Super Bowl XLIII

[Beast Mode]

No one here has mentioned that Holmes should've been flagged for his TD celebration. He used the ball as a prop.

And the entire Cardinals bench running into the endzone to celebrate after Fitzgearld's TD could have been flagged too.

Thats true as well. The refs just plain sucked in that game.

[Sport]

Some things are just uncalled for. Personal foul? What the heck, that's it?

Perfectly legal block, probably shouldn't have even been a penalty. I mean, would you call that? I wouldn't.

That's why you're not a referee.

Blatant penalty for holding the player down, and punching him in the back of the neck.

The other two are hard shoves, and the only thing to penalize him for those would maybe be unnecessary roughness away from the play.

also the penalty resulted in like a 6 inch punishment because the Cards downed the ball so close to the goalline. The safety would've occurred either way, but it is kind of unfair that a play that should've resulted in an injection was barely punished.

[raysox]

No one here has mentioned that Holmes should've been flagged for his TD celebration. He used the ball as a prop.

And the entire Cardinals bench running into the endzone to celebrate after Fitzgearld's TD could have been flagged too.

Thats true as well. The refs just plain sucked in that game.

Anyone find it weird that a Pittsburgh player, did a celebration after a Cleveland player?

[infrared41]

To add some fuel to the debate, I just watched the last play. I think it was a fumble. The ball came out before Warner's arm was going forward. He managed to push or hit the ball forward on the follow through. That's how I would have called it anyway. Warner had clearly lost possession before his arm or the ball went forward.

In any case, there was not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field...but that's where it gets good. Listening to the announcers on the clip at NFL.com, one official called fumble and the other called incomplete pass. In a league that easily has the worst officials in all of sports should it have ended any other way? If Cardinals fans want to blame anyone, blame the defense for letting Holmes get all the way down to the 7 on that pass play on The Steelers last drive. That's where you lost the game.

Oh and I almost forgot... Huge props to Santonio Holmes from THE Ohio State University.

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

That doesn't answer why such a controversial play wasn't reviewed. I thought that was the whole point of instant replay within two minutes.

[JQK]

Some things are just uncalled for. Personal foul? What the heck, that's it?

Perfectly legal block, probably shouldn't have even been a penalty. I mean, would you call that? I wouldn't.

That's why you're not a referee.

Blatant penalty for holding the player down, and punching him in the back of the neck.

The other two are hard shoves, and the only thing to penalize him for those would maybe be unnecessary roughness away from the play.

also the penalty resulted in like a 6 inch punishment because the Cards downed the ball so close to the goalline. The safety would've occurred either way, but it is kind of unfair that a play that should've resulted in an injection was barely punished.

Wow! Harsh Punishment....

[SFCOM1]

That doesn't answer why such a controversial play wasn't reviewed. I thought that was the whole point of instant replay within two minutes.

I think I remember Michaels and McFadden had said something about that type of play not being reviewable. I'd have to look at the review rules for that, but i think that type of play is a judgement call anyway. Of course the way NFL rules are changed in an almost hourly basis...I'm not too sure!

[infrared41]

Some things are just uncalled for. Personal foul? What the heck, that's it?

Perfectly legal block, probably shouldn't have even been a penalty. I mean, would you call that? I wouldn't.

That's why you're not a referee.

Blatant penalty for holding the player down, and punching him in the back of the neck.

The other two are hard shoves, and the only thing to penalize him for those would maybe be unnecessary roughness away from the play.

also the penalty resulted in like a 6 inch punishment because the Cards downed the ball so close to the goalline. The safety would've occurred either way, but it is kind of unfair that a play that should've resulted in an injection was barely punished.

Wow! Harsh Punishment....

Depends on the injection. Ever had Nubaine?

[Sport]

Some things are just uncalled for. Personal foul? What the heck, that's it?

Perfectly legal block, probably shouldn't have even been a penalty. I mean, would you call that? I wouldn't.

That's why you're not a referee.

Blatant penalty for holding the player down, and punching him in the back of the neck.

The other two are hard shoves, and the only thing to penalize him for those would maybe be unnecessary roughness away from the play.

also the penalty resulted in like a 6 inch punishment because the Cards downed the ball so close to the goalline. The safety would've occurred either way, but it is kind of unfair that a play that should've resulted in an injection was barely punished.

Wow! Harsh Punishment....

Depends on the injection. Ever had Nubaine?

haha, woops.

[BlueSky]

Also, if you're interested in complaining some more, like I am, watch this replay and echo BlueSky's thoughts.

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d...goryId=featured

Warner was held and Hightower was blocked in the back.

