Sunday, February 05, 2006
LETDOWN SEAHAWKS!
Where do I start?
-- The 3rd-and-forever play where Roethlisberger ran left and found Hines Ward inside the 5 turned the entire tide of the game. It also reeked of last year, i.e., not getting off the field on third down, especially on 3rd-and-28. That's almost 4th-and-26 bad. And it came after such a nice Grant Wistrom sack. That hurt.
-- Jerramy Stevens had a bunch of drops, another thing that reeked of last year, though it was the entire receiving corps last year. He also caught the touchdown pass, immediately making it so that he did more in this game than Joey Porter did. Too bad it's small consolation.
-- Etric Pruitt was the Terreal Bierria of the game. Face it, once Marquand Manuel was declared out of the game with the groin injury, Pittsburgh had its way with the secondary after that. It's crap that it had to come down to that, but them's the breaks, and it sucks.
-- The Rocky Bernard injury really did not help matters.
-- Special teams zoo
-- I think you can blame Josh Brown for maybe one of those missed field goals.
-- It seemed they had Hasselbeck taking a whole lot more shots down the field than usual, though definitely not with as great success. I knew when DJ Hackett lined up that they were going to him the one time, and if he would have caught that ball...
-- With all the three-and-outs the Seattle defense forced in the first half, the offense failed to pick them up beyond the three points. There were way too many stalled drives. Also, Michael Boulware's interception was followed by an offensive three-and-out. The crazy-ass Roethlisberger play came on the next Pittsburgh possession.
-- Untimely penalties negating big returns, big plays, etc.
Of course, the last two of those points are somewhat contingent on the officials. Seriously, for a game with the magnitude of a Super Bowl, there were a lot of shoddy calls, and it's really been going on for the entire playoffs, not just this game, and not just because I'm a Seahawk fan; we're not the only team that's been screwed here [add ~8:45p -- some evidence; thanks to Lucero for that link -- he's been doing a great job over there all season]. The Darrell Jackson push-off was a bit debatable (if there's any gray area between contact and a push-off, I don't think he pushed off), and I thought Jackson had the left foot down and kicked the pylon with the right foot on the one catch that would have been a touchdown. I think it was Sean Locklear that was called for a phantom hold. It's like they flew in NHL officials to officiate the Super Bowl or something.
So what are we left with? I've got a feeling this was their one shot. Shaun Alexander might bolt. When are we going to see a Seahawk team win eleven straight again? This team was too special. It can't be like this again. Can it be a different path ending in a Super Bowl? Sure. I just wish it could have been with this group of guys who were so resilient in every game before this one. They captivated the entire Northwest region.
So you might be able to understand how crappy I feel right now knowing that my team got this far and couldn't quite pull it off, since I'm left over the next eight months to watch a baseball team that hasn't gotten to the World Series and won't do it this year.
GO CANUCKS GO! Sure, pitchers and catchers for said local pro baseball team report to Peoria in mere weeks, and I'll track the team day to day as best I can, but they're going to have to really pull something out of nowhere to rival what the Seahawks did this season, and they haven't made moves this offseason to warrant that in my wildest dreams.
The rest of my night looks like it will involve sleep but definitely won't involve ESPN. That means it's all Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network.
My special thanks to everyone that's hung with us this season, be it just by stopping by the page or leaving comments or being in the game threads. You help make it all worthwhile.
-- The 3rd-and-forever play where Roethlisberger ran left and found Hines Ward inside the 5 turned the entire tide of the game. It also reeked of last year, i.e., not getting off the field on third down, especially on 3rd-and-28. That's almost 4th-and-26 bad. And it came after such a nice Grant Wistrom sack. That hurt.
-- Jerramy Stevens had a bunch of drops, another thing that reeked of last year, though it was the entire receiving corps last year. He also caught the touchdown pass, immediately making it so that he did more in this game than Joey Porter did. Too bad it's small consolation.
-- Etric Pruitt was the Terreal Bierria of the game. Face it, once Marquand Manuel was declared out of the game with the groin injury, Pittsburgh had its way with the secondary after that. It's crap that it had to come down to that, but them's the breaks, and it sucks.
-- The Rocky Bernard injury really did not help matters.
-- Special teams zoo
-- I think you can blame Josh Brown for maybe one of those missed field goals.
-- It seemed they had Hasselbeck taking a whole lot more shots down the field than usual, though definitely not with as great success. I knew when DJ Hackett lined up that they were going to him the one time, and if he would have caught that ball...
-- With all the three-and-outs the Seattle defense forced in the first half, the offense failed to pick them up beyond the three points. There were way too many stalled drives. Also, Michael Boulware's interception was followed by an offensive three-and-out. The crazy-ass Roethlisberger play came on the next Pittsburgh possession.
-- Untimely penalties negating big returns, big plays, etc.
Of course, the last two of those points are somewhat contingent on the officials. Seriously, for a game with the magnitude of a Super Bowl, there were a lot of shoddy calls, and it's really been going on for the entire playoffs, not just this game, and not just because I'm a Seahawk fan; we're not the only team that's been screwed here [add ~8:45p -- some evidence; thanks to Lucero for that link -- he's been doing a great job over there all season]. The Darrell Jackson push-off was a bit debatable (if there's any gray area between contact and a push-off, I don't think he pushed off), and I thought Jackson had the left foot down and kicked the pylon with the right foot on the one catch that would have been a touchdown. I think it was Sean Locklear that was called for a phantom hold. It's like they flew in NHL officials to officiate the Super Bowl or something.
So what are we left with? I've got a feeling this was their one shot. Shaun Alexander might bolt. When are we going to see a Seahawk team win eleven straight again? This team was too special. It can't be like this again. Can it be a different path ending in a Super Bowl? Sure. I just wish it could have been with this group of guys who were so resilient in every game before this one. They captivated the entire Northwest region.
So you might be able to understand how crappy I feel right now knowing that my team got this far and couldn't quite pull it off, since I'm left over the next eight months to watch a baseball team that hasn't gotten to the World Series and won't do it this year.
GO CANUCKS GO! Sure, pitchers and catchers for said local pro baseball team report to Peoria in mere weeks, and I'll track the team day to day as best I can, but they're going to have to really pull something out of nowhere to rival what the Seahawks did this season, and they haven't made moves this offseason to warrant that in my wildest dreams.
The rest of my night looks like it will involve sleep but definitely won't involve ESPN. That means it's all Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network.
My special thanks to everyone that's hung with us this season, be it just by stopping by the page or leaving comments or being in the game threads. You help make it all worthwhile.
/ Click for main page
