AdderMcOne wrote:Al,

Things are looking a lot rosier for you in the second test.

Great first innings, and we're off to a very shaky start with one wicket gone already.

Kingofpain89 wrote::x                  

Arrrrgghhhh!!!

A pox on Jerry Jones for bringing the plague that is Terrell Owens to the Cowboys.  Why is it so difficult for him to hold on to the damn ball?  They booted Mike Vanderjagt off the team for inconsistency, I think they should do the same to Owens.  He is by far the biggest (insert any suitable derogatory noun here) ever to play the game in my humble opinion.

He and Jeremy Shockey should start their own game show....Who Wants to Date an Asshole?

Plaag wrote:
13-13..Dallas still has a shot and Martin Gramatica is 2 out of 3 for not kicking a FG in years..pretty good (May come down to him making a winning FG)

Here's hoping Dallas wins any way they can..

ShaneG.

MShipley88 wrote:Hey, and the Stealers won against Tampa Bay!  They're in the playoff hunt, right?  

Go Cowboys!

I did not think I would see a Parcells Superbowl team in Dallas...but maybe now...?

Mark  

bclarkie wrote:
I was actually going to say yes, but then I remembered that we actually play in the AFC and not the NFC.   If the Eagles beat the Panthers tommorow night there is going to be a grand total of 4 teams in the NFC with a winning record, 4 after 12 weeks.  Even if the Eagles lose, there is still only going to be a total of 5, not exactly setting the world on fire over there are you guys.  Going into tonights Denver/Seattle game the AFC record versus NFC this year through week 12 is 35-20, a .636 winning percentage.

MShipley88 wrote:The Stealers' win doesn't play well in the NW.

Pointing out that they did not win is hardly whining.  Simply stating a fact.

If the same calls had happened to the Steal-ers, we would still be hearing about it....but that wouldn't have happened, because the story of the game was "Bill Cowher and Jerome Bettis finally get their Super Bowl,"  and it clearly influenced the officiating.

That's OK...reality is what it is...but let's not pretend that the Stealers won straight up.

Gregg Easterbrook of NFL.com wrote:Four of the six big officiating decisions went against Seattle. Does this mean a pro-Steelers bias, as some in the sports yak world are saying, or perhaps a slap at Mike Holmgren by the officiating guild? ... The two decisions that favored the Hawks were the fourth-quarter replay reversal that gave possession, initially awarded to Pittsburgh, back to Seattle; and the no-call of a block in the back by Seattle during Kelly Herndon's record interception return. Of the four big decisions that favored the Steelers, two seemed correct to me.

MShipley88 wrote:
4)  Mike Holmgren criticized the NFL officiating after the Super Bowl.  The NFL always fines coaches who publicly criticize the officials.  It is a rule.  There was no fine for Holmgrem because the NFL was desperate to make the story go away as fast as possible.  In the words of Al Michaels (not my words...his) "The fact that the NFL did not fine Holmgrem speaks realms."

Would You Like Some Cheese With That Whine??
Feb 06, 2006 | 2:15PM | report this You know, I wasn't even going to post anything about my Steelers winning the Super Bowl.  I didn't want to come off as a boaster or a sore winner.  But, after the last 24 hours of ridiculous comments about the game, I feel the need to post something.  So, here it goes:

First, let me say that this is directed at the hoards of clueless, fairweather, bandwagon-hopping, "I'm not a Seahawks fan" idiots who think the refs blew the game and the whole affair was fixed.  Please, you've got to be kidding me.  Let's not just completely throw reality and logic out the window and jump straight to the most ludicrous, outlandish, insane conclusion possible.  Instead, let's take a look at what actually happened in this game, starting at the beginning.

First of all, the Steelers lost the coin toss.  They didn't get to choose between kicking/receiving or end to defend.  If the game had been fixed, the Steelers would've been given that luxury also, why not?

