Roughing the Passer? Roughing the Holder? Holding? Fumble?
After watching the biggest football game in America this year, all of these calls had to leave you scratching your head.
I do not think that the NFL would ever tell its' referees to fix a game, let alone make sure a certain team won the Super Bowl. That being said I can't help but wonder why after the last two times the Pittsburgh Steelers played in the NFL's biggest game there have been such a question as to how the game was officiated.
First of all, lets take a trip back to 2006 when the Steelers played the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. This was a game the Steelers won 21-10 but it was a contest that without controversial flags thrown the result would have gone the other way.To start things off, a 16 yard touchdown pass in the 1st Quarter was nullified after an offensive pass interference penalty was called. Offensive Pass Interference eon this? Really? ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vURI_Cz-p6s ) That drive resulted in a field goal, ultimately costing Seattle 4 points. Then later in the game, the 4th Quarter to be exact, a holding penalty brought back a Matt Hasselbeck completion to Jeremy Stevens that put the ball on the Steeler 1 yard line. Holding is a call that could be called on every play, but as you can see at the 5:15 mark of the following link this hold should not have changed the outcome of a Super Bowl. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzdqIpArpJ4&feature=related ) A touchdown on that drive would have given the Seahawks the lead. Three plays after the penalty the Steelers intercepted a pass that ended the threat and ultimately put the game away on the next drive. Penalties happen but when looking closer into the statistics after the game Pittsburgh was penalized 3 times for 20 yards while the Seahawks were flagged 7 times for 70 yards. A discrepancy that should not happen in as big of game as a Super Bowl.
Now this year. The early parts of Super Bowl XLIII belonged to the Steelers and after a late first half interception return for a touchdown it looked like Pittsburgh was going to run away with the game. Then the second half started and the Cardinals showed up and felt they still had a chance. They made big plays and looked like the better team but penalty after penalty kept them from getting any closer than the 10 point hole they had been in at half time. The most blatant mistake occurred early in the 4th Quarter when a roughing the passer call extended a drive for Pittsburgh. Not only was the roughing the passer questionable at best but a much more obvious intentional grounding call was ignored. Ultimately this mistake resulted in 3 points for Pittsburgh. Then in the fourth quarter plays were made by both sides and scores were exchanged in the last 5 minutes that led the Steelers to a 4 point lead with seconds remaining. The Cards were unlikely to make a game changing play in the final seconds but the game ended on a controversial fumble that neglected a final chance for Arizona to win the game. Once again looking at the stats one sees Pittsburgh 7 penalties for 56 yards and Arizona flagged 11 times for 106 yards. Should this big of game be decided by the official throwing flags?
There is no denying that the Pittsburgh Steelers made plays to win both games. Nevertheless, you can not deny that the average NFL game has 6 penalties against each team for an average of 45 yards. In 2008 Pittsburgh was flagged an average of 6.1 times for 52 yards each game. The Cardinals were penalized 6.3 times for 48 yards. Do you think in the biggest game of the year the difference should be 4 penalties and 50 yards? How do you explain in the past two Super Bowls that the Steelers participated in that they average 5 flags for 45 yards (right at NFL average) and their opponent averages 9 penalties for 93 yards?
The talking heads will have no problem over the next few days calling the Steelers the best franchise in NFL history but there is a problem with that. Pittsburgh is no doubt a legendary team but they should be 4-3 in the big game and not 6-1. The Seahawks and Cardinals were both robbed of Super Bowl titles because the officials in their game were flag happy. No doubt it sounds bitter but I do not have a dog in this fight. I am not a fan of Pittsburgh, Seattle, or Arizona. I am however a fan of The League and I do feel like it looks a little suspicious when one of The League's flagship franchises gets obvious preferential treatment in The Super Bowl.
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NFL VP of Officiating Mike Pereira commented on the last play of the game.
"We confirmed it was a fumble. The replay assistant in the replay
booth saw it was clearly a fumble. The ball got knocked loose and was
rolling in his hand before it started forward. He has to have total
control."
Holding calls- 7 total - 4 on AZ, 3 on Pit.
aside from that - facemask was legit, def. holding (ward was held
after 5 yrds) was legit, running into the holder was legit, there wasan encroachment and chop block that were clearly correct calls as
well, AZ false start- correct call.
That's 10 - the one that was
questionable was the late hit on Roethlisberger.
plus, bz said the late hit kept the drive alive? it was on 1st and 10 from the 50. not exactly the same as a 3rd or 4th down.
cards won 2 challenges, that alone shows the refs were not biased.
Ike Taylor shoved a Cards player and got 15 - that happened several
times, just called once.
I'll give you the PI in Super Bowl XL. But, the refs didn't cause
Seattle to miss 2 FGs - also the holding call - on Sean Locklear -- I have watched the SB XL Dvd numerous times, and the Seattle Seahawks radio guys thought it was a hold and they're biased....Also, aside from one Mike Holmgren comment, the Seattle players did not complain about the refs after the game. Ben got blocked in the back on the INT run back - not called.
Say Seattle does score instead of throwing a pick - then it would have been 17-14 Seattle with 9 mins to go -- the play the Steelers ran - Randle El to Ward would have been a TD from anywhere on the field - Steelers up 21- 17 - who knows how the rest would have played out.
Last year NO ONE outside of Boston said anything about the fact that in Super Bowl XLII - when Tyree made that great catch that there were SEVERAL Giants holding Pats players...guess everyone hates a winner.
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