Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Pittsburgh Steelers 21, Seattle Seahawks 10
Not quite the blowout we were expecting, but the Steelers are the champs nonetheless. Some thoughts:
• Here's the main thought. The Seahawks and their fans and whoever else can complain all they want about the officiating, but the fact remains, Seattle made some errors themselves, a couple mental, a couple execution-wise, and definitely a couple coaching-wise.
Yes, the illegal-block call on Matt Hasselbeck as he made a tackle was pretty sick. But the pass-interefence call that wiped out a first-quarter touchdown? Hey, Darrell Jackson pushed off, and pushing off constitutes interference, no matter whether the man being pushed falls down or not. The holding call that nullified a play that would have brought Seattle to the Steeler 1-yard-line? What's the problem? There was a hold there. And folks, please: The ball broke the plane. Roethlisberger scored a touchdown. End of drive, seven points Pittsburgh.
• On the execution side of things (and this phrasing has led us to recall John McKay's classic comment when someone asked him about his Tampa Bay Buccaneer team's execution: "I'm for it."): Jerramy Stevens dropped a couple of passes. And one of the bad calls made by the refs in this game was on one of those drops, and the Seahawks might have even benefitted, if only slightly. Stevens caught the ball, put two feet down, and turned to run, whereupon he fumbled the ball. The ball rolled deep into the Steeler red zone and would have easily been recovered by a Steeler player if the whistle had not been blown, stopping the play. Were a Steeler to have recovered the ball, he might have been able to return the ball beyond the 20. As it turns out, Seattle's next play was a punt that went into the end zone (an error execution-wise, and not the only one Tom Rouen had on the day) for a touchback.
• And probably most significantly of all, Mike Holmgren had his team punt instead of going for it on at least one occasion where a punt was totally unnecessary and detrimental, and once where he could have made a statement saying We are going to be aggressive. With fewer than seven minutes remaining in the game and Seattle down 11 points, Holmhgren ordered a punt from near midfield. What????? You need to go for the first and keep the ball, not let Pittsburgh get it and run time off the clock. Time is running out! Also, the decision to punt on fourth-and-one at the Seattle 27 in the first quarter had us thinking, why not go for it and make a statement here? Be aggressive! Put some psychological worry-warting into the minds of the Steel Curtain defense. But no, they took the safe route and punted it away. Blah.
• Here's the main thought. The Seahawks and their fans and whoever else can complain all they want about the officiating, but the fact remains, Seattle made some errors themselves, a couple mental, a couple execution-wise, and definitely a couple coaching-wise.
Yes, the illegal-block call on Matt Hasselbeck as he made a tackle was pretty sick. But the pass-interefence call that wiped out a first-quarter touchdown? Hey, Darrell Jackson pushed off, and pushing off constitutes interference, no matter whether the man being pushed falls down or not. The holding call that nullified a play that would have brought Seattle to the Steeler 1-yard-line? What's the problem? There was a hold there. And folks, please: The ball broke the plane. Roethlisberger scored a touchdown. End of drive, seven points Pittsburgh.
• On the execution side of things (and this phrasing has led us to recall John McKay's classic comment when someone asked him about his Tampa Bay Buccaneer team's execution: "I'm for it."): Jerramy Stevens dropped a couple of passes. And one of the bad calls made by the refs in this game was on one of those drops, and the Seahawks might have even benefitted, if only slightly. Stevens caught the ball, put two feet down, and turned to run, whereupon he fumbled the ball. The ball rolled deep into the Steeler red zone and would have easily been recovered by a Steeler player if the whistle had not been blown, stopping the play. Were a Steeler to have recovered the ball, he might have been able to return the ball beyond the 20. As it turns out, Seattle's next play was a punt that went into the end zone (an error execution-wise, and not the only one Tom Rouen had on the day) for a touchback.
• And probably most significantly of all, Mike Holmgren had his team punt instead of going for it on at least one occasion where a punt was totally unnecessary and detrimental, and once where he could have made a statement saying We are going to be aggressive. With fewer than seven minutes remaining in the game and Seattle down 11 points, Holmhgren ordered a punt from near midfield. What????? You need to go for the first and keep the ball, not let Pittsburgh get it and run time off the clock. Time is running out! Also, the decision to punt on fourth-and-one at the Seattle 27 in the first quarter had us thinking, why not go for it and make a statement here? Be aggressive! Put some psychological worry-warting into the minds of the Steel Curtain defense. But no, they took the safe route and punted it away. Blah.
