Two Weeks Later - It Still Sucks

Well, it's been over two weeks since Super Bowl XL. I still feel somewhat robbed and somewhat bitter. I still feel like Seattle was by far the better team on the field that day. And I still think that if the referees hadn't made several questionable calls that had a big impact on the game, the Seahawks would be World Champions right now…

I get a minor sense of satisfaction out of the fact that everybody was talking about the officiating after the game. Even a week later at the Pro Bowl, the ESPN crew was talking about it. Suzy Kolber asked Joey Porter and Matt Hasselbeck about it. For the record, Hasselbeck said, "Well, that's the way it goes sometimes. We can't make excuses. We had our chances to win that game and didn't get it done." Porter said something like, "Well, the NFL didn't issue no apologies, so I guess the officiating was just fine." Of course the NFL isn't going to admit they botched the game, you moron. Sure, they can issue apologies about games when the play does not effect the outcome. But no way, no how, do they admit that they made mistakes in the biggest game of the year. Mistakes that could (and did) effect the outcome. If the Colts win that game against the Steelers, do you think the NFL still apologizes for that Polamulu interception being overturned? No way in hell. But I digress.) Steelers fans and the Steelers themselves have to know in the back of their minds that they caught some breaks. They know that the officiating was bad. How can they not know? It's been all over the media. And that, at least makes me feel a little better - knowing the Steelers and their fans (and the overexposed Jerome Bettis) cannot truly enjoy their Super Bowl Championship because there's that underlying hint that it was tainted.

Did you know that Seattle won three major stat categories in the game? Turnovers, time of possession, and total yardage. No team in Super Bowl history has ever won all three of those stats and lost the game. Seattle outplayed the Steelers from start to end, and it was only those 2 big plays and the questionable officiating that prevented them from winning the game.

I'll probably always feel that way. Yes, they gave up the big plays. Something that had hurt them in past seasons, but something they had improved against vastly this year. The Willie Parker run no doubt had a hold in there somewhere that the refs overlooked. And that trick play pass by Randel El was inexcusably poorly defended. Oddly enough, nobody really talked about the injuries to the Seattle defense after the game, and I think those two big plays were a result of that.

Marques Manuel, the player who stepped in to start when Ken Hamlin was lost for the year, got hurt. Manuel has played very well all season. Enter…. Some guy named Etric Pruitt… Our 3rd string safety and full-time special teams player. Oh, and a rookie. Yikes. He totally bit hook, line, and sinker on the Randel El pass.. He took about 10 steps forward before realizing Ward had run right past him. It was ugly. I'm not sure if Pruitt was in yet or not on the Parker run, but I'm going to guess he was. Where the hell was the safety help on that play?

A bit has been made about the poor clock management at the end of each half by Hasselbeck/Holmgren. This didn't really bother me that much. You may remember at the end of the first half, as Hasselbeck led the team down the field effectively during the two minute drill, they had the ball just inside Steelers territory with the clock ticking. Seattle lined up, and all of the sudden, Hasselbeck started calling an audible.. Tick tick tick tick tick… A good 5-7 seconds ticked away while he pointed and yelled, and finally a timeout was called. "Why the hell did they wait so long to call a timeout?!?!" I'm thinking. But it turns out it was the Steelers who called the timeout. After the game, one of the more intelligent Steelers defenders (ie, not Porter.. I think it was Farrior, or maybe even Polamalu) said that Hasselbeck was audibling to a run, and that Pittsburgh had like nobody in the box cause they were expecting pass. Basically, they realized that if they didn't call timeout, it'd be a run up the middle for a huge gain. A gutsy call by Hasselbeck, and it would have been very interesting to see what happened if he got the play off. But he didn't. They didn't get much more yardage, and missed a long field goal.

Speaking of missed field goals… Josh Brown missed two for the Seahawks, 6 huge points. Yes, they were long. But it's a frickin dome. And it's the frickin Super Bowl. Gotta hit those, Josh.

The clock mismanagement at the end of the game didn't matter much either. Seattle was down 11, it would have taken a miracle to get a TD, 2-point conversion, onsides kick, and field goal in under a minute. Could they have done a better job? Of course. Could they have won the game at that point? Highly unlikely. Could they have covered? Maybe.

At the fan rally to welcome the Seahawks back to Seattle a few days later, Holmgren said something like, "I knew the Steelers would be a hard team to beat. I didn't realize we'd also be playing against the team in stripes." The crowd, many of whom held signs to the effect of "Referees 21, Seahawks 10", went wild. Should Holmgren have said that? Probably not. Do I blame him or hold it against him? Not at all. If I feel robbed, imagine how he feels. Down there on the sideline, chewing the ears off the referees, yet watching call and call again go against your team. Now, will the NFL fine him? Good question. In my opinion, they should not. How could they fine him, when they did not fine Joey Porter? And Joey Porter's comments were a lot more "conspiracy theory" and accusing than the one-liner Holmgren unleashed before a crowd that was eating it up. Porter accused the league of trying to steal the game from the Steelers and give it to the Colts, because everybody wanted the Colts to win. Well, Joey, guess what - the shoe was on the other foot in the Super Bowl. Everybody wanted the Steelers to win this time. And the officiating performance seemed to actually support your claims of conspiracies. What do you have to say about that now, big mouth?

(By the way, Porter was pretty much invisible all game, as was Polamalu. So much for all Porter's smack talk bringing him to a higher level of play. Give me a break.)

So, who do I blame for the loss? In order:

1) The Referees - At least 5 awful calls, all of which came at huge moments and were monumental momentum breakers for Seattle.
2) Jerramy Stevens - usually sure-handed, he was poised and in position to have a huge game to shut Porter the hell up. Sadly, he dropped several passes at key moments.
3) Etric Pruitt - the 3rd string rookie safety was not ready for prime time.
4) Josh Brown - can't miss two field goals in the Super Bowl, pal.
5) Mike Holmgren - bad clock management at the end of both halves, and he probably should have run the ball a bit more. (Hasselbeck threw the ball almost 50 times.)

Of course, since the Super Bowl, there have been plenty of articles coming out that explain how something like the previous 5 Super Bowl losers haven't even made the playoffs the following year. How the "Super Bowl Loss Hangover" is difficult to overcome. How there's so many factors to think about during a season, it's incredibly difficult to get to the Super Bowl two years in a row.

Whatever. We'll see what happens. But there's no reason, absolutely no reason, that this team cannot be the best in the NFC for the next 3-5 years. They've been knocking on the door for 3 years now, and they finally took the huge step this year. (Probably sooner than most people expected… No playoff wins in 20+ years to NFC Champs? That's a nice step forward.)

Free agency looms, and there are big questions about whether Shaun Alexander and Steve Hutchinson will be back. (Hutchinson will likely be franchise tagged… Alexander has an agreement that he won't be tagged this year, so he could walk… More on that later…) Even without Alexander, this is one of the best offensive lines in the league. And the defense is young, very young, and will only get better. Not to mention there's still a chance to fill some holes in the draft and free agency.

So maybe it's a bit too soon to be optimistic… Maybe after so many years of disappointment and disgust, I'm letting myself get a bit carried away by this high of such a successful season… But until I see differently, I have faith that this team will be a good team for a few years in a row. I just hope we get another shot at the Super Bowl, because losing the way we lost is a tough pill to swallow.