Refs on today's Super Bowl

[dogpoo32]

That was the MOST DISGUSTING display of officiating EVER! Oh but wait, Jerome "The Dumptruck" Bettis is back home and ending his career as Super Bowl champ... Complete and utter bias and BS.

 

[clif]

are you guys serious....

 

[D-Dogg]

The pushoff in the endzone was clear, and the right call. Dude didn't even need to do it, he could have caught it without the push. But you don't do that in the endzone, one on one, with the ref right behind you.

Irvin did that on the sideline, with the refs far downfield. Not with the ref grabbing his ass in the endzone like on that play.

I thought Ben scored live, then on replay it was extremely close (I think he scored for a fraction of a second, his elbow was hit and pushed back so he was short when he hit the ground. But there wasn't any evidence to overturn the call on the field.

The block below the knees on the tackle call on Hassleback was complete B.S. That was a terribly blown call.

 

[sly fly]

Steeler players should have dumped the Gatorade on Steve Leavy.

 

[jw7]

I thought he scored live, and from the replay thought he didn't score. Problem is the replay wasn't conclusive enough to overrule the call on the field.

To me the problem is the replay rule, they ought to use the replay to make the call, so if you aren't sure, you're using the replay to make the best guess instead of the live call.

I didn't like the pushoff on Darrell Jackson either, if that's a pushoff, Michael Irvin never caught a legal pass in his career.

After the replays, I thought Ben did run it in. It is only a millimeter of the nose of the football that has to cross the plane to be a TD, thought he did that live and on replay.

The pushoff call was ticky-tack, but still arguably flagable. I will give the refs the benefit of the doubt on that one.

The holding call on the pass to inside the 5 was absolute BS, and changed the momentum of the game.

 

[Stout]

The Hawks didn't have a chance. That 'holding' call when they passed down to the 1 yard line that was called back was gonna get them 3 points at least. That's minimum 10 points the refs took.
This was very biased towards the Steelers, I have to agree

Um, considering the guy had his arm around the defender's neck and almost took him down, to NOT call holding would have been inexcusable. Also, the running TD needed to be conclusive that he did NOT score, and it was far from conclusive...in fact, everyone pretty much agreed the ball broke the plain. And finally, the PI call in the end zone was EXACTLY the right call. You KNOW if a defender does that, it's PI. You can't push off. Period. It may not have looked like much, but it could mean a step, and so it was called quite correctly.

The Hasselbeck thing, now THAT was a bad call. We were like, huh?

 

[PortlandCardFan]

Um, considering the guy had his arm around the defender's neck and almost took him down, to NOT call holding would have been inexcusable. Also, the running TD needed to be conclusive that he did NOT score, and it was far from conclusive...in fact, everyone pretty much agreed the ball broke the plain. And finally, the PI call in the end zone was EXACTLY the right call. You KNOW if a defender does that, it's PI. You can't push off. Period. It may not have looked like much, but it could mean a step, and so it was called quite correctly.

The Hasselbeck thing, now THAT was a bad call. We were like, huh?

Why did it take the ref delay pulling the flag on the push off?

And you do know Hines Ward pushed off in a similar fashion which was not called?

 

[NavyVet]

How about the non-call flagrant block in the back of Roethisberger after he threw the interception?

The call on the disputed TD run by Roethisberger was correct. He crossed the plane while he was still in the air. Just barely, but enough. It had nothing to do with where he landed.

 

[blindseyed]

Um, considering the guy had his arm around the defender's neck and almost took him down, to NOT call holding would have been inexcusable. Also, the running TD needed to be conclusive that he did NOT score, and it was far from conclusive...in fact, everyone pretty much agreed the ball broke the plain. And finally, the PI call in the end zone was EXACTLY the right call. You KNOW if a defender does that, it's PI. You can't push off. Period. It may not have looked like much, but it could mean a step, and so it was called quite correctly.

The Hasselbeck thing, now THAT was a bad call. We were like, huh?

If it were the Steelers in the endzone, it wouldn't have been called. As someone said, ticky-tack..it was a very strict call for the Hawks.
There was no holding on the pass play to Jeremy Stevens down to the 1yrd line..you're thinking of a different play (which WAS holding) and besides that, the Steelers were offsides on the replay and that wasn't called. I watched it about 4 times.
I'm not even refuting the TD cuz that's just too close to call so ya stay with the call on the field.
In any event, the Hawks outplayed the Steelers and, IMO, won this game. But again, there's no way Bettis was gonna leave without getting his trophy in his hometown. Like I said, Hawks didn't have a chance. After all that doesn't help ratings

 

[BigDavis75]

You guys can't be serious with this.

The Offensive PI should have been called.

Ben's TD shouldn't have been overturned.

The blocking below the knees on Hasselback was crap and they should take that call out of the rule book. If an offensive player takes out a blocker like that, it shouldn't be a penalty.

The hold looked like a hold to me (the one on Locklear).

Pitt. is the better team and SEA beat themselves with the missed FGs and drops. That's it.

 

[TRW]

I thought he scored live, and from the replay thought he didn't score. Problem is the replay wasn't conclusive enough to overrule the call on the field.

To me the problem is the replay rule, they ought to use the replay to make the call, so if you aren't sure, you're using the replay to make the best guess instead of the live call.

I didn't like the pushoff on Darrell Jackson either, if that's a pushoff, Michael Irvin never caught a legal pass in his career.

And why didn't they call the grab by the defender just prior to the alleged pushoff? He was 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. Should have been defensive holding or pass interferance before the "pushoff" IMO.

 

[NavyVet]

You guys can't be serious with this.

The Offensive PI should have been called.

Ben's TD shouldn't have been overturned.

