Posted By:
Eric EichelkrautI'm a life long Steelers fan born and raised outside Chicago..and I was very pleased that Pitt won their 5th Superbowl. Concerning the game, I was less than pleased with the Steelers play. I watch about 75% of the Steelers regular season games, and every minute of their playoff run. My wife and I actually attended our first Steelers game down in Indy during the second week of the playoffs..a game where I had about 4 heart attacks! ; ) Like all other sports, football will always have highly controversial calls and games. When our teams are affected, it's easy to blame the refs, or spout off that "the fix is in". I've never done either, but then again, I'm a life long athlete who understands that my teammates and I ALONE determine whether we win or lose.
At the Pitt/Indy playoff game that we attended, I think most remember some of the terrible calls the officials made. The overturned Polamalu interception late in the game was the worst call I've ever seen a ref make, especially since it was reviewed. It turned the tide of the game, but the best team won. This wasn't the first time a call has really hurt, and it won't be the last. The list goes on and on for bad calls, and every team has an equal footing on the history of bad calls that have hurt them. But to make excuses that bad calls determined the outcome of a game is rediculous. No one who plays sports believes that crap, a team always decides it's outcome. Seattle may have gotten the short end of the stick on a call or two, but they also got away with a good 3-4 holding penalties that extended scoring drives. I do agree that the offensive interference call that pulled back the Seattle touchdown early in the game was wrong. On the same token, I think the ref had a great look at the ball in Ben's hands durin the rushing TD. Did he get in?..I don't know for sure, and I'm not sure the ref saw it inconclusively either, but the play was a "within in inch or two" call, and a tough call to make. Even if Ben didn't get in that play, it's still the Steelers ball..and I believe they probably go for 7 since the ball is placed on the 1 to 2 inch mark.
I keep reading here that the Seahawks outplayed the Steelers in every facet of the game. I'll go on the recond right now as saying that this was the worst played game the Steelers had all season long. The Seahawks had something to do with that, and simple execution had alot to do with that. I've seen Ben in nearly every Pitt game he's played, and he looked nervous as hell on the field, all game long. I think Seattle did a great job of exploiting the short pass game against the Steelers secondary. Hasselback easily outplayed Ben. And the Seattle offense was more consistent throughout the game. But big plays win big games, and between Willy's 75 yd run and the trick play TD to Hines..no, I'm sorry, Seattle did not outplay the Steelers. Unless you want to lie to yourself and believe that those two plays didn't happen. A few people above have put it well, the scoreboard dictates who's winning, not the stat sheet. A defense can give up tons of yardage, but not let the other team score. On the same token, an offense might only have 3-4 great possessions a game, and score 21 points. Pitt's D is infamous for letting an opponent march down field freely, only to snuff them out when they get in or near the red zone. Pitt's D did this routinely Sunday night. Their explosive offensive plays also clearly showed major flaws in the Seattle D.
I give Seattle a lot of credit, they played the Steelers to the hilt. Despite the 11 point win, it felt like a narrow victory to me. I'm not going to sit here and gloat about the Steelers, I don't do that. I would further hope that other fans don't gloat either, or say that the only reason the Steelers won was because the refs made it that way. Cheers,
E.