Interstitiality

Super Bowl, Super Weird

The Super Bowl was weird this year. Seattle looked better offensively and defensively for about 75-80% of the game. It was that other 20% that did them in. That 20% included two major breakdowns on defense--letting Willie Parker scamper for the longest TD run in Super Bowl history (yes Willie Parker), and allowing a gadget play score for a TD even when everyone else in the football world knew exactly which trick play they were running. Some of the miscues were not Seattle’s fault. There was some horrible officiating--a theme throughout the postseason. Yes, the officials were right on the Roethlisberger’s reviewed TD. The ball cleared the plane. The officials were maybe OK in calling Darren Jackson for offensive pass interference in the endzone, but it was a ticky-tacky call (and a late flag I might add). The holding call that nullified a play that would have put Seattle on the 2 yd-line, however, was a bad, bad call. It was not holding. If the outside tackle would have held the defender, the defender wouldn’t have had a free run to the QB. Other factors that hurt the Seahawks: the dropped passes and missed FGs. They had some key drops at critical stages of the game, which resulted in FG attempts that were missed. Lastly, Holmgren did not manage the game or the clock well. I could understand the confusion at the end of the half. The Hawks were in an awkward situation. If they didn’t convert on 3rd down, which they did not, then they would give the ball back to the Steelers. So Holmgren decided to let the clock run, making the (missed) FG the last virtual play of the half. The end of the game, however, was managed very poorly. So do the math: give up two big TD plays on defense + a couple of bad calls + dropped passes and missed opportunities on offense + bad decision making at critical junctures of the game = a loss even when you dominated the game statistically (without the two big plays, the total yds would have been Seattle 396, Pittsburgh 221). Congratulations to the Steelers who, again, made the most of their opportunities. Seattle will have all off-season to think about this one.