It happened, it's over. But it was not a well-called game.

Warner was technically held but that would been a bit of a ticky-tack call. He'd been knocked out of the way legally and really wasn't impeded in trying to make a stop. The block from behind on Hightower OTOH was ridiculously blatant and clearly kept him from making a play on the ballcarrier. It's one of those that's so obvious that it leads you to believe there are only two possibilities: 1) ludicrous incompetence or 2) intent. Neither is good.

But here's another interesting twist: on that play the Cards ran a pick pattern, with Fitzgerald in the way of Boldin's defender - also technically illegal but called less and less the last few years. And a final thought - as great a player as Larry Fitzgerald is, with a little more hustle on that play, maybe he stops Harrison short of scoring. Watch the replay from the end zone view and you can see Fitzgerald in a "somebody else will get him" jog at the beginning of the pursuit. If he gears up to top speed immediately, he probably catches Harrison before the goal line. As it was, he still made an amazing effort since he was forced out of bounds and basically ran through the Arizona bench to get to Harrison.

Moving to other thoughts about the game...

- Roethlisberger sure gets it done avoiding the rush, but has there ever been a guy that looked clunkier doing it? Looks like Herman Munster in a Steelers uni running around back there.

- If I were the Cardinals, any time I was inside the opponents' 10 my playbook would consist of one play: fade to Fitzgerald. That would hold true until the D lined up 4 or more guys to cover him because with any fewer than that, my money's on Fitzgerald to come down with it every time.

- The controversy on Arizona's last play never should have happened because Kurt Warner, veteran pro QB, should know that he has one mission and one mission only on such a play: GET RID OF THE BALL. The worst that can happen downfield isn't any worse than what's going to happen if you get sacked or hit before you throw it. He held the ball for SIX SECONDS before being hit! This with Fitzgerald, arguably the best receiver in the game at making catches in traffic, running somewhere downfield. For the love of God, just throw it in his direction! You have NOTHING to lose at that point. It's like NFL QBs who take a sack on desperation 4th down plays late in the game. Occasionally it's because the D is there so quickly that they literally don't have a chance, but many times they just hold the ball until they're sacked. What are they thinking?

- On the Big Ben TD that was overturned, how many simultaneous fan flashbacks occurred at that moment? Super Bowl, 3rd & goal at the 1, opponent from the NFC West, Ben Roethlisberger runs with it and he's...in! Or is he? That was weird. Oddly, this one looked way more like a TD than the one against Seattle. If it was a make-up call, it was 3 years too late for the Seahawks.

- Lost in all the other stuff was the terrific TD catch by Cardinals TE Ben Patrick. Nice work.

- The roughing-the-passer call on Dansby was a joke. There's no way he could have pulled up.

- In a previous post I was harsh about Arizona not deserving to be in the SB and while I stand by that, they deserve as much praise for their remarkable playoff run. An amazing performance capped by a gutsy effort in the SB. Steeler Nation had a huge collective pucker for a while there at the end.

- Two straight outstanding Super Bowls - a trend we all hope continues. What a fun game to watch.

[Luigi74]

No one here has mentioned that Holmes should've been flagged for his TD celebration. He used the ball as a prop.

And the entire Cardinals bench running into the endzone to celebrate after Fitzgearld's TD could have been flagged too.

Thank you, no one has been mentioning that.

Also since when is someone allowed to run out of bounds for 30 yards behind players on the bench to avoid being blocked and then attempt to make a tackle.

[BlueSky]

No one here has mentioned that Holmes should've been flagged for his TD celebration. He used the ball as a prop.

And the entire Cardinals bench running into the endzone to celebrate after Fitzgearld's TD could have been flagged too.

Thank you, no one has been mentioning that.

Also since when is someone allowed to run out of bounds for 30 yards behind players on the bench to avoid being blocked and then attempt to make a tackle.

After the change of possession the Cards in effect became defenders, who can go out of bounds and return to the field to make a play. No different than gunners being blocked out of bounds while covering punts. Now as for how far out of bounds a guy can go, I have no idea.

Another random thought popped in - who did LaMarr Woodley's nameplate? I told my wife I could have made a better one, especially for the freakin' Super Bowl.

[McCall]

To add some fuel to the debate, I just watched the last play. I think it was a fumble. The ball came out before Warner's arm was going forward. He managed to push or hit the ball forward on the follow through. That's how I would have called it anyway. Warner had clearly lost possession before his arm or the ball went forward.

In any case, there was not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field...but that's where it gets good. Listening to the announcers on the clip at NFL.com, one official called fumble and the other called incomplete pass. In a league that easily has the worst officials in all of sports should it have ended any other way? If Cardinals fans want to blame anyone, blame the defense for letting Holmes get all the way down to the 7 on that pass play on The Steelers last drive. That's where you lost the game.

