Super Bowl Officiating Was Just Fine

TAMPA, Fla. --The friendly young man who took my bag at the rental car area of the Tampa airport guessed I had been in town for the Super Bowl and wanted to talk football.

"Man, I couldn't believe some of those calls," he told me. "It's the Super Bowl. How do you call that stuff?"

I wasn't really in the mood for a conversation about the finer points of NFL officiating, but if I had been, I would have asked, in all sincerity, "What stuff?"

Maybe the tens of millions who watched on TV feel differently, but from my viewpoint in Section 206 of Raymond James Stadium, the Super Bowl XLIII officiating was just fine. Yes, we've all agreed that the roughing the passer penalty called against Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby was questionable at best. But that penalty wasn't too costly for the Cardinals; the Steelers ended up kicking a field goal on the drive, which is probably what they would have done anyway.

And other than that? I really didn't see much to complain about. Some people think the game should have been halted for a lengthy review of Kurt Warner's final fumble, but the right call was made on the field.

The Cardinals were assessed more penalties than the Steelers (11 to 7) for more yards (106 to 56), but that was because the Cardinals committed more penalties. You can always say holding should have been called here or shouldn't have been called there, but is that how we want to spend our Monday morning after the Super Bowl? There were no particularly egregious mistakes from referee Terry McAulay and his crew.

There were some high-profile mistakes by on-field officials during the 2008 NFL season, and those mistakes need to be addressed. But let's not go looking for problems with the officiating when there's nothing there.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

2-02-2009 @ 10:11AM

mcskeechy said...

Dude, you're high.

2-02-2009 @ 10:22AM

Trish HardXcore said...

Omg you have to be kidding me. I mean really that 100 yd run by James Harrison should've been called back... there was massive holding on Kurt Warner on that run and a HUGE block in the back to Hightower. Watch that run again and you will see. Secondly KURT WARNER was THROWING the ball with 5 seconds left, and you call it a fumble. Omg are you blind.

2-02-2009 @ 11:22AM

jmillie99 said...

dude you lost, get over it. i can say james harrison gets held every play cause he does, he's unstoppable but it wasnt called every play. ya warners arm was going forward but he was bobbling the ball therefor he had no possession of the ball. take a look at the one that got overturned and that one. huge difference. there were alot more calls pittsburgh coulda got but didnt. get over it! WE GOT THE SIX PACK!!!!!!

ED said...

i agree with you..there were a few bad/not called calls but all in all a very exciting football game, with the better team winning..im not sayn this because the PITTSBURGH STEELERS are the best in the NFL ..lol. i just think that the game in a whole was very very good.

2-02-2009 @ 10:27AM

Brian Grummell said...

Mike,

I know you're on a high from the game but it was bad. The Warner fumble play absolutely demanded a review and stoppage.

The facemask on Cromartie was ridiculous with the offensive player himself facemasking Cromartie.

The Steelers also got away with a clip on Harrison's TD return, thats 7 points off the board right there.

The hold that set up the Steelers' safety needn't have been called either, the offensive lineman was falling down, got completely overpowered and simply grabbed the defender who himself was falling down onto the lineman, to brace himself.

Just a total fiasco.

2-02-2009 @ 1:50PM

Matt Snyder said...

So when the offensive player is falling down, he's allowed to take a defender down with him by grabbing a hold of him? That's absurd. That was textbook holding, and it prevented the defender from further pressuring the quarterback.

And why did the Warner play demand a review? It would have been courtesy review for the Cardinals, but the call on the field was correct, as the ball was cleary not fully possessed by Warner when his arm started to move forward.

2-02-2009 @ 10:57AM

sumins3 said...

Were you not watching while Harrison pounded the guy on the turf. He should have been ejected or sent to jail. Were does this game rank in terms of penalties accessed in SB games?

2-02-2009 @ 11:17AM

Welcome Heather said...

Yes and he was flagged for 15 yards which resulted in a TD for Arizona. I agree his actions were uncalled for and he will probably be fined, but it was called by the refs.

2-02-2009 @ 11:24AM

hnza6 said...

why wasn't harrison ejected from the game from what i saw he was assaulting the other player plain as day on television i read my local newspaper and they only wrote of his "grear td return" not the other side of him

2-02-2009 @ 11:19AM

wilder2002mtw said...

