Sorry conspiracy buffs, a loss sometimes is just a loss

[clif]

A man can do a lot of thinking during the four-hour, pedal-through-the-floorboard drive from Detroit to sweet home Chicago. Like ...


Who cares if Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw stiffed the NFL's Super Bowl MVP ceremony? It was their loss, not ours. They had a chance to be part of one of the great team photos of all time, but decided to take a pass because of family commitments, or money demands, or both. All I know is that if I were Montana or Bradshaw, I would have brought my family to Detroit for this one. It's not like they had to take a wagon train to get there. After all, how many times do you get almost all the living MVPs from SB I to XL on the same field?

But Montana, the only three-time Super Bowl MVP, told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, "I've moved on with my life. People think I need to be stuck with football the rest of my life.''
Yes, he's moved on all right ... until Feb. 25, when he's making a paid appearance at a collectors show. Autographs go for $149 apiece, photo ops for $169.

Apparently Joe has no family commitments that day.


Can we have a Franco Harris Rule? The rule states that no lead singer older than the 56-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers legend can perform during the Super Bowl halftime show.


Sorry, Mick. You and the belly shirt have to find a new gig.


And finally, can we stuff a very large sani-sock into the mouth of Seattle coach Mike Holmgren, and anyone else who says the refs had it out for the poor, little Seahawks?
The signs are very clever (Refs 21, Seahawks 10 ... or, Pittsburgh's 12th Man: The Refs), but they're bogus. It's how sore losers rationalize a final score. Worse yet, it's crying. And there's no crying in football, unless you're Hines Ward.


I know what you're thinking Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos and, yes, Seattle Seahawks. You're thinking about the way the Steelers bumbled about in Ford Field, and you're saying to yourselves: "Tell me again how we lost to these guys?''

Think about Sunday's game:
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger freaked out ... The best Pittsburgh pass of the day (and I'm stealing Michael Irvin's line here) was thrown by wide receiver Antwaan Randle El ... The Steelers' inspirational "hero,'' Jerome Bettis, rushed for a grand total of 43 yards and couldn't pound it in when Pittsburgh needed him most ... The Steelers had fewer passing yards, less time of possession, fewer total yards, and more turnovers.
And yet, the Steelers won by 11, covering the spread with ease. Conspiracy theories arrived moments later

The refs stole it.

The NFL "wanted'' this.

The Seahawks were really the better team.

Look, the game itself was 3 hours and 36 minutes of yawns. I think we can all pretty much agree on that. I loved the story lines, but the game, not so much.

But to simply dismiss the Steelers victory as an act of referee kindness is to take a Bettis-sized leap of faith.

Sorry, but Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson pushed off in the end zone. Did it gain him an advantage? Maybe. Maybe not. All that matters is that the official standing nearby -- a lot closer than John Madden, you or me -- thought so. Instead of a touchdown, Seattle settled for a 3-0 first quarter lead.

Sorry, but Roethlisberger might have broken the plane of the goal line on his second quarter 1-yard TD dive. Or not. That's what matters, right? Not where he landed, but if the ball broke the plane? The play was reviewed and upheld. What else was anyone supposed to do? And while there are no guarantees, if the ball had been spotted just short of the goal line, the Steelers were 100 percent on fourth-and-goals this season.

Sorry, I truly don't know whether Sean Locklear held Clark Haggans on that key fourth quarter call. Even if he didn't, and it was first-and-goal from the Pittsburgh 1, then what? If you can't guarantee Pittsburgh's scoring on fourth-and-inches in the second quarter, you can't guarantee Seattle's scoring on first-and-goal from the 1. Why? Because funny things happen, like the Bettis fumble against Indy. Or Roethlisberger's underthrowing a wide-open Cedrick Wilson against Seattle, costing the Steelers a sure touchdown or a likely field goal (the ball was at the Seahawks' 7). Instead, Kelly Herndon intercepted the crummy pass, returned it 76 yards and Seattle scored three plays later.

No one can deny there were questionable calls during the game. But before Holmgren and Latte Nation start whining about playing "the guys in the striped shirts as well,'' perhaps a history lesson is in order.

The striped shirts didn't cause tight end Jerramy Stevens to drop four passes. The striped shirts didn't cause the Seahawks defense to give up a Steelers first down on a third-and-28 situation (which later led to the Roethlisberger disputed TD). The striped shirts didn't cause the Seahawks defense to give up the longest touchdown run in Super Bowl history. They also didn't cause Etric Pruitt to sprint up from his safety position, only to be fooled by the trick play that resulted in Randle El's 43-yard TD pass to Ward (and by the way, if everyone knows the Steelers like to run gadget plays near midfield, don't you think the Seahawks knew it too?). Or cause Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to throw a killer interception with nearly 11 minutes left in the game and Seattle trailing by only four points.
Enough already with the whining. The Seahawks had their chances. Plenty of them to overcome the Steelers and, if they insist, the refs, too.

Holmgren, who didn't exactly distinguish himself in the waning minutes of both halves, is no doubt suffering some post-Super Bowl anger. Perfectly understandable, especially in front of the thousands who greeted the team upon its return to Seattle. But days, weeks, months from now, when he's able to think more clearly, he'll realize the only people to blame for the loss were wearing Seahawks metallic blue, not black and white.

Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at [email protected].

 

[golfcardfan]

Good article!

