Super Bowl XLIII Thread

[Swaggs]

Just saw a new commentary on the Harrison return that will be disheartening for Cards' fans.

Larry Fitzgerald was rapidly closing in on Harrison, but bumped into Antrel Rolle, who was standing too close to the field (within the wide white endlines) and lost momentum. He eventually did catch up to Harrison on the 2 or 3, but couldn't pull him down before he made it (barely) into the endzone. He almost certainly would have caught up to him by the 10 or 15 if not colliding with Rolle.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Render

C) I've been watching the NFL for 30+ years and this is the first time I have ever seen the panalty for running into the holder and I've seen holders get wiped out entirely in games before.

I've never seen a holder get wiped out, but it doesn't matter...it's a penalty, clear as day.

And as stated earlier, I obviously disagree with your A and B, outside of the Roethlisberger roughing call.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Seems simple enough.


C) I've been watching the NFL for 30+ years and this is the first time I have ever seen the panalty for running into the holder and I've seen holders get wiped out entirely in games before.

Steelers fans will remember this one. 2003 Titans vs Steelers divisional playoff game...the Steelers rough the holder which gave the Titans a second shot at the game winning field goal which they made.

Some day this usually information in my head will make me money.

[sabotai]

Watching that last play again, I can't blame the OL for it. 2 rushers went outside, the middle rusher stayed in the middle. Warner looks like he has all day to throw the ball but start scrambling around for no reason. No one was near him when he started moving around. That's what gave the rusher time to dance around the blocker and get to Warner. Not to mention, he scrambled into the rush when there was nothing but open field to his left. I think that one is all on Warner.

[Swaggs]

Warner essentially took blame for the sack during one of his postgame interviews. He said he was just trying to buy a little extra time for someone to get open. The Steelers obviously had 8-men in coverage vs only 5 receivers, so it is not that hard to believe.

[Fighter of Foo]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Seems simple enough.

A)nthey made bad calls when they DID throw a flag.

B) they missed blatant calls that should have been made and would have been made in most cases.

C) I've been watching the NFL for 30+ years and this is the first time I have ever seen the panalty for running into the holder and I've seen holders get wiped out entirely in games before.



For Cringer:

The roughing the passer on Ben was a joke and it kept a drive alive allowing a pittsbugh TD (game changing play)

The non call on the INT runback (yet another game changing play)

There was a second call against Arizona on the same drive of the phantom roughing call on one of the safeties, I think for holding which was at best a ticky tack call that you wouldn't have seen in the regular season.

Non calls all first half long as Pittsburgh lineman literally tackle the cardinals front 7 as they rushed the passer.

Not having Harrison ejected was a complete joke after his assinine play on the punt. The initial call was good, but then after the first flag he continued on and should have gotten tossed.

I'd give you more specifics but I'm at work and don't really have time or access to specific plays atm.

Now I will not say it was ALL one sided, but the timing and severity of the calls was completly in Pitt's favor.



Its frustrating that a game that turned out as very entertaining as this one was to be redirected and pushed in one teams favor more than the other by the officials.

+1 Only comment is it's exceptionally difficult for officials to see/call penalties for holding or blocking in the back on a defensive return. On a regular kick return, the officials are in the proper positions to see most of that stuff. On a play like Harrison's there's maybe one ref that's anywhere near the play and the players are obviously much faster than he is.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

I thought that is what the 15-yard penalty was for.

K, thought so, but didn't see the game. So I didn't know whether it was the hold or the punch they were flagging him for.

Originally Posted by Logan

And it ended up being a one yard penalty after the punt was downed at the 2.

Lame all the same. If you see a guy haul off and hit somebody, that's unsportsmanlike conduct. If he's hitting someone who's not in a position to be a threat at all to him, that should've been a game misconduct. Just IMO.

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Yeah.. which basically means he could have pulled out a battle axe and cut his head off and it still would have been a 1 yd penalty.

Heh.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Just saw a new commentary on the Harrison return that will be disheartening for Cards' fans.

Larry Fitzgerald was rapidly closing in on Harrison, but bumped into Antrel Rolle, who was standing too close to the field (within the wide white endlines) and lost momentum. He eventually did catch up to Harrison on the 2 or 3, but couldn't pull him down before he made it (barely) into the endzone. He almost certainly would have caught up to him by the 10 or 15 if not colliding with Rolle.

