Super Blog

In honor of the event that is the Super Bowl I thought I would post my quick-hitting thoughts about the game and television event in general.

Well for the game itself, it was rather boring. There was a couple big plays, a couple big penalties and a whole lot of drops, sloppy throws, and otherwise hesitant and feeble gameplay. A majority of Pittsburgh's offense came on three plays: A reverse option, a broken play hail mary type heave, and a 75 yard burst by Willie Parker that may or may not have been sprung by excellent blocking by Alan Faneca (more on this later). The Seahawks were able to move the ball decently. But like I mentioned above there were some crucial penalties. There were also a lot of drops. Darrell Jackson who burst onto the scene with 5 catches in the first quarter disappeared for the rest of the game and Jerramy Stevens looked like he thought the Super Bowl was and Elementary School Recess game of Hot Potato, maybe he can call up Rick Moranis and work on the toilet paper drill. Shaun Alexander ended up with 95 yards but it never really looked like he was a factor further cementing his rep for disappearing in big games. He is definitely not the MVP. Josh Brown missed 2 FG's that were by no means gimmies. He barely missed them but had he converted at least one of them it is a very different game at the end.

Big Ben Roethlisberger did his best Tommy Maddox impression and changed the whole game with his floating interception to "just off the scrap heap" Kelly Herndon. 17-3 becomes 14-10 very quickly. The whole back of the end zone was open and all Big Ben had to do was loft the ball to the back corner however he thought better of it. Jerome Bettis was really a non-factor with a measley 43 yards on 14 carries. Hines Ward got the MVP because, well, someone had to.

I have heard and read many sports reporters talking about how the Seahawks were robbed. I really have to disagree. While sitting through the whole game I never really felt like the Seahawks got the short end of the penalty stick. I feel that the Darrell Jackson offensive pass interference call was justified; you can't push off like that, it has to be called. The Sean Locklear holding call in the 4th quarter was obvious to me, I was screaming at the TV as it happened. The only call that was questionable in my mind was the holding call on Ettric Pruitt that negated Peter Warrick's 34 yard punt return early in the game. However, the Seahawks had more than enough opportunities to put the game away early and just misfired on every try.
Oh, and to those of you who argue that big games like this should not be decided by the officials and that would argue how can an official make that kind of call in this kind of game, I say bullocks. A penalty is a penalty no matter when or where it happens. In the preseason, regular season, playoffs, or Super Bowl. You can't change the rules for big games or in crunch time. Sure, the saying "let the players decide the game" has a nice ring to it, but you know what, the players do decide the game. If they commit a penalty, they have to bear the consequences regardless of the game situation. I never bought into this whole officials should swallow their whistles in crucial games/game situations. It doesn't make any sense.

Other Issues I had with the game:
John Madden said Matt Hasselback and Big Ben were the coolest quarterbacks in the history of the Super Bowl. This was quite a leap if you ask me. And what exactly does coolest mean? Were they the big man on campus in college and HS? That assertion had me rolling for a bit.
Antwaan Randle El got hurt in the 2nd quarter and was writhing around on the ground for some time. He left the game and we never heard anything about it. He randomly appeared back in the game in the 3rd quarter with no mention by Al Michaels, John Madden, or either of the unnecessary sideline reporters. This really bothered me.
After Willie Parker's 75 yard record-setting jaunt Madden proceeded to gush over the excellence of pulling left guard by Alan Faneca. After Madden said Faneca 6 times in 25 seconds we finally see a replay where it looked like Faneca made a standard kick-out block. Granted, he flattened the linebacker but that is generally what happens when a running 325 pound man hits a stationary 250 pounder. Nice block yes, but the real reason for the run was Seattle's defensive alignment of its safeties. Michael Boulware got caught inside and third stringer Ettric Pruitt missed Parker by taking a terrible angle. Watch it again, especially you John Madden.
Well, that is about it for the game, like I said it really was a terrible game. Horribly boring. I have some comments about the commercials and such but I have to get heading home, look for another quick post tonight.
Until next time...