You have a really nice stadium…
I see something in the middle that could be a ball … could be the sleeve of someone’s uniform … could be a patch of grass … certainly isn’t PLAIN or EVIDENT.
Then you’re being deliberately obtuse by howling about how bad of a call that was. The photo indicates the ball broke the plane. Its hard to see, but a call had to be made. It wasn’t 4th down and certainly wouldn’t have changed anything, sorry. Game’s over. If you still feel like whining call up Holmgren, he sure is being quite the bitch.
Where have I howled, exactly? I haven’t said that it was a good call or bad call.
randomlyblanks, what I see in that extremely blurred image is what appears to be a ball well above Roethlisburger’s hand, much like a golf ball would sit on a tee, and the only thing keeping it from flying off into space is either part of his helmet or the back of a opposition player. If that’s correct then a question of possession would be appropriate.
However, the picture quality is just so awful that I’d be unwilling to argue that point or any other if we could instead obtain some other method of determination. It’s not that your point has merit or is unjust, it’s just that you’ve chosen the wrong item with which to prove a point. Grab something else and your contention will be met with move favorable criticism.
Ellis, did you think the season on a whole was crap or just the playoffs? (Holy shit, at first I typed that as "payoffs.) While it was a strange one for the teams I covered, the NFC East, I still found the regular season quite enjoyable and the parity very refreshing from seasons of late.
I’m wondering if there isn’t HD footage out there.
You know, it occurs to me that that might be what the ref was waiting for, was to make sure that Ben still had the ball.
I think the play is over as soon as the ball breaks the play (so it wouldn’t matter if he had it). Not 100% sure on that, but I think that’s the rule.
Breaks the plane of course, not the play.
I don’t think that makes sense, because he pulled it out from under his chest when he was on the ground and moved it over the goal line. If he had lost possession when in the air and then fallen on it, then the ball would have been down where he landed on it and crossing the plane in the air wouldn’t have mattered.
I think you have to break the plane with both feet on the ground. So if you jump in the air into the endzone but lose control before you hit the ground and drop the ball, it’s a fumble. I could be wrong. We should ask the guy who shelled out $10 for the NFL rulebook. 
Here’s what TMQ has to say about it:
[quote]
Four of the six big officiating decisions went against Seattle. Does this mean a pro-Steelers bias, as some in the sports yak world are saying, or perhaps a slap at Mike Holmgren by the officiating guild? (Holmgren ripped the officials after the Giants-Seahawks contest; conspiracy theory says the zebras were seeking vengeance.) The two decisions that favored the Hawks were the fourth-quarter replay reversal that gave possession, initially awarded to Pittsburgh, back to Seattle; and the no-call of a block in the back by Seattle during Kelly Herndon’s record interception return. Of the four big decisions that favored the Steelers, two seemed correct to me. On the offensive pass interference nullifying Seattle’s first touchdown, Darrell Jackson pushed off with the ball in the air and gained advantage by doing so. Had the physics of the play been exactly the same, except Jackson a defender, television announcers would have been screaming, “Interference!” It’s true, as some said, that Michael Irvin often got away with push-offs – but he shouldn’t have. And when Roethlisberger dove for Pittsburgh’s first touchdown, at game speed I thought, “He didn’t make it.” But replays showed the tip of the ball above the goal line, and Rule 3, Section 38 reads, “A touchdown is the situation is which any part of the ball, legally in possession of a player inbounds, in on, above, or behind an opponent’s goal line.”
On the flip side, the holding penalty against Sean Locklear, nullifying what would have been a Seahawks’ first-and-goal on the Pittsburgh 1 in the fourth quarter, seemed a bad call. On almost every Pittsburgh offensive play, a Steelers blocker grabbed as briefly as Locklear grabbed on the down in question; if it was illegal for one team, it should have been illegal for both teams. Owing to the dubious penalty, instead of first-and-goal, Seattle ended up throwing an interception on third-and-long. That interception undid the Seahawks, as they staged a 13-play, 81-yard drive that ended in no points, and undid the Super Bowl itself, converting what might have been a fabulous ending into a lackluster fourth quarter. Seattle faithful also have a legitimate complaint that the fourth-quarter 15-yard penalty on Hasselbeck for “low block” was inexplicable. The rulebook states that during a turnover, neither team may block below the waist. But Hasselbeck wasn’t blocking – he was making the tackle. Check the official Game Book, at 10:54 of the fourth quarter. The league’s own Game Book credits Hasselbeck with the tackle on a play where the penalty could be valid only if Hasselbeck was not making a tackle!
His analysis pretty much jibes with mine, except that I also agree with the holding call.
Sorry, I don’t have a cite, but on the local news, it was reported that he shook hands with Cowher in the locker room-he tried to do it on the field, but he just couldn’t get through the crowd.
Seattle fans, I feel for you guys-I know how much it sucks to lose the Super Bowl. Better luck next time-as long as you aren’t playing the Steelers. 
Wow, I just went back to your photo again and am embarrased to admit that what I thought during earlier inspection was a loose ball over the line was instead part of someone’s uniform.
