Maybe it is just me, but I think that it was a horribly officiated game...first the Seahawks had a TD taken away, then there was that touchdown by the Steelers that was not a TD...I think the game was rigged...what about you all? -Jonathan
Even though I had money on the Seahawks, I still think they lost of their own doing and not by bad officiating. The touchdown that was taken from them may not have been during a regular season game depending on the Ref - but these folks are the cream of the crop in their profession else they wouldn't be in the big game. That's not to say that they can't be wrong, but in a game with this much at stake, they're going to very strictly enforce the rules and regulation to the letter of the law so to speak. Using that same "stolen touchdown" moment as an example, at first glance, I thought it was a BS call too, but he did in fact "push-off" and that's not allowed. I'm not saying you personally, but let's face it - if you're a Steelers fan, the game was on the up and up; if you're a Seahawks fan, it may be easier to blame the officials than the shoddy play of your team.
I think the officiating was poor, but I agree with wrmineo, utimately it was the Seahawks own doing. Namely the missed Fgs and the interception.
Officiating was ok, look, the steelers had to overcome a far worse call when they played the colts in the playoffs. A bad call is going to happen from time to time, good teams overcome.
The Steelers questionable touchdown was a good call. The ball only has to break the plane of the goal to be a TD. That means if even a mm of the ball is over the edge of the white line then it's a touchdown. Instant replay showed the ball just over the line while Ben was in mid-air... so good call.
1. The stolen seahawks touchdown. You can all say what you want about it being the "cream of the crop", they're calling everything, blah blah blah. They guy touched with his FINGERS it's not like he nocked him over or even off balance. I watched the rest of the game and caught at LEAST 3 other times this exact same thing happened (wide reciever nudged the guy guarding him) and there was no calls. BS call. This is the superbowl.. are they playing like wimps or like men? 2. the steelers touchdown that never happened I watched the replays and that ball never came close to crossing the line. You could MAYBE, and I mean MAYBE get by saying a half inch of the tip of the ball hovered over the edge of the white line for a milisecond.. but that's not touchdown. The Superbowl was extremely sissified this year. What happened to football being a "contact" sport? What happened to being the toughest game? Let's just hope next year it isn't flag football. PS: I'm not a seahawks fan by any means, I could really care less which of the 2 won, I just didn't like the lame calls.
I wouldn't say it was fixed, but the officiating was pathetic and was a factor in the outcome of the game. If you take away the phantom holding call (what was that about anyway?) then both teams have to go to different game plans, and I'm not sure that Pittsburgh would have won. I thought Seattle was the better team. The problem was that Pittsburgh took advantage of the breaks they got.
I disagree, all the marginal calls went against Seattle, it was not even close to even. The TD in my opinion should not have counted. If the ball did cross the plane, it was during the initial lunge. The ref was running over to mark the ball when this happened then along the way he signalled a TD after the player was down and rolled the ball over the line well after the initial lunge and after he was down. If it was a TD it should have been called so right away. I think the ref saw the ball over the line at the end of the play.
Officiating has sucked all year long. This game was no different. The offensive pass interference against seattle was a pussy call, but it is a penalty. There was no holding on that one seattle play either. That was crap. Hasselbeck's low block call? That was dumb, but I can see what the official was looking at there, at least. I thought the first half catch by the endzone - where the receiver got the second foot out of bounds - should have been reviewed upstairs too. Still, seattle sucked on sunday. Pittsburgh made 3 plays the whole game. seattle made 1 play.
Holding on a touchdown pass? Block below the knees PF on a return for the TD? Fumble from the ground with contact? I think not. That, and the Seahawks should have gone for it on the 4th at 8 minutes in the 4th. :/
That, and they complete bungled the clock at the end of the first half too. Awful clock management there.
They couldn't reverse the call because the video was inconclusive thus the original call stood. If the ref didn't call it a TD originally and it was reviewed then it still wouldn't have been a TD.