Jacksonville playoff game

by RickVa on Apr 2, 2008 3:24 PM EDT

I don't know if any of you saw the article in the PG, but the head of offciating for the NFL admitted that there was holding on Garrard's run and that the officials blew the call. Tomlin refused to comment on the issue (class).

It seems that other teams fans are constantly castigating the Steelers because they believe we benefit from bad calls from the refs. Yet in none of those circumstances has the NFL seen fit to acknowledge any error. This is the second time that the league has admitted that Pittsburgh has been victimized by bad officiating. One almost cost us a playoff victory (Troy in Indianapolis), the other definitely was directly responsible for us losing a game.

I'm not too bitter about all this. But if I hear one more fan of another team come on this site to complain about how the refs jobbed them and that's why they lost to Pittsburgh last week, last year, last century I will get bitter, and I'll let them know about it.

0 recs | Comment 24 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

i will be sure to remember this post as well

For the next tiem I read some lameass Seahawks fan complain, or any other fan for that matter.

You win some you lose some.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 2, 2008 3:39 PM EDT 0 recs

ehh

This got about the same reaction from me as the Nick Eason signing, just a shrug of the shoulders. If the refs called holding every time it happened, games would take a day and a half and the leading rusher in the NFL would have just over 500 yards a season.

by cgolden on Apr 2, 2008 6:20 PM EDT 0 recs

yah but

for the head of officiating to make a declaration, he has stated before it has to be something egregiously missed. he won't "reverse" a call like this unless it's something pretty bad (like the Polamalu play against Indy). rarely does he come out and say things like this publicly. if you watch it, it was REALLY bad holding. not blaming the loss on it at all. we needed an outrageous comeback just to make it close. but if the head official says this, it means an obvious call was badly missed, and despite what fans think of refs, they usually don't miss blatant stuff like that.

by TheMostViolentTeam on Apr 2, 2008 6:33 PM EDT 0 recs

Colts Game

Just think how livid we would be if Ben hadn't made The Tackle or the Colts didn't employ the Idiot Kicker. Because the sweet taste of being world champs still lingers for us, we can throw this one off more easily. Imagine that officials had very clearly been responsible for two playoff losses in a row and we hadn't won a Super Bowl. That's a little different picture for us.

by BadMaafala on Apr 2, 2008 9:37 PM EDT 0 recs

good pt

And thats just another reminder to use how close these games are or as TOmlin would say: 'it's a fine line.'

by Blitzburgh on Apr 2, 2008 10:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

Don't forget the playoff loss to Tennessee on 03.

With the score tied, Tennessee missed a field goal in overtime that would have given us the ball. Our offense had been clicking later in that game, having come from behind 14-0 to tie the score 31-31.

When Dewayne Washington barely, if at all, touched Titan kicker Joe Nedney, referee Ron Blum called a penalty and virtually gave the Titans the victory. The Steelers could have beaten Oakland and then Tampa Bay that year, I believe.

Making matters worse, Bill Cowher was screaming for a timeout before the kick and they wouldn't give it to him. Think about that amidst all the shenanigans this past season.

After the game Blum declared that no matter how small the infraction, a penalty is a penalty. The fact that it occurred at the most critical time of the game didn't matter.

That's fine and good, but why wasn't that logic applied against Jacksonville? The officials were not going to intervene in the outcome, so Jacksonville took advantage.

The Steelers got beat by both sides of the argument, in two playoff games separated by six years, sandwiched around the Polamalu fiasco.

Officiating is part of the game, and their mistakes are part are part of the game. I am not at all crying over spilled milk. I do find it curious that the same team lost two playoff games in six years, one because no infraction was too small, and then another because no infraction could be large enough.

by maryrose on Apr 2, 2008 11:50 PM EDT 0 recs

dont f'n remind me

You'll find no bigger proponent of breaks even out in the long run and officiating is part of the game, but that game pissed me the f*&^ perhaps more than in any other moment in my sports life.

Seriously, refs mistakes are one thing. Flopping by a kicker on American football is a disgrace. The refs can't discern in realtime if it's a flop and since nobody does it, they dont have any experinece making that call. They see a kicker go down, flag usually gets pulled.

I respect Jeff Fisher and think he's a hidden treasure in this league in many ways, and I happen to be a gigantic Vince Young supporter (a discussion for another day), but it's been very very VERY tough for me to forgive that moment by Nedney and the Titans.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 3, 2008 3:05 AM EDT up 0 recs

Oh Lord

that play was infuriating. I broke the remote to my TV because of that play. I get waaayy too into games.

by steelerark on Apr 3, 2008 4:33 PM EDT up 0 recs

lol

we gotta watch a game sometime.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 3, 2008 4:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

no such thing

as way too into games. i shared an apartment with my two years elder than me brother for a couple years in college. we both own Steelers official hardhats (the ones that are actually licensed for construction). we had couches facing each other and moved the coffee table so when the Steelers score or do something equally awesome we both jump up, chest bump each other, then head butt each other.

by TheMostViolentTeam on Apr 3, 2008 7:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

