Extra Large?? Extra Bore...

Well the Forty is gone and the trophy has been awarded. One fat guy said goodbye to the game and hopefully not his treadmill along the way. A young quarterback did his best not to screw up the game and succeeded in that. And what was deemed a ‘sloppy’ game (some of us would use harsher language than that) ended mercifully sooner rather than later. The game really had no entertainment value at least for me, a couple of big plays that were the difference kept me from attempting to find something more interesting on the big box.

As far as I was concerned, once this game died, I needed no excuses to keep talking about it. Mediocre performances that will be forgotten on both sides of the field shortly after the trophy was awarded, were marred by some folks complaining and attempting to rationalize a loss, suffered primarily at the hands of the zebras. Not to dwell on this more than everyone else has already kicked the dead equine, but, before the fatal shots are fired at the zebras, the entire thing should be rehashed.

Four plays stood out to me when laundry hit the tire bits and fake grass. Obviously the first, the pass interference on Darrell ‘First Quarter MVP” Jackson. No other way to say this, but I think I saw one of the refs use his yellow hanky to pick up the pile of poop that fell out of his pocket when he pitched the flag. Seattle has a gripe here.

Second one, the holding call, the first one. Looked like a hold to me. In fact, when the play was developing I commented that they held. They got flagged for it. Penalty deserved.

Third, the low block penalty on the hairless Quarterback. More poop on the play, but rather inconsequential all things considered. The pick was damaging and the end result wasn’t due to the penalty on that play.

Fourth, the last holding call on Locklear. Sorry, but once again as this one developed I didn’t see the flag. I commented that they got away with a hold. To my surprise they didn’t actually get away with it. After replay, it was questionable, but at full speed it looked like a tackle to me. I’d have been pissed more than livid if that was Merriman that fell taking the corner on that play. No gripes here either Seattle. Sorry.

Now. Let’s focus on the real problem here. First, the Darrell Jackson touchdown that wasn’t. One foot in one foot off the orange touchdown thing. Touchdown. Nope. Incomplete. This was a head scratcher to me. If Kojak the Quarterback keeps the ball in bounds, well you know the rest. Twice at least I saw the Hasselhoff throw the ball out of bounds to open receivers. “We want the ball and we’re gonna score!!!”

Oh, and I almost forgot. The most crucial point of this concoction here. Not the clock mismanagement at both the end of the first and second halves. Nope, although that was pretty miserable stuff. Nope, it wasn’t the kicker doing his Jay Feely, twice. Nope. It was in fact the three passes that Jerramy Stevens continued to drop that would have resulted in first downs for the Seahawks, two of which were inside the Pittsburgh Red Zone. Those plays would have changed this game. Of that I am convinced.

Bottom line for me is that the officiating was the typical debacle that the game is accustomed to. It did not cost the Seahawks the game. If the Seahawks would look at their performance and the reasons why they lost, and then still come to the conclusion that they got jobbed, be my guest. They’d still be wrong and they’d be ignoring the real reasons why they choked on the biggest stage in the team’s history. No one wants to talk about that though. This was a very winnable game, in fact Pittsburgh did their best to piss it away. You choked and failed Seattle. Yes. You choked and failed. You should have been nicer to us when we visited in June. That’s it for me. Sorry if you don’t see it that way.

Football blackout begins with the final gun in the Professional Bowl game. Hopefully no more of our guys get career threatening injuries during the last four quarters of the year. September can’t get here soon enough…