Bummer

[Thomkal]

After posting here this morning I was watching 1st and 10 on ESPN and they were showing Santonio Holmes celebrating after the TD and using the football as a prop-in this case, like the chalk bowl LeBron James uses and then throws chalk into the air before each game. I did not see this during the game, did anybody else?

I hate it when the refs call penalties on these "excessive celebrations", because I enjoy most of them, but that probably should have been called too and wasn't.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Just saw a new commentary on the Harrison return that will be disheartening for Cards' fans.

Larry Fitzgerald was rapidly closing in on Harrison, but bumped into Antrel Rolle, who was standing too close to the field (within the wide white endlines) and lost momentum. He eventually did catch up to Harrison on the 2 or 3, but couldn't pull him down before he made it (barely) into the endzone. He almost certainly would have caught up to him by the 10 or 15 if not colliding with Rolle.

They were talking about this at 7 AM on ESPN today and showing the video. It was clear to me that Rolle cost Fitzgerald the chance to make that play. Rolle was way past where he should have been.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

After posting here this morning I was watching 1st and 10 on ESPN and they were showing Santonio Holmes celebrating after the TD and using the football as a prop-in this case, like the chalk bowl LeBron James uses and then throws chalk into the air before each game. I did not see this during the game, did anybody else?

I hate it when the refs call penalties on these "excessive celebrations", because I enjoy most of them, but that probably should have been called too and wasn't.

I remembered seeing it during the game (actually thought it was one of the funnier celebrations I've seen), but also remember Holmes being mobbed by his teammates on the ground for a fairly decent amount of time. I'm trying to think of how much time went by in between, and maybe the refs just weren't looking for it, and he may have even done it on the sideline instead of the end zone (feel free to clarify, although I'm not trying to say that would negate any penalty).

[Thomkal]

It looked like he was doing it in the endzone, but I'm not clear really on when or where it happened

[RainMaker]

He did it in the end zone and if it had been a regular season game, I'm sure he would have been flagged for it. I agree with the refs not throwing a flag. The guy just caught a go-ahead touchdown in the Super Bowl with 30 seconds left.

[RainMaker]

I don't think it was the greatest SB ever played, but it's certainly one of the most unique and exciting. I feel bad for Arizona as they seem to be the better team. That one bad pass by Kurt really put them in a hole. They thoroughly exposed the Pittsburgh defense.

The penalties killed them all game. I have to wonder if that Adrian Wilson one did end up hurting them. While they did hold the Steelers at the goalline, I'm wondering if those plays wiped them out. If they had a few less downs going into that last drive, maybe they would have been able to make a stop. The defense looked exhausted, especially the guys up front.

I don't think the officials were as bad as some on the radio and the net are trying to make them out to be. Most of the penalties were very obvious. But I can see the complaints on a few calls that were very close and always seemed to go Pittsburgh's way. The Roughing the Passer call was atrocious, although Pittsburgh fans could argue the unnecessary roughness call on Ike Turner shouldn't have been made.

[Draft Dodger]

I was there, and had an absolute blast. It was an amazing experience to be there in person.

[Groundhog]

Very exciting game, but I don't think it's possible to top last year's superbowl.

There were a few questionable calls that went Pittsburgh's way (and a few that weren't called - like when Big Ben was outside the pocket when he threw the ball away) that did, IMO at least, take something away from the game, but even so, as a fan of neither team, I found it an enjoyable game, with its fair share of memorable moments.

[Bad-example]

Pissed at the Super Bowl - from Rotoworld:

According to a gossip column in the NY Daily News, Matt Cassel was urinated on in the bathroom during the Super Bowl.
An intoxicated man allegedly tried to cut in front of Cassel at the Raymond James Stadium urinals. After Cassel told the drunk to wait his turn, the man "barged in and proceeded to purposefully pee directly" on Cassel's leg. Security tossed the liquored-up individual, but Cassel was forced to return to his seats with smelly wet pants. He'll surely be able to replace them with what's set up to be an exceptionally lucrative offseason.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Bad-example

Pissed at the Super Bowl - from Rotoworld:

According to a gossip column in the NY Daily News, Matt Cassel was urinated on in the bathroom during the Super Bowl.
An intoxicated man allegedly tried to cut in front of Cassel at the Raymond James Stadium urinals. After Cassel told the drunk to wait his turn, the man "barged in and proceeded to purposefully pee directly" on Cassel's leg. Security tossed the liquored-up individual, but Cassel was forced to return to his seats with smelly wet pants. He'll surely be able to replace them with what's set up to be an exceptionally lucrative offseason.

