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Damn dirty ref

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Newtype Hondonian

Newtype

Posted
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I'm not a big fan of the refs in any sport, I can see why their needed, but after superbowl sunday I hate them more then ever. How many times have we seen teams lose a game or win a game due to bad calling on a ref. Here's a rundown of the superbowl:

 

 

Every single questionable, marginal or outright bad call went against the Seahawks. Their first three big plays were all wiped out by penalty calls. On their second drive, Darrell Jackson caught an 18-yard pass on 3rd-and-6 that would have given Seattle a first down at the 23. But Chris Gray was called for holding James Farrior. When Farrior pushed upfield, Gray did hook him with his right arm, and Farrior went down. When referee Bill Leavy flagged Gray, it was a bad omen for the Seahawks. Instead of being on the edge of the red zone, they came away without any points.

 

On their third drive, the Seahawks looked to take a 7-0 lead when Jackson separated from Chris Hope in the end zone and Matt Hasselbeck delivered a perfect strike to his outside shoulder. The back judge looked uncertain — sound familiar, Patriots fans? — then finally jerked his flag out and called offensive pass interference to wipe out the touchdown. The replay showed receiver and defender hand-fighting, with Jackson getting the slightest push into Hope's chest before turning to catch the ball. ABC's John Madden thought the call was dubious. FOX analyst and all-time great offensive lineman Brian Baldinger had no doubts, calling it "absolutely horrendous" on his FOXSports.com Super Bowl Instant Analysis. ESPN's Steve Young and Michael Irvin also had no uncertainty, dismissing the call as ticky-tack and insisting the Seahawks got robbed of a TD.

 

Then came a huge call on the first play of the second quarter. Peter Warrick ripped off a 33-yard punt return to give Seattle the ball at the Steelers 46. But Etric Pruitt was called for holding. How clear was it? Well, Madden thought the call was for Pruitt holding the gunner at the beginning of the play. It wasn't. The flag came in during the runback and it looked pretty minor. Another example of an official searching to make a call.

 

So despite totally dominating the first 20 minutes of the game, the Seahawks led only 3-0.

 

Then came Pittsburgh's first touchdown. Whether you think Roethlisberger broke the plane of the goal line seems to depend on which team you were rooting for. The odd part was the line judge seemed to have determined that Big Ben had come up short as he ran in from the sideline. Since Roethlisberger had been pushed back well short of the goal line I don't know what he could have seen as he got closer to the pile that would have made him change his mind. But up went the arms. Had Roethlisberger been ruled short of the plane, that call would no doubt have stood too. But you figure the Black and Gold would have pounded it in from the two-inch line on fourth down so there's not that much here for Seattle fans to complain about except for the continuing storyline that every single call was going the Steelers' way. And the worst was yet to come.

 

The Seahawks were on the verge of taking a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter when officiating disaster struck. Hasselbeck had drilled a pass down the seam to Jerramy Stevens to set up first-and-goal at the one when suddenly Leavy appeared in the middle of the screen to call the play back on account of holding on Sean Locklear. No less a source than newly minted Hall of Famer John Madden came right out and said it was a bad call. This penalty was beyond ticky-tack. Baldinger called it "another terrible call" and added that the Steelers were offsides on the play. It was yet another official searching for a call, desperate to throw his flag, yearning to impact the action. Why, why, oh, why? That's 14 points the officials simply took away from the Seahawks. Incredible.

 

After a sack, Hasselbeck threw a pick and then was penalized 15 yards for making the tackle. I'm not kidding. The same thing happened in the Indy-Pittsburgh game in the regular season. It's like the officials become so discombobulated during the change of possession that they just randomly start throwing flags. The call was that Hasselbeck had thrown an illegal block below the waist on the return. Never mind that Hasselbeck wasn't trying to block anybody and did, in fact, make the tackle. Just another terrible call that cannot be reviewed in Paul Tagliabue's NFL.

 

The Steelers took quick advantage of their enhanced field position and just like that it was 21-10 Pittsburgh when it should have been 17-14 Seattle

 

But the stripes weren't done.

 

First, they blew a fumble call on the field — of course against Seattle — before overturning it after replay. Then, with the Steelers trying to run out the clock, Leavy granted Roethlisberger a timeout, even though the play clock clearly read zero before the quarterback signaled for time. It ended up being the final bad call in Seattle's coffin.

 

As Madden and Al Michaels watched the replay they shared a laugh about a similar bad non-call in an earlier playoff game between the Bears and Panthers. This is what it has come to: Announcers comparing the bad calls happening before them to the bad calls from earlier rounds of the playoffs. Is this really what the NFL wants?

 

With Cris Collinsworth lobbying for pass interference to be eligible for review on Inside the NFL after New England got jobbed in Denver; Joey Porter inveighing against the league after the game in Indy; Young and Irvin railing at halftime of the Super Bowl; Baldinger being spot-on with his Instant Analysis critique of the officials; and Madden and Michaels wondering aloud about the officiating during the game ... is anybody in the league office listening?

 

Or can we pretty much count on next year's playoffs being dominated by the officials too?

 

This is why I stopped watching the game at halftime. Bad calls can kill a game.

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APANCHALYPSE NOW Hondonian

APANCHALYPSE NOW

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I watched this game all the way through and I agree that the refs didn't seem to know thier asses from a hole in the ground, but I've never been a fan of blaming anybody but the teams involved! The Seahawks didn't play that good (and neither did the Steelers for that matter)! This was the Superbowl!! The two best teams in the world... and they played like crap! It was a boring game... admit it! In my opinion, the only good thing that came outta that game was that Bill Cower got his ring... that's it!

 

I say, that if it comes down to the refs, than you didn't play hard enough!

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Reverend Jax Hondonian

Reverend Jax

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The calls were bad, and that' fucking sucks, but Seahawks fans should be happy. The way they were playing, fair calls wouldn't have saved them. The calls should have been fair, but the Seahawks would have lost either way, and now, Hawks fans have the refs to blame for the rest of their life, instead of their team.

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Signal08 Hondonian

Signal08

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I think the ref's were a bit one sided, and i think that refs never are helf accountable... but, in the end.. sadly (yes it is a profession to some) but its an effing game.

 

I dont think the seahawks would have won if the reffing was done right... but it would have been a field goal game... win/loose by 3 points

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