Oh and I almost forgot... Huge props to Santonio Holmes from THE Ohio State University.

Guess that settles it. Glad we finally got the review the day after the Super Bowl.

It doesn't matter if you think it's a fumble or I think it's an incomplete pass or McCarthy thinks Harrison should've been euthanized for his beatdown on Francisco, the fact of the matter is that final play is what determined the Super Bowl. They had the ability to take the maximum amount of time to make sure that the correct call was indeed made, or if it needed to be overturned, and they didn't. As mentioned before, there have been plenty of obvious calls reviewed from upstairs simply for confirmation that the correct one was called in far less important games. This was the biggest game of the entire season, and they f***ed up, plain and simple. There is absolutely no excuse for not taking the time to properly review and confirm the call that decideds the Super Bowl Champion. None.

Unless the officials upstairs were just that hellbent on beating traffic and getting to the strip clubs at the start of Happy Hour, and even then, beer and naked girls dancing are still not a viable excuse for not reviewing the most important call of the season. (About the only time you can say that.)

[infrared41]

To add some fuel to the debate, I just watched the last play. I think it was a fumble. The ball came out before Warner's arm was going forward. He managed to push or hit the ball forward on the follow through. That's how I would have called it anyway. Warner had clearly lost possession before his arm or the ball went forward.

In any case, there was not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field...but that's where it gets good. Listening to the announcers on the clip at NFL.com, one official called fumble and the other called incomplete pass. In a league that easily has the worst officials in all of sports should it have ended any other way? If Cardinals fans want to blame anyone, blame the defense for letting Holmes get all the way down to the 7 on that pass play on The Steelers last drive. That's where you lost the game.

Oh and I almost forgot... Huge props to Santonio Holmes from THE Ohio State University.

Guess that settles it. Glad we finally got the review the day after the Super Bowl.

It doesn't matter if you think it's a fumble or I think it's an incomplete pass or McCarthy thinks Harrison should've been euthanized for his beatdown on Francisco, the fact of the matter is that final play is what determined the Super Bowl. They had the ability to take the maximum amount of time to make sure that the correct call was indeed made, or if it needed to be overturned, and they didn't. As mentioned before, there have been plenty of obvious calls reviewed from upstairs simply for confirmation that the correct one was called in far less important games. This was the biggest game of the entire season, and they f***ed up, plain and simple. There is absolutely no excuse for not taking the time to properly review and confirm the call that decideds the Super Bowl Champion. None.

Unless the officials upstairs were just that hellbent on beating traffic and getting to the strip clubs at the start of Happy Hour, and even then, beer and naked girls dancing are still not a viable excuse for not reviewing the most important call of the season. (About the only time you can say that.)

That would be a perfect theory if it weren't for one little problem. Happy Hour at the Tampa Strip Clubs was over by the time the game ended.

[rams80]

To add some fuel to the debate, I just watched the last play. I think it was a fumble. The ball came out before Warner's arm was going forward. He managed to push or hit the ball forward on the follow through. That's how I would have called it anyway. Warner had clearly lost possession before his arm or the ball went forward.

In any case, there was not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field...but that's where it gets good. Listening to the announcers on the clip at NFL.com, one official called fumble and the other called incomplete pass. In a league that easily has the worst officials in all of sports should it have ended any other way? If Cardinals fans want to blame anyone, blame the defense for letting Holmes get all the way down to the 7 on that pass play on The Steelers last drive. That's where you lost the game.

Oh and I almost forgot... Huge props to Santonio Holmes from THE Ohio State University.

Guess that settles it. Glad we finally got the review the day after the Super Bowl.

It doesn't matter if you think it's a fumble or I think it's an incomplete pass or McCarthy thinks Harrison should've been euthanized for his beatdown on Francisco, the fact of the matter is that final play is what determined the Super Bowl. They had the ability to take the maximum amount of time to make sure that the correct call was indeed made, or if it needed to be overturned, and they didn't. As mentioned before, there have been plenty of obvious calls reviewed from upstairs simply for confirmation that the correct one was called in far less important games. This was the biggest game of the entire season, and they f***ed up, plain and simple. There is absolutely no excuse for not taking the time to properly review and confirm the call that decideds the Super Bowl Champion. None.

Unless the officials upstairs were just that hellbent on beating traffic and getting to the strip clubs at the start of Happy Hour, and even then, beer and naked girls dancing are still not a viable excuse for not reviewing the most important call of the season. (About the only time you can say that.)

