POsted in the game thread, but thought I would put my gripes here:
Being a Seahawks fan I am biased, but other nonpartisan people I watched the game with completely agreed. Besides D Jax & Roethlisberger's TD there were many other instances.
The pass interference call on DJax hasn't been called like that all season. It only appeared to be called after the Pitt player reminded the official who he should be rooting for.
Roethlisberger's TD come on. The ref put up his hand to spot the ball until he "remembered" who was supposed to win the game.
Delay of game on Roethlisberger.
Hasselbeck's penalty for tackling.
Stevens fumble in the first half being ruled incomplete.
The pass to Stevens to the one where they called holding (the only other catch he held on to), where was the holding? No replay showed anywhere where there was holding. Madden even commented that it was a bad call.
Randle El's TD pass, there was holding in the exact same instance the Seahawks was called for in the first half.
Watch the first half and the spots the Seahawks were getting then. A number were short of where they should have been. They were spotting the ball where the knee was down, not where the ball was with the knee down. Who knew those poor spots were an omen for how the game would be officiated going forward.
Being jobbed by the officials wasn't just on three to four big plays, but seemed to be consistent over the course of the entire game. That is what is frustrating. I could understand one or two plays going against a team, but consistently poor officiaiting, from the first half through the end of the game was ridiculous (from little stuff like ball spotting to bogus TD calls). Looks like the NFL wanted the Bettis coming home & winning a championship story more than a fairly called game.