[Super Bowl] Does Any One Else Suspect The Game Was Rigged?

I was waiting for that.

 

I thought Pitt was clearly better, and had Roethlisberger not giftwrapped an INT near the goal line for Seattle, the game would've been a blowout. Really that one play is the only reason people are even able to complain about the refs at all.

 

It continually boggles my mind when fans, announcers, players, etc. act like everything would have happened the exact same way had a call or event occurred differently. The only time it would not make a difference is if it were the last play of the game. It is my major pet peeve in the world of sports.

 

I dunno - three weeks ago, we had the non-interception that was in the Indy-Pitt game. They actually had the benefit of replay there. And it changed the entire game. This just added 15 yards around mid-field, and couldn't be reviewed.

This was a badly officiated game - but hasn't the talk for the last 3 weeks of the playoffs been about major missed calls? There were some here, but nothing like some of the junk we've seen over the past month (missed 60 yard pass int, the overturned interception, the stuff against New England, etc)

 

Its rigged...Fathead Ben didn't get into the endzone...Horrible officiating...

 

yes, exactly my point. the entire game woulda be entirely different, the Seahawks might have won instead.

 

Except that your original post said that the Seahawks "would come out on top" not "might come out on top".

 

I barely watched the game, but I have to agree.

Every time Seattle got a break they recieved a ticky-tack or phantom penalty.

Every time P-Burg was at a critical juncture, the refs nudged them over the edge.

Sad.

 

You're a little quick on the trigger Cat. If you will read my post again I was never talking about the Kelson play I was talking about the VY toss play. ALSO I was saying the seahawks game wasn't rigged and was making my point that the rose bowl wasn't rigged either just because of one bad call.

 

the thing about ben's td is the ref was slow in calling it to begin with; he saw ben push the ball over the line after he was down. the ref didn't make the call based on the intial surge.

the refs trying to rule a fumble on that hasselback scramble was just weird.

 

In terms of magnitude, I'd put the holding call and the offensive pass interference up there with the non-INT against the Colts. One of them directly took away a TD and other one took away the Seahawks being at the two.

As far as just flat-out bad calls, regardless of magnitude, calling an illegal block below the waist on the guy who made the tackle is absolutely absurd. Especially when his counterpart actually threw a real block below the waist later in the game.

 

Bottom line, the Seahawks didn't play at a high enough level to win. It wasn't like the Seahawks hung up 20+ on the Steelers in some shootout THEN the officials decided to throw the game in the Steelers favor. No, it's just the same story of an incredible Steelers defense shutting down yet another powerful offense. I have news for all you conspiracy theorists: you can't win a football game if you can't score points! Now maybe we were watching different football games but the Seattle offense I saw was a sluggish, sometimes helpless, version of the #1 scoring offense of the regular season.

There were some questionable and weak calls but if you watch the reply of every "blown" call, instead of making baseless claims of conspiracy, you would notice that every call happens to be textbook examples of the penalties committed. Don't attempt to undermine the Steelers and their historic Superbowl run just because Seattle committed penalties and the Steelers didn't! All throughout the playoffs the Steelers have been an extremely well coached and disciplined team---rarely did anybody commit costly penalties.

But nevermind, the Superbowl was rigged afterall! You need something to complain about.

 

THAT may be true, but it's still pretty obvious that the refs made this less of a game than it really should. The ESPN article might be a little extreme, but it did make some very valid points. Personally, I agree with your assessment that the game wouldn't have played out the same way, but we would never know because of some of the calls made.

No one seem to have mentioned the holding call early in the game that took back the Seahawk's first drive at third down. I thought that holding call was mediocre at best. I would figure that in a game such as this, you let the players play unless the calls are obvious and imminent. That one, however, does not warrant too much than just a mention.

The TD called back, I felt, was not really much of a pass interference. The defender was half slipping and the ref threw the flag after the defender approached him. If there was any conspiracy theory involved, that would have been the one. I'll make my point as to why I didn't think the others would have warranted much conspiracy as to the simple fact that the refs were bad that night. The official took a long time to think about making the pass interference call, which is very unusual considering the magnitude of the call. He had enough time to wager what that call could do to the game. In my honest opinion, it should've been a no-call.