This is a clear conspiracy by the NFL and the refs to me.

[Logan]

Sounds to me like Cassell pissed himself and blamed it on a drunk guy.

[jeff061]

It's gotten ridiculous how quickly people bash the officials these days. It's gotten to the point if I see it I just ignore everything that person has to say.

That was a great game. The Steelers made incredible clutch plays in pressure situations. The Cardinals made incredible clutch plays in pressure situations. How any self respecting fan of football can even let the officiating cross their minds is beyond me.

If for some odd and insipid reason you really want to blame the officials, go ahead. You are missing out on greatness.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Logan

Sounds to me like Cassell pissed himself and blamed it on a drunk guy.

The drunk guy was Eli Manning.

[Bad-example]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

The drunk guy was Eli Manning disguised as Shorty.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by jeff061

It's gotten ridiculous how quickly people bash the officials these days. It's gotten to the point if I see it I just ignore everything that person has to say.

That was a great game. The Steelers made incredible clutch plays in pressure situations. The Cardinals made incredible clutch plays in pressure situations. How any self respecting fan of football can even let the officiating cross their minds is beyond me.

If for some odd and insipid reason you really want to blame the officials, go ahead. You are missing out on greatness.

what a bunch of hooey. Yes, the Steelers made some clutch plays. The Cardinals made some clutch plays. But do you want to know why so many people are complaining about the refs?

BECAUSE THE REFS MADE SO MANY HIGH VISIBILITY BAD CALLS

[jeff061]

BECAUSE THE REFS MADE SO MANY HIGH VISIBILITY BAD CALLS

I can't remember the last big game people weren't saying that. That's what people want to see, so that's what they see. There are bad calls every single game. Still officiating in the NFL is much better than other sports.

[Karlifornia]

Bad calls are part of any sport that relies on human officiating.

If you haven't come to terms with this fact, then maybe you should stick to darts or something else where human error has no effect on scoring.

[ISiddiqui]

Interesting factoid that Peter King brought up, Kurt Warner has played in 3 Super Bowls and has the most passing yards in SB history.

[molson]

Originally Posted by jeff061

I can't remember the last big game people weren't saying that. That's what people want to see, so that's what they see. There are bad calls every single game. Still officiating in the NFL is much better than other sports.

+1

The constant referee anger is just stupid, and I imagine, really can hurt someone's enjoyment of a game.

I don't get it. If Kurt Warner throws an interception, or fumbles, or trips, or misses an open man, we accept those things as a part of the game, because even superstar athletes make mistakes. But god help us all if a referee makes a mistake - that somehow damages the entire integrity of the game, and a team is "cheated" if they have a bad call go against them.

Get over it. Referees will always make mistakes. Just like players. It's part of the entertainment product that is pro sports. Sometimes your team gets a break, sometimes it doesn't. If your team dominates, you don't have to worry about it.

It's so ridiculous to have the super-closeups and enhanced imagery of close calls. In the old days, those plays "could go either way". These days, if the 5th reverse angle enhanced image shows something decisive that's different than the call - THE REFS ARE HORRIBLE!!! OMG THE GAME IS RIGGED!!!

[Logan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

But do you want to know why so many people are complaining about the refs?

BECAUSE THE REFS MADE SO MANY HIGH VISIBILITY BAD CALLS

Well the actual amount of people "complaining" about the refs is pretty low in my opinion, definitely less than the Pit-Sea SB.

And when you consider that the biggest complaint puts fault on the REPLAY BOOTH, not the refs, for not buzzing down to review the last play, a play that I'm 99% sure was correct but I can say with 100% certainty wouldn't have been overturned after a review anyway...yeah, I don't see the issue.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by jeff061

I can't remember the last big game people weren't saying that. That's what people want to see, so that's what they see.

