Two great NFL games this weekend

[Jeremy Festa]

^ sorry

[ptrthgr8]

I hope Seattle wins it too, but if they don't I have absolute confidence that their fans will blame it on something besides the team's performance.

I agree that there will always be some fans of every team in every sport who feel that their team's loss is due to anything other than their team's performance. But I was specifically referring to Superbowl XL, as you know. Anyone who looks at that objectively cannot possibly conclude that the refs didn't help the Steelers win. Seattle outplayed Pittsburgh in almost every category, but there were at least 3 terrible calls that went against the Seahawks that resulted in points for the Steelers. You can google or Bing "Superbowl XL controversy" and instantly see that it's not just something that Seattle fans are making up. Further, even Bill Leavy, the head ref of SB XL, later came out and admitted the refs blew the game for Seattle. He actually apologized to Seattle. Apologized. A head ref. In the NFL. Interesting.

http://bleacherrepor...n-super-bowl-xl

But I agree that's old history now. What's done is done and nothing can changed, so better to focus on the great team Seattle currently has. Seattle is the only team left in the playoffs to not have a championship, so I really, really, really, hope they're motivated enough to go out there and utterly destroy San Fran and then make short work of whichever team they end up playing for the title. The city of Seattle would be in party-mode for months after a win like that.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

[DrunkenMonkey]

I agree that there will always be some fans of every team in every sport who feel that their team's loss is due to anything other than their team's performance. But I was specifically referring to Superbowl XL, as you know. Anyone who looks at that objectively cannot possibly conclude that the refs didn't help the Steelers win. Seattle outplayed Pittsburgh in almost every category, but there were at least 3 terrible calls that went against the Seahawks that resulted in points for the Steelers. You can google or Bing "Superbowl XL controversy" and instantly see that it's not just something that Seattle fans are making up. Further, even Bill Leavy, the head ref of SB XL, later came out and admitted the refs blew the game for Seattle. He actually apologized to Seattle. Apologized. A head ref. In the NFL. Interesting.

http://bleacherrepor...n-super-bowl-xl

But I agree that's old history now. What's done is done and nothing can changed, so better to focus on the great team Seattle currently has. Seattle is the only team left in the playoffs to not have a championship, so I really, really, really, hope they're motivated enough to go out there and utterly destroy San Fran and then make short work of whichever team they end up playing for the title. The city of Seattle would be in party-mode for months after a win like that.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

I know the game well; it lives on my DVR, and I replay it whenever I need to lift my mood. I can't claim objectivity, but the whole "refs gave the steelers the game" isn't accurate. And certainly the "Seahawks outplayed the Steelers" is just silly.

The 1st quarter TD that was called back for the WR pushing off was a good call. Even so, the refs didn't make Seattle go 3-and-out after that; the Steelers run D did that. The bad call on Hasslebeck's tackle during Ike Taylor's interception return in the 4th quarter gave the Steelers 15 extra yards. That meant they had to score from their own 45 instead of their own 30, right? Not throwing the INT would of course have solved the problem, but also remember that the scoring play on that drive was that beautiful fake-reverse-TD pass from Randel-El to Hines Ward. Not having multiple jocks handed to your defense on that play would have done a lot towards overcoming the bad call, but somehow I don't think that 15 yards was going to be the difference. So what's left? There was a questionable holding call that nullified a deep pass in the 4th quarter, but let's assume that the Seahawks score that TD. They lost by 11, which I think is more than a TD.

Enjoy the games this week.

[ptrthgr8]

And certainly the "Seahawks outplayed the Steelers" is just silly.

I was referring to the game stats. It had it in my mind that the Seahawks pretty much had all the better stats in the game, but going back now and looking again I see it was fairly even in terms of post-game stats. Well, aside from the score anyhow. Seahawks had more total yards, but Steelers had more rushing yards. Seahawks had more 1st downs, but Steelers had a better 3rd down conversion. Etc., etc. I think Seattle had a really solid first half, so I think that's what I was remembering. So my apologies there.

... So what's left? There was a questionable holding call that nullified a deep pass in the 4th quarter, but let's assume that the Seahawks score that TD. They lost by 11, which I think is more than a TD.

