SQJ Taipei

These numbers tell the story in the Super Bowl… we’ll get to them in a minute.

I did get to watch the game… but I had to go to a watch site because we cut the cable here a couple years ago. Good game? Not really… I have seen LOTS of games better than this one… including some on friday nights on high school fields. But anytime your team wins… it is, in a sense, a good game. I was very fortunate to have my 2 favorite teams playing in this game. Lately… I haven’t been a big fan of either of the teams in the big game… but this time… I got #1 and #2 in. I’m a huge Steeler (Stiller) fan… but Seattle fans deserve a championship in something… soon. Holmgren is a good guy and a great coach and Hasselbeck is a great QB and Alexander is tough… they’ll be back.

I live a world away from where these games are played… but the internet brings the highlights right to my computer (and from there to my TV) and in fact I can download entire games if I desire… I can read all the commentary and opinion I have time for. And I’m really surprised there is so much talk about the refs giving the game to the Steelers. When Joey Porter (Steelers LB) said the refs wanted Indy to win a few weeks ago… that was stupid and wrong. It is just as stupid and wrong to say there is some kind of conspiracy to give the SB to the Steelers… why? Because their 2nd string running back is from Detroit? (Did anyone else get tired of hearing about that, btw?)

In each football game… there are calls that *could* go either way. And what that means is that you can’t really nitpick when your team doesn’t get a call. There are some games where certain calls are made that seem to have no basis in reality… Let’s look at the disputed calls in the SB and see what category these fall into.

Engram’s offensive pass interference penalty in the 1st quarter - This is clearly a call that could have gone either way… flag or no flag. Often it isn’t a flag. I can’t speak for the officials, but when you look at the replay (as I have several times) it is obvious that Engram’s push caused the DB’s center of gravity to shift backwards (so much that he took a step back) and he had no chance to make a play on the ball. Engram had a step on him anyway… it is too bad Engram pushed… but it isn’t a bad call at all.

Ben Roethlisberger’s TD in the 2nd quarter - Simply applying the rules works here. If the ball crosses the FRONT of the goal line… it is a TD. It doesn’t matter where the ball is when the player’s knee touches the ground… and the back line of the goal line doesn’t matter. And the replays show that the ball crossed that plane. This is a total non-issue. The people where I was watching didn’t dispute that the ball crossed the front of the line… but they thought the entire ball had to get over the back of the line. As I said… just knowing the rules makes this a non-issue. Big Ben didn’t get the TD because he stretched the ball over the goal line after he was down… he got the TD because the tip of the ball was over the front of the line when Lewis (Seattle LB) hit him. Madden is a pretty fair guy and he explained that situation well and didn’t disagree with the call.

The holding call on Locklear in the 4th quarter - Actually… I’d like to look at this more before I comment… I’ve got the 2nd half downloading now, but I won’t get to watch it for a while. As much as Seattle was holding (common in the NFL nowdays) I won’t be surprised to see a hold by Locklear…. but who knows. I do know that Seattle’s next 3 plays weren’t very impressive… a sack… a 7 yard rush… and an INT. Even if this is a bad call… its the only one of the 3 and sometimes that is how it goes. Regrettable, but true.

BACK TO THE NUMBERS

• 11 - points scored by an offense which led the league by scoring an average of 28.2 points per game. They could have been below their average and still won the game as Pittsburgh only scored 21.
• 8 - passes broken up by Steelers defenders
• 7 - penalties by Seattle (for 70 yards)
• 5 - times Seattle converted 3rd downs out of 17 attempts (Steelers were 8-15)
• 4 - times the Seattle punter kicked the ball into the end zone for a touchback. He should be fired.
• 3 - Sacks by the Steelers
• 2 - missed FG’s by Seattle kicker (and former Nebraska Cornhusker) Josh Brown. These were long kicks and if the Seattle offense wouldn’t have been so entirely inept at the end of the 1st half… his kick then would have been much shorter or would have been an extra point instead.
• 0 - people who tackled Willie Parker on his Super Bowl record 75-yard TD run. That is also the number of people who touched him after he crossed the 50 yard line.

A couple final comments…..
We got a different set of announcers than Michaels/Madden like in the USA. We got Dick Stockton and Moose Johnson. I thought all along they did a great job and after watching the replay of the game with the call by Michaels… I think we International viewers got a much better deal. Al…. I’ll never forget “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!” and I love you for that… but it’s time to go do some fishing. I guess ABC is done with football now and that is fine.

This concludes my college and pro football blog posts for this season. My college team (Nebraska) finished very well and next season is looking good. My pro team (Stillers) finished with the greatest run through the NFL playoffs of any team in history… beating the #1, #2, and #3 seeds in their own league and then beating #1 from the other league in the Super Bowl. Nice.

EDIT: I said that Seattle’s punter should be fired. After checking his stats… he probably shouldn’t be fired. He’s actually a pretty good punter and just had a bad night… like most of the Seahawks players. He only punted 61 times last season because the Seahawks offense was so good. He put 20 of those inside the 20 and only 7 punts were for touchbacks. He had 4 touchbacks in this single game. It was an anomaly and I think he should keep his job. But he’s still part of the reason why Seattle lost. Certainly a much bigger part than anything the refs did.