We posted a couple times earlier this season that the officiating in the National Football League has gotten pathetic.
That has been magnified here during the second half of the Super Bowl.
On the first Arizona drive of the second half, Kurt Warner was pressured on third down. The ball came out of his hand but his arm was clearly coming forward. The refs, during a conference, however, decided to call it a fumble instead, requiring Arizona to burn a challenge to get the correct call.
Instant replay can be a fantastic tool for officials, but not if they use it as a crutch – too often, refs are out of position or they question their calls. So they take the cop-out and make the challengeable call, even when there is little doubt to most observers that it’s the wrong call.
Then, later in the third quarter, Darnell Dockett was flagged for roughing the passer no a play in which Ben Roethlisberger had just barely gotten his pass away.
Later on the same drive safety Adrian Wilson was flagged for running over Steelers holder Mitch Berger on a field goal attempt – Wilson was off balance and couldn’t stop and, in the opinion of Zoneblitz, he didn’t hit Berger nearly hard enough to warrant a personal foul call. That was the third personal foul on that drive – two of the three were extremely questionable.
Finally, on a fourth quarter pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Hines Ward, Rod Hood stuck with the receiver and tore the ball out of his arms from behind before Ward could come down with the catch.
On several replays I failed not only to see a hold but also any premature contact that should have resulted in a penalty. But the refs called holding and the Steelers got another first down via penalty.
This is the Super Bowl. These officials are graded during the season and the crew with the best ratings supposedly get to call the big game. If this is the best crew the league has had I rest my case. There has been and there remains a major officiating problem in the league and it is harming the integrity of the game.
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When you play the Steelers you need to not only beat them, you need to beat the officials. When I saw TerryM officiating, I knew it was over.
Arizona was forced to use two challenges to overturn garbage calls. Ben was not close to the end zone and they call a touchdown!
Garbage personal foul penalties as well.
The officiating needs an overhaul. Yesterday’s game was proof of that.
Seems to me the officials did their best to see that Pittsburgh won.
Same s*** different year – as I recall I was severely disappointed with the officiating the last time the Steelers won also. Wasn’t there some questionable calls back in the late ’70s against the Cowboys that led to their loss in the Superbowl – From what I remember about that one even the Commissioner admitted the call was wrong.
How about the blatant holding on the Harrison pick and return for “TD”?! That “TD” should have been called back on holding. Watch ESPN and unless you’re blind you can’t miss the holding, especially the hold they put on Warner when he comes in for the tackle. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
funny how fast people forget about the personal foul on harrison for a good block. funny how it doesnt matter if your off balance and hit a kicker. still a penalty even if your pushed into him. funnny how hines ward was obviously held, you could see the jersey stretch twice. funny how james harrison was held numerous times without a penalty. also funny how palamalu was held on numerous passes over the middle that went for yards. and funny how roughing the passer clearly states that was a penalty. funny how the last play clearly was a fumble. funny how the other bad calls on arizona were over turned. funny how the steelers owned the game and cardinal fans are upset they wont have a shot for 60 more years. funny how the holding call gave them a safety. funny on ikes personal foul in a game where emotions are running high and you can see you ike instigated it but whoever was on the losing team deffinately threw a shot back. its so funny we have 6 rings and cardinals have none. wow..cry now
Ladies and gentlemen, let’s all give a big welcome to the classy Pittsburgh Steelers fans in attendance!
I saw the jersey grab on Ward–thought both were ticky tack. Yeah, he hit Berger–not the kicker. I honestly don’t know if the rule applies to holders, but I don’t think it should–they aren’t prone. At least it shouldn’t apply when it was clearly not a malicious hit.
I’m sure Harrison was held at times without calls, just like several Cardinals I’m sure–you could call holding on any play, really.
The point on at least one of the two that were overturned is that the Cardinals shouldn’t have had to burn a challenge that early–on the replay, his arm was clearly moving forward, and the refs appear to have called it a fumble because that’s their gut instinct now–call it a fumble rather so it can be reviewed, rather than risk being wrong–and several times this year it appeared that the refs called for the fumble when it should have been clear that it was a forward pass.