Well, it's hard to say if x hadn't occurred that y would still have occurred. Check this out from a probability angle:

http://www.advancedn...fficiating.html

If you look at the 4 most often discussed calls/plays, the difference against Seattle was .40 WP. Meaning that if those calls hadn't hurt Seattle, there would have been an additional 40% probability that Seattle would have won that game. Look at the Win Probability Graph. For most of the 1st half it was Seattle's game. It skews well towards the Steelers in the 3rd Quarter, but then in the 4th Quarter the Seahawks make their comeback. The last two controversial calls - the two for which Leavy specifically apologized - occurred after the highpoint in the graph (for Seatte.) Even just those two calls alone, had they gone Seattle's way, would have given the Seahawks another .17 WP (or another 17% Win Probability), on top of what was already there.

So, yeah, I know it's all woulda/coulda/shoulda and Seattle clearly made some mistakes (as all teams are apt to do at times), but I also think it's at least more than just mildly likely that the refs had too great an impact on that game. We'll never know, of course. I'll continue to wave the "We were robbed!" flag and I'm sure you'll continue to wave the "I'm in denial!" flag.

Enjoy the games this week.

You, too, my friend. I hope we see some good football. I think the Seahawks/Niners game has the chance of being all sorts of chippy. Which I like. Because I enjoy seeing the players chirping and yapping at each other. One of the reasons why I love hockey so much.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

[FLB03TT]

Does Manning retire if he gets the ring?

Doubt it. He's healthy, clearly at the top of his game and I believe that he truly loves playing the game.

[DrunkenMonkey]

Doubt it. He's healthy, clearly at the top of his game and I believe that he truly loves playing the game.

I totally agree. There's no other reason for him to have come back after the neck surgeries. He had plenty money. Why risk your entire future health when you have nine figures in the bank? Because you love playing football, and you're also a bit insane. But I'm glad he's playing; it's certainly fun to watch. I think he'll play until his arm falls off.

[guideright]

Great playoffs - this weekend should be awesome as well - don't normally watch much during the season but really enjoy the playoffs

[perfectform]

Legion of BOOM!

Sent from Skynet using Tapatalk

[ramon_cojones]

seahawks!

[El Presidente]

I love great "D". great "D" takes mongrel.

For this reason alone I hope the SHawks get up. If they don't produce, Denver in a canter.

[Ken Gargett]

like to see the broncos get up. don't particularly like them but i do like peyton.

and imagine history if in 100 years people look back and see that eli got twice as many superbowl wins as peyton. too weird.

also, i know you can do what you want when you win but the 49ers (and no fan of them either) got some really crap decisions today. could very easily have gone the other way, so to see some of the seahawks going around making choke signals left a bad taste. like wilson a lot but some of his team are grubs and you would like to see them get their just desserts.

[Bill Hayes]

The turnover when the 49er's player broke his leg seems to be the call that handed the Seahawks the win in my unprofessional occasional NFL watcher. I guess the Seahawks fans can now say that they are back to even going into their second superbowl appearance. But the amount of turnovers was worrying. They'll have to be cleaner against the Broncos who looked the goods. Then again, it's going to be in NY and cold with probability of snow maybe so safe hands and strong rushing might be the difference. Looking forward to it.

[oliverdst]

Broncos game I confess I slept during it.

Niners' was great.

[Larsy]

AFC game was boring as hell. NFC game, screw both of those teams.

Seeing Bowman go down with the ACL tear though really stung, love watching him play. Hope he recovers well

[Louich]

Omaha ! Broncos to the SB.

Will PM be the first QB to win a ring with two different teams?

[FLB03TT]

Omaha ! Broncos to the SB.

Will PM be the first QB to win a ring with two different teams?

He certainly deserves it!

[ramon_cojones]

The turnover when the 49er's player broke his leg seems to be the call that handed the Seahawks the win in my unprofessional occasional NFL watcher. I guess the Seahawks fans can now say that they are back to even going into their second superbowl appearance. But the amount of turnovers was worrying. They'll have to be cleaner against the Broncos who looked the goods. Then again, it's going to be in NY and cold with probability of snow maybe so safe hands and strong rushing might be the difference. Looking forward to it.

this made no difference in the game as they got the ball back anyway during the very next play if you watched the game

[ptrthgr8]

I hope it ends up being as great a game as it ought to be. Two completely different teams, completely different QBs. Manning is about as mobile as a tree - how will he handle such an active D like Seattle's? I guess we'll find out.

