The Great Detroit Robbery

Usually I enjoy the Super Bowl, something that I look forward to every year. The games in the last few years, save Baltimore-NY and Tampa-Oakland, have been excellent. But this years left a real bad taste in my mouth. Sure I was not rooting for Pittsburgh, but something terrible happened tonight. The Seahawks were robbed on an even chance at winning this game. The Steelers should cut that trophy in half and hand it to the NFL and the referees. I know the NFL wanted Pittsburgh to win..you noticed that in the commercials with the trophey, four Steelers (Troy Polamalu, Big Ben, Cowher, and Bettis) were shown, and only Hasselback was shown with Seattle.

Now, on to the egregiously terrible calls by the referees:
1) The Darrell Jackson Touchdown--He was called for pushing of, offensive pass interference. Now maybe the call was right in the rule of the law, but certainly not in the spirit. If that is your standard, you could call that on every catch. That robbed Seattle of one score. (-7)

2) Ben Roethlesberger Touchdown--That ball did not cross the plain of the goaline. you can tell that when he fell to the groud, the ball popped out towards his feet, not the other way.

3) Jeremy Stevens catch at the 1 yard line--They called holding on Sean Locklear. All Locklear did was block the defender to the ground. Nothing more, nothing less. It was as bad a call as I have ever seen. Locklear did absolutly nothing, and Seattle, with Alexander, would have scored and would have taken the lead. (-14)

4) On the next play, when Hasselback threw a legitimate interception, he was given a ten yard penalty for a block below the knees. Without that penalty, Pittsburgh would have been buried farther back and who knows what would have happened then? I mean, I played football in high school, and everytime an interception was thrown, your told to go for the legs. The call was a block below the knees. How is Hasselback BLOCKING when he is trying to STOP a touchdown?!!

Anyways, I love football and I know I am going to come off as whinny, but I was mad because Seattle was not given a fair shake. The Stevens holding call and the Jackson push off where some of the worst calls I have ever seen. This wouldn't have made me as mad if it weren't for the terrible calls throughout the entire postseason.

I can't congratulate Pittsburgh because the better team was not the winner because they had help in five men wearing black and white.

Comments

[Virginia Centrist]

On any change of posession (like a return), the defending team can be called for "Block Below the Knees" for going low on an incoming blocker - even if they're shooting in towards the tackler. It's a legit call - it's called a "block" because the point of the manuever is to "block the blocker" and take him out, freeing up tacklers to reach the runner. The reason why it's illegal is because blockers are in prone positions and not prepared to take on people who are diving in towards their legs.

This was a borderline close call. Hassleback narrowly touched the oncoming blocker on his way towards hitting the defender returning the interception.

[GOPHokie]

If I remember correctly, what happened was Hasselbeck drove for the returner, but ended up only hitting (blocking) the Steelers player running w/ the returner. Hasselbeck's intention wasnt to "block the blocker" but thats what ended up happening.
Probably should have been a no call, but it was legitimate none the less.