+2

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Interesting factoid that Peter King brought up, Kurt Warner has played in 3 Super Bowls and has the most passing yards in SB history.

I wsa going to bring that up too. That offers a small measure of joy.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by jeff061

I can't remember the last big game people weren't saying that. That's what people want to see, so that's what they see. There are bad calls every single game. Still officiating in the NFL is much better than other sports.

I agree with this as well. The only thing missing is TroyF's annual rant about the officiating. including that this was the worst officiating game OF ALL TIME.

Of what I watched, I saw very stupid penalties and dirty plays, most of which were called.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Just saw a new commentary on the Harrison return that will be disheartening for Cards' fans.

Larry Fitzgerald was rapidly closing in on Harrison, but bumped into Antrel Rolle, who was standing too close to the field (within the wide white endlines) and lost momentum. He eventually did catch up to Harrison on the 2 or 3, but couldn't pull him down before he made it (barely) into the endzone. He almost certainly would have caught up to him by the 10 or 15 if not colliding with Rolle.

I have a question re: this whole play for the resident expert, Sak.

Fitzgerald ran, from what we can see, most, if not all, of his pursuit of Harrison, out of bounds. Including when he first makes contact with Harrison, both of his feet are out of bounds.

Would this, or should this, be a penalty? I know when the gunner on punt returns is forced out of bounds, he is supposed to be given reasonable opportunity to get back in bounds. At the same time, if he continues running out of bounds to avoid contact, he's assessed a penalty if he is the first to contact the returner.

Seems a pretty shitty way to avoid get caught up in blockers-- had any Steeler hit Fitz, we'd be hearing about one of the Steelers going after a defenseless player already out of bounds.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Interesting factoid that Peter King brought up, Kurt Warner has played in 3 Super Bowls and has the most passing yards in SB history.

King also points out a punch was thrown by a Cardinals player in the 2nd quarter...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...perbowl/4.html

b. How can a Cardinal (it was hard to tell whom) throw a haymaker on the first play of the second quarter and not only not get thrown out but not get penalized? That's a punch the umpire, Roy Ellison, absolutely cannot miss.

We'll hear 100 times Harrison was dirty and should have been ejected, mainly because of when (4th qusrter) it occurred

[jeff061]

Well really, mostly because it was Harrison.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

I have a question re: this whole play for the resident expert, Sak.

Fitzgerald ran, from what we can see, most, if not all, of his pursuit of Harrison, out of bounds. Including when he first makes contact with Harrison, both of his feet are out of bounds.

Would this, or should this, be a penalty? I know when the gunner on punt returns is forced out of bounds, he is supposed to be given reasonable opportunity to get back in bounds. At the same time, if he continues running out of bounds to avoid contact, he's assessed a penalty if he is the first to contact the returner.

There was a lengthy discussion of this play on the footballguys.com (fantasy site) boards, and the rulebook was busted out.

Basically there are two mentions of coming from out of bounds back into the field of play. The first is what you brought up re: kick coverage. That guy can also not be the first to touch a ball in an effort to down it.

The second time it's a penalty is when a receiver goes out of bounds (not by force) and then catches the ball.

There's nothing in the rules which prevents defenders (which Fitz was at that point), not a guy in kick coverage, from going OOB and being the first to make a tackle. I'll try to link a post from there.

edit: Hopefully this works, check here.

[stevew]

Also the NFL guys on sirius were saying that Fitz and some other Cards were basically jogging for the first part of the return.

Also wondering about the out of bounds running

Lord Tyrone also mentioned that Silverback was supposed to blitz before the long INT. He either got the play wrong or saw something that caused him to abort the blitz

[Swaggs]

I feel a little disappointed that Harrison did not win the MVP because the unintentional comedy value of all of the following interviews would have been priceless. That man is a seriously angry and grumpy dude -- would have been hilarious to see him having to give all the interviews and/or go on talkshows.

[Swaggs]

FWIW, I chalk most of the ref talk up to the fact that a lot of teams' fans do not like the Steelers. They have had on and off heated rivalries with all of the other AFC North teams, New England, Denver, Oakland, and Jacksonville. Plus, you throw in all of the Super Bowl opponents that they have had (I'm sure most Cowboy and Seahawks fans are not fond of them), and that is 1/3rd of NFL teams' fans. Add in the folks that were pulling for the underdog Cardinals and you get a lot of people looking for things to criticize against the Steelers.