The ball is instead though still in Roethlisberger’s left arm, cradled along the inside of his forearm and extends up to his neck and chin, much like how someone would hold a violin. It’s the darker maroon object and you can easily identify the Superbowl logo on it’s side… and it’s NOT across the goal as indicated by the red stripe.
I’d look for better evidence to support you claim because this shot says NO TOUCHDOWN.
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian]
Perhaps too tangential to this thread, but how about Holmgren not coming out to shake Cowher’s hand at the end of the game? QUOTE]
Holmgren was unable to get to Cowher on the field after the game because of all the people. He did go to the Steelers locker room after the game to congratulate Cowher and shake his hand… so lets get all the facts before we skewer the guy OK? “Fightin’ ignorance” and all.
Also Big Ben said something very interesting last night on Letterman. I’m paraphrasing here:
L: Did you think you got in the endzone on that play?
BB: Actually, no I didn’t. I told Coach Cowher I didn’t make it in!
From the lips of the QB!
:rolleyes: All I knew is what I saw on TV: Bill Cowher standing at midfield scanning the other side of the field with a bunch of people standing around him going “Where’s Mike?” “Where’s Holmgren?” Wait 50 seconds. Cut to commercial. So Cowher could make it to midfield and Holmgren couldn’t? Yeah, and Bradshaw wanted to spend time with his family. Either Holmgren thought better about what a dick move it was and slunk into the Steelers locker room, or he simply wanted to avoid being photographed with a soaking Superbowl champion coach.
Hey, you also have the Pen… never mind.
Nah, if the ball breaks the plane it’s a touchdown as long as you’re not already down or out of bounds.
For what it’s worth, I thought the officiating was absolutely bad enough to change the game, but I didn’t think the Roethlisberger touchdown was that terrible. The ref took a second to make the call, yeah, but he made a judgment call and there wasn’t anything in the replay to overturn it. I didn’t think he got in but that picture upthread has me thinking he got in.
Meanwhile, the refs aside, and Jerramy Stevens’ drops aside, why in blue blazes doesn’t anybody stay at home against the fucking Steelers’ gadgets? They run at least one and usually more trick plays per game, and they’re pass plays more often than not. So why can’t an NFL defensive coordinator with two weeks to prepare convince his secondary that, if you’ve got deep halves, and they run a reverse, you should wait until the fucking ball crosses the line of scrimmage before you let somebody behind you? I can’t be the only person who saw that play coming.
Also also, since I’m here, Walter Jones is unbelievable. Anybody know where he went to college?
Yeah, I probably did stretch it too far, but you get the idea of my rant at least. Good corrections on some of the points, like the Chargers were out because of the Steelers, though I’d quibble a bit on the Bengals and Broncos games. (Against the Bengals the Steelers took forever to get a hold of the game, even though it was against the supremely-cold off-the-bench Kitna. And the Broncos game, Jake Plummer simply reverted to form. Everyone knew he would eventually, it was just a matter of when. The ‘when’ happened to be against the Steelers.)
Don’t get me wrong; clearly the Steelers played well enough to win the Superbowl. My main grumble is that that particular bar was set so unusually low this postseason.
Agreed on the regular season. It had great stories of perennial powers struggling (Eagles, Patriots), the resurgence of storied franchises (Redskins, Giants), and some new blood ending up on top. (Bucs) An interesting rushing title race, troublemaker players getting their comeuppance; there was a ton of stuff to like about the regular season. If the postseason had been chock full of well-played games that came down to the wire, then 2005 would have been a phenomenal season.
But it wasn’t. The postseason was chock full of blowouts; if I had to sum up the postseason in a single word, I would pick ‘ineptitude’. The Giants would be the textbook example, but far from the only one.
The postseason was so bad that it has tainted my perception of the regular season. Now when I think back on it, I think about how many games the Chargers choked away in the early part of the season. Whether from their own stupidity in benching Gates for week 1, or just Marty’s inability to close out games, they left 3 or 4 wins on the field, and ended up just barely missing the tournament.
How many games did the good teams in the AFC West choke away to the NFC East in the final seconds, or even just the second half? The Broncos probably should have beaten the Giants, but at least that was a good game. What about the Chiefs losing to the Eagles? Horrible, horrible game. And KC just missed the playoffs as well. And speaking of the NFC East, what about the Seahawks wins over the Giants and Cowboys? Neither was earned; both were lost by the ineptitude of the teams in the East.
Or the 6-2 Falcons going 2-6 down the stretch. The total and complete collapse of the Jets more than offset the new life in Miami, not to mention the incompetence of the Billies when it came to handling their QB and receivers.
Because of the postseason, I find myself attributing virtually everything of significance in the regular season to teams choking badly, as opposed to teams winning through good play. Were the Panthers really 44-10 better than the Falcons? Or did the Falcons just quit?
So while there were multiple good stories of scrappy teams fighting their way to the postseason, they end up buried in an avalanche of teams not playing up to their potential. In the end, teams with major gaping flaws ended up being some of the best the NFL had to offer. When the offenseless Bears get a bye, things aren’t going well in the league.