Asinine intervention
Is it too much to ask, in the biggest game of the year, possibly in any sport—a game brought forth after two weeks of inane hype—for the officials to just stay out of the way and let come what may? I hope not. But I've been hoping for a long time. I take issue with at least these three calls in Super Bowl XL:
- In the first quarter, Darrell Jackson caught a touchdown pass that was nullified because of a whining defensive back on the most ticky-tack "push off" I've ever seen called offensive pass interference. It really was offensive. This turned a Seattle touchdown into a field goal.
- In the fourth quarter, a Matt Hasselbeck completion to tight end Jerramy Stevens that would have given Seattle first and goal at the one was called back because of holding against Sean Locklear. The replay showed that Locklear had only one hand on the defender, and that it was between the shoulders. Even John Madden didn't see any holding, despite the fact that, as he said, you can pretty much call holding on any play. This prevented what likely would have been another Seahawks touchdown.
- Shortly thereafter, Hasselbeck threw an interception to Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, then was called for a personal foul on a low block at the end of the play. Except it wasn't a block, it was a tackle. Hasselbeck didn't even touch the other Steeler in question, he just took out Taylor with a blow to the legs. There's no guarantee that the Steelers wouldn't have scored a touchdown on this drive anyway, but the penalty gave them a nice 15-yard boost in the right direction.
The thing that is most infuriating about this series of completely unnecessary (the game would have been better off if the officials had been watching it from the bench!) and stupid (all three calls were indisputably terrible!) decisions is not that it took a possible Super Bowl victory out of the hands and hearts of one of the NFL's most historically impoverished franchises—though that's certainly what people in Seattle are feeling right now—but that it took what would have been a fantastic close game and turned it into a lopsided victory. It took a game that could have been decided by its final plays, and turned it into a valiant but laughable failed attempt by the Seahawks to even make it close after the Steelers ran most of the last 6:15 off the clock by running the ball into the ground.
This kind of deplorable intervention is what makes officials more hated than cross-town rivals, as well as what makes the whole notion of fairness in sports, if not life, a farce. Couldn't we at least have sports?
Update, February 7:
Michael Smith at ESPN agrees with us, and has expressed it more completely and eloquently than we could. Even the Edell Shepherd call that got us started!
posted by Roy @ 10:13 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
The unofficial count, via ESPN.com, was Pittsburgh: 3-20, Seattle: 7-70. Yes, Pittsburgh had 3 penalties. One was a false start on TE Heath Miller before the Steelers 1st offensive play. False starts are usually pretty obvious, so they shouldn't really be counted in comparing biased officiating. Other penalties that fall into the same category are offsides, delay of game (usually), face mask (usually), illegal forward pass when the QB crosses the line, illegal participation, 12 men on the field, etc. The 2nd was a false start on Starks on 3rd and 14 that same drive, with 10:47 left in the first quarter. The rest of the game, Pittsburgh had 1 penalty. One! That penalty was offensive pass interference on Miller, costing them 10 yards. The Seahawks were penalized 70 yards on 7 penalties!
The pass interference on Jackson was awful, and really changed the complexion of the game early. The Seahawks were moving the ball effectively, but had to settle for 3. Both players had their hands on each other, the DB was holding a little, but neither player committed pass interference. The separation Jackson got was because he started moving and the DB didn't react as quickly, not because there was a push (at least not one that would warrant pass interference, if the DB has his hands on the WR, the WR should be able to fight back with similar contact).
Matt Hasselbeck made a great tackle. His tackle was a much better tackle than the one Roethlisberger made on Nick Harper in the Pittsburgh v. Indianapolis playoff game, although it wasn't as big a play. Even if he had touched the blocker a little bit, I thought they were playing football! Hasselbeck was trying to make a tackle. If a blocker gets in the way of him diving for the tackle, is that his fault. He obviously wasn't going low to take out the blocker. If he had been, I'm pretty sure he would have taken him out. He was at fault for the interception and he was trying to stop any further damage from happening. Too bad the official screwed it up.
Delay of game is an interesting penalty. The system should be revisited. The current system (couple with the officiating crew working the game) helped cost Seattle a chance to recover from the predicament the refs helped put them in. With 4:45 left in the game, Pittsburgh called a time out. However, the play clock had already expired and the officials threw a flag. Unfortunately (not for Seahawks fans, for football fans), the Steelers convinced the officials that they had called the time out before the play clock expired. They hadn't. Replay clearly showed the play clock hit zero before Roethlisberger signal time out. Instead of 3rd and 11 (after a 5-yard penalty), they had 3rd and 6 and converted the first down on a 7 yard pass. Cowardice by the officials may have cost the Seahawks almost 3 minutes (they got the ball back with 1:51) and their three time outs, which are always handy to have when you're down late in games.
There was another play in the game when Pittsburgh LB Clark Haggans appeared to be offsides, he was at least in the neutral zone at the snap of the ball. Did they call offsides? Nope. Why? I'd be interested to hear any theories people have.
The Steelers are pretty good when they are ahead. However, it would have been a different, and probably more interesting and exciting, game if the referees had evened out their calls, possibly by keeping their flags in their pockets. I'd liked to have seen that one. The one we got was sickening to watch.
Delay of game revision: someone upstairs should monitor delay of game, apparently it is easier that way than on the field. If it is delay of game, the monitor should buzz the head official who will blow the play dead, similar to if there was a false start.
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