Sunday, February 05, 2006

SUPER BOWL SIMULBLOG

THE COMMENT ZONE IS OPEN TODAY.

STEELERS WIN THE SUPER BOWL 21-10.
A brillant season and the last two weeks were two of the best any sports fan can ever have but the final chapter is very disappointing.

Pittsburg 21 Seattle 10 with 6:46 left in the Super Bowl
The trick play burned Seattle – Randle El to Ward for a 44 yard touchdown.
The killer is that the burned players were Erik Pruitt and Kelly Herndon.
I am not sure why Jordan B isn’t getting some time at the safety
Then the Hawks couldn’t complete another drive.
The Steelers are getting through to Hasselbeck just enough to eliminate drives.
Where has D-Jack gone? No catches since the 1st Quarter



Pittsburg 14 Seattle 10 with 10:46 left in the Super Bowl.

The curse of being a Seahawk fan lives. Just when you felt it really felt it. It gets taken away from you.
The Hawks were at the 1 on a catch by Stevens, that is noteworthy, but it was negated by a phantom penalty holding on Locklear
Then the Steelers keep making plays when Casey Hampton blew up Robbie Tobeck for a sack.
Then the first huge mistake of the game. Matt throws an INT.
If this is going to get done it is going to be in the most dramatic fashion.
That was the game winning drive and it feel short. Is there another one.
The inability to finish drives has killed the Hawks
Then the Hawks got F’d for the third time this game on a brutal officals call and it cost them 15 yards and Pittsburg starts with great field position


Pittsburgh 14 Seattle 10 with 2:41 left in the third
Great work by the defense to force back to back 3 and outs
However, the Hawks still aren’t making plays. Warrick should have never let the punt drop it bounced at the 21 and then rolled to the 1. Tom Rouen has been unable to do this all game.
Jerramy Stevens dropped another ball and has been a total disaster. Joey Porter hasn’t made one play on the field but he may have won the Super Bowl in the week’s pre-game activities.
Hawks start at the 1 – it could be a classic drive. A mistake and the game is over.


Pittsburg 14 Seattle 10 with 6:45 left in the 3rd quarter
How about this change -- Living for another breathe.
Kelly Herndon steps in front of a terrible Big Ben pass and takes it back to the Hawks 20.
Rocky Bernard looked like he got hurt trying to be the lead blocker. I doubt he will return,
Stevens finally holds on to one and catches the 18 yard touchdown pass.
Now the question is without Manuel, Dyson, and Rocky can the Hawks get stops.



Pittsburg 14 Seattle 3 with 11:40 left in the 3rd Quarter

Time to play Jeopardy. The answer is goat. The question is who is Jerramy Stevens?
He has two enormous drops that have changed the game.
The Super Bowl is about making plays and the Hawks are not doing.
The Hawks are without Manuel and Dyson. The Hawks don’t have a stop since Manuel left the game.



Pittsburgh 14 Seattle 3 2 plays into the 2nd half

This is a disaster
Jon Kitna told us that Joey Porter is a much better player when they are ahead then when they are behind. That holds true for the entire Pittsburgh approach offensively and defensively.
Getting Alexander involved in the game is going to be very difficult.
The Ken Hamlin fight is coming back to haunt the Hawks in the Super Bowl of all places.


More Halftime Notes
Seattle had 6 drives
1st – died when they got caught in 2nd and 3rd and long
2nd – Chris Grey holding penalty killed this drive
3rd – Bad Call of Offensive Pass Interference negated TD and ended drive
4th – drop by “Soft” Stevens on 3rd and 2 negated a huge play
5th – Mack Strong comes up an inch short
6th – butchered two minute drive

If they tighten up they should be able to score.
The Steelers had 5 drives and only got first downs on a gimmick reverse and two great playmaking plays by Big Ben.

