Yeah.. I got your point, BUT
Even if it was complaining ... it worked and it's worked BEFORE.

Good teams usually overcome bad calls. The Steelers did it twice in Indy. The horrible non-call on the pass interference and the replay call on Troy P.
It seemed the refs wanted to hand the game to Indy, but Pittburgh outplayed the officials mistakes...

Understandable, it certainly has.

I wouldn't call fumbling the ball and then benefitting from Vanderjagt's choke job overcoming the bad calls. New England's pretty dang good, but couldn't overcome the officials in Denver. You cannot win unless the officials allow it, period. They could negate any play you make with a phantom holding penalty if they're so inclined.

I came into this game wanting the Steelers to win, after meeting so many classy Steelers fans in Denver. But it was hard to root for them after it was clear that the refs were only going to call Seahawk penalties and ignore Steeler penalties.

I don't feel good about this Superbowl at all. I'll always carry an asterick in my own head about this Superbowl. Steelers fans will crow, but I'm always going to discount this one and not let them live it down.

"Yeah, it was a nice win. I really think you guys would have lost that one if the refs didn't get in the way. But it was a nice run anyway. Good luck next season."

I guess there is a first time for everything. ROFL

I can't believe I agree with TJ.

The people that got robbed in this game were the fans. Officiated fairly, it's an exciting game tht comes down to the wire. Instead, after the catch at the one is taken away and Hasselback gets flagged for making the tackle after the desparation pass that's picked on third down, the game was over and it was snooze fest after that.

The attitude of "I hate it when people whine about the refs" is why the NFL can get away with this bullshit year after year. The officiating throughout the season was horrible and it came to a head in the Super Bowl. It's really time to do something.

The game sucked and the refs were criminally bad.

And to top it off, the Stones played at halftime.

what a waste...

"Every single questionable, marginal or outright bad call went against the Seahawks"

Worst officiating in a SB that I can ever remember.

It's not just you. I'm not into conspiracy theories regarding the NFL but I do believe they have a preference for a certain team winning. It was clear last night that Seattle was NOT the preferred team.

The two penalties, both questionable, were HUGE calls that impacted scoring opportunities. With the addition of the non-touchdown for Pitt, the :shake: Stealers win.

I looked at my buddies at one point in the game and said matter of factly "the NFL wants the Steelers to win this game".

I'm not a black helicopter type in general, and especially not with the NFL. And maybe it wasn't anything as devious as an NFL plot. But the officiating was decidedly one sided in that game, and the poor calls almost exclusively hurt Seattle. I don't think it's unreasonable to say the Seahawks would have had a lot better chance of winning if the game had been called equally.

The sad thing is, the refs have been blowing it all throughout the play-offs. They have to realize that the players elevate their play and take the game to new speeds, and the refs have to be capable of elevating their performance to match.

Yep I agree.

"The Seahawks were on the verge of taking a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter when officiating disaster struck. Hasselbeck had drilled a pass down the seam to Jerramy Stevens to set up first-and-goal at the one when suddenly Levy appeared in the middle of the screen to call the play back on account of holding on Sean Locklear. No less a source than newly-minted Hall of Famer John Madden came right out and said it was a bad call. This penalty was beyond ticky-tack. Baldinger called it "another terrible call" and added that the Steelers were offsides on the play."

I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought the steelers were offsite. It was pretty clear...

DT

Change some names and descriptions of specific plays and you could probably say similar things about every game this year.

The officials suck. They get calls wrong all the time in favor of and against every team.

Look how many games might have turned out differently for the Chiefs if all the calls had been made correctly. And it goes both ways.

While I agree there were some really, really lousy calls, I gotta say I've seen it pretty much every game I've watched this year. Maybe the cameras are getting better at catching the bad calls or maybe the officiating is just slowly getting worse and worse - I don't know.

But yesterday's game was just like all the rest this year, full of bad calls.

I don't think the Seahawks loss can be 100% blamed on the officials. They caused some of their own problems. Allowing Randle El to make that throw, having Lin Elliot kick for them, crappy clock management.....I think the Steelers win this one even if the bad calls weren't made, but I guess we'll never know for sure.

When does training camp start???

You can sell a lot more merchandise if an east coast team wins, than if a small market in a distant outpost wins.