There was certainly something wrong with Super Bowl XL. The least penalized team in the league s hit for 7 penalties for 70 yards? Pittsburgh had 3 penalties, 2 were procedure penalties which had to be called, all were 5 yard penalties and NONE for offensive holding?
Even the "push-off" in the end-zone on DJack.. REALLY? ANYONE who watched that play in its entirity could see the there was contact, from the DB downfield. So Jackson extends his arms, catches a TD pass, then the DB has a fit and a flag was thrown. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!?!?!?! That really happened...
The Roethlisraper TD... OK, everyone wants to argue the whether the plane was crossed, but I choose to refer to the Tackle on Leroy Hill by Faneca. As Big Boner starts his run, Hill is poised to meet him on around the 7, maybe the 5 at best. Faneca literally tackles him.. OK, so we aren't going to be calling holding this game, fine.. But is that how it works out?
The Holding call... We had two Steeler fans in my living room watching that game, before Hasselbeck even threw the ball to Stevens (who was down on the 1 yard line) even THEY saw the offsides on Haggans. We all did. Not only did the officials NOT call it, but they called holding on the player blocking him!! We all know the deal, they can call holding on every play right? That wasn't holding. We know that, but the damage was done. That single call was the game, right there. It led to the following INT, which led to a 15 yard penalty, which put the Steelers in perfect position to throw the gadget bomb. It didn't matter, I knew that no matter what the Hawks did, if it threatened the game, it was going to be turned.
Dirty as it gets... Why? I choose to think that rather than the story of Bettis, the Vegas line or just plain Steeler franchise love to keep the national bandwagon happy, that it was a combination of those things and one fact. Regardless if the game was fixed or not, whether it was perfectly called and the Seahawks just lost, IF the Seahawks win that game, there is an amazing amount of money to be lost (or just not obtained) for the League. That is fact that cannot be argued. Did it mean it was fixed? We will never know, but it is true in any case. There are those that claim the Hawks could have won that game if they did XXXX better or made more plays. I disagree, the ONLY way that the Hawks win that game is if they have 7 turnovers for scores. Event then I wonder if the plays would get called back.
I don't care.. That time is done, it was obvious and it sucks. This team is different, the 2005 team was the pinnacle of the Holmy era Seahawks, the current team is just getting started and now the NFL has a darling in Seattle with RW. No stopping them now.
