Skating Through

My advisor was rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers because he went to Notre Dame for graduate school (Jerome Bettis went to ND). This morning, he accused me of being a "sore loser" when he overheard a discussion I was having. Later, I tracked him down and asked him if he thought the officiating was good. He said it was equally bad. However, when I asked if he had any calls that hurt the Steelers, he couldn't come up with anything.

One play that, possibly, hurt the Steelers was the ruling that the pass to Stevens was incomplete, and not a fumble. I thought he got both feet down with possession, then a great hit right on the ball jarred it loose. However, the Seahawks, subsequently, punted and the Steelers started at the 20 (since Rouen kept launching punts when he needed to control them). It may have cost them a few yards in starting field position, but it wasn't a major play and the announcers didn't seem to think it was a catch.

So, a short reca! p of the major missed calls:

• Pass Interference on Darrell Jackson: costs Seahawks 4 points and momentum
• Ruling the Roethlisberger run a TD: it was third down, may have cost the Seahawks 4 points, or 7 if they had gone for it and didn't get the TD
• Holding on Locklear: costs the Seahawks 7 points because Seattle would have had the ball at the 1 and Alexander always scores when he's down that deep.

Add those up, we have anywhere from 11 (if the Steelers scored a TD on 4th down) to 18 (if they went for it and failed) points provided by the refs on three big calls.