I think that there were a lot of penalties called and that the refs made themselves part of the game, but I don't see a whole lot to complain about beyond the Warner fumble. There were a lot of sloppy and/or stupid plays.

Even the roughing the passer was justifiable, in my opinion. It could have been a no call, but the pass rusher could have pulled up or hugged Ben, rather than pushing him down -- so it wasn't completely unjustified.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by molson

+1

The constant referee anger is just stupid, and I imagine, really can hurt someone's enjoyment of a game.

I don't get it. If Kurt Warner throws an interception, or fumbles, or trips, or misses an open man, we accept those things as a part of the game, because even superstar athletes make mistakes. But god help us all if a referee makes a mistake - that somehow damages the entire integrity of the game, and a team is "cheated" if they have a bad call go against them.

Get over it. Referees will always make mistakes. Just like players. It's part of the entertainment product that is pro sports. Sometimes your team gets a break, sometimes it doesn't. If your team dominates, you don't have to worry about it.

It's so ridiculous to have the super-closeups and enhanced imagery of close calls. In the old days, those plays "could go either way". These days, if the 5th reverse angle enhanced image shows something decisive that's different than the call - THE REFS ARE HORRIBLE!!! OMG THE GAME IS RIGGED!!!

If Big Ben had made a mistake like the one you described instead of throwing a TD at the end of that game, fans and the media would still be ripping his ass during Week 8 of next season. Check through any of the sports threads. Players are criticized for mistakes all the time Why is it so egregious for an official to make a mistake and get criticized for it?

If you want to say that refs should not be subjected to the same standards of criticism that players and coaches are, by all means, make that argument. As I see it the officials are getting the same treatment that the other on-field participants when it comes to their mistakes.

[jeff061]

For the record. As a Pats fan, I hate the Steelers, though that position has softened in recent years as the feelings have transferred to San Diego. The Colts maintain the top rank, where they've been for years(not to say I don't love that rivalry).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Media Life Magazine - Super Bowl rating dips from last year

The Super Bowl drew a huge crowd last night, though not as big as last year’s record-breaking game.

NBC’s game coverage averaged a 42.1 household rating and 65 share, according to Nielsen metered-market overnights, off 6 percent from last year’s 44.7/66 for the New York Giants-New England Patriots game on Fox.

That game was the highest rated in the past 20 years and also set a record for all-time viewership, with 97.5 million tuning in.

Last night’s game matched the overnight from the 2007 Super Bowl between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, but it was down slightly from a 42.2/62 for the 2006 game. It’s also slightly below the 42.5 average for the past 20 Super Bowls, according to NBC.

These ratings are subject to change when final numbers are released late today or tomorrow by Nielsen.

The game peaked with a 48.0 rating at 10 p.m., as the contest came to its exciting conclusion. The Arizona Cardinals scored with under 3 minutes left, then the Pittsburgh Steelers answered with a touchdown inside a minute to go, setting the final score of 27-23 in favor of the Steelers.

The biggest local market tune-in, as expected, came in Pittsburgh, which averaged a 53.6/70. Norfolk, Va., was second at 52.6/72 and Jacksonville, Fla., third at 50.6/71.

Although I don't have easy access to this level of detail for the entire country, I suspect something I saw in Atlanta's overnight numbers likely holds true for a lot of the rest of the country & I'll mention it here just FWIW.
Declining ratings for Super Bowl's might be something advertisers & networks could have to start getting used to except for rare killer matchups since ratings for 18-34's were roughly 50% lower than for demo's such as 55+. Basically younger viewers don't seem to be watching the game nearly as much as older viewers, which could mean they won't have as strong a habitual viewing pattern as they age.

Could mean nothing of course, between institutional viewing (i.e. dorms & such) and bar viewing helping to make up some of the numbers but 50% less likely seemed pretty dramatic to me.

[stevew]

The holding in the endzone was a good call. I was actually pissed the Steelers were passing there. Try a couple runs and make them burn their timeouts. And I certainly hope they would have taken a safety in that situation on 4th. A punt would have certainly had the cards deep in steelers territory.

