XL-Blogging Counterattack
The highly motivated John Cole, in comments below, tips us to a veddy interesting column called “Ask the Official” at Inside Football, “For the BEST Informed Giants Fan.” So obviously it doesn’t get much traffic. (Ooh, snap!)
Ever wish you could ask an official about a ruling interpretation? Well now you can. Inside Football presents “Ask the Official,” your chance to ask a genuine college official (with a strong background in NFL rules) for clarification of a rule or of a scenario.
The column offers its take on “what I and five other officials (two of whom are from the NFL) considered five plays that necessitated further clarification,” and then later adds a consideration of the Darrell Jackson “pylon play” and the famous holding call that preceded Matt Hasselbeck’s game-changing interception. He also adds two calls that went against the Steelers that, since the overstory is “Seattle got screwed,” simply haven’t been part of the conversation: first, an apparent block in the back on Ben Roethlisberger on the 76-yard interception return, and second, a called incompletion against Jerramy Stephens that might as easily have been ruled a fumble. (This ball rolled out of bounds, but only because the pursuing Steeler gave up on pursuing it when the officials whistled the play dead.) He even considers the alleged horsecollar by Troy Polumalu that some observers have raised.
Upshot: He and his officiating buddies consider every disputed call either obviously right or defensible. He criticizes the line judge on the Roethlisberger touchdown for bad mechanics in making his call, but adds that
We replayed the call many times at halftime in HD and the nose of the ball appeared to be right at the goal line before it moved back. In all probability, it was within an inch or so one way or the other.
I’m not holding this up as the last word on the subject, but it’s vehemently against the instant fan/journalist consensus that formed around the game everywhere but Southwestern Pennsylvania and the NFL.com offices.
Note: The link above will decay. “The BEST Informed Giant Fan” apparently doesn’t know from item anchors.
Note: Nevertheless, this was pretty funny.
UPDATE: Gene Wojciechowski continues the counter-revolution.
Comment by John Cole —
February 7, 2006 @ 11:34 pm
I am highly motivated to the point that Holmgren and the ’non-partisan fans’ are going to drive me crazy with all the chatter. I have no beef with the Seahawk fans, because were I a Seahawks fan, I would be upset too- I feel their pain. But everyone else, screw ’em.
All the calls that went the Steelers way- worst calls ever.
All the calls that went the Seahawks way- why, it is like they didn’t happen.
Were some bad calls made? Sure. But it didn’t change the outcome of the game, that was pass interference by Jackson, he was out of bounds at the end of the first half, and the ABC crew botched the call on the holding penalty (the flag was thrown before the throw, but Michaels only noticed it after the completion, making it look worse and as if the call was made after the completion rather than before the toss), and I am just sick of all the bitching.
The Seahawks had a bunch of chances, but the Steelers BEAT THEM.
Comment by SF Yinzer —
February 7, 2006 @ 11:35 pm
I take pride in being a Steelers fan, so maybe this means that my judgement is suspect. But to me, it looked like there were two close-ish calls that hurt the Seahawks, one close-ish call with no effect, and two bad calls with essentially no effect. The echo-chamber so well known to political bloggers has managed to whip this up into ”all the calls in the game went against the Seahawks, and none of them were at all defensible.”
This happened because, really, what else could you talk about?
”Teams bumble about ineffectively, with poor coaching, missed field goals, dropped passes, and wounded-duck interceptions killing anything that starts to look like a drive, until one team loses starting safety to injury and other team beats on his practice-squad replacement relentlessly. The new guy gets burned on 3 plays for half that teams total yardage and 21 points, own team continues flailing until time runs out.” isn’t a tale of football glory for the ages, but it’s about what happened.
So, what we’re left with (for now) is ”The Seahawks got robbed.”
Comment by John Cole —
February 7, 2006 @ 11:52 pm
The other thing that irritates me is that if anyone has been bitching about bad refs for years, it is Steelers fans. Over the past 7-8 years, the Steelers have received more apologies from NFL officiating crews than ANY other team. I remember three in one season in which we received official apologies from games.
Additionally, the PI call just infuriates me when people say ’he made contact, but it wasn’t that much contact.’ Had the roles been reversed, Seahawks fans would be screaming. Had Hope pushed him the same way and intercepted the ball, the outcry would be just as palpable. But even more, so what if it wasn’t an outlandish push? Does that mean Hasselbeck’s fumble should have counted because Foote just touched him a ’little?’ What about the running into the kicker call a couple years ago in the Titans play off game- we only bumped him a ’little.’
Over the past few days, my attitude has morphed from feeling slightly bad for the Seahawks to ’STFU all you whiny bitches.’ It is like they won’t be happy until they taint this victory, which was fairly earned.
Comment by Mr. Obscura —
February 8, 2006 @ 9:24 am
SF Yinzer,
Amen. Excellent synopsis of the game and the following furor.
Comment by Jim Henley —
February 8, 2006 @ 9:37 am
I largely agree, except – where was the poor coaching on the Steeler side? There was poor throwing by the QB, and what could have been a couple of costly drops by the MVP-by-default. But what did the Steeler *coaches* do wrong? It seems to me that Cowher, LeBeau and Wisenhunt called the best game they could given the actual ongoing performance they were getting out of their personnel.
