That is BEYOND 5 Yards. And he is HOLDING him.
Posted on 02/07/2006 6:24:19 AM PST by bikepacker67
So the Super Bowl wasn't so super. The team that played the best didn't win, although use of the word "best" must be considered relative when you consider how poorly both teams played.
On the other hand, the NFL got the ending it wanted, which was another Super Bowl championship for the Rooney family and a fairy tale send-off for Detroit native Jerome Bettis.
It is amazing how often the NFL gets what it wants out of these Super Bowls, isn't it? And given the very questionable calls by NFL officials that all seemed to go in favor of the Steelers, it almost makes you wonder if the Steelers' Joey Porter didn't touch a nerve when, after Pittsburgh knocked out the heavily favored Colts in round two, he complained the officials were trying to take the game away from Pittsburgh.
To suggest the game was fixed would be improper. But a friend of mine who played in the league for years believes he can tell you who is going to win the Super Bowl by who gets the break on the first questionable call of the game, including Sunday, when Seattle's first touchdown was nullified by an offensive pass interference penalty on Darrell Jackson. It's amazing how often that's true.
"That's how it is when you're going against the world," Jackson said afterward. "It just seems all our big plays like that somehow, some way, got overturned or called back."
Last year, NFL-licensed products reportedly exceeded $3.4 billion, the profit from which all teams share. It won't hurt those numbers that Pittsburgh came out victorious. The Steelers are the third-most followed NFL team in terms of merchandise sales, while Seattle ranks 21st.
Pittsburgh's Bettis and Ben Roethlisberger rank in the top 10 in individual merchandise sales, while the Seahawks' Shaun Alexander managed to hit No. 10 in jersey sales only because the sale of Seattle merchandise jumped 62 percent during the Seahawks' playoff run.
Everyone in the NFL - Seattle included - will benefit financially from a Pittsburgh victory.
Still, as the Steelers demonstrated in overcoming questionable calls that didn't go their way in Pittsburgh's victory over Indianapolis and NFL-marketing favorite Peyton Manning, the game comes down to players making plays.
The judgment of the officiating crew does not affect the ability to catch passes or kick field goals or manage the clock at the end of the first half. Seattle had its chances and blew it.
On the other hand, with all the money the NFL makes, why does the league still rely on part-time but incredibly well-paid officials? The NFL is a huge business, with the livelihoods of players and coaches resting on the outcome of these weekend games.
Don't they deserve to have the rules of the game interpreted by full-time, paid professionals instead of butchers and bakers, lawyers and candlestick makers who work NFL games on the weekends?
Don't fans deserve to know the game is being managed by professionals, not left in the hands of some neighborhood insurance agent?
The NFL got what it wanted from the Super Bowl.
Can the same be said for the rest of us?
An ugly game by any standard. I said in another thread that "Seattle played well except when it counted and Pittsburgh played poorly except when it counted." In a few years no one will remember that, just that the Steelers became a 5-time champ. Some games are remembered forever; some are swept under the rug of oblivion. Let's just say that I highly doubt that SB XL will be the subject of "NFL's Greatest Games" on ESPN.
ROFL!!!!
hmmm you know, now that you mention it, the umpire did pick Tatupu a little bit on the play. HMMMMMMMMM
Well, the refs DID block two of the missed Seattle field goal attempts.
That is BEYOND 5 Yards. And he is HOLDING him.
Very true. And I agree, if only in the interest of fairness because I lodged the exact same complaint both times that call went against Randal El on nearly identical plays (interception, trying to go low to make a tackle but needing to get through a blocker to do so). Really the way they're applying that rule on the "block" only and disregarding the attempt to tackle seems to me specifically to hose the former offensive team after a turn over. Offensive players always go for the low blocks because they usually don't know how to tackle "properly" and stand up tackles are risky to their shoulders and elbows which you really want to protect on your skill players.
But that's the rule as written this year, when they put greater emphasis on eliminating the cut block, and the call in the SB was consistent with how it's been applied all season, which is really one of my few demands of the refs in the SB. Interpret the rules the same as in the regular season, I hate refs in any sport that have the idea of putting the whistles away in the post season and "just let them play". Any rule good enough to be called in week 12 is good enough to be called in the SB.
The Stones were unintentionally hilarious. The "Rent-A-Groupie audience" (great line BTW) were all smiles and excitement, and it contrasted nicely with the bored-looking audience you could see in the background. Jagger ran out of dance ideas about 5 minutes into the show and started trying to high five people (and missing) and doing "Sweating to the Oldies" exercises.
Exactly!. Despite the bad calls the final epithet of this game will be :
Seattle : Dropped Passes, poor time management, missed FG's, Poor sideline judgement by WR, Poor throws at key times by QB
Pittsburgh : Terrible Passing, non existant running game most of the time. Three Big Plays, and Power running in the 4th period WHEN IT MATTERED.
No it doesn't. They're making incidental contact, you can clearly see in full video that neither players movement is impeded, if you're not impeding movement you're not holding.
I guessed you missed the whole line about the handchecking in my reply then.
There was unrefutable evidence that Hasselbeck was touched on the fumble. Ben's TD and the pass interference were questionable. Throw in three touchy drive-killing holding calls that went against the Seahawks. Seahawks were penalized 7 times for 70 yards, versus Pittsburg 3 times for 20 yards. If Seattle's penalties were clear cut, they would have no gripe. But reguardless, they lost. Calls are part of the game.
The Stillers also deserve credit for running the table on the road. I had them as the pre-game favorites (as did almost everybody else), but I was nervous about the effects of so many consecutive road games. You had to figure that the tank might be near empty. Indeed, Big Ben looked like he didn't have any answers. Bettis had an ordinary game. OTOH, a guys like Randal El & Willie Parker step up on big plays -- as happens in almost every Superbowl. Anybody remember Timmy Smith?
I booed Brady at the coin toss from home. Not because it's Brady himself but because I thought the idea of using an active player for the coin toss was stupid. Nobody tossing the coin should ever be on the payroll for any team, not as a player, not as a coach, not as an equipment guy. Use retired players, league officials, and local community leaders for the coin toss, not active players whose team wanted to be in the game instead of watching.
-Eric
Because it was offensive interference. Use your eyes. Frame three show a stiff arm to the chest and frame 4 shows the d-back had been pushed backwards while the receiver gained seperation. And it was all done directly in front of the back judge! Just a Stupid move by the receiver! That is not the spot on the field to try that move. It's as dumb as speeding past the police station.
Not that fumble, the fumble they ruled an incomplete pass in the 1st half. The Hasselback fumble was 100% the correct call. Sorry about that, I thought as I wrote that line it might be unclear which non-fumble I was refering to and then did nothing about it.
None of those holds were touchy feely. They were legit holds, especially the "drive killers" which were both on the same OL for nearly identical grips on I think the same defender, he should have learned the first time.
By the book it was offensive interference. It is only offensive pass interference if the offensive player initiates contact. But since the defender was holding him the whole time that was not the case. If you only watch the last second, I could see why the call was made. But by the book, it was not the right call.
I meant defensive pass interference.
At the game I understand, they were trying to get all the living SB MVPS together (and got all but 3, Montana wanted a huge appearance fee, Bradshaw said something about the money arrangement, and the third was had pre-schedule a tropical vacation and decided to stay away from the snow), so that was cool. But for the coin toss was just silly, I mean he wasn't the most recent MVP which I could kind of see as a torch passing type move, and Bart Starr was there so the obvious "we want an MVP to do the toss" decision wasn't made. Simply a strange decision by the league on that one.
That's crap. He was not being held. What are you looking at? Hand fighting is allowed pushing isn't.
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