This is basically the Superbowl I always wanted. As a kid growing up in Seattle we learned to hate the Broncos from an early age - but since we were in the same division at the time we knew there couldn't possibly be a SB match-up between the two teams. Oh, but now! Now we've got the match-up I've always wanted to see. Looks like it's time to break out the Bronco Busters swag all over again:

The shop in the Seattle area that is known for making the best 12th Man flags finally got some more of the 4' x 6' jobs in stock (they were out of stock for what seemed like forever); I ordered one last week and it arrived in Friday morning. I'll never know for certain, but I certainly do like to think having this flag proudly flying in North Dakota somehow helped the Seahawks defeat the Niners. I will continue to fly the flag and we'll see what happens during the Superbowl.

GO, SEAHAWKS!

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

[perfectform]

I hope it ends up being as great a game as it ought to be. Two completely different teams, completely different QBs. Manning is about as mobile as a tree - how will he handle such an active D like Seattle's? I guess we'll find out.

This is basically the Superbowl I always wanted. As a kid growing up in Seattle we learned to hate the Broncos from an early age - but since we were in the same division at the time we knew there couldn't possibly be a SB match-up between the two teams. Oh, but now! Now we've got the match-up I've always wanted to see. Looks like it's time to break out the Bronco Busters swag all over again:

The shop in the Seattle area that is known for making the best 12th Man flags finally got some more of the 4' x 6' jobs in stock (they were out of stock for what seemed like forever); I ordered one last week and it arrived in Friday morning. I'll never know for certain, but I certainly do like to think having this flag proudly flying in North Dakota somehow helped the Seahawks defeat the Niners. I will continue to fly the flag and we'll see what happens during the Superbowl.

GO, SEAHAWKS!

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

Awesome stuff man! I barely could sleep last night, I was so pumped up.

Let's go 'hawks! LOB!

[Peacock]

I hope it ends up being as great a game as it ought to be. Two completely different teams, completely different QBs. Manning is about as mobile as a tree - how will he handle such an active D like Seattle's? I guess we'll find out.

This is basically the Superbowl I always wanted. As a kid growing up in Seattle we learned to hate the Broncos from an early age - but since we were in the same division at the time we knew there couldn't possibly be a SB match-up between the two teams. Oh, but now! Now we've got the match-up I've always wanted to see. Looks like it's time to break out the Bronco Busters swag all over again:

The shop in the Seattle area that is known for making the best 12th Man flags finally got some more of the 4' x 6' jobs in stock (they were out of stock for what seemed like forever); I ordered one last week and it arrived in Friday morning. I'll never know for certain, but I certainly do like to think having this flag proudly flying in North Dakota somehow helped the Seahawks defeat the Niners. I will continue to fly the flag and we'll see what happens during the Superbowl.

GO, SEAHAWKS!

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

X2 ^^^^!

GO HAWKS!!! Gonna be a great SuperBowl....#1 Offense vs. #1 Defense.

[riazp]

SEAHAWKS BABY!!! Nerve racking game. Been a fan my whole life...went through soooo many year of sub .500 football with them. Thi might be our year. Hopefully our D will have a strong game vs Broncos potent offense and Our offene can produce. Will be a very good SB imo

[bogglor]

Sad way to end the season for the Patriots. They didn't play well at all. I didn't have many expectations for this season given the rash of injuries to many key players on the team but making the SB with this team would have been one of Bill Belichick's greatest coaching jobs ever. It still might be, to be honest.

Looking forward to 2014 with hopefully another playmaker or two on offense and a healthy defense.

[perfectform]

SEAHAWKS BABY!!! Nerve racking game. Been a fan my whole life...went through soooo many year of sub .500 football with them. Thi might be our year. Hopefully our D will have a strong game vs Broncos potent offense and Our offene can produce. Will be a very good SB imo

There you are! What a great win. LOB will do the job on those Broncos and get what we should have had in Super Bowl XL!

[ramon_cojones]

so glad to see both the two teams i wanted to lose to actually do so yesterday

actually excited for this superbowl

[Cletus]