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

Yeah, I'm sure the NFL was just chomping at the bits to admit horrible officiating in the biggest game of the year.

 

I guess we should watch and see what happens to those officials
i bet they won't be working the superbowl next year

probably not even the playoffs

Rocket River

 

The Darrell Jackson pushoff call was correct... he impeded the DB's right to make a play on the ball which is illegal. That being said it was pretty stupid how the ref threw the flag after the Pittsburgh DB started whining.

The Holding call was pretty questionable, but Madden obviously didn't see the hook as Cat pointed out.

I certainly felt bad for Seattle, because it seemed every single time they got a nice play it was called back on a ticky-tack call.

But when it came down to it, Pittsburgh's trickery got them the points they needed.

 

Believe me, I could care less if you're impressed. The Cat hasn't put together any sound theory, except it happens to coincide with your team and their fan's warped beliefs.

"Textbook" calls? Yeah. That's why every person questioned them when they occured and after watching replays.

BTW, the ONLY call that WAS reviewable WAS overturned. Or did you conveniently forget that, also?

 

one hand on the shoulder pad, one on the back, pulling him down.

 

He's throwing video evidence in your face and your reply sounds nothing more than, "I disagree with you so i'm obviously right."

Just look at the before-and-after shots and pay special attention to Jackson's right arm and Hope's positioning and posture. Hope's posture clearly changes after Jackson pushed off. You mean to tell me that an NFL safety is going to magically take a step backwards and away from a receiver lurking in the end zone for absolutely no reason? No, the receiver used his right arm to push off from the defender to gain an advantage with an official standing right there watching. Easy call, people were just complaining about the magnitude of the push off (he obviously didn't come flying at full speed, knock the defender over, then proceed to catch the ball). It's kind of like when people argue in basketball during key moments that contact should be allowed and ignored, this is no different with it being the Super Bowl and the world's biggest stage. You factor that in with the rather late flag from the official, it sheds a dark cloud over a correct call.

The hold was equally as obviously. Haggans had a clear step on Locklear and as I noticed at the time and can easily see now, Locklear grabbed and held him long enough to be called for the hold. No, it wasn't a WWE gorilla press slam but it Locklear committed the infraction good enough and long enough to get flagged for it.

....and where exactly are you going with this? The only plays I remember being reviewed were the Hasselbeck ground-forced fumble that was properly overturned and the Roethlisberger TD that was initially ruled a TD and upon review confirmed that it was indeed a TD. Whether he got in was close, I would probably have to agree with the majority that it probably wasn't good enough to be called a TD. So there, there's a brownie point for all the conspiracy theorists. However, the Steelers would have went for it anyways on practically the 1-inch line, and i'm not gonna lie---i'd like their chances in that situation. They would get in thus eliminating any controversy, it's just a shame it didn't play out like that.

 

I don't know why I am doing this but you just seemed determined to pick a fight here for some reason.

Irrelevant and doesn't add anything to the discussion not to mention that was something that happened over 4 years ago. But I guess you'll use anything and say anything if you think it will back your point.

Cat, dude step back from the keyboard seriously. I know you better than anyone and you have ALWAYS had this chip on your shoulder when it has come to arguments. You just can't let things go - no matter what. I knew you were for the Steelers but it seemed like once it came out that many people were dissatisifed with the officiating, you had to take it on yourself to convince yourself and anyone else that the officiating wasn't that bad. It is like you wanted to validate the Steelers win. Well guess what? No matter what I say or you say, the Steelers are still the winners of Super Bowl XL, but yet you seem to take things so personal that anybody would even DARE to doubt that they might have received some breaks from the officials. Once again, whether you believe it or not, I don't buy the conspiracy angle. I just wanted a good close game - not one in which we are doing what we are doing now..arguing.

