Official Club Polk Superbowl XL Prediction Thread

dorokusai

Stevens also caught two, possible game changing passes, out of bounds on a single drive....or was it two different drives? Anyways, when you look at them, neither not intentional or a slight on Stevens' ability, nor Steeler affected...they were overthrown, forcing him out of bounds.

Demi - Were they bad calls? Or just football?

Carl - Both teams were less than stellar, 100% agree.

Shizelbs

The officiating blew it a couple times pretty big. I'm not saying they cost Seattle the game, but they were a big contributing factor. DJack did not have offensive pass interference in the endzone. The one holding call was total BS. The off's missed a number of Pitt's holds. I know, cry me a friggin river, but thats how I see it.

Jerramy Stevens sucked harder than the officiating crew with what, four, five dropped passes, big ones at that. Typical of a UW grad.

Alexander had a fine game. He got some medium runs in and plenty of good 4-5 yarders. He didn't have a bigger game due to the game plan not including him early on, and towards the end, running the ball was not an option. He just wasn't a viable option towards the end of the game.

Russ was either drunk or watching Lingerie Bowl III.

dorokusai

Neither running game was effective in the first half, and the Pitt second half running game was good plays and attitude, but nothing amazing.

Holding calls? Please. Every game should be watched on the outside because their was Eagles/Redskins shite happening on damn near every play from both teams, noone was innocent here. Or are we oblivious to the trash talking after EVERY incompletion and the **** slap by Hasslebeck when he ran for that first down? When he "placed" the football in front of Haggans(P) head, a tackle on that play, but NOT the actual tackler....who was injured by the way.

Holding is a lame excuse....it's football, and smash mouth football is what it should be.

Shizelbs

I don't give a **** about any missed holding call, but don't call it when it doesn't happen.

dorokusai

Whatever, who cares. I'm positive nothing amazing or ground breaking will come out of this continuing conversation so I'm outta here.

Go Steelers. Seahawks are pretty damn cool in my book. Happy listening.

Demiurge

fireshoes wrote:

"More than likely score a touchdown" there is a real big assumption. There were bad calls both ways though, but nothing I thought was outlandishly bad, outcome affecting calls. Seattle had chances to win, but did not do enough to do so. They moved the ball well in the first half and amassed a whopping 3 points. While he did score a touchdown, Jeramy Stephens sucked with all his drops. I think he's a pretty solid player, but it definitely wasn't his night. And Shaun Alexander statistically was alright (20 for 95), but if it was your first time seeing him, you'd never guess he was the MVP.

Hence the word 'LIKELY'. I never said they would. If they score you're looking at a totally different game.

What's important here is that the first touchdown Seattle threw was called pass interference. Oh my, yeah... :rolleyes:

I guarantee you that the officiating in this game will be the talk of the sports shows today. In fact, it's already all over Fox Sports as of right now.

jdhdiggs

Well, I just gotta say that the refs definately affected the room I was in. At the start of the game, everyone was pro-steelers, by the end of the game, everyone was pulling for the Seahawks.

The refs took at least 11 from the Seahawks and gave Pitt some points as well. The holding call? That was bogus and the guy who was "held" was offsides anyway. The PI call? That was sissy. 15yds for tackling the guy? BS.... Those two calls flat out changed the outcome of the game. Seattle had all the momentum and Pittsburg couldn't stop them so the refs did.

Dink and dunk couldn't sustain drives? What are you smoking? 400+yds total offense with 174 yds (174!!!!) taken away on penalty. I mean Seattle was the second best team on the field yesterday... It's too bad Pittsburg wasn't the first...

That said, I have a lot of Steeler fan friends and it's nice to see them win. I just wish it could have been a more straight up win.

Tour2ma

Demiurge wrote:

What's important here is that the first touchdown Seattle threw was called pass interference. Oh my, yeah... :rolleyes:

While I do not think the push off, and it was clearly a push off, prevented the Pittsburgh DB from getting to the ball, there's no doubt in my mind that it enabled the Seatle receiver to get to the ball.... and that ain't kosher.

