Category: Super Bowl (Page 32 of 36)

I can’t really blame him. Frankly it would be better for Holmgren and Seattle players to keep their mouths shut and let the press rip the refs, but it has to be hard to keep quiet in light of the pathetic performance of the officials in the Super Bowl. This is not a knock on the Steelers – they took advantage of the great hand that was dealt to them. But the NFL has to be embarrassed by the product on the field.

The problem for the NFL is that this game was not an aberration. The product on the field has been deteriorating for years. The biggest culprit is free agancy. Many players leave just as they become comfortable with a system. In today’s complicated game, the result is that even the good teams can look mediocre at times.

The problem with the officiating is now critical with the Super Bowl being decided by a host of questionable calls favoring one team. Part of the problem lies with the league trying to hard too manage the game through penalties. Protecting players is important, but clean hits that were celebrated ten years ago now get called as 15-yard personal fouls (one of the few officiating problems that did not get exposed in the Super Bowl). It’s impossible to watch a game without seeing a kick return getting called back for a lame penalty. Holding calls seem to be random. Seattle gets called on one of the biggest plays of the game, while I don’t remember one holding call on the Steelers.

The NFL needs to get their act together. For years the NFL has been lauded as the best of the professional sports, and they’re still making tons of money. But the product is deteriorating, and television ratings have been slipping over the years. They need to re-examine the officiating process, including replay. Why is the official on the field making the call while peering into a small screen on the sidelines? Why can’t penalties in the end zone be reviewed? Why can’t 50-yard pass interference calls be reviewed? Why are the blocking rules on kick returns so stringent? Wouldn’t the game be better if fewer spectacular returns were brought back by penalties?

For as out of sync as the Steelers looked in the first half, Bill Cowher and his team made some excellent adjustments after halftime. Darrell Jackson ran wild through the secondary during the first quarter and had a TD called back on a penalty. They couldn’t break a big play offensively and the running game was stagnant. Most importantly, they weren’t getting any pressure on Matt Hasselbeck.

So what happens during the second half? Jackson is held without a catch, Parker breaks the long run and Randle El hooks up with Hines Ward, and Hasselbeck suddenly finds himself under fire. Game over.

Great teams don’t have to win the first half as long as they figure out how to win the second half. The Steelers just happened to do both tonight.

At least it seemed that way to me.

Take Darrell Jackson’s 16-yard touchdown grab at the end of the first quarter that was called back for offensive pass interference. Sure, he pushed off, but the Pittsburgh defender made contact first, and Jackson’s push off was more of a love tap. That call is rarely made.

Or how about the Hasselbeck to Stevens pass down to the Steeler two that was called back on a very questionable holding call? Seattle was in position to punch it in to go ahead 17-14, but instead the Steelers took over on Ike Taylor’s interception three plays later. And how about that unnecessary roughness call on Hasselbeck when he tackled Taylor on the interception return? That’s an easy 15 yards, setting up the game changing touchdown from Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward.

It seemed like everytime the Steelers needed some help, the refs were there.

JP already detailed Joey Porter’s pointless ranting on this site, but after all the gum-flappin’ Porter did this week, he only had three tackles and hardly saw any screen time. In fact, the most we saw of him was during the pre-game, when they showed him walking around the field, t-shirt rolled up in an apparent attempt to show off just how many crunches he does every day, hollerin’ at what looked to be nobody in particular.

Guys like Porter are so easy to root against. I don’t care what team you play for: If all you want to do is pull focus from the game and onto yourself, you’re a waste of my time as a fan. I want to hear about the game, not about how pissed off you are that Jerramy Stevens said his team was going to beat your team. I want to watch the game, not you celebrating and jawin’ away every time you make a routine tackle.

The worst part about seeing someone like Porter or Terrell Owens or Shannon Sharpe win is they talk even more. Even as a Browns fan, I can admit that it’s cool to see someone like Bettis cap off his career so perfectly. But “Me!” guys like Joey Porter? I prefer to see them on the losing side of things.

Hines Ward caught five passes for 123 yards and the game changing touchdown. Other than “Fast” Willie Parker’s 75-yard run, no other skill players for the Steelers showed up to play. QB Ben Roethlisberger had an awful game, completing only nine passes for 123 yards and two interceptions. Jerome Bettis, for all the hype, had only 43 yards on 14 carries. But the Steelers are a team and that’s why they won the game. And Hines Ward is the best player on that team.

Ward made a couple of great catches – one was a shoestring grab that kept a Pittsburgh drive alive. Another put the Steelers in position to score the go ahead touchdown at the end of the first half. He is Pittsburgh’s MVP, without a doubt.