Well first of all, you had the last post in this thread for the longest time but yet you felt compelled for some reason to post again several hours later with your video clips. That is why I felt you had some agenda to try to prove to all us "Steeler haters" that the officiating didn't suck. Forget the fact that you made the ridiculously absurd statement "that everyone wanted the Seahawks to win" thus nullifying the ESPN poll where you have no proof of what you said is true. That statement right there picked up my interest in this thread as I was pretty much done with it. And like RM95 said, it is highly doubtful that the NFL front office is going to admit that the officiating was bad. Luckily for them these calls (with the exception of the botched Hasselback call) were judgment calls. And I will take John Madden's take over yours, thank you very much - he is a Hall of Famer after all.

Dude, me making an observation that you appear to want to get the last word in is hardly akin to me calling you a SOB or saying that your mother wears combat boots, etc. But if you think what I have said before is personal, I don't know what I can tell you. *shrug*

Go ahead and quote them if it makes you happy - of course, I was against the Steelers because they were playing, um my favorite team in the Broncos.

 

The two pictures show their is no hold IMO
They show him blocking him on the side
The on hand on the sholder
the other just flailing downway

Rocket River

 

Although we disagree about it, Fatty, RM95, Beck, baller4life and a few others were simply discussing the officiating. There weren't insults. We expressed our views and provided evidence... nothing more. Then you stepped in, seemingly out of nowhere, and decided to claim that I had some desire "not to conform to society" and other related digs at me. And I'm the one determined to pick a fight? Sure.

If you didn't want to argue, you shouldn't have brought in the peronal stuff. When you bring that in, it's pretty clear what you're looking for. With all due respect Manny (and I do respect you, I don't want you to think that's changed), you don't know me all that well if you think that's how I approach things. I didn't just randomly step in when it became evident that many people thought the officiating was bad. I had a post in the first 10 posts in this thread, within an hour of when it was posted.

I hope some of the lurkers out there appreciate the irony in your posts. All I've done is claim that it's unlikely there was a conspiracy and that I didn't think any of the questionable calls were indisputably wrong. The NFL officials and the league office agree with me. I provided photographic evidence to support my point. The game is over. Pittsburgh won. And yet, you and a few others are still here talking about it... and somehow, I'm the one who can't "let things go"?

I found photographs this afternoon that were relevant to this discussion. I did not know of them when I posted the previous post. There's no agenda, Manny. I ran across some pictures that I thought could add to this discussion. It wasn't like they were redundant with the previous post hours before. Images are completely different. What's the problem with me posting them? I'm guessing if Fatty were to post a picture implying something different, you wouldn't be as forward with your insults.

When did I say everyone wanted the Seahawks to win?

The NFL front office didn't have a problem admitting the Polamalu INT overturn was bad. The NFL front office didn't have a problem admitting a mistake a few years ago when referees in the Niners-Giants Wild Card game missed what should've been a pass interference on that botched field goal from New York in the final seconds. You can claim it's highly doubtful, but there is precedent. And since there's precedent, I'll take the opinion of the NFL (who creates the rules) over that of John Madden, you and myself.

Tip for the future... when you label people you don't know with things like "don't want to conform to society," they might take some offense to that. Every post until yours dealt with the game and topic-at-hand... until you turned it into something slightly different. It seems a little unnecessary, if nothing else.

You went beyond that in the final minutes of that game. I wasn't referring to your dislike for them at that time. I was referring to all the ill will you wished them in the Super Bowl... all the charges of "classless" you directed to the Steelers for the late Roethlisberger TD... etc. Granted, I'm sure some of that was emotion, but the animosity you used toward them (in regards to the Super Bowl) sounded like me if the Colts were about to play in the Super Bowl.

 

Saying a call is wrong in a wild card game or divisional playoff game is not nearly the same thing as coming out and saying that calls were wrong in the Super Bowl. No league would ever admit something like that since it would take away from the game itself. They're hoping Major is right in that five years from now, everyone will just remember that the Steelers won Super Bowl XL on their own merits rather than them winning while the league admitted the referees made some huge mistakes.

 

Not only that, but in the Colts-Stealers game the team that benefited from the call lost the game. I doubt had the Colts won or had it been a superbowl play the public comment would be the same from the NFL.

Cat, apologies in advance if I am wrong, but didn’t you have a big problem with acknowledging the Lakers 2nd to last championship? And basketball referring is much more difficult and much less cut and dry than football.

