The 12th man should be asking a simple question to the NFL tonight: why did we send our team to Detroit when it was obvious that no one – outside of the Pacific Northwest – wanted them there?
To the point where whenever a blue jersey was near an end zone that a flag was quickly thrown? Sure a good number of the yards lost to penalties were the fault of the ‘hawks, but not all of them. Like in the first quarter that touchdown that wasn’t a touchdown? Pass interference caused by… a ‘hawk standing there? The Steelers six points that were granted because a ball got close enough to an end zone, without it ever entering? The holding call that left the ‘hawks with the ball at 1st and 20th, rather than 1st and goal – the one that both Michaels and Madden both said “Uh, I don’t think that was holding,” just before it lead to a sack and a turnover?
The ‘hawks pwn3d the Steelers in all stats, yet are being turned away without a Super Bowl ring. They deserved better from the NFL and from the rest of the US. The Steelers can bite me. The Penguins can bite me. The Pirates can bite me. If I cared about the NBA, the 76’ers could bite me too, but they’re beneath notice.
Simply. Ridiculous.
Tomorrow I’ll hunt down a 12th man jersey and wear it with pride: our boys done good, no matter what the scoreboard said.
The pass interference wasn’t from a Seahawk just standing there: he pushed off right in front of the referee. He didn’t knock the defender down, but he did use the push to gain separation. That’s a classic example of offensive pass interference. I wish it were called more often. And on the Roethlisberger touchdown: it was ruled a touchdown on the field and there was no conclusive evidence on the tape to overturn the ruling on the field. That’s the way replay works. When I was watching the replays, in fact, it looked to me like the ball crossed the plane of the end zone in the split second before the defender hit him.
Stats don’t matter, points do. Neither team played well. In fact, both teams played poorly, but the Steelers got more big plays. What about the kicker missing two field goals? Or Jerramy Stevens dropping those passes? Or the bad clock management at the end of the half and the end of the game? Seattle had their own responsibility for the loss.
I admit both teams coulda played better: it’s right there in the post… the Seahawks made more than their own fair share of errors: dropped balls, being out of bounds to catch passes, a whole shitload of valid holding calls… none of which helps the Steelers much – they just didn’t help the ‘hawks any.
The Seahawks dominated the Steelers the majority of the game and I agree, it’s the scoreboard that matters. There should have been another 7 on that board: the push off in the end zone was just as subjective as the Steelers “over the line” touchdown. The receiver was already leaning away from the defender and the defender’s motion didn’t MOVE after his arm was out there… it’s not like he shoved him. It was contact – nothing more. In face mask calls, yeah that matters – first time I’ve ever seen it applied to pass interference. And I know the Steeler’s first TD was close. And not ever conclusive yet while one of the line ref’s signalled a TD, another was spotting the ball on the 1″ line. Obviously it was close – the replay showed the helmet go over – I didn’t see a ball go over. But fine. Then there’s the holding call that no one thought was holding. And the 15 yard penalty for the “below the belt” blocking…
Sorry – the ‘hawks coulda stayed home and got the same results… and probably made most of Detroit happy in the process. Pftftft.
The law of averages caught up with the Seahawks, and it is clear that their coaches were not paying attention to the officiating early on. A lot of bad calls went against the Steelers in the prior playoff games (including a public announcement of the mistake in the Indy game), and the calls were bound to go in the Steelers favor eventually. The Steelers coaches apparently realized early on that the officiating was going to be tough (including two false starts against them right in the beginning of the game), so they kept the players from taking chances. The Steelers know how to adjust to the style of officiating, and the Seahawks don’t. You don’t push off right in front of an official–it’s like speeding up when you see a state trooper on the highway. And remember, the Steelers got called for an offensive pass interference as well. How many times does that call get made twice in one game? Not too often. I guess there are a lot more whiny Seahawks fans out there than the media led us to believe prior to the game.
what does 12th man stand for?
12th man = the fans. Sorta like the 6th man in basketball, where there’s 5 players on the court at a time.