Thoughts on the Officiating

The prevailing Super Bowl theme today from many fans, and many writers such as Michael Smith and Skip Bayless of ESPN, Kevin Hench from FOXSports, many others, and even an Online Petition, is that the refs sucked, the Seahawks got screwed, and the refs were favoring Pittsburgh.

As I mentioned yesterday, I disagree with these sentiments. I touched on it yesterday, but I figured all my ref-related thoughts would get their own column.

Let's start with the Offensive Pass Interference call on Darrell Jackson. Most of the complaint seems to be that he didn't touch him, and that it didn't have an impact. I disagree, and quite honestly, I thought it was an obvious pass interference. According to the NFL Rulebook, one of the actions that constitute Offensive Pass Interference is, "Initiating contact with a defender by shoving or pushing off thus creating a separation in an attempt to catch a pass." In my mind, Jackson obviously pushed off and created separation (he even extended his arm) which got him open for the TD... and this all happened directly in front of the referee. I really don't see how this could not have been called Pass Interference.

The Roethlisberger TD was a lot closer in my mind. Watching the replays, I think he might have gotten in, but that there's no way to tell for sure. The replay was just not conclusive enough either way. I think the ref had to stick with whatever call was made on the field, which happened to be a TD. Now, if you want to argue that the ref was late with the TD call, well, I'd listen to that, because he was.

One thing I don't see too many people mentioning is the Stevens drop/fumble. I can't say for sure, but that one looked awfully close to a fumble to me.

The holding call on Locklear is one I'm kind of up in the air about. He seemed to hook him around the neck and eventually brought him to the ground. In my mind, it was a holding, but it's one that often is not called by the refs. Does that make it a bad call? Not necessarily. I think, like Roethlisberger's TD, it was a close call that went against Seattle.

The only call I think was undoubtedly missed was the Hasselbeck block/tackle and whatever penalty they called. I really don't know what the refs really saw there. That was a really bad call, though I don't think it had a huge difference.

Oh yeah, forgot about the refs giving Roethlisberger the timeout before the third down play. He obviously called it after the play clock had hit zero.

All in all, I don't think it was as awful of a job as most people do. I think the refs definitely missed a couple plays (Hasselbeck's penalty, TO to Big Ben), but other than that, I think it was more just that some close calls went Pittsburgh's way. That's football. I don't think the refs cost Seattle this game, I think they lost ir for themselves, by allowing some big plays, awful clock management, dropped passes, etc. They have no one but themselves to blame.