the expense of the defender.
You can't get separation that way...you have to create it with your own move. Good call in a bad situation. It would not have been as big a deal if were in the middle of the field for a first down...but still a flag to throw.
Absolutely. That was the thing that really started giving me confidence this year, it was clear in the 3rd quarter against Cincy in the Wild Card round that this was not your typical under-planned under-prepared Cowher playoff game. They clearly had a better than usual gameplan and made much better half time and inbetween possession adjustments. I'd like to see Dungy make the change too, he's a good guy and deserves a ring. I'd rather he do it with a different team since I have an innate dislike for dome teams, but I do hope he goes the distance one of these days.
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.
No. A defensive player cannot cut down a blocker by hitting them low. A defensive player can hit the guy with the ball pretty much anywhere. Just no helmet-to-helmet contact.
The call came because Hasselbeck cut low in front of a Steeler blocker in order to tackle the guy with the ball. Bogus call no matter who you're pulling for.
Talk about inflexible...... look up inflexible in the dictionary and there's a picture of Marty Schottenheimer.
;-)
But will Cowher be back at the drawing board trying to figure out ways of beating the Steelers?
*****
Very true.
Great post!
Actually the poster child for the "coach it likes it's a regular game" playoff loss mentality is Levy. Marty suffers from it, Dungy suffers from it, Cowher suffered from it until this year, but among the wonks it's generally called "Levy ball". And it leads to a general lack of league bought jewelry on your dresser.
Ok.
If there is a blocker in front of a runner, and you go down in front of the blocker...you are going to get flagged. That would happen EVEN IF you don't contact the blocker...as you block the blocker from his advantage...and you can't do that.
If there is no blocker...you can go low for the tackle, as a quarterback, and save yourself the shoulder impacts.
I see it as arrogance on the part of Levy and company.
It says, "I am going to make them play my game...force them to do what I want them to do."
NFL does not reward such arrogance anymore. The best teams prepare for what you did during the regular season. You have to fool, outsmart your opponent today.
You all would find it very interesting that I said before the Denver-Pittsburgh game (and I have two people to prove it was BEFORE THE GAME), the team that runs the ball the first two plays from scrimmage would LOSE.
Both were top NFL running and run first offenses.
Pittsburgh THREW its first TWO plays, Denver RAN its first THREE plays. Who won? Pittsburgh. Nuff said.
In this game, Shanahan fell victim to the "I will exert my freaking will upon these Pittsburgh guys!"
Whatever. Bad calls happen. The view we see on replay from booth level and the mobile sideline level are NOT always the same view that an umpire or linesmen see. Bad calls are going to happen. Like I posted earlier, the Seahawks lost because Pittsburgh played better. They lost becuase of bonehead plays like Hasselbeck thinking he was Peyton. They lost because they let Big Ben get loose once too often, and they lost becuase routine kicking and receiving plays werent completed. But if it makes you feel better to blame someone other than Stevens and the rest of the receivers and ends, who when they werent dropping passes, were catching them out of bounds, be my guest. If you want to blame NFL offciating for Holmgren not using the League MVP in the role that brought them to the Bowl, knock yourself out. But dont criticize my assesment because your team didnt play as well as the team that won. Take your lumps and get'em next year. SEA is an excellent team, they WILL be back..
I commented to one of my Seahawk friends each time this happened.
Seattle's punter did them no favors, in fact, he sucked this game.
I kept telling my friend, that ball should strike the field at the 8-9 yard line, not at the 1 or in the end zone.
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