The Roethlisberger TD... I feel that it was inconclusive. Seattle followed with some horrible clock management and some drop passes. (Jeremi Stevens)

Second half is just horrible, officiating wise. Did anyone else feel that the Steelers were offsides in a few of the critical situations? I reviewed a few of those plays and felt that the defender was well over the line of scrimmage before the ball was snapped in 3 instances. The first one was the sack that was eventually made in the middle of the line, but the offsides seemed quite clear in my opinion.

The holding call on the pass to the 1 yard line made me wonder just how bad the officiating was. I have no doubt that Seattle would have gone up by 3 if it was 1st and 1. At least, it would've been a really close game, but that was taken away. The result of that play was an interception that gave the Steelers the ball at midfield (after another questionable call on Hasselback). The call on Hasselback was one of the worst calls I have witnessed. Here's where I make my biggest argument. If the Seahawks scored on that play and it's a 1 possession game (Hawks down by 1 or Steelers down by 3), the trick play probably wouldn't have happened. That's my personal opinion that the Steelers would think twice about having your wide receiver throw a ball when you are down by a field goal. In addition the momentum would've shifted purely on the Seahawk's side, making it a big advantage for the Seahawks. Consequently, somewhere in the middle, Roethlisberger made a tackle that would've been more of a chop block than anything else, but I wouldn't have called that one either, so I won't go there. I pointed that out just to contrast how ridiculous the MH chop block call was.

All in all, if any of those plays were reversed, the game would've been different (one way or another). Seattle, however, took the hit in each of those calls, and when Pittsburg put the pressure on, Seattle seemingly went in some sort of critical mode in which they started dropping passes and get jitty to not fall behind too much. Although the game would've been played different, anyone would have to admit that if those calls weren't made, Seattle has more than just an adequate chance to have won the big game based on the emotions, momentum, and psychological means that it would've caused. Furthermore, those calls put the focus of the game on the officials, taking away some of the enjoyment of the game for me and the party that was at my house. That, I think, is very unfortunate for the city of Detroit, and neutral NFL fans anywhere.

 

I don't care. I won money.

 

Thank you - this is exactly what I feel too. And I don't want to take anything away from the Steelers and the run they had, but if I was a fan of theirs, I wouldn't have been too happy with how they won. I mean they had 3 big plays, their QB was awful, they didn't get a first down until the 2nd quarter, and I think their defense gave up over 400 yards. They benefitted tremendously from the penalties called against Seattle mainly because of the TIMES those flags were thrown. I would bet that at least 4 of those 7 penalties against Seattle were absolute momentum killers (with the phantom hold being the worst). And something about the offensive pass interference - other than it was a very ticky tack foul to call, the ref didn't throw the flag until the Steeler player complained. To me, that looked like the ref didn't know what he was doing & he was letting the players decide the calls. Not good, not good at all.

 

Bottom line is the Seahawks failed to execute when it mattered. Look at all the big drops they had down the field...and twice Darrell Jackson couldn't get 2 feet down in the endzone. Another time he didn't even know where the ball was. Look at 2 missed field goals (could have made it a 5 point game down the stretch there).

I felt that as ticky tack as it was, that was pass interference on Jackson...he pushed off just enough to hold back the defender, allowing him to make the catch.

 

Sure they did. The entire game matters. They once executed well enough to score a TD that was taken away by the officials. They also executed another time well enough to get the ball to the one yard line, only to have that play taken away by a phantom holding call. Twice they executed enough to possibly score 14 points, only to come out with 3 due to the horrible calls.

 

The Steeler party I was at sure didn't seem to mind. The Iron City beer just tasted that much better.

 

Exactly. And I don't care what anyone says - momentum is a real thing to deal with in sports. The calls that went against Seattle were deflaters - they took away any momentum they had been building.

7 penalties don't seem to be that much but once again, the times the flags were thrown on Seattle, they made a huge difference. And it is one thing if those penalties were legit, meaning there was no question that was a hold or offensive pass interference or chop block, etc, but those calls were dubious at best, even if that.

 

Well I hope they don't get annoyed about hearing how badly officiated the game was because it is something that will be talked about forever. And the sad thing is (and my point previously) it shouldn't be that way.