XL

[Righ]

Interesting songs to come out to. Steelers have the edge. :)

Seahawks: Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve
Steelers: Right Here, Right Now - Fatboy Slim

Of course, royalties on the first go to fatboys Mick and Keith.

[Hoax]

Fucking Seattle receivers are so incompetent on so many levels.

Still pulling for Big Ben to get his legs ripped off, fucking Steelers.

[Righ]

Dunno what the hell the Seahawks were doing in the last minute. Score doesn't reflect the kicking the Steelers were getting. All to play for.

[Cheddar]

Dunno what the hell the Seahawks were doing in the last minute. Score doesn't reflect the kicking the Steelers were getting. All to play for.

I missed the last 3 minutes... the Steelers had just ran the play almost to the inzone.  Did they get the touch down?

[Righ]

You missed one of only two really good plays by the Steelers. It got them to three yards. They then tried to let Bettis push in, but it wasn't happening. On third, Roth leapt over the top, and got what was a questionable touchdown. Couln't be determined by camera, so it rightly stayed a touchdown as called. Seahawks had nearly two clear minutes to sort things out. They wasted nearly all that time and ended up having to kick 58 yards. Which didn't happen.

The time wasting and incompetence at the end of the first half by the 'hawks is only matched in horror by the Rolling Stones' diabolical performance. They may have a few good tunes, but they sure sound like shit these days.

[Signe]

It was good to see the Stones again.  They reaffirmed my opinion of them that I've held for many years.  They suck.

[schild]

The first steelers TD was total bullshit.

The second one was golden.

[Righ]

The second one was rugby, it was such a long and flawless run.

[Righ]

Seahawks played the second half the way they ended the first half. Steelers did a good job with two fine touchdowns and some great plays, though the Rolling Stones could have beat the Seahawks in the fourth quarter.

[TheWalrus]

Seattle played like shit. Tho, as has already been stated, the first TD was absolute bullshit. If you can move the ball across the line after you're already down...what the fucks the point?

After having lived in Washington all my life, the only thing I can figure is that the rest of the teams this year just /AFKed out of every Seachicken game. They aren't ready for the Superbowl. I'm not bitter.

[Rasix]

If you can move the ball across the line after you're already down...what the fucks the point?

Errmm, it looked like the nose inched across when he made contact.  It was really too close to call, but also too close to reverse upon review.  If you think that's what they were looking at in the review, then you really need to stop huffing paint fumes.

Any team that manages to drop that many passes and butcher the clock that badly deserves to lose.

[Margalis]

End of the first half and end of the game were both abominations for Seattle. With about 1:30 on the clock in the first half they throw a 5 yard pass over the middle then it's down to about 20 seconds before they can run the next play...wtf?

The first Steeler TD was good. The nose of the ball crossed the white strip while Ben was in the air and that's all it takes.

Seattle has been dropping tons of passes for years. That along with lots of penalties killed them. They had a lot of huge plays taken away by a drop or a penalty.

Also the pass interference call on the first apparent Seattle TD was BS. Still they deserved to lose.

[Murgos]

Did I actually see a commercial for a remake of Running Scared?

Please god tell me I hallucinated that.

[Raging Turtle]

The 'Addicted to Lost' promo was my favorite part of the game, after the double-reverse Randel El touchdown pass. But then, I am a fanboi.

[Margalis]

It was a reverse, not a double reverse. Pet peeve of mine.

A reverse is when you hand the ball to one guy who runs one way, then he hands to another guy running the other way. For a double reverse that guys then has to hand back to another guy running the opposite (original) way.

[Triforcer]

How in the holy monkeyfuck did they get so many players to touch the championship trophy for those commercial promos?  The first few I saw (all Steelers holding the trophy) almost gave me a heart attack.

[schild]

How in the holy monkeyfuck did they get so many players to touch the championship trophy for those commercial promos?  The first few I saw (all Steelers holding the trophy) almost gave me a heart attack.

Yea, I commented on that during the game as well. It was...weird.

[UD_Delt]

Seahawks got robbed:

1. The touchdown that wasn't a touchdown. If you look where the ball was tucked it never moved. His trajectory was also always moving forward. The ball landed on the 4 inch line. No way was that a touchdown. They also showed a different angle during one of the "Bettis is Mic'd" series and it showed the ball clearly and where it came down. The line judge even came in signaling he was down and then Ben moved the ball (after he was down) and he signaled the touchdown. Pittsburgh most likely goes for it on 4th and inches and gets the TD anyway here so probably not the biggest of the issues.

2. Bogus pass interference call to pull back one touchdown. Ward made a similar non-push-off later in the game that wasn't called despite also being right in front of an official. Announcers (Steve Young) who are in the NFL pocket aggree the Seahawks got robbed.

3. Hasselbeck throws a pick and makes the saving tackle and gets a 15 yar penaltyr for "tackling below the waist." That penalty sets up the trick play TD to Ward.