Seattle had a great chance to KO the Steelers early, seeing as how the Steelers did not show up for the first 25 minutes. But the 'Hawks did not and "questionable" calls were not a factor at that point.

Anybody want to discuss the pick plays the Seahawks ran that were not called?

jdhdiggs

Tour2ma wrote:

Anybody want to discuss the pick plays the Seahawks ran that were not called?

Sure, where were they? I saw Steelers running into Steelers but not a Seahawk picking a Steeler... If you want to call the former, every NFL team would be called every play. The TD? it was the PB defender picking Polomalu

Demiurge

Tour2ma wrote:

While I do not think the push off, and it was clearly a push off, prevented the Pittsburgh DB from getting to the ball, there's no doubt in my mind that it enabled the Seatle receiver to get to the ball.... and that ain't kosher.

Seattle had a great chance to KO the Steelers early, seeing as how the Steelers did not show up for the first 25 minutes. But the 'Hawks did not and "questionable" calls were not a factor at that point.

Anybody want to discuss the pick plays the Seahawks ran that were not called?

For something so clear, you're pretty much one of the only people who are seeing it that way save from the Refs and the Steelers fan. The talk of all the sports shows are the refs, including all the local shows here, who have a lot of animosity towards Holmgren. I was pulling for the underdogs, but some sick side of me was happy Holmgren wasn't holding that trophy for another team.

The Steelers won the game, end of story. The discussion that should continue is how the refs are having a huge affect on the outcome of games, and in close games like this....dictating the outcome of the game.

I don't know how you can be a fan of the game and say that this wasn't one of the more horrendous officiating debacles of all time. It's not the first, and it won't be the last, but the ones that get talked about are the ones that clearly affect the overal pace and outcome of the game.

Article

RuSsMaN

Maybe we can engineer robots to ref the game, with super brains and high speed cameras for eyes.

Tour2ma

Conspiracy theories are fun...

"Super Bowl XL: The Grassy Knoll"

markmarc

First Super Bowl I've seen without a true MVP. I like Hines Ward, but he dropped a couple. Personally, I would have given it to the Steelers nose tackle. He stuffed up the middle of the line and forced Alexander to run off gaurd and tackle all game.

As far as the officiating:
The holding call was replayed only once from a bad angle that didn't show the OT's right arm over the top of the shoulder past the collarbone. When the play was live I told my wife there was a hold.
DJack definitely pushed off. Plus he had no idea where the out of bounds was on his two long no-catches.
Ben's TD is going to be debated for the next 30 years. If you look at the ball's front laces it is right against the point where the goal line is while he is still in the air. Which means there are at least three inches in front. What makes the call so susceptible is the behavior of the line judge.
Both teams ran pick plays. The NFL has all but given up on calling those illegal.

Looking back, Steelers won inspite of a mediocre performance by Ben. That tells me that the better team won.

Demiurge

Some can view them as conspiracies (nice method of calling off what actually happened), but I would rather look at it as straight up bad play calling. That article clearly states every single instance of refs making bad calls in the game and what actually happened. Also he was someone on the record as being strongly for the Steelers and a Steeler fan.

I was hoping you'd see the hyperbole when you hear folks ask "Wow, how much money did the Steelers have to put in the Ref Slush fund to get those kind of calls?" Maybe the kooks see it like that, but I just want to know why you have a myriad of plays that are botched with instant replay that the league wanted so bad, and they still can't get the calls right. That's what it's there for, all the people bitching about the bogus calls. I mean, we were watching the same Playoffs this year, right? Did you see Pittsburgh getting screwed against Indy? Troy Polamalu anyone? This whole playoff season has been ripe with terrible calls, this time it very well likely made the difference in who won the game.

Usually when there is a nit-picky call, the refs make sure the other team gets called on one. There could be a penalty flag thrown on every down. It's a contact sport, you're supposed to mix it up and let the players get physical. That was a HUGE issue with the DBs 2 years ago and they started letting them fight for the ball more and have more contact...only to call the egregious fouls.

jdhdiggs

http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?forumID=821&start=0&threadID=3134345&sortBy =null

Just to add more fuel...

