Let’s get his out of the way now before moving on. Seattle did not get screwed by the officials in the Super Bowl. I’ll repeat one more time. Seattle did not get screwed by the refs in the Super Bowl. Did they dominate the line of scrimmage? Yes. Did they dominate time of possession? Yes. Did they win the turnover battle? Yes. Did they mismanage the clock with time running down in the 1st half? Most definitely. How do you run off tackle with 48 seconds on the clock? The Seahawks played well until it mattered. Anytime they moved within smelling distance of the end zone, they forgot about fundamentals. Darrell Jackson not knowing how close he was to the sideline and not dragging his feet for the completion. Sean Locklear had his arm up in the neck area of Kimo van Oelhoffen and rode him into the ground.
Last time I checked, that’s holding, which cost Seattle 10 yards and backed them up to the Pittsburgh 29 instead of being at the 19. And the plays that directly followed the penalty, resulted in a sack and an interception. Scoring threat over, Seattle flat out ran themselves out of points. Or if you want to jump to the other side of the ball, how about giving up a 37 yard pass play on a 3rd and “cripes that’s a long way to go.” Even if Roethlisburger doesn’t make it into the end zone, which according to him he didn’t. Give Pittsburgh three points from there and the Steelers still win.
Seattle didn’t get cheated here ladies and gentleman. There was a robbery, but the Seahawks were a part of it, not the victim. A good team should be able to overcome in-game adversity. The real victim here is the fans. Watching this game was like watching an alright Monday Night Football match up during week 4 instead of the Super Bowl. The game was mediocre, the officiating was mediocre at best.
The Steelers were the overall better team, but even they looked tired and a young Roethlisburger looked scared. Going through the playoff ringer like Pittsburgh did was a feat in itself, but there was a major reason why they could. The Steelers follow a formula, and it is a formula that wins year after year. Run the ball and play defense. Willie Parker’s touchdown run was a thing of beauty. It started up front with tremendous zone blocking and was followed by a running back that arguably gets into the second level of the defense quicker then anyone else in football. All Parker needed was two short steps to the right, he saw the hole then exploded for 76 yards. After that, there is nothing else from an offensive and defensive standpoint to talk about.
The sad part about the whole game is the only lasting impression by the fans will be the botched calls. This just goes to further a point that something needs to be done in the NFL. Two small changes would solve a lot of problems. One is turning to the college style of replay. Take the challenges away from the coaches, and have three officials up in the booth reviewing every play. That method gives the replay officials over a minute to review each play before the next snap, which is plenty of time to get at least a good enough look in order to determine if they want to stop the game or not. Second, make pass interference reviewable, please. Pass interference is a play that is easy enough to judge on instant replay, and it would also negate some of the ridicules penalties on defensive backs.
So after the most forgettable Super Bowl in recent memory, if all we can get out of it are some basic rule changes, then the wasted five hours that were spent watching the battle of mediocrity will at least have rendered something positive.