4. Seahawks pass the ball down to the 2 yard line and a phantom hold negates the play. Madden again makes the statement about a bad call. When the announcers continue to make comments you know somethings up.

5. Long pass to I think Jackson. He gets the left foot in and hits the pylon with his right. Play is called out of bounds and it's within the 2 minute warning but no review. The single full speed replay when slowed down (via DVR since they only showed it once) shows it was a touchdown. The Pylon is ruled as in the field of play and a touch of the pylon is the same as a foot in.

6. Porter horse-collars (tackels him by the back of the shoulder pads) Alexandar right in front of the officials. No call and Madden comments AGAIN.

7. Hasselbeck is touched goes down flat on the ground (knees, elbows, stomach, completely flat) and the ground causes a fumble. The officials give it to the steelers. The review shows it's too obvious to screw the hawks again so they overturn it.

8. Warrick runs a punt back 33 yards and inside steelers territory. Holding penalty is called. Announcers show the before the kick and claim that's the hold but the flag comes down during the runback. Another phantom hold to negate a big seahawks play.

9. Play clock runs to zero, Ben sees it and calls a timeout AFTER the clock hits zero. Officials give him the time out instead of the appropriate delay of game penalty. Leaves it 3rd and 6 instead of 3rd and 11 during a key drive to run time off the clock. Announcers again comment on the bad call and compare it to a similar call in another game.


All that was enough to hand the Steelers the win. There is no way Roethlisburgers 22.8 QB rating is enough to win this game if not for the officials.

[Murgos]

Did I actually see a commercial for a remake of Running Scared?

Please god tell me I hallucinated that.

It wasn't a hallucination but fortunately it's not a remake of the Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines classic.

[ClydeJr]

It was pretty boring for me. I'm not a fan or hater of either team so I was just hoping for a good entertaining game. It just seemed kind of dull to me.

I liked the FedEx caveman commercial. Squish!

[Kenrick]

56 days till baseball.

[HaemishM]

The first Steelers TD was very close, and I can't say for sure that he did get in but the replay didn't clear it up enough to overturn the call already made. The officiating overall was pretty pisspoor. The 15-yard low block penalty on Hasselback was a bullshit call, as was the Darrell Jackson pass interference call to overturn the TD. I could see the holding call that negated the Seahawks pass to Stevens on the 3-yd line; it was ticky-tack but it was at least better than the interference call on Jackson.

But really, the Seahawks had plenty of opportunities in the first half to get some points, and they really blew them all. They never made the big play, and it was a game that was won on big plays. Pittsburgh made them and Seattle didn't. Rothliesberger looked like shit most of the game, but when he needed a big play, he made it. That game was a lot closer than 21-10, and it should have probably been 21-17.

Did I mention the officials sucked it hard? Also, the NFL really needs to do away with the "illegal block in the back" and "holding" penalties on punt returns. Almost every return I watched this season (and thanks to Tivo, I saw an average of 3 games every single week, every single play PLUS all the playoff games and the Super Bowl) there was one of these penalties, and often over shit that just plain should not have been called. It's gotten to the point where if you just touch the back of a guy's jersey, you get an illegal block in the back. It slows up the game, removes some good plays and just plain blows monkeys.

The biggest thing that killed Seattle though, IMO, was their wretched clock managment at the ends of the half. It wasn't like these were rookies, coach or QB, that were doing it for the first time. These were seasoned vets. I mean, after one dinky 5-yd pass over the middle, Hasselback pisses away like 30 seconds fiddle-farting around with audibles instead of spiking the ball or just getting up there and going downfield. Hell, the Steelers gave Seattle a gift with that timeout at 13 seconds and the Hawks still couldn't do shit with it. Seattle wastes a timeout and get no points anyway because they left their kicker a 58 yarder. Dumbasses.

[Hoax]

Seemed pretty simple to me, Seattle lost for the same reason they lost in the wildcard last year.  They have terrible fucking receivers who have no clutch, and clutch is everything.  Pathetic..

[UD_Delt]

Seemed pretty simple to me, Seattle lost for the same reason they lost in the wildcard last year.  They have terrible fucking receivers who have no clutch, and clutch is everything.  Pathetic..

They should have thrown to Jurevicious more often. Props to Joe by the way for the mention of Lake Catholic High School during the player introductions. Yes, I went to Lake and yes I graduated with Joe.

And Seattle also had it's share of big plays. Just turned out that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM got called back because of a penalty.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Seahawks got robbed:

{/snip of 9 GREAT POINTS}

All that was enough to hand the Steelers the win. There is no way Roethlisburgers 22.8 QB rating is enough to win this game if not for the officials.

amen and AMEN!

Further points because I've been in grudge mode since the game concluded...

Roethlesburger's abysmal QB rating... far and away the lowest rating wise and by any other measure of any Superbowl or for that matter any playoff game winning team.  I mean... WTF?!