Nice

Ive always wanted to bang my head violently against another helmet. I might have to consider that idea TMVT.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 3, 2008 8:03 PM EDT up 0 recs

'rose

It seems you may be forgetting that Nedney ADMITTED he flopped aftewards. I'll dig up the quote tomoorrow morning. Crashing now. BUt if i remmeber correctly, he admitted he just fell to see what he could get away with.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 3, 2008 3:07 AM EDT up 0 recs

DeWayne

We had a post some time ago about least favorite Steeler of all time. I couldn't name one and picked a few. DeWayne Washington was on my list. He couldn't cover anybody for several years and then this. That flop made me SICK!
Calls go both ways. It seems they are supposed to even out. We have been stung many times by the zebra during my life watching the Steelers. The Immaculate Reception and the win over Seattle are two moments that I believe were karma paying us back.

When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen

by 5020 on Apr 3, 2008 8:14 AM EDT up 0 recs

Nedny

Did he say something like "I might have taken some acting classes" or something? Man that was crazy. So we have 2 admissions that they made the wrong call, and one admission that he was acting by a kicker in a 6 year period. Two calls absolutely decided the game, and the other one put the Colts back in the game where they almost won at the end.

I'm definitely going to remember this next time someone gives me crap about Steelers officiating.

by BadMaafala on Apr 3, 2008 8:58 AM EDT 0 recs

I hated losing

but the loss was tempered by the thought that this was a first year HC, and I didn't look forward to playing the Pats* again, because I didn't give us much chance. But, I didn't think we'd beat the Colts or Broncos in 2005, so I'm pessimistic in the playoffs. But, I did see that hold, and it was OBVIOUS. When a defender is rushing up the field, and then the QB runs by him and he is trying to disengage with the OLman, and he can't because the guy is holding onto his jersey, then his arm, that is obvious holding.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Apr 3, 2008 12:31 PM EDT 0 recs

don't forget the absolute worst call ever

the coin toss in Overtime against Detroit. Bettis called tails, it was tails, and the ref goes "Pittsburgh called Heads, Detroit may pick." I had to literally be restrained by my Dad from breaking the TV. Didn't that loss cost us a playoff spot?

by TheMostViolentTeam on Apr 3, 2008 1:21 PM EDT 0 recs

lol

I was at that game. It was funny, because no one in the stadium knew what was going on. Later, after watching highlights, I couldn't believe how it all went down.

by steelerark on Apr 3, 2008 4:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

The important point

is that the NFL admitted to mistakes in these two instances. Do we understand how bad things had to be for these guys to say that they were wrong? I'm also surprised because there hasn't been any great outpouring of complaints about the call. Our players complained but Tomlin and the Rooneys didn't follow that path and the fans pretty much followed their lead and let the matter drop.

Compare that to Al Davis' bitchin' about the Immaculate Reception and just about every other Steeler win over the Raiders, Cowboys and their fans bitchin' about SB 13, Seattle, the Bengals. None of these complaints have ever been backed up by anyone connected with the league.

by RickVa on Apr 3, 2008 3:54 PM EDT 0 recs

Good points

To be fair, though, I don't ever remember the league admitting a call was incorrect until about 10 years ago. Does anyone else?

I'm pretty sure that in the past, they said, if the ref called it, the league agrees.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Apr 3, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

Part of that

was because the technology has only recently been good enough to clearly determine a mistake. The Immaculate Reception is a perfect example of a play that would not be unclear in today's world. As the technology gets better, mistakes can be visually unrefuted, which then allows the league to own up to them.

by maryrose on Apr 3, 2008 4:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

True

But, there were still some calls that replay could show were incorrect (even before HD), and the league wouldn't admit an error. They would just say that's part of the game. But, I think they may have begun to admit obvious errors partly because of the growth of talk radio, ESPN and message boards and blogs. That's in addition to improved technology.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Apr 3, 2008 5:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

reactions to bad calls

I think I felt they didn't desrve to win the game anyway, so there was no point in complaining about the officials. We had breakdowns all over the place from Ben to the secondary to Arians to Tomlin. If we didn't play a terrible game, that call wouldn't have mattered. It's different than it would have been in '05. We were hot in '05 and were only #6 because of Tommy Maddox, and we were beating a team that hadn't lost a meaningful game yet. This year, we fizzled and all the fans didn't really expect a whole lot.

by BadMaafala on Apr 3, 2008 5:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

Exactly right

A coach somewhere once said that if it comes down to an officials call you didn't deserve to win anyway.

I think my point with the post was not cry over spilt milk, but to illuminate a difference between Steelers Nation that has had our share of misfortune due to less than sterling officiating, but buck up for the most part and keep moving forward, as opposed to those who forever whine that the refs denied them their destiny.

by RickVa on Apr 3, 2008 7:02 PM EDT 0 recs

well said

My tirade was directed towards the Titans and Joe Nedney. Not the refs. Just the gall of a professional football player to flop will never be acceptable to me.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 3, 2008 7:38 PM EDT up 0 recs