Now, moving into the game, let's take a look at how the first quarter played out.  As a Steelers fan, let me just start with this:  The Seahawks whipped our butts in the first quarter.  There's no denying it, they dominated the first quarter.  The score at the end of the first quarter could've easily been 17-0, or worse.  The only problem is, the Seahawks just couldn't finish their drives.  Yes, I know, a touchdown was taken away from Darrell Jackson.  First, that was most definitely offensive pass interference.  Anyone who denies that doesn't know the meaning of pass interference.  In plain sight, Jackson clearly pushed the defender away from himself, creating space so that he could catch the pass cleanly.  That's the very definition of offensive pass interference.  What's worse is, he did it right in front of the back judge.  How could he possibly expect to get away with it.  Second, it's not like the Seahawks only got one crack at putting it in the endzone.  If I recall correctly, the offense is given 4 new downs each time they make a first down.  So, since the Hawks kicked a field goal on fourth down, they had two other chances to punch it in, and failed.  Plus, Josh Brown missed a field goal in addition to the one he made.  Finally, a drive that started out hot cooled off quickly and ended with a punt on the Steelers' side of the 50.  Which means the Seahawks could've easily had 13-20 points in the first quarter to Pittsburgh's big fat goose egg.  But, the Seahawks couldn't finish their drives off.  That's not the refs fault, that's the Seahawks' offense's fault.

So, instead of burying the Steelers in the first quarter, the Seahawks let them hang around, nursing a slim 3-0 lead.  Now, this story has played out at least a thousand times.  One team dominates the game early, but fails to bury the opponent early and leaves them hanging around.  What happens next?  The team that should've been buried storms back to win the game.  It happens all the time.  In fact, I felt pretty good at the end of the first quarter, because the Steelers were still hanging around even though they had no business being there.  I could see this coming from at least a mile away.

So, at halftime, instead of having a healthy lead, the Seahawks were actually behind, 7-3.  Now, you can argue until you're blue in the face that Big Ben didn't put the ball over the line.   But, the ruling on the field was TD, and there's simply no way to know definitively that the ball never crossed the line.  The ball was tucked under Ben's arm, you couldn't even see it.  Since you couldn't see it, you couldn't know for sure.   And since you couldn't know for sure, you couldn't overturn that call.  In this case, the ref couldn't do right after he went to the booth to review the call.  If he overturns it, the Steelers fans are BLEEPed because there really wasn't solid proof.  If he doesn't overturn it, the Seahawks faithful are BLEEPed because there isn't indisputable evidence that he crossed the line.  In a tie, the call stays the same.  Get over it.  So, anyway, 7-3 Steelers at halftime.

In the second half, the Seahawks paid dearly for not finishing off the Steelers in the first half.  It started with Fast Willie Parker's Super Bowl record 76 yard romp through the Seahawks Swiss Cheese Defense.  You can't blame this one on the refs.  I think only one guy had even a remote chance of tackling Parker, and he missed.  Then, Willie blew right by the rest of the defense.  Not the refs fault.  Of course, the Seahawks came back to make it 14-10 after an interception by Kelly Herndon.  Then, they thought they had taken the lead on another TD pass to Darrell Jackson.  But, Jackson's second foot was out of bounds, by at least a foot!!!  Guys, it wasn't even close.  There is no way his foot hit the pylon.  It landed at least a foot out of bounds.  It was nowhere near the pylon.  The Seahawks went on to get nothing out of this drive, another missed opportunity.  Then, the Steelers took the lead on one of their famous gadget plays.  Again, where was the defense on that one?  Hines Ward had two steps on the closest defender, blown coverage.  21-10.

From what I've read, most people seem to agree on three blown calls, the offensive pass interference call, the Big Ben TD, and the Darrell Jackson foot-out-of-bounds call.  But, let's look at some of the mistakes that the Seahawks made.  First, and most important, they didn't put the Steelers away when they had the chance in the first quarter.  Second, Jerrramy Stevens dropped somewhere in the vicinity of 5  passes, all of which seemed to be key passes that could've kept drives alive.  For a guy who talked smack leading up to the game, he sure did play poorly.  Next, they let Willie Parker go for the longest run in Super Bowl history.  Then, of course, they were totally fooled by the gadget play in the fourth quarter.  Plus, Hasselbeck threw a big INT that killed a drive late in the game.  Oh yes, that's right, the phantom holding penalty.  Yes, the lineman did hold on the play.  Haggans would've blown right by him, so he held him up.  Either way, that doesn't change the fact that Hasselbeck threw a terrible pass that wasn't even close to a receiver.  Plus, at the end of both halves, the Seahawks displayed some of the worst time management skills that I have ever seen.  They completely wasted the final two minutes of both halves.

I'm not saying that the Steelers played a great game.  In fact, I'll say flat out that they played terrible.  But, the Seahawks made loads of mistakes also.  You cannot deny this fact.  Both teams played sloppy football.  Neither team really deserved to win this game.  But, being the Super Bowl, someone had to win.  That team happened to be the Steelers.