 

[spanky1]

This "tells it like it was". A great article that balances all the whining. If anyone should be whining it is the fans....the SB is way way oversold....to the point that it is difficult to meet expectations.

 

[Scott MS]

Gene is an arse. His other ESPN Page 2 colleague wrote about Seattle being screwed.

I was at the game on Sunday and I honestly felt the game was officiated as lopsided as the 55,000 Steelers fans in attendance. It's a same feeling I got at SDS when I had to sit in a crowd of opposing teams fans on the East side.

 

[JasonKGME]

Here is a real honest opinion from me:

The Seahawks were screwed by the officals, let me explain why:

The Pass interference call in the end zone where Jackson pushed off, no problem with the ref calling that an offensive pass interference, my problem, is later in the game when Ben was scrambling and stopped just short of the line of scrimmage and threw up the ball that Hines Ward caught, same ref was watching Ward and the defender and Ward did the EXACT SAME PUSH to get clear and catch the ball and the flag was not thrown. If you are going to call pass interference for a light push off, then call it EVERY time not just against the Hawks, it either is a penalty or isn't a penalty it shouldn't be both.

Rothliesberger's goal line TD, when the line judge ran in he was marking the ball down then changed it to a TD, was it a TD, wasn't it a TD I don't know, but you should never change your call in the middle of the play unless you are 100% sure about the change of call and I can't see any way the Goal line ref could be 100% sure if he was marking it down until well after Ben was down and then shoved the ball across the line. If the ref had either called TD from the very begining or the replay judge determine the ball had crossed then I wouldn't have been upset over it.

And last but not least the illeagle block by Hasselbeck during the interception return, this was the one call that I felt was just HORREDOUS and there can be no arguments that it was the wrong call, however this was not a game changing call so while it was a really bad call I don't think it had an effect on the outcome in the long run.




My main complaints are call the game the same for both teams, and make a call and stick with it, if it's wrong the replay judge will get it right, don't change your mind in the middle of it.




Now all that being said would it have made a difference in the end result of Pittsburg winning the game, maybe, but more likely not, Seattle shot themselves in the foot more then the Refs did, I sweat the last couple of minutes of each half reminded me so much of the Cards clock management I was trying to figure out how our team snuck into the Seattle uniforms. I can't tell you how many times I have watched us waste the 2 minute drill.

 

[Stout]

Rothliesberger's goal line TD, when the line judge ran in he was marking the ball down then changed it to a TD, was it a TD, wasn't it a TD I don't know, but you should never change your call in the middle of the play unless you are 100% sure about the change of call and I can't see any way the Goal line ref could be 100% sure if he was marking it down until well after Ben was down and then shoved the ball across the line. If the ref had either called TD from the very begining or the replay judge determine the ball had crossed then I wouldn't have been upset over it.

Actually, some guru former ref, who everyone supposedly considers the best NFL ref or all time, said he wasn't spotting the ball, but rather running in for a closer look.

 

[JasonKGME]

Actually, some guru former ref, who everyone supposedly considers the best NFL ref or all time, said he wasn't spotting the ball, but rather running in for a closer look.

Still the same issue then, if you can't make the call during the actual play how can you run in and make the call after the player is down and shoves the ball accross, if there is doubt in your mind on wether or not he made it you call him down and let the replay officials make the correction.

 

[Southpaw]

Here is my take on " the fix was in ". The NFL sells the Super Bowl Broadcast rights to the highest bidding network. That network now has to sell a crapload of very expensive advertising slots to a very demanding set of time buyers. No way in Hell does an advertsier want to pay big bucks to a fading audience when the game gets lopsided and people get turned off. A close game will keep the tv audience glued to their couches. One way to do that would be to "keep it close" by rule interpretation. Would definitely explain why the calls were made in the Indy Steelers game. That game was reaching blow out status until a few calls were made.

The Seattle Pittsburgh game could have been over in the first half had not the officials taken away a few TDs from Seattle. Pitsburgh grinds it out and could have run out of time. Little Ben already proverd he couldn't pass the Steelers to a win. He sucked big time in this one.

Hey it is possible. When their is that much money involved anything is possible. The final ad revenue bills come in when the viewing numbers get calculated. Those are fannies on the couch during the spots. +

 

[Billy Flynt]

I thought the article was right on. Seattle is America's new whine country...

 

[Stout]

Still the same issue then, if you can't make the call during the actual play how can you run in and make the call after the player is down and shoves the ball accross, if there is doubt in your mind on wether or not he made it you call him down and let the replay officials make the correction.

Well, I'll take the ultimate experts opinion over yours, sorry to say. He said it's routine, and that's the way it's supposed to be. He's no longer affiliated with the NFL, apparently, and everybody goes to him for advice about how good or bad officiating was. It was a close play one way or another. It was called a TD, there was ZERO evidence to overturn, and thus it stood as a TD. Simple.

 

[golfcardfan]

Agreed Stout that call was correct! As were most of the calls in this game. The only call you could argue was the chop block or whatever on hasselback. If Seattle would have not made so many mistakes they would have had a chance period. They shot THEMSELVES in the foot repeatedly and thats why they lost. Holmgren is more to blame than the refs he is a clown for even bringing it up. So now he is gonna get fined. His coaching decisions during the game SUCKED. Seattle CHOKED period, but hey hawks fans at least you got all the way to the superbowl before you choked this year!