And Thomkal, are you "Carolina Cardinal" who calls into Sirius NFL?

[gstelmack]

I think a key problem is that the sports have not kept up on the officiating side like they have elsewhere. They are grudgingly giving the refs help, and if anything has made some things worse as the refs let a play go and expect replay to bail them out. One example that TMQ points out all the time is why doesn't EVERY NFL stadium have a camera on each side of each endzone line pointing straight down it? Or even go the hi-tech RFID route so you can pinpoint its location at precise moments in time? These things are possible, but they don't want to do it. And the only way we as fans have to push these issues is to gripe to high heaven and hope public pressure forces them to do something, much like the OOB catch play in the NED/BUF game put replay back in.

And you usually want the players on the field to decide the play, so when the refs take that away, you have a right to be ticked off, even if it's only a play or two that doesn't change the outcome of the game. And plays like the Hochuli play in the DEN/SDO game just shine the spotlight even brighter.

Honestly, in this day and age, you've got enough cameras and angles to put three or four guys in the booth who could call penalties while watching the play, with the ability to pick the flag up when they check it again. And heck, maybe this would let them call personal fouls on instigators rather than reactors far more often and clean things up.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Or even go the hi-tech RFID route so you can pinpoint its location at precise moments in time?

My thought would be that if NASCAR can pinpoint the location of 43 cars traveling nearly 200 mph at opposite ends of a 2 mile track then there ought to be some way to improve what we see in stick & ball sports.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The biggest local market tune-in, as expected, came in Pittsburgh, which averaged a 53.6/70. Norfolk, Va., was second at 52.6/72 and Jacksonville, Fla., third at 50.6/71.

Norfolk was the second highest market? Any idea as to why?

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I think a key problem is that the sports have not kept up on the officiating side like they have elsewhere. They are grudgingly giving the refs help, and if anything has made some things worse as the refs let a play go and expect replay to bail them out. One example that TMQ points out all the time is why doesn't EVERY NFL stadium have a camera on each side of each endzone line pointing straight down it? Or even go the hi-tech RFID route so you can pinpoint its location at precise moments in time? These things are possible, but they don't want to do it. And the only way we as fans have to push these issues is to gripe to high heaven and hope public pressure forces them to do something, much like the OOB catch play in the NED/BUF game put replay back in.

Hell, if the data center where I work can throw RFID tags on pretty much every one of the 10,000 servers (some costing maybe $1K max) there, I'm pretty sure the NFL can scrape together some cash to put them on players' helmets, uniforms, the ball, and more so we can get accurate readings of where everything (knee, front tip of ball, back tip of ball, etc) is for accurate calls.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Norfolk was the second highest market? Any idea as to why?SI

Eh, Norfolk ratings are frequently kind of screwy looking. As the locals explain it to me, the irregular shift work nature of so many of the jobs in the area makes the market odd sometimes. You'll see stuff like Saturday afternoon cable reruns with higher ratings than a lot of primetime shows ... but only sometimes. That'll happen when the shipyards & military are running busy, people can't watch The Shield or whatever during first run, so they catch the repeat on FX when they're off on Saturday afternoon.

Like I said, just kind of a quirky market for ratings, nothing there really surprises me any more.

[stevew]

The NFL needs to experiment with new tech this offseason. The play clock should be able to buzz the red for delay of game

There needs to be cameras and sensors on the goalline pylons. And in the stitching of the ball.


All of these things would be expensive. But with digital timestamps it would make replay easier in goalline calls

[Wolfpack]

One possibility is because Tomlin is from that area (born in Newport News, played at William & Mary, dad played at Hampton). Nothing like "local boy does good" for a draw card (especially to help continue to wash the taste of the Vick brothers out of the collective mouth there).

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by stevew

The holding in the endzone was a good call. I was actually pissed the Steelers were passing there. Try a couple runs and make them burn their timeouts. And I certainly hope they would have taken a safety in that situation on 4th. A punt would have certainly had the cards deep in steelers territory.

And Thomkal, are you "Carolina Cardinal" who calls into Sirius NFL?

Not I, unless he's a font of wisdom, and then its me.