Thanks for the comments. Tee Martini, I don’t dispute that there were other calls that were missed against both teams – I commented on three or four of the most blatantly missed calls and yes, they went against the Cardinals.
I think you are delusional if you think Harrison didn’t deserved to be flagged for his play – the block was fine. The aggravated assault post-block was clearly a penalty.
I get less irritated about holding calls than many other flags. But I’m sure you are right – there probably were holding calls missed against both teams. As they say, you can probably call holding on any play if you are looking at the right players.
One point I may not have made clear enough in the post – It’s not like I claimed that the Steelers won the game because of the calls – I picked the Steelers going in to the game and I think the better team won, for several reasons.
I just thought several of the instances I mentioned were blatantly, horribly bad calls – and bad calls in keeping with several bad calls during the season. You’re probably right about most of the other calls you mentioned. Those examples just strengthen my point, which was that the officiating was terrible yesterday and terrible all season…
One last point, I believe you are wrong that it is still a roughing penalty even if the offender is blocked into the holder or the kicker. I’ve seen refs waive off those flags dozens of times over the years.
Thanks for commenting.
The only penalty I saw in error was the roughing the QB when the defender couldn’t slow up and pushed Ben to the ground.
I’ll also mention if it was a regular season game Harrison would of been kicked out of the game for losing his mind temporarily and beating up a defender who was on the ground. Pittsburgh caught a break.
The worst was at the end with the no calls. First, Holmes uses the ball as a prop in his TD celebration. That’s a 15 yard penalty on the Kick off. Than on the last play, they didn’t review the so-called fumble which IMO Warner used enough of the arm and hand to propel the forward to be an incomplete pass. Also on that play Harrison took off his helmet. If they ruled the play correctly with a 15 yard penalty,Warner would of had the ball at around Steeler’s 30yard line with enough time for one more throw presumably to Fitzgerld. Too much of a hurry to get the game over I guess?
All in all up to the very end I thought the Officials called a decent game. The replay worked the way it was suppose to. Unfortunately we all want perfection in football and it’ll probably never happen. :)
The way that rule is written, it probably was a legit roughing the QB call–but that’s my problem with that rule. They might as well put the QB in a skirt, if that’s how they’re going to call the game. Roughing the QB should be defined the same way that Potter Stewart defined obscene pornography–“I know it when I see it.”
I guess it is really frustrating for the Arizona Cardinals to execute a come from behind play with just a few seconds left when you finally admit that it is ‘Against All Odds’.
a) Against the Sticking Defense of the Steelers
b) Against the Short Short ticking seconds.
c) Most of all Against the MVP Zebra Steelers that is the
most powerful Defense. It is a One-sided officiating. The
Best Team did not win!!!
officiating sucks in preseason, regular season, and the playoffs…….
so quit whining…..
how about telling both teams not to make so many bonehead plays before the Super Bowl starts….
tee, thanks for mentioning the Pittsburgh side of things
they will still be whining even if the Steelers got the most calls
hey, at least they got more yards in penalties….
Primrose – So the officiating sucks, and we should be ok with that?
Funny how when you don’t have rooting interest the officiating is so much better. :)
I would of liked to of seen Warner get one more pass but they decided that Warner fumbled. I’ve looked at 100 times and I still don’t know. With that ruling Pittsburgh is the winner and the right team won.
The officiating result are many times better than it was in the 70’s. In 1975 the Baltimore Colt’s won a game over Miami 10-7 because Nat Moore’s foot was called out on a end zone TD catch. Talk about heart break. They showed the play 50 times after the game about how his foot was inbounds. I was sick!! The game was the next to last of the season. Miami won it’s last game. Baltimore won it’s last game and both teams finished 10-4 with Miami missing the playoffs.
That type of play would never be missed today.
if people have that much of a problem with it become a referee.
the worst part about being a referee is that you’re human.
