Let's get it out of the way now: I was wrong, the masses were right. Except did anyone else notice that with the exception of three plays, Seattle had their way last night? And did anyone notice the succession of awful refereeing decisions that went against the Seahawks while none went against Pittsburgh? On three occasions after penalties had negated big Seahawk plays, John Madden said something to the effect of "That was not a good call." All three times he was right. Now don't get me wrong, good teams need to overcome those kinds of calls, and Seattle could not do it, but were I a Seahawks fan I'd have all the justification in the world to feel a bit put upon.
In any case, I maintain that last year's Patriots would have pounded either of those teams last night. So would last year's eagles or the Panthers from the year before. Oh well -- winter Olympics, March Madness and pitchers and catchers reporting should get us through the next month-and-a-half.
9 comments:
I would think that had this year's pats not had their (probably overdue) day of brainfarting they could have taken the whole thing. Just a bad, bad game in many ways.
Your prediction for next year is reasonable. I'd say the Pats have a shot at returning, and something tells me that we are going to see the return of one of the traditional powers -- maybe Washington or Dallas, in the NFC.
Oh well -- it's Bode Miller time.
dc
Not even Pittsburgh fans thought that was a good game. The officiating was distressingly bad (again), which is a shame--not just for Seahawks fans but also for those of us who think that Pittsburgh honestly outplayed Seattle (first quarter excepted)and could have had a victory unsullied by ifs or buts.
A team that misses two field goals and drops 23 passes, (and yes many of those incompletions were simply dropped) goes 5-17 on 3rd down and gets 1 sack to Pittsburgh's 3 did not outplay anybody. As bad as some of those calls were, the Seahawks failed miserably in many facets of the game. Most notably, putting points on the board.
Greg --
Those numbers independent of Pittsburgh's numbers sure look bad. But with two teams on the field, Seattle nonetheless outplayed Pittsburgh, which had even worse numbers. And the fact that Seattle scored less is directly connected to the officiating, as one score was wrongly taken off the board and another time Seattle got to the 1 yard line only to have that play negated on a bad call as well.
Pittsburgh won, and the only way we measure the better team is by who wins (this is why aesthetically judged sports suck) and so they get that title. But seattle still got screwed.
dc
You callin' me sloppy?
Do you prefer "Slappy"?
slippery
No good can come from following this line of thought . . .
I think the Skins can compete in the NFC with a serviceable quarterback and a stelar defense, especially assuming they upgrade weaknesses in the draft. I'd like to see that pats cultivate a back as well, though through the draft -- no sense doing it through free agency, which the Pats have been so savvy in working.
If the Pats stay healthy, they will have to be considered front runners. Of course the AFC East will be tough if the Dolphins improve as much as some suspect that they will.
dcat
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