Seahawks all year long were the lowest (or 2nd lowest) penalized team in the league; all the sudden they forget how to play this game on Superbowl Sunday?

Steelers flagged for only 3 penalties on Sunday and no holding calls.  Again... WTF?

INCONCEIVABLE!  (and yes, I do know what that word means)

Final score (should have been:) Steelers 10, Seahawks 10, Officiating Crew 11

[Nebu]

You can bitch about officiating all you like, but anyone that has ever played the sport knows that OFFiCIATING IS PART OF THE GAME.  Good teams cope with it, great teams overcome it. 

1. I agree with the call to let the TD stand.  There wasn't conclusive evidence found in 3 minutes to overturn the ruling on the field. 

2. I also agree that Seattle got some bad calls.  The low block, the hold, and the pass interference could have easily been overlooked. 

3. They made the correct ruling on the Hasselback fumble by overturning it.

4. Seattle blew quite a few opportunities due to a) lack of production from their receivers, b) poor judgment by an inexperienced safety, and c) a poor showing by Alexander.  Seattle was not in (pardon the cliche) "Super Bowl form".  Key injuries also took their toll.

As someone that could have cared less which team won, I'll say this:  Hasselback was the best player in the game.  Jurevicious was solid as always.  But... Pittsburgh was the better team on Sunday.  The 75 yd run by Parker and the TD pass by Randel El were Super Bowl Gold

[Yegolev]

The first steelers TD was total bullshit.

This was the point in the game where I lost interest.  That was not a TD.

[UD_Delt]

c) a poor showing by Alexander. 

95 yards (4.8 average) against one of the best run defenses in the NFL is NOT a poor showing. 400 yards of total offense even after 70 penalty yards and 90+ yards of offense lost (160 yd swing) on those penalities is NOT a poor offensive performance.

A 22.8 QB rating IS a poor performance.

Yet the Steelers won...

[Nebu]

95 yards (4.8 average) against one of the best run defenses in the NFL is NOT a poor showing. 400 yards of total offense even after 70 penalty yards and 90+ yards of offense lost (160 yd swing) on those penalities is NOT a poor offensive performance.

A 22.8 QB rating IS a poor performance.

Yet the Steelers won...

95 yards during the regular season is a decent showing.  95 yards from the NFL MVP in the Super Bowl is not. Great players MUST step up in big games.  Alexander was a let down. 

Roethlisberger was horrible, I agree.  Parker and Randel El saved the game.  I have new found respect for Hasselbeck, he made some very good throws that were wasted.    I also feel for the Seattle replacement defensive players thrown to the wolves. That's a tough situation to come off the bench in.   

Note: I'll also go out on a limb and say that just like Marino, Roethlisberger never wins another super bowl as a starter.

[UD_Delt]

95 yards during the regular season is a decent showing.  95 yards from the NFL MVP in the Super Bowl is not. Great players MUST step up in big games.  Alexander was a let down. 

Maybe you are confusing Alexander with Holmgren (or whoever calls the plays in Seattle). I will take a 4.8 yards/carry average from my running back any game of the year. I have a very hard time seeing that as a let down. The 95 yards is irrelevant as he only had 20 carries.

[Nebu]

Maybe you are confusing Alexander with Holmgren (or whoever calls the plays in Seattle). I will take a 4.8 yards/carry average from my running back any game of the year. I have a very hard time seeing that as a let down. The 95 yards is irrelevant as he only had 20 carries.

Point made.  I stand corrected.   Even if you eliminate the 21 yd play he was still averaging 3.8 a carry.  Pretty respectible.

[Rasix]

Note: I'll also go out on a limb and say that just like Marino, Roethlisberger never wins another super bowl as a starter.

Marino never won a Super Bowl if I'm remembering correctly. 

[Nebu]

Note: I'll also go out on a limb and say that just like Marino, Roethlisberger never wins another super bowl as a starter.

Marino never won a Super Bowl if I'm remembering correctly. 

You're right... I had a brain fart.  Marino played in only one Super Bowl (his second year in the NFL if I recall correctly).  He never won one.

If I screwed this one too... I'm just going to give up.

[Rasix]

Report card.

Have to agree with the guy's assessment, even if he is a tad harsh on Hasselback.  I guess that clock butchering would cost him a couple grades in my book too.

[schild]

Yea, that report card confirmed what I thought of the game.

That was some of the worst football I've ever seen, amplified by the fact it was the superbowl. The luckiest team ever paired against the unluckiest team ever.

I also have a theory that when teams without gargantuan followings make it to the superbowl, the quality of commercials go down. But that's just me be kuh-razy.

Just to make it clear, I watch basically one game a year (though I was pretty into it years ago), and it's the superbowl. I like seeing good football at the superbowl regardless of who's in it. I don't like or dislike the steelers or the seahawks. I just thought neither were remotely near super bowl material.

Edit: The pirates suck too. But they predictably suck.