I admit, I was pulling for the Arizona in this game. I was tired of pundits on the radio talking about how they didn't deserve to be there. Despite the outcome though, at least I think they proved they deserve to be there.
There were lots of dumb calls in this game, but man, this one really makes me want to quit watching the NFL. As a Chiefs fan, I haven't exactly had a lot to pull for lately but hey, at least I figured I'd root for the underdog. Well that would have probably worked out fine had it not been for the officials.
I say the above with some reluctance. Its easy to sound a lot like a moron who just doesn't like things to go his way. In this case though, I didn't really have a dog in the race, just a vague preference. The first half went pretty cleanly with Arizona letting a giant guy run 100 yards. That was a huge mistake and its on Arizona. After that though, I can hardly blame Arizona for what followed.
The drive that drove me nuts the worst started with a third down and two. Roethlisberger threw the ball away only to be hit less than a second later by the guy who was chasing him (and the reason he threw the ball away). Arizona was called for a roughing the passer penalty, a penalty that even John Madden (who rarely will say anything about a blown call at all if ever) noted that it was a poor call. Ok, its alright they hold them again only to get another call against them. Despite the fact that the receiver obviously grabbed the cornerbacks facemask long before the cornerback stuck his hand out to fight back, the penalty went against Arizona again. The drive is saved again and they get more yards in addition. Next they still get held in the red zone and are forced to kick a field goal. The field goal is called back on a penalty which the ref described as "Personal Foul, Unnecessary roughness - Running over the holder". Thats right, the holder... wtf? OK maybe he just hit him for no reason right? Well...actually he was falling down straight towards him and pushed him out of the way a bit as he flew towards him, arms flaying wildly trying to regain balance. The NFL has rules about this, its called "incidental contact". The guy wasn't going for the holder he was going for a block and was late and losing his balance. Pitt gets another shot at the endzone but Arizona miraculously manages to hold them to a field goal yet again. At this point I'm wondering which ref bet on a 16 point spread.
Fast forward a bit and you reach the end of the game. In a dazzling sense Pitt has just scored against Arizona's defense who had been on the field way to much thanks to bizarre penalties (doesn't mean they shouldn't have held them though, Roethlisberger engineered an amazing drive, managing to avoid sacks on several occasions). Kurt Warner has just thrown an incomplete forward pass which was called a fumble. John Madden notes that this is one the refs will definitely have to have a "good long look at up in the booth." Now I'm not saying that Arizona was going to score a touchdown on the final play, but I would have liked to have seen them get the chance they deserved instead of ending on that wrong call. After they decided it was over both announcers sat there in silence obviously confused. If any time was the time to be talking its after a team has won the Superbowl right? The games over you should be saying exciting things... instead they just didn't say a word for probably thirty seconds of their dumbfounded silence. I mean they reviewed Pitts catch in the endzone despite it looking pretty legit (a fantastic catch too). Then they let the game end on a pretty obvious forward pass. They were in the middle of showing the replays when they had to cut back because the refs and decided to let Pitt snap the ball to end the game.
In short I think both teams played well but the refs didn't just blow some "iffy could go either way" calls. They blatantly threw calls that were idiotic even to announcers who are supposed to avoid causing controversy with their comments.
Flashback to Pitts last victory in the Superbowl. Surprisingly another game in which refs were accused of affecting the outcome. Post game polls showed that 67 percent of Americans thought poor refereeing changed the outcome of the game. The best series of calls came with the Seahawks trailing 14-10. A phantom holding call that the announcers couldn't find no matter how many times they watched replays negated a completion that would have given Seattle first and goal at the one yard line. A couple plays later Hasselbeck threw an interception that was caught by Ike Taylor. Hasselbeck tried to make up for this by tackling Taylor..unfortunately it turned out that that was temporarily illegal in the refs world. The refs somehow called Hasselbeck for a "block below the waist." I always thought it was called a tackle when you do it to the person HOLDING THE BALL. This last call set up Pittsburgh for the winning score.
Anyways, I was so upset by the idiotic refereeing that I decided to spew it here. I apologize to any Steelers fans in advance, I know you'll write it off. So will ESPN and other official channels who will blame those penalties on Arizona's inexperience. Despite this I'm not sure how any casual or objective observer could say anything else. Both teams played well, but I'd like to see the game again when the calls are being made fairly. I am worried that all the money floating around Vegas relating to these games has corrupted the NFL the way it was proven it had the NBA.
I'm sure this will get swept under the rug but COME ON. Give both teams a chance to play on a level fair playing field. They are obviously both good teams, lets see them really get to play. It was a great game despite the stupid horrible mindbogglingly idiotic calls, I bet it would have been even more awesome with fair officiating.