Demiurge

jdhdiggs wrote:

http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?forumID=821&start=0&threadID=3134345&sortBy =null

Just to add more fuel...

Ouch!

schwarcw

On the "questionable" Roethlisberger touchdown, let not forget it was third down. If you've followed the Steelers you know that Cowher would not hestitate to go for it. He demonstrated his williness to make a risky play yesterday. On fourth and goal from the 1" line, Roethlisberger is unstoppable behind his 300 lb 4 time all pro center. Ben, who is 6'-5" easily sneaks underneath his center on a quick count. He did it all year. TD Steeler all the way.

On the offensive pass interference, it was way too blatant. How may DB backs have been called for just so much as a touch. The game was called close. I've read some of the fan's reaction in the Seattle papers this morning. It's unbelievable to read how many fans actually believe that the Steeler paid of the refs. A lot of emothional and unfounded reaction. Unfortunately, someone has too lose. Neither team played their best. The Seahawks averaged about 30 points a game, Alexander had 54 runs this year of more that 10 yards, Hsselbeck was 26 out of 49, and scored a total of 11 point. Their touch down drive started from the Steeler 18, dropped, etc there is nothing for the Seahawk offense to be proud of from yesterday's game. Maybe, just maybe it had something to do with the Steeler defense?

Shizelbs

I'm waiting for the weekly apology from the NFL offices.

Seemed to be a very regular occurence this year.

Demiurge

schwarcw wrote:

On the "questionable" Roethlisberger touchdown, let not forget it was third down. If you've followed the Steelers you know that Cowher would not hestitate to go for it. He demonstrated his williness to make a risky play yesterday. On fourth and goal from the 1" line, Roethlisberger is unstoppable behind his 300 lb 4 time all pro center. Ben, who is 6'-5" easily sneaks underneath his center on a quick count. He did it all year. TD Steeler all the way.

On the offensive pass interference, it was way too blatant. How may DB backs have been called for just so much as a touch. The game was called close. I've read some of the fan's reaction in the Seattle papers this morning. It's unbelievable to read how many fans actually believe that the Steeler paid of the refs. A lot of emothional and unfounded reaction. Unfortunately, someone has too lose. Neither team played their best. The Seahawks averaged about 30 points a game, Alexander had 54 runs this year of more that 10 yards, Hsselbeck was 26 out of 49, and scored a total of 11 point. Their touch down drive started from the Steeler 18, dropped, etc there is nothing for the Seahawk offense to be proud of from yesterday's game. Maybe, just maybe it had something to do with the Steeler defense?

Spoken like a true Steelers fan, impartial for sure.

Even though there is like 11 pages of people on ESPNs website disagreeing with you, most without a dog in the fight, everyone else is wrong. Nobody is saying the Steelers would have still lost, but it's a TOTALLY different game when you take 7 sure points, and 7 potential points on the 2 yard line away from the Seahawks.

The Seahawks got royally screwed here. They outplayed that team the entire game and lost? Neither team looked great, but Pittsburgh was outplayed.

sterling bug

Its time the NFL looked at making these guys full time instead of this referee thing being a part time job. It wasn't this one game, the refs sucked all postseason. And another thing, halftime sucks. Don't extend halftime and have a band from a local college play instead of these big productions. I watch the Super Bowl because I'm a fan of football, not because I'm a fan of commercials or the halftime show. The NFL has gotten away from whats important and thats the game.

markmarc

What would the referees do the other six days a week???? They are already required to watch film, attend classes, etc..
Other sports play 3-6 games a week necessitating fulltime officials.

The referees didn't lose the game, Seahawks had every opportunity to win especially with the way Ben played. But, they didn't, pure and simple.

sterling bug

Never said refs cost Seattle the game. I don't know what they would do the other six days. All I know is you can't have that bad of officiating in the playoffs.

Tour2ma

Demiurge wrote:

The Seahawks got royally screwed here. They outplayed that team the entire game and lost? Neither team looked great, but Pittsburgh was outplayed.