Last year's game was a lot better, a classic and this one was merely exciting but seriously flawed by very bad officiating! I saw two Steeler personal fouls that should have been cause for ejection. How do you punch somebody out of bounds on their side of the field and not get ejected? The ending was bad too because it looked like Warner's arm was moving forward. It could have been a lot more exciting if they'd let it go down to the wire. I just wanted to see a good "clean" game and the ref's REALLY blew it!

2-02-2009 @ 12:26PM

Kathy said...

Pansy has nothing to do with assault. I am a steeler fan and that is not how a man plays football. That is how a punk plays. He needs to be fined and the coach that ingnores that kind of pathetic behavior is also a punk setting a bad example for sportsmanship period. All the sportscastors HAVE NOT MENTIONED HITTING A MAN ON THE GROUND.AFTER THE PLAY WAS DEAD.And by the way that is not legal dude read the rules(read is the key word here) don't watch the longest yard ,not prison NFL!!!!!So sportscasters have lost the ability to actually report bad things when they see them. Steelers were lucky and they have some few punks who don't deserve to be champions. Harrison for sure. He said it himself he should be flipping burgers,

2-02-2009 @ 12:30PM

kindatuchy said...

From the " roughing the Passer " to the final play,,,,,,,,had to be one of the WORST Officiating joooobs I have ever had to endure. I don't care for either of these two teams but from your vantage point in whatever section you were in........all I can say is your blind in one eye and can't see out of the other!!!!!!!

2-02-2009 @ 12:59PM

Odie said...

MDS, I completely agree. I'd say more to refute some of the comments that adamantly say otherwise, but it does not appear worth while. To each there own.

2-02-2009 @ 1:10PM

hockeykev12 said...

Maybe you should have stayed in Section 206 because the officiating sucked and i'm not even a Cardnials fan

2-02-2009 @ 1:12PM

BJ said...

Santonio Holmes used the ball as a prop during the celebration on the game winning TD, that's 15 yards on the kickoff and could've greatly changed Arizona's strategy at the end of the game. Did the refs win the game for the steelers? No, but if the NFL is going to make retarded rules limiting celebration, they should call them or get them off the books.

2-02-2009 @ 1:42PM

Spleeve said...

Jmillie99 - A collision sport - hahaha - Harrison's fist was colliding with one of the Cards. Nice. You're an idiot. By the way, since you claim it is a collision sport, what about the 15 yard penalty on the cards for roughing the passer (BEN). I've seen more contact in a touch football game. This game was handed to the Steelers.

2-02-2009 @ 2:01PM

cjb1869 said...

alright i watched the game, not as a fan of either team just as a fan of football. arizona got the wind knocked out of them at halftime by that sick run.. then the 3rd quarter the flags flew.. the whole 3rd quarter was based on penalities. I think the past 4 superbowls have been fixed to an extent... like last time pitt won = pentalities won the game.. when the colts won, peyton manning's name won the game, when the giants won, it was new englands cheating thing at the beginning of the year and the talk of the undefeated season being tainted (hey i bet if tyree didnt catch that ball they woulda threw a flag for pass interference, roughing the passer or maybe even my personal favorite "defensive holding" and this year.. you knew arizona was gonna come back, you had to know that. the nfl likes to make its fans feel smart, but then hit them with something they arent expecting at the end. wonder why theres a 2 week break between championship and superbowl? its not for publicity.. its for rehersal. Overall they did what they had to do, kept everyone entertained.. anyone else see pitt let fitzgerald get that TD? well scripted? (similiar to the reggie wayne catch a couple years back, just no one was there magically..) you cant have a superbowl be a blowout, you gotta keep the people entertained and the NFL did a good job of that this year and last year. Notice every superbowl lately something that has never happened.. happens?? I bet next year's theres an overtime, maybe a manning vs manning superbowl, cuz they gotta keep topping themselves.. ahh the NFL what have you done?

Chris said...

Pittsburgh is the best team in the NFL today. Anyone who thinks or says anything about holding calls, James Harrison gets held 90% of the time in EVERY game, or that the refs "gave" the game to Pittsburgh is a complete fuckhead! The Steelers won the game outright and no cutting corners or behind the scenes trickery or help from higher sources.

They were and are the better team. That last 67 yard drive by Ben was huge and showed that he is one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL, period. It wasn't luck or a "gimmie".

2-02-2009 @ 2:09PM

h18