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And were, heavily I met add, on the recieved end of beneficial calls.

And Seattle was luck -- twice -- to not turn over the ball because the refs made bad calls. One on the "incomplete" pass that was really a catch and fumble (the fumble only went out of bounds because players pulled up after the whistle). Another on Hassleback's fumble that was incorrectly ruled "down by contact" -- that rule requires that the runner is either touched while down, or down as the result of contact with a defender. Hassleback was already going down on his own before the contact occurred, and no contact occurred when he was on the ground. The ball should have stayed with Pittsburgh.

The whiners only remember the calls that went against them. In addition to those above, there was also a missed -- and blatant -- block in the back on the INT return. That cost Pittsburgh far more field position than the lousy "low block" call cost Seattle after Hasslebeck's pick.

"One on the "incomplete" pass that was really a catch and fumble (the fumble only went out of bounds because players pulled up after the whistle). Another on Hasslebeck's fumble that was incorrectly ruled "down by contact" -- that rule requires that the runner is either touched while down, or down as the result of contact with a defender. Hasslebeck was already going down on his own before the contact occurred, and no contact occurred when he was on the ground. The ball should have stayed with Pittsburgh."

"The whiners only remember the calls that went against them. In addition to those above, there was also a missed -- and blatant -- block in the back on the INT return."

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Well said. Thank you. I know how some of these Seattle fans and others feel. Some calls seem very arbitrary. I've seen it for 50+ years. But, Seattle simply was not that good last night. They had "alligator arms" all night long, and their receivers never "created space" for themselves on the sidelines. In short, they lost to a Steeler team that looked flat for about an entire half.

Seattle will be back again if they're good. They certainly play almost no one in the regular season.

Rule 7-4-1(e) states that the runner is considered down by contact when he is "contacted by a defensive player and he touches the ground with any part of his body other than his hands or feet..."

It says nothing about "as a result of contact".