Steelers lead 7-3 at the Half
Seattle is not making plays that win Super Bowls. D-Jack has to get his feet in bounds. Stevens has to hold onto the ball. The penalties have negated huge plays.
An inch changed the half. When Mack Strong was an inch short on the 3rd down play. He should have got the first down. It changed the field position and let the Steelers start a drive in decent position.
They mismanaged the end of the half when Hasselbeck got caught up in an audible
Seattle dominated 22 minutes of the half and trail at the half. That is disturbing.
Seattle has been using 3 wide receiver sets with great success in the passing game.
The offensive pass interference call was awful and has changed the game
The reverse call to Ward was a game changer as well.
Remember the halftime is significantly longer at the Super Bowl.
Since they have gone to this stupid new ball for souvenir routine the second half has been the scoring half.


Steelers lead 7-3 with 1:55 left in the 2nd Quarter
It is tough to swallow but that was too close to overturn. All you have to do is hit that white line not the end zone blue and Big Ben may have done that.
The difference in this game is the Steelers are making plays and the Hawks have not made the plays they needed to make.
Penalities and not holding onto the ball by Stevens have separated the Hawks from brilliance.
The good sign is that the Steelers had to make two remarkable plays to complete that drive. Ben shoveled a pass to Ward on 3rd down and then on another 3rd down his scramble was amazing.
The other thing of concern is that drive too so long that now you are limiting the amount of drives the Hawks get.


Hawks lead 3-0 with 10:10 left in the 2nd Quarter
Boulware interception just as we predicted and it would be 10-0 like we predicted if Stevens hadn’t been”soft”
Huge drop by Stevens on the last drive
The Hawks are killing themselves with mistakes.
They are dominating this football game and look to be the much better team, but they are uncharacteristically making mistakes that are preventing them from being up 14 or more.
Big Ben is 2 of 8 for 9 yards and a pick. He is not comfortable with all of the coverage.
Time for a classic Seattle drive. The hawks could rip their heart out.


Hawks lead 3-0 at the end of 1
Another 3 and out by the Steelers.
Big Ben is 1 for 5
The Steelers don’t have a first down
The Hawks defense finishes the year allowing only one defensive touchdown in the 1st Quarter.
Great return by Warrick puts the Hawks in Steelers territory. Return is negated by a penalty.
Penalties are killing the Hawks


Hawks lead 3-0 with :22 left in the 1st Quarter
Hawks lead but it should be more. A brutal call negated a TD to Darrell Jackson in the end zone. Jackson pushed off at the last second but it was minimal. Bad Call big time bad call and it will impact the game
Mike Holmgren is getting a feel for this game. He is exploiting things in the Steelers defense.
Big play in the drive was 3 recievers to the left (including the TE) and Jackson isolated on the right. Matt hit D-Jack for big yardage
The Steelers are rushing 3 a lot and not blitzing but Matt seems to be comfortable.



Hawks 0 Pitt 0 with 4:34 left in the 1st Quarter

Roethlisberger looks uncomfortable with the Hawks only rushing 4 and dropping 7.
In the past playoff games he was great against the blitz and the Hawks haven’t shown the blitz yet
Great play on run support by Marcus Trufant
The Steelers pressure is hurting the Hawks offense. Hawks have two holding penalties.
Tom Rouen has to do a better job of not kicking into the end zone.
Hawks are winning the field position battle



Hawks 0 Pitt 0 with 9:39 left in the 1st Quarter

Opening Drives are in the books.
Hawks moved the ball and then fell apart when they got into 2nd and 3rd and long
Hawks showed a ton of formations early in Holmgren pre prepared sheet
We saw a 2TE set, a 4 WR, and mostly 3 WR 2 RB.
Hasselbeck missed an open receiver that would have continued the drive
Sean Locklear got beat for a sack.
Pittsburg self destructed


I was waited for Hasselbeck to say "We will take the ball and we are going to score." Maybe that is why they let Wistrom call the coin. Hawks are 1 for 1.

Can you believe it is true -- the Hawks are about to play in the Super Bowl. Enjoy eve

ry second everyone and cheer like hell

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was not offensive pass interference on DJ

Anonymous said...

the 3rd and 28 play killed us...we can't give them first downs when we have them backed up like that.

Anonymous said...

