A Message To The Seahawks Fans

[AvengerRam]

We feel your pain.

It was only four years ago that we Ram fans found ourselves in a similar situation to the one you find yourselves in. Waking up the morning after a Super Bowl loss is tough enough, but when you feel like the refs played too big a part in the loss, it makes it even harder.

I'm not going to analyze or debate whether the calls made were right or wrong, nor will I assess the extent to which they may have impacted the game's outcome. Rather, I'm going to give you a simple piece of advice:

Do not go down the "it was fixed" path.

There are some Ram fans here who think that the Patriots/Rams Super Bowl was fixed (the justification being the desire to have a team called the Patriots win the first post 9/11 Super Bowl).

I've never bought into that. Yes, I do believe that the Patriots were the beneficiaries of some truly horrible officiating that allowed them to beat the Rams, but I have never bought into the notion that the officiating was predetermined.

Your team had a great season. One you should remember with pride and fondness. Not bitterness and conspiracy paranoia.

Just some friendly advice.

[jkramsfan]

very well put avenger.

[Rambos]

I found myself much to my surprise pulling for the Hawks. I won’t say this was a conspiracy, I will say the NFL has to look at the way these games are being called. The Hawks got screwed period!

Goal Line Play...The referee, that had the best view called it short, he was saying short by signaling with his hand repeatedly as he trying to get to the ball and spot it short. But someone who could not have a better view over ruled him. So you look at a replay that shows maybe, maybe not as to a TD and the play called on the field stands. The only problem is this ref that over ruled the ref on the goal clearly did not have the best angel to make that call. Its sad that a ref with the best view can’t make the call and if he is clearly wrong fine but if not at least the ref with the best view made the call.

And holding what holding, pushing off in the end zone, low block all sad and very hard to swallow.

Thanks Hawks for representing us in the “weak west” all week you guy have class!

[RAMMAN68]

Yes, I do believe that the Patriots were the beneficiaries of some truly horrible officiating that allowed them to beat the Rams, but I have never bought into the notion that the officiating was predetermined.

Come on now; how can you say it wasn't fixed.

[AvengerRam]

Come on now; how can you say it wasn't fixed.

Um... because it wasn't fixed.

[Seahawk_For_Life]

Thanks Avenger..... it was a tough night.

[maltz88]

Thanks Avenger.

I'm glad to see that I'm not just being biased as a hawk fan.

I thought the officiating was absolutely awful. I wouldn't feel nearly as bad by simply losing a super bowl, but to lose it that way sucks!

I don't think anyone watching that game could say the Steelers were a better team.

But that being said, Seattle hurt themselves. They knew they were getting screwed, but they need to rise above. Just as Pitt did against Indy. You could see the officiating was taking its toll on the players toward the end of the game.

[bluengreen]

As a Seahawks fan, I don't believe for a second that the game was fixed. But I'll tell you what I do think.

I think that because the Steelers were the recipients of one of the worst calls in the history of the NFL which made the Indy game far closer than it should have and the refs subsequently got called out in the media by Porter as having fixed that game and not wanting the Steelers to win, the refs reacted by making sure that no one could make such an accusation again by being very careful not to make any crappy calls against the Steeler again.

And in a game of inches and split second decisions, it doesn't take much of an awareness of having to be careful to influence some decisions.

QB gets close to the goal line? Better call it than not, because we don't want any outcries that the game was fixed.

Game clock running out and the QB calls a timeout. Well, the clock was close to being zero (actually, it WAS zero) but we'd best give it to him.

The DB said the receiver pushed off? Yeah, now that I think of it, I did see a hand move didn't I. I'd better call that, we don't want to give the apparency that we don't want the Steelers to win...

Anyways, like I said, it doesn't take much to influence a few calls.

But the main thing that I think, is that NFL officiating stinks. It's just putrid. Do any of you feel safe? Do you think that the refs are going to be fair to your team?

I know that regardless of your feelings about this particular game, I've seen far too much crappy calls. Instant replay and such is supposed to make things better, but so far it hasn't. Something needs to be changed.

[RAMarkable]

Excellent thread Avenger. I must say that while I have been a member of the "fixed" club (ever since analyzing Ramtime's videos), I whole-heartedly agree with your suggestion to Hawk fans. Bottom line guys it just ain't worth it. You can take pride in the fact that Seattle showed the world that they did,in fact, belong in that game and, for the most part, were the best team on the field. I am also proud of the way the Hawks represented the "weak sister" NFC West. Congratulations on an excellent year!

P.S. Of course all of this lovin' is gone by next year when the Rams regain their rightful place.
P.P.S. I wonder if Steeler fans are truly rejoicing over a flawed win like that?

WHAT SAY YE?

[morgetha]

I knew, going to this game, I rooted for our rival. And believe me, I feel as sad as you guys do too. Partly because I also like your Seahawks.

I don't want to be here to critique the game. Just to remind you: Appreciate the moment, it is harder to be in a SB than winning one. Because in the end, SB is still...just a BIG Game.

So be prepared for the next season, NFC west is going to be interesting again ,probably with the exception of the *****.

[Curly Horns]

One consolation hawks fans:

At least there was some acknowledgement from the media regarding the officiating.

After SB36 there was only the false claims of belichick's genius and not a mention of some suspect officiating.

[AvengerRam]

One consolation hawks fans:

At least there was some acknowledgement from the media regarding the officiating.

After SB36 there was only the false claims of belichick's genius and not a mention of some suspect officiating.

While your observation may be correct, your implication is not.

The reason the media didn't make much of the officiating after SB36 is that they are far too superficial in their analysis to deal with the plethora of non-calls in that game.

In this game, the officiating issues were manifested in calls that were made as opposed to non-calls.

[Curly Horns]

The reason the media didn't make much of the officiating after SB36 is that they are far too superficial in their analysis to deal with the plethora of non-calls in that game.

My history on this has always been quite clear and my implication is that any media person worth his/her salt in analyzing a game would mention the only non-call that truly mattered.

That would be, the non-call on the intentional grounding by brady on the final drive. It was hardly superficial. In fact it was quite obvious and it denied the world of the first ever overtime SB.

[moklerman]

I don't know if I have a unique perspective or not, but I watched the game by myself yesterday(damn cold) and I only thought once that the ref's gave the benefit of the doubt to the Steelers. The delay of game/timeout call was a blown call in my opinion.

The problem I have with all of the conspiracy talk is that there were a couple of pivotal plays that went in Seattle's favor. The TE fumbling that would have been recovered by Pittsburgh. It was called an incompletion. Bad call. The Hasslebeck fumble was ruled correctly after replay and there was another example that I thought made the game evenly called.

The Roethlisberger td was a td. It was close, but it was a td. The linesman called the play too. He came running in from his spot on the sideline and before he got to where Ben was he had both arms in the air.

Seattle is the reason Seattle lost. Missing field goals, not getting feet in bounds, giving up 75 yard td runs, etc. How 'bout the 3rd and forever completion to Hines Ward? That wasn't the officials fault.

The long pass to the TE that was called back was indeed holding. The o-lineman had his arm around the Steelers' neck and tackled him all in front of the official. It wasn't a like they threw the flag after the completion. Also, the DJ push off in the end zone was in fact pushing off. Does that call get let go a lot of the time? Sure it does. Wrongfully so. I would much rather have an official make the right call than just let something go because it happens to be a td.

[Curly Horns]

I don't know if I have a unique perspective or not

You do.

Typically you blame the head coach for a loss in a big game.