Pittsburg Victorious, Thanks to Self-Destructive Seahawks & Dodgy Officiating

It would have been much easier for us Seabird fans to take the Superbowl loss, had the team not played well. Hmmm . . . “played well” . . . even that’s debatable. On the one hand, they dominated the entire first half, not allowing the Steelers to have any first downs until the 2nd quarter. On the other hand, by the end of the second quarter, they had only a field goal to show for it, down 7-3.

In fact, on the numbers alone, Seattle should have won that game. Hasselbeck had 26 completions for 273 yards and Alexander ran just 5 yards shy of 100 yards.

Kevin Hench, who picked the Steelers to dominate the NFL Championship game, puts it best when he says this:

“This is the space where I get to say, I told ya so. But I won't. I can't. I've never felt so empty being right. I feel dirty. I wish I'd been wrong. The Steelers did not deserve to win this game. They were not the better team. O'Connor was right. Seattle was the better team.”

Unfortunately, this was one of those games where big plays at just the right time meant more than statistics. Oh, and bad officiating meant more too.

After the game, the Seattle players avoided complaining about the officiating that seemed to go relentlessly against them, but as fans, let us count the number of times that we threw our arms up and dropped our jaws in disbelief.

1) Offensive pass interference against Darrell Jackson – Also known as “incidental contact that didn’t keep the defender from the ball anyway.”
2) Touchdown by Ben Brothelburger – Even the illustrious Al Michaels and obnoxious John Madden (what a pair, eh? – ABC, please bring back Dierdorf and Gifford) didn’t think the ball made it across the end zone, not to mention Steve Young and company at the half.
3) Some holding penalty against the Seahawks that cost them another big play (maybe during a Warrick put return) – All I remember here is seeing the replay and hearing Madden’s big-dumb-animal voice question the call.
4) Personal foul, blocking below the knees on Matt Hasselbeck – Which fortunately, was overturned after a Holmgren challenge. How did they call “blocking below the knees” on someone who was tackling in the first place?? Granted, it was a sloppy tackle, but they don’t pay Hasselbeck for his take downs of defensive secondaries.

Matt Hasselbeck responded after the game with class: “Those things are out of our control. . . . That's the way [the officials] called them. The Steelers played well enough to win tonight, and we didn't. They should get credit. It's disappointing, it's hard, but what are you going to do?"

Of course, if it was merely the questionable officiating that plagued them, the Seachickens may still have won the game. However, Seattle saw fit to seal their fate with plenty other dropped passes, missed field goals, and untimely penalties that cost them a total of 161 yards. Of note:

1) Darrel Jackson couldn’t keep his feet in bounds when in counted. FIRST, at the end of the second quarter, when Seattle missed a chance to score and make it 10-7 at the half and SECOND, when Jackson caught a pass and went out-of-bounds with his right foot just in time to miss the endzone.
2) The dubious holding penalty that took Jeramy Stevens’ reception from the Pittsburg 1-yard line to the 30.
3) Four dropped passes by Jeramy Stevens.
4) Holding penalties that squashed 16 and 32-yard punt returns by Peter Warrick.

I’ll stop before my tears short circuit my laptop.

Refs Were Far from Super on this One
From Seahawks.com
A Referee Conspiracy
Seahawks Drop the Ball