Screw this. That is the exact play that got reviews put back in the NFL. %$#@%&

Anonymous said...

d-jack has to got to get his feet down in the endzone.

Anonymous said...

No mention of Mike Holmgren's play calling at the end of the half? You're better then that Locke! In addition have you noticed how well Alexander has done in pass blocking? Mention it to Millen in the postgame.

Anonymous said...

No mention of Holmgrens play calling at the end of the half? You're better then that Locke! In addition, has anyone noticed how effective Alexanders pass blocking has been? Mention that Millen in the post game. And if you're going to call out D-Jack and Stevens, that's fine. However, Matt has missed two to three passes.

Anonymous said...

In addition, Holmgrens play calling after the D-Jack TD! 1st-20 and two straight running plays! I love the running game, however our line is containing everything and our recievers are open. We have been saying all week that our passing game opens up our running game and we're neglicting our passing game. The Steelers have not stopped the Seahawks! Keep going to the well.

Anonymous said...

Stevens redemption...

Game is fixed...

Anonymous said...

It appears to be more than fixed. Bad throw, and then Hass actually taclkes, and it's a 15 yrd penalty block???

Anonymous said...

First off I'll say this, I love Mike Holmgren! But, by far and away his worst coached game in a long time!

Anonymous said...

I hate to be this guy. But, overall poor officiating! Plan and simple.

Anonymous said...

Simply put. Outcoached!

Anonymous said...

Steelers made the plays that the Seahawks couldn't. They deserve the win for that. With that being said it was a terrible day of officiating. When the Seahawks made a big play it was overturned nearly every time. The refs made themselves part of the game. They broke one of their rules. Even on the questionable calls shouldn't they let the players play since it's the playoffs? The NFL has disgraced itself to the lowest level I've seen in many, many years of professional sports.

Anonymous said...

The MVP for the game were the officials. Bottom line they made the most important plays that took away our momenteum and our rythm forcing us into deviating from the game plan because time became an issue. Yes Pittburgh made three good plays all game. We made more plays and they were taken away. Had we scored on the plays taken away it would have forced Pittsburgh to deviate from their game plan. No one but the officials did that. It is beyond disappointing that it could come to that kind of influence on the outcome. Pittsburgh got not one critical penalty against them.

Anonymous said...

[link]http://www.petitiononline.com/nfl12006/petition-sign.html?[/link]

Anonymous said...

OK OK...I am tired of listening and reading all the blame being put on the officials. The Hawks flat out played a bad game,were outplayed and out coached. Stevens needs to learn how to hang on to passes that aren't TDs, and Alexander has stone hands as well. And what's up with Holmgren's play calling?? Yeah the officiating was questinable at times but the Seahawks blew too many chances on there own.

Anonymous said...

I've tried... So help me I have tried to be objective about the impact of the refs on this game. I acknowledge the mistakes made by the Hawks. I do. What I must say, though, is that the Seahawks were HUGELY impacted by those calls and the calls to a large extent dictated both the mistakes subsequently made by the Hawks and opportunities taken by the Steelers.
Neutral parties are already crying foul - here's ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs05/columns/story?columnist=smith_michael&id=2320683
I know that I'm a fan speaking to other fans here, but all of our mistakes aside, the refs dictated the outcome of that game. I love the Steelers but am a Seahawks fan since moving out many years ago, and I must say this: I don't feel that the Black and Gold should feel very good about this one - it is a tainted trophy this year.

Anonymous said...

Same poster from 2:05 (can't remember by creds for this site)
I thought I'd bring in a little therapy - I realize that it doesn't change anything but there IS a general outcry brewing with NFL fans in general. Check this ESPN NFL thread - almost 700 posts and it keeps growing with upset people saying Seattle got screwed - NFL fans, not Seahawk fans...
http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?forumID=821&threadID=3134345&lastPostID=19294139
It doesn't change anything with how NFL does business - But at least we can feel a little vindicated - we aren't alone and we aren't insane kool-aid drinking homers (tonight-only exemption) thinking we got the shaft, size XL...