Some points for the Seahawks fans in your life that want to revisit 2005 now that they’ve won a championship:
Mike Holmgren very effectively hid his own poor performance by complaining about officiating. Hawks fans followed suit and in fact, his gripes just added fuel to the fire. Here’s the thing though,…. Let’s talk about what was not affected by the officiating.
· The Seahawks had 5 clear drops in that game (2 more were questionable, but hit receivers’ hands) (Hasslebeck threw 49 times in that game and only completed 26)
· They missed two kicks
· They mismanaged the clock
· Hasselbeck threw an untimely pick
· They allowed the longest run from scrimmage in SB history after Bernard went out injured and Michael Boulware whiffed on his tackle attempt at Willie Parker.
· And, they gave Roethlisberger 11 seconds to convert a 3rd and 28 on the same drive that he scored the disputed TD on.
· As well, I’m fairly certain that everyone from the guys calling the game to the fans in the stands knew the Steelers liked to run trick plays on 2nd and short from beyond midfield. The Seahawks apparently didn’t put that in the scouting report they handed out in defensive meetings and Hines Ward high stepped it into the end zone after Randle El threw a decent, not even great, pass to a wide open Hines.
The officiating didn’t cause any of that.
If they could acknowledge that the team did not play well, I might have some empathy for the disputed calls explanation. But, as things stand, I do not.
