Super Bowl Pool II

[HedCold]

roethlisberger said on letterman he didn't think he got in

[Hoon]

I just heard that.
These refs should be fined.

[Keyser Soze]

i agree. they should have ruled him not breaking the plane and if they wanted to dispute it, go ahead and try to find clear evidence he got in, which you cannot. either way, it was more than just that play that led to them losing, it was a total of 4 bad calls that led to a team that played poorly to win by a technicality.

[fbd]

during the cointoss, i asked my roommate why ed hocculi wasnt the ref for this game. we were both wondering that all game long

[Keyser Soze]

yes!! yes!!! i love ed hock, and his ginormous pythons!!!

[fbd]

he would never misconstrue a tackle for an "illegal block below the knees" and if he did see them as the same, he'd be sure to explain the call for about 30 seconds. then, he'd use his massive arms to signal first down and beat up joey porter

[Bloody Anus]

I've never blamed any loss, in any sport, 100% on the officials, until now. And it has nothing to do with me having Seattle +4.5. Actually it probably does, but still..

-Jackson's pass interference was a joke
-Roethlisberger was not even close to being in. His shoulder barely crossed the plane, but the ball never did. Then ONCE HE WAS DOWN, he lunged in. But what convinces me more than anything that some kind of a fix was in is the review of this play. Ordinarily after a review like that, the official will provide some kind of explanation as to what he saw on the replay that influenced the decision. All that was said on this was "the ruling on the field stands", and nothing else. Very fishy.
-The Jackson catch at the 1 where he was ruled out of bounds. This didn't get a lot of replays, but it looked to me like he had one foot in, then the other one hit the pylon, which should have been called a TD. A close play, but Holmgren should have at least challenged the call, if only to hear "the ruling on the field stands" again. It was too big a play not to.

Pittsburgh got outplayed in virtually every facet of the game. The only thing they did better than Seattle was punt. Too many Rouen touchbacks in the first half. Other than that, Seattle was clearly the better team.

[fbd]

the jackson out of bounds play was called right. they showed a good replay of it, he only got one foot down, didnt drag, and didnt hit the pylon

[HedCold]

yea he was obviously out of bounds. it was just like a play on the sidelines in Madden when they don't even attempt to try to keep their feet in

[The Sleeper]

it's also not a touchdown even if his foot hits the pylon since it went out of bounds afterwards. you have to establish posession before the pylon comes into play. john clayton was wrong about that point. to me, the holding penalty and the hasselbeck takedown were the 2 indisputably bad calls.

[fbd]

you thought the ben touchdown was good?

[HedCold]

i know its not completely fair to say, but you really don't think they push the ball in another inch on the next play? they were definitly going to go for it

[The Sleeper]

the ball crossed the plane. even if it didn't, not enough evidence to overrule it. even if they overruled it, 99.9999% they make it on 4th down. complaining about that play is the ultimate in nitpicking

[Bloody Anus]

Yeah, because Jerome Bettis fumbling on the goal line is completely unheard of.

Likely, no. But anything can happen on one play. Cincinnati went 4-and-out from the 3 in Super Bowl XVI and ended up being the difference in the game. How many people automatically put 6 points on the board when it was 1st down?

Goal line stops like this are really not all that rare. Of course, there's a huge probability a team can gain one inch, but there's also a decent enough chance that the defense gets a good push and comes up with a stop.

[Tequila]

Who won?

[Keyser Soze]

the bears

[Tequila]

Who did they beat?

[Keyser Soze]

a dead horse