I think what bothers me most is that this is the Super Bowl officiating squad. They earned the right to call this game through a process of performance evaluation.

This is supposedly the BEST crew.

That is frightening.

Of course the NFL wanted the Steelers to win. One for the thumb; Bettis retiring after a Hall of Fame career in his hometown; Cowher solidifying his position as a HoF coach; on and on.

The refs should give their paychecks to charity. There was a debate on another thread about the pass interference on D. Jackson, and I thought it was a crap call. How many times do you see that call on a touchdown pass? And if Jackson was Terrell Owens, that TD stands. Not to mention the personal foul Hasselbeck picked up for tackling Ike Taylor, and Jackson being ruled out of bounds on another TD pass when he clearly kicked the pylon. Horrible.

However, all of that being said, Seattle blew it. Two missed field goals and numerous dropped passes did them in.

Matt Hasselbeck is this years version of Jake Delhomme from a couple of years ago.

I would never (prior to this years playoffs) think there is a conspiracy in the NFL to favor a certain team over another (and I highly doubt most conspiracies by nature) but while watching the Indy Vs Pitt. playoff game I think most of would agree it seemed as though NFL was trying their best to lean the odds in favor of Indy and Pittsburgh was able to overcome those odds. I was not rooting for either team but after watching last nights game I will always feel that the NFL leaned the odds in Pittsburgh’s favor and Seattle was unable to overcome them as Pittsburgh did earlier against Indy.

It is a sad day for me to be an NFL fan that I will now think one way or another instead of letting the players play the NFL will attempt to put a "storybook" scenario to certain games. Somehow I feel like I did when I was a kid and wrestling finally came out and admitted it was just a planned outcome and now I realize that I may someday in my lifetime see the NFL as "Sports Entertainment".

[QUOTE=arc]I can't believe I agree with TJ.

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.


This is my take on the Hasselback block penalty. After watching it several times you can clearly see he was attempting to take out the lead blocker. The blocker kind of jumped to the side a little bit to keep his legs from getting cut. Hasselback just got lucky by making the tackle. He was attempting to take out the lead blocker by his legs which is illegal. That is why the flag got thrown.

Maybe THIS time the call had farther reaching implications like "THE SUPERBOWL" ... But I have watched TonyG get this call against him time and time again and defenders can maul him up one side of the field and down the other but one little pushoff from TonyG and he gets the same flag.

I CANNOT feel sorry for anyone getting flagged for that. Sorry I have seen our team get called for it as well.

If the Seahawks would have made a few more plays this point may have been moot. IMO

Steelers were getting hosed pretty good in the playoffs by bad officiating at INDY but they still found a way to win. nuff said.

Maybe the officiating wasn't equal both ways but how many times have we as Chiefs fans seen the same thing happen to US?

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I'm actually quite shocked - while watching the game I didn't think the officiating was that bad.

Sure the OPI on Seattle was a tad tickytac (the official was not undecided though - he waited to see if the receiver caught the ball). OPI was also called on Pitt at another point in the game and I thought it was just as tickytac.

Ben did cross the LOS on his touchdown. Remember, all that has to happen for a touchdown is for the nose of the ball to pass the front of the goalline. It did that much, even if it didn't completely cross it.

Bob Dole is pretty sure he remembers an "illegal block" personal foul call on an interception tackle going against KC in the recent past.

It doesnt matter if he kicked the pylon or not. He had never established himself in bounds. Touching the pylon only comes into play when you already have possesion. He clearly had one foot down and the other out of bounds. Another thing if Jackson's push off wasnt right in front of the official no it wouldnt have been called. But the rules say he can not extend his arm. He CLEARLY extended his arm to get seperation. When you do something like that right in front of the official its going to get called. The ref was trying to get the flag out immediately just couldnt find it. Of course fox sports didnt want to see that. Another thing no one wants to talk about Hasselback's fumble? Are you kidding me he got touched by a finger nail before he went down. He fumbled the football. Steelers ball. Seattle had a ton of chances to score but couldnt put it in time after time. Dropped balls and their defense giving up the big play lost them the game, not the officials.

Odd that you justify the push off and Jackson being out of bounds as the letter of the law, then want to overlook the tackle on Hasselbeck because it was "only a fingernail". A fingernail is all it takes.

I can't believe that play wasn't reviewed either, it was close enough that in a game of this magnitude it should have had a closer look.

The calls were definitely slanted toward Pittsburgh.

Seattle still had a chance to win and didn't, but if they don't take the TD off the board or call the invisible holding penalty, the game would have been a lot different.

So you think that fingernail tackled him? Just because I touch you and you run 3 or 4 yards dive and fumble doesnt mean your down by contact.

I believe the call was made in accordance with the rule.

Being touched by your opponent on your way to the ground consitutes a tackle in the NFL rule book. You can debate the way the rule is written, but the call was accurate.

You are right. I was just wanting to throw that into the debate of "ticky tacky" calls that people are mad about. I will say I cant see how a corner goes up with a reciever battles for a ball picks it off and falls down then gets back up and runs. By the rule book he was touched so he should also be down, but ive seen that scenario happen many times where he was not called down by contact.

I thought the NFL was better than that, but that's what it's looking like.