The blocking below the knees on Hasselback was crap and they should take that call out of the rule book. If an offensive player takes out a blocker like that, it shouldn't be a penalty.

The hold looked like a hold to me (the one on Locklear).

Pitt. is the better team and SEA beat themselves with the missed FGs and drops. That's it.

And it appears, though not confirmed, that Holmgren classlessly skipped the post-game handshake with Cowher, who appeared to be a tad miffed and looking around the field for him.

 

[BigDavis75]

Why did it take the ref delay pulling the flag on the push off?

And you do know Hines Ward pushed off in a similar fashion which was not called?

In the replay he thought he had it and threw his hand up but then went back and grabbed his flag the second time.

 

[Redsz]

And it appears, though not confirmed, that Holmgren classlessly skipped the post-game handshake with Cowher, who appeared to be a tad miffed and looking around the field for him.

Can't blame him. He proburbly feel's like he has just been kicked in the nuts and raped in front of the whole world.

I wouldn't exactly be lining up to shake Cowhers hand after he was going around with about 5 minutes to play saying that they have won the game.

 

[NavyVet]

Can't blame him. He proburbly feel's like he has just been kicked in the nuts and raped in front of the whole world.

I wouldn't exactly be lining up to shake Cowhers hand after he was going around with about 5 minutes to play saying that they have won the game.

The only other coach I can remember who wouldn't shake hands was Buddy Ryan

 

[D-Dogg]

Would you all have been really excited if the Hags had won this game?

Frankly, I hate seeing them in the game to start with. I sure am not sad they got the bad end of some calls, even though they were CORRECT calls for the most part.

 

[nickolaskus]

To me it was obvious the game was called with a bias towards the steelers. It wasnt necessarily that they got every call wrong, but if there was a close or questionable call, it was called the steelers way. They even tried to give the Hasselbeck fumble late in the game to the steelers. Obviously the Hasselbeck tackle/penalty was the worst of the calls, and possibly the most important as the steelers would not have tried the flea-flicker deep in their own end.

 

[Redsz]

The result of the game isn't the issue. I am no fan of the Hawk's or the Steelers. But BS is BS, dude. Anyone could see something was up.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

The Fix is in, in my opinion

Ben and the ball never made it into the endzone until Ben's second effort. Why do we allow the NFL to get away with this kinda behavior

Gimme a break! The nose of the ball crossed the plane. Whether Ben was down at that time or not has NO bearing on it being a TD. Think about it: A player can score a touchdown while running out of bounds at the half yard mark as long as his arm is outstratched and the ball is past the vertical plane of the endzone. The vertical plane of the endzone begins at the very point where the white chalk mark for the end line meets the green field of play. It was VERY obvious that Ben had gotten the nose of the ball over teh plane before he was down by contact. After he accomplished the TD, he was pushed back and then put down by contact at which point he rolled into the endzone. The vertical plane of the endzone is much the same concept as getting a first down by the very tip of the nose of the football....

I think you believe it's a fix because you don't understand the rules. The right call was made and the replay clearly showed it....

The push off call was clearly the right call, too. He had no reason to push off because he would have made the catch anyways. He had separation and the pass would have made it there. Him pushing off with one hand was just a mental mistake. The push off had no bearing on the eventual result of the play, which makes it even worse of a mistake. It's the same thing as if the CB had pushed off or made contact while the ball was in the air but the WR made the catch and the offense declined the penalty. It has no bearing on the result, but it's still a penalty....

 

[Mr.Dibbs]

The fact of the matter is that if Seattle played like a Super Bowl winner should, i.e., maybe one missed field goal and no big drops from Stevens, they would have won no matter what the calls were. They had their opportunities and didn't cash in.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

The Hasselbeck block was clearly a penalty. He chop blocked a blocker on the return. I wouldn't expect him to do otherwise because he is a QB and he doesn't practice tackling or wedge busting. Madden explained it best when he mentioned that you're allowed to go low on the runner, but you cannot go low on blockers. Where's the discrepancy?

I am glad that Bettis got his ring, but I would have been just as happy to see SEA win. To have a team that beat us twice win the big game would kinda justify the losses to me....

 

[arthurracoon]

The result of the game isn't the issue. I am no fan of the Hawk's or the Steelers. But BS is BS, dude. Anyone could see something was up.

I wanted to see the Bus get a ring...but not like this.

 

[arthurracoon]

The fact of the matter is that if Seattle played like a Super Bowl winner should, i.e., maybe one missed field goal and no big drops from Stevens, they would have won no matter what the calls were. They had their opportunities and didn't cash in.

also add in the terrible clock management.



The officiating still sucked though.

 

[nickolaskus]

The Hasselbeck block was clearly a penalty. He chop blocked a blocker on the return. I wouldn't expect him to do otherwise because he is a QB and he doesn't practice tackling or wedge busting. Madden explained it best when he mentioned that you're allowed to go low on the runner, but you cannot go low on blockers. Where's the discrepancy?

I am glad that Bettis got his ring, but I would have been just as happy to see SEA win. To have a team that beat us twice win the big game would kinda justify the losses to me....

Are you joking? Hasselbeck made the tackle by launching himself into the guy who intercepted him. Are you telling me that he somehow took out a blocker low, and made the tackle all at the same time. If thats what he did then he should be playing safety not quarterback. The other plays are questionable but this one was clearly a horrible call to anyone who saw it.

 

[golfcardfan]

wow I am a cardinal fan so not sorry to see the seahawks lose. And in my opinion the only questionable call was the chop block and after the replay and maddens explanation of the rule it too was correct. Not sure what game you guys were watching that had bias officiating but it was not this one.