The entire game??? Give me a break...

First 28 minutes belonged to Seattle and then was pretty even except for three big plays, all on the Steeler side: the wounded duck to Heinz Ward, Parker's 75 yd TD and the El end-around pass to Ward.

Had Big Ben not thrown the bonehead pass of the game, it would not even be worth discussing. Of course Matt did try to outdo him later in the game.

______________________________________________________
Tour(a Cleveland Fan and therefore no friend of the Steelers)2ma

bobman1235

markmarc wrote:

What would the referees do the other six days a week???? They are already required to watch film, attend classes, etc..
Other sports play 3-6 games a week necessitating fulltime officials.

Exactly. NFL Officials work like Thursday - Sunday. How much film and rules can you study? I predict it would lead to WORSE officiating by the fact that they'd overanalyze everytthing.

Demiurge

Tour2ma wrote:

The entire game??? Give me a break...

Sure thing, here's the breakdown:

Team Stat Comparison

1st Downs: 20 - 14
Total Yards: 396 - 339
Passing: 259 - 158
Rushing: 137 - 181
Penalties: 7-70 - 3-20
3rd Down Conversions: 5-17 - 8-15
4th Down Conversions: 1-2 - 0-0
Turnovers: 1 - 2
Possession: 33:02 - 26:58

(Seattle Stats Left, Pittsburgh Stats Right)

As you can see, Pittsburgh was outplayed the entire game statistically. The big difference in the game are the penalties (which is the point of this discussion), and subsequently the points.

The refs we responsible for at least 7 points all the way up to at least 14 points. That's not counting the very questionable TD call with Roethlisberger.

Not counted in the equation is the momentum of the game, which because of the refs was going all the way of the Steelers. The Seahawks were playing catch-up at the end of the game and were all but sunk. So, with momentum as part of the equation you can't automatically play the game out the same way it did. All you can really count on is the points stolen from Seattle and the points given to Pittsburgh.

We're talking points, not just bad yardage calls. This has been an argument the entire season, and what was always said is that someday this crap is going to have an effect on the Super Bowl, and it did. If you're even the least bit impartial there's no way in hell you can call that game anything less than a joke. The refs deserve the MVP award, neither team played great, but Seattle played better. The better team did not win yesterday.

The Steelers didn't do anything wrong, and the game ended the way it ended. Simply does not change the joke of a job the refs did, and you really can't give an honest argument to the contrary.

Can you tell anyone with a straight face there isn't a gigantic problem with officiating and it's role in the outcome of games?

RuSsMaN

Today everyone is undefeated again.

schwarcw

The refs over turned th Hasselbeck fumble! I don't think there was any bias. Of course I am a biased Steeler fan, but I don't think the officials cost Seattle the game, and they certainly didn't pay of the NFL officials. Seattle papers are irresponsible to suggest as much.

Overall, a pretty boring game. I expected better from both teams. Neither quarterback really shined. The running games (with the exception of Parker's run) was pretty boring.

Good luck to Seattle next year!

Carl

markmarc

All this whinning of officiating reminds me of the Giants/Broncos Super Bowl when Clarence Kay made a great catch for a first down but the refs called that it hit the ground. Several angles were inconclusive, and replay ruling was upheld. Then, just after an angle showed that Kay had in fact caught it. The next play Elway was sacked for a safety.
For weeks in Denver talk shows were a buzz with "facts" that the video control room was full of NY based employees.

ohskigod

there are questionable calls in every game. Steelers made big plays, Seattle didnt, hence they lost. Officiating did not cost them the game, for the love of GOD people please stop.

the one REALLY bad call I saw was the low block call on Hasslebeck after the interception. the push off call was possibly weak, but VALID. it was right in front of the ref!!

Rothlisberg TD? in the replay, you couldnt see the ball, it was coverred by Ben's arm. could have been over (albeit barely) might not have. couldnt definitivly seen it, hence they could not overturn it.

I'm a fan of neither team, thats just how I saw it.

Tour2ma

I predict postmortem chaos adnauseam...