And you are suggesting what...the game was "fixed"?
I'm saying that I was dissapointed that so many bad calls went against one team... The same way the call went against the Steelers in the Indy game.
The NFL has a major credibility problem. I don't think the Steelers or the fans were out of line when they said they wondered if the NFL wanted Indy in the big game, because of one bad call in that game. (They were leading in that game at that time)
There were 4-5 over-officious calls against just one team in XL.
I don't think it's illogical to accept the premise that, once Indy was gone, Pittsburgh's storyline of a retiring legend going back home was much better storyline than anything the Seahawks could muster.
The media and NFL had their storylines set and the Seahawks, their fans, and objective watchers of pro football, were witness to some shotty overofficiating in the big game, all to the solidification of that storyline.
The Steelers were flagged for three penalties for the whole game. Two on one drive, which were false start penalties which the refs couldn't miss or it really have looked bad...
That means the Steelers played perfect unpenalized game (of which even Steelers fans have are admitting was poorly officiated) for most of the game and the second least penalized team in the league, The Seahawks, couldn't take one or two drives without a penalty?
If that sounds fair to objective folks then you are blinded by either your love of the Steelers or your hatred of Seattle.
How can it be fairly officiated if the balance of bad calls goes against one of the teams.. Equally incompetent, a football fan can deal with- Stacked deck is another thing.
Seattle doesn't have the fan base of a Steeler nation so it can't just be Seahawks fans upset. It is a nation of many eyes who saw that bad officiating kept one team from their chance of winning, in the end.
The Steelers would be rightfully pissed if Indy had come back and won that game.
That call allowed Indy to stay in it and the calls against Seattle kept them from going ahead and took points off the board!
The Seahawks in the fourth quarter, even with questionable calls that went against them in the game, still survived and managed to keep within 4 points of The Steelers. They were on the verge of scoring a touchdown on a 98 yard (John Elway type) drive when Stevens caught a pass (one of few) to the one yard line.
A questionable holding call pushed the ball back and then Hasselbeck threw the pick,tackled the guy, and was flagged.
That's a pass he never has to throw because they give the ball to Shaun four times in a row if they have to at the one yard line.
And they score a go ahead touchdown- 17-14..
Instead, they are pushed back in predictable passing situation and he throws the interception, Steelers run it back and then ball placed around midfield for the Steelers to run their gadget play..
That set of circumstances proved the dagger.. It wasn't the big pass play.. It wasn't even the illegal block they called on Hasselbeck. It wasn't even Darrell Jackson's pass interference call.
It was the fact that the Seahawks had the ball, first and goal, and ready to score the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of a game where they seemed to not get the benefit of the doubt on any of the questionable calls.
They had weathered everything before that and then in a mater of 3-4 plays, two calls go against them and they are looking at 21-10 and not leading 17-14.
Now, who's to say the Steelers don't go right down the field on them and score but the Seahawks at least deserved to have it decided that way and not the way it was..