And again – one thing the Steelers did well all night was *tackle*. That was huge, and it’s been lost in the general hubbub.
Comment by John Cole —
February 8, 2006 @ 1:47 pm
Also, Jim- don’t get caught up in the yardage discrepancy. LeBeau’s strategy was clearly to allow them to do what they wanted between the 30’s, but not to give up the big play.
Surprise. It worked.
Comment by Jim Henley —
February 8, 2006 @ 2:22 pm
John: could be. Really, the more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to be impressed with the Steeler coaching staff, esp Cowher and Wisenhunt. They had to manage a game in which the offense in particular was performing poorly. Easterbrook can praise the Steeler line all he wants but they weren’t opening up many running lanes. It was only by adding an extra blocker at the goal line (Bettis ) that they were able to enable Ben to (barely!) punch the ball into the end zone. Roethlisberger was making good decisions but bad throws. To get 21 points out of that offense on that day was miracle work.
Pingback by Balloon Juice —
February 8, 2006 @ 3:09 pm
[...] shback Begins By: John Cole February 8, 2006 at 3:09 pm Jim Henley, while ending the non-controversy about the supposed touchdown that was not called at t [...]
Comment by Justin Slotman —
February 8, 2006 @ 5:06 pm
Actually, I don’t think there’s anything like a consensus about this game (besides that it was a poorly played game)–I’ve heard as many media outlets (blogs, radio, TV) proclaim ”the team that deserved to win won” as ”the Seahawks got jobbed.”
By the way–what whining there is can’t be coming from Seahawks fans, since there’s at the outmost a few hundred of them. There could be many Steelers haters out there–I certainly am one. But odds are the whining is coming from neutral football fans who didn’t want the Superbowl decided in such a dishwater weak fashion. A game where neither team played well (and thus where the impact of every call, right or wrong, is magnified) deserves its taint.
Comment by Kevin Holtsberry —
February 8, 2006 @ 10:56 pm
May of the sports commentators were outrageous in their hyping of the bad calls. If you listen to ESPN Radio it was said over and over that the officiating was horrendous, pathetic, etc. Many of the commentators acted as if every call was unquestionably wrong. Collin Cowherd was the worst. He spent two days ranting and raving about the refs and went so far as to call the Steelers win illegitimate. Mike and Mike were more cautious but still blasted the refs. Dan Patrick was about the most even handed of all of them.
Of course their were innumerable written stories on the subject everywhere from places like ESPN and Slate to newspapers across the country. It got so bas I began to question my own eyes and feel bad about the Steelers win. No more. After having read far too much on the subject I am convinced that their were a few very close calls that stood out because neither team really dominated from start to finish. The Seahawks played better to start and looked good between the 30’s but faded and couldn’t get the big play. Roethlisberger played quite poorly at times but made a few clutch plays. The Steelers defense gave the Seahawks the dink and dunks but little else. Obviously a few big plays made the difference.
BTW, did you hear about how Cowher mocked the Bengals at the parade?
Comment by Jim Henley —
February 8, 2006 @ 11:43 pm
No! Mocked the Bengals? How?
Comment by Tequila —
February 9, 2006 @ 3:27 am
I for one will criticize the Steelers coaches. I didn’t think the offensive gameplan especially was particularly inspired. We were up against a superb rush defense and tried to run first against them. Rather than getting Ben some easy completions and into a rhythm early, which was the key to success in Indy and Denver, we got into continual 3rd & long throughout the first half and Ben had to force throws, which he was clearly uncomfortable doing. And where the hell was Heath Miller?
I think you guys are right as far as LeBeau’s gameplan. It worked — sort of. If Jerramy Stevens hangs onto the ball on two of those completions down the middle, we’re talking about a different ballgame. Polamalu was nowhere to be seen all game, and we did not get consistent pressure on Hasselbeck. The run was contained, kind of, but I think more as a result of Seattle’s poor playcalling in the second half rather than anything the Steelers really did.
Comment by Kevin Holtsberry —
February 9, 2006 @ 1:20 pm
I heard a clip that had Bill Cowher starting a audience response chant. He would say ”Who Dey?” and the crowd would shout back ”We Dey!” They did this a couple of times to general laughter and enjoyment.
Comment by Rob —
February 10, 2006 @ 10:02 am
Yes, yes nothing like the fully unbiased opinion of other NFL officials! ”Hecka of Job!”s were heard all over!
Comment by Jim Henley —
February 10, 2006 @ 10:10 am
There’s clearly an institutional bias issue. OTOH, they’re also *actually qualified to have an opinion*. And the Darrell Jackson touchdown rule is simply a factual matter, and Jerry Markbreit, who is retired and one of the most respected officials in league history, says that call was correctly made.
Are you aware that the official who called the clip on Matt Hasselbeck called the same infraction during an interception return in the regular season on an offensive player who went low to beat a blocker AND, like Hasselbeck, made the tackle?
He made that call against Steeler Center Jeff Harting in the regular-season game at Indianapolis.