Arguing Pittsburgh didn’t have more fans and routers nationally than Seattle is flat silly. Pittsburgh is one of the three NFL teams with the most fans throughout the nation and Big Ben’s jersey sales is #1 right now. Did you no see how many commercials were already line-up up, it is because of a massive fan base. With the Stealers it is a lot like the Cowboys, except a few less total fans and a lot less total haters.

The Hasselbeck illegal tackle play was a worse referring error than the Palomalu call. Not as significant, but even more ludicrous.

7 penalties to 2. At least one of the 7 (Hasslebeck play) was clearly wrong, with about 3 others against Seattle killed drives or TDs (hold on their 2nd drive, DJ interference, hold on the potential lead changing 4th quarter drive) certainly very debatable. Additionally an obvious offsides against the Stealers was not called (play results in a sack--after that last key holding call) and a close call on Big Ben going by the LOS on their first TD drive was not called (though I fault MG for burning a TO but not challenging). And still another play, the choker Stevens sure looks like a catch, two steps and football play, than fumble in that 2nd quarter (ruled a drop). Not positive, but one of my friends said the ball went OB, would have been more points for the Seahawks.

Personally, I don't a fix was in the Colts game or Seahawks game, but it is completely hypocritical to make a big deal of the Colts game and not understand the same arguments in the Superbowl. In the Superbowl there were a lot more calls that consistently went against 1 team than the playoff game potentially marred by a single mistake.

End the end this Superbowl was determined by the Seahawks chocking (coaches and players), poor referring and Pittsburgh (coaches and players) making the most of their opportunities—pretty much an even balance of all three. It might be the worst superbowl champion ever, but nonetheless no one can take away the fact the Stealers have 5* rings.

 

The DJ pushoff touchdown in the end zone was a push off if you ask me, you can't do that to create seperation, not even an inch. Good call.

The rest of the calls however, were garbage. I'm not sure that the Cat has a leg to stand on defending these stiffs.

 

Get this asterisk crap out of here. You of all people, as a Rockets fan, should know better than to do that.

 

The last championship, not the second to last... second to last was the most dominant run from any team in the history of basketball, imo. The difference is in the types of bad calls. There were calls in that Lakers/Kings Game 6, which, imo, were indisputably awful. The most significant calls questioned in this Super Bowl - the game changing ones (off PI, holding, TD run) all are still open to interpretation. There aren't any point blank answers. That, to me, makes a difference. Giving the Steelers a * for their championship has no more validity than those giving our Rockets a * for their two titles in the mid '90s.

 

Instead of just calling them garbage, why don't you actually debate the issue? Take a look at the two photos I posted on the last page of the hold. Are you still convinced that there's absolutely no possibility that Locklear held? Same for multiple photos of Roethlisberger's run... are you convinced there's absolutely no possibility he got across the line? I've looked at dozens of photos of each... and I still have no clue on either one of them. And if you think you know, well, I think you have a little bias problem.

 

LOL. Me bias? I could have cared less who won this game, I challenge you to go back and find anywhere were I said I was a fan of either of these two teams. You are in the very small minority who doesn't think the calls were terrible and on top of that, you are a steelers fan. Go figure. And you're calling me bias?

Pipe down cat. Your usually a grounded, level-headed poster and many value your viewpoints, but your seriously losing it on this thread.

 

Ugh! This is getting old. I saw the replay, as did everyone else. You and your cronies have a zoomed in "still" shot that shows fingers on the shoulder in one frame. I remember the replay. It wasn't a hold.

 

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. The bottom line is still the Scoreboard at the end of the game.


Pittsburgh 21












Seattle 10

 

Can someone photoshop asterisks on the thumbs and #1 fingers in the above photos.

The Stealers earned their title. Yeah the refs were atrocious, yeah Seattle helped a ton with their own mistakes, but they are the champions. Weak and ugly ones, but champions nontheless. Just kidding about the 5* thing and having fun with Stealer lovers, I have hated the Stealers since the 70's.