And they’re not even fulltime with that job.
there was a game last season the Lions had the Viking deep at the Metrodome and got called for a pass interference call that was questionable… you knew after that call was made it was a wrap… and you know the rest is history
Tony Parslow, that was a tight race with those two teams and also Buffalo in the mix…. A Miami fumble was negated and that cost Buffalo the game and the season the week after they beat the Cardinals on Thanksgiving…
Primrose – If only it were that easy to become a ref. And you actually raise a great point that I think is part of the problem–these refs should be full time. I can’t believe that important of a part of the game is left to a bunch of guys that have other jobs to go to during the week.
I also think, and it sounds like they’re exploring, ways to have technology help some–I don’t think they should remove the human element, but things like whether or not a ball crossed the line should be easy enough to do with technology that they should.
And I remember the Lions-Vikings call of which you speak. I’m a Vikings fan, and you know what? The Lions got screwed.
I am not a Cardinals fan nor a Steelers fan. I do believe that an undue number of penalties were called against the Cardinals. Games should not be decided by penalties and it is clear that this Superbowl was. However, I think the clear solution is to allow a coach to challenge any call on the field, no matter what. That way the officiating staff has a second chance to get the call right.
“Games should not be decided by penalties and it is clear that this Superbowl was.”
T Utah,
That’s the silliest line I’ve heard in a long time. Lol!!!!
I can’t stop laughing Lol!!! You’re a hoot!! Mehrsee bohkoo. Parlez-vous français? Or just very liberal?
How many red flags does a coach get? Can’t wait have the game stopped even more. I bet you really hate the NBA game with refs making all of those calls? :)
Like it or not the Cardinals deserved most of those penalties. They showed their inexperience and nerves early in a huge game. Gandy did hold Harrison 3 times. And Wilson did run over the defenseless holder. And there were offside calls. It’s an important part of the game. Penalties separate the disciplined teams who win from the bad teams. Might of even had something to do with the Cardinals only winning 9 games during the regular season. :)
I seriously doubt any of the Cardinals think they lost the game because of the Refs. It’s over.
Same number of challenges. Just allow coaches to challenge any call on the field. What rules are they using to determine what can be challenged? Why can they challenge a fumble but not a pass interference? It seems so random. Your reaction makes it obvious that you’re a Steelers fan. All Steelers fans lash out the same way instead of having some level of objectiveness to even consider the thought that maybe their team was handed some small advantage. Indeed it is over, but I bet you will see some rule changes next year based on what happened in that game.
Tony P. – You said it perfectly–“the Cardinals deserved most of those penalties.” Emphasis on most?
I don’t think the game was necessarily decided by the refs. But I do think that the refs were a lot more influential than they should have been.
I think that the final fumble should have been reviewed more formally (as has been in multiple other games in recent times–stop the game for a minute, do a review, announce the findings–not just review it in 10 seconds, decide they were right, and continue the game).
I also think the Cardinals shouldn’t have had to use a challenge on the fumble/incomplete pass–I think the refs called it a fumble so it could be reviewed, when I think they should have seen it was a forward pass. Making both options reviewable would be best.
I also think they blew not calling Holmes for unsportsman’s like conduct on the TD celebration. I hate the rule, but it should be called consistently, and he clearly used the ball as a prop.
Lol!!!!!! A Steelers fan! T-Utah, you lose again. I didn’t care when the came started but towards the end I was rooting for the underdog Cardinals. I was really happy when they took the lead. I’d much rather see Warner win over Big Ben. Just because I’m not crying over a couple bad no calls I’m not a Steeler fan. Maybe you’re a closet Cardinal fan?? Lol!!
I’ve been a Dolphin fan my whole life. Have you read any of my comments previously on this site. I hate the Cowboys and Tery Bradshaw. Tony can tell you that. And Tony, I complained about everything at the end of the game that you just re-stated. It was bad. The head of Refs acknowleged it too. How much more can be said? Like I said if the Cardinals aren’t complaing why do we? They lost the Super Bowl and probably won’t get another shot at it.
I like NFL football and all its warts. Sure it can be maddening if you let it be. The NFL is good at working with rules in a effort to make the game better unlike other games.
College football has more problems IMO. As a 40 year Austin resident and a life long Texas Longhorn fan this last year was the worst :(