That would be a perfect theory if it weren't for one little problem. Happy Hour at the Tampa Strip Clubs was over by the time the game ended.

Personally, I think they ran out of commercials and were told they couldn't have another break in the game.

[Luigi74]

No one here has mentioned that Holmes should've been flagged for his TD celebration. He used the ball as a prop.

And the entire Cardinals bench running into the endzone to celebrate after Fitzgearld's TD could have been flagged too.

Thank you, no one has been mentioning that.

Also since when is someone allowed to run out of bounds for 30 yards behind players on the bench to avoid being blocked and then attempt to make a tackle.

After the change of possession the Cards in effect became defenders, who can go out of bounds and return to the field to make a play. No different than gunners being blocked out of bounds while covering punts. Now as for how far out of bounds a guy can go, I have no idea.

Troy Edwards got flagged for running out of bounds and coming back in on punt coverage during the 2001 season AFC Championship Game.

Also why aren't QB's flagged for taking their helmets off on the field of play, Warner did this Sunday and I have seen other QB's do it yet it never gets flagged.

[See Red]

To add some fuel to the debate, I just watched the last play. I think it was a fumble. The ball came out before Warner's arm was going forward. He managed to push or hit the ball forward on the follow through. That's how I would have called it anyway. Warner had clearly lost possession before his arm or the ball went forward.

In any case, there was not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field...but that's where it gets good. Listening to the announcers on the clip at NFL.com, one official called fumble and the other called incomplete pass. In a league that easily has the worst officials in all of sports should it have ended any other way? If Cardinals fans want to blame anyone, blame the defense for letting Holmes get all the way down to the 7 on that pass play on The Steelers last drive. That's where you lost the game.

Oh and I almost forgot... Huge props to Santonio Holmes from THE Ohio State University.

Guess that settles it. Glad we finally got the review the day after the Super Bowl.

It doesn't matter if you think it's a fumble or I think it's an incomplete pass or McCarthy thinks Harrison should've been euthanized for his beatdown on Francisco, the fact of the matter is that final play is what determined the Super Bowl. They had the ability to take the maximum amount of time to make sure that the correct call was indeed made, or if it needed to be overturned, and they didn't. As mentioned before, there have been plenty of obvious calls reviewed from upstairs simply for confirmation that the correct one was called in far less important games. This was the biggest game of the entire season, and they f***ed up, plain and simple. There is absolutely no excuse for not taking the time to properly review and confirm the call that decideds the Super Bowl Champion. None.

Unless the officials upstairs were just that hellbent on beating traffic and getting to the strip clubs at the start of Happy Hour, and even then, beer and naked girls dancing are still not a viable excuse for not reviewing the most important call of the season. (About the only time you can say that.)

That would be a perfect theory if it weren't for one little problem. Happy Hour at the Tampa Strip Clubs was over by the time the game ended.

Personally, I think they ran out of commercials and were told they couldn't have another break in the game.

You don't have to break during a challenge though, and it seems like they typically don't. Regardless, promote NBC's :censored:ty show in 3D for two minutes... just review the damn play.

I will add, though, and I'm sure I'm just about alone here, but I'm beginning to grow sour on the whole idea of instant replay in the NFL.

[Luigi74]

On the Harrison penalty, one of the guys on NFL Radio aka NFC East Radio said that the Card went at Harrison's knee's and that is what caused him to go nuts.

[BlueSky]

No one here has mentioned that Holmes should've been flagged for his TD celebration. He used the ball as a prop.

And the entire Cardinals bench running into the endzone to celebrate after Fitzgearld's TD could have been flagged too.

Thank you, no one has been mentioning that.

Also since when is someone allowed to run out of bounds for 30 yards behind players on the bench to avoid being blocked and then attempt to make a tackle.

After the change of possession the Cards in effect became defenders, who can go out of bounds and return to the field to make a play. No different than gunners being blocked out of bounds while covering punts. Now as for how far out of bounds a guy can go, I have no idea.

Troy Edwards got flagged for running out of bounds and coming back in on punt coverage during the 2001 season AFC Championship Game.

Also why aren't QB's flagged for taking their helmets off on the field of play, Warner did this Sunday and I have seen other QB's do it yet it never gets flagged.

Did Troy Edwards touch the ball first? That's the only way I can think of he'd be penalized. Don't know about why Warner wasn't called for removing his helmet.

[Jigga]

Penalties not called against the Cardinals = no big deal, "Hey, you can't catch everything, right?"

Penalties not called against the Steelers = undeniable proof the NFL and the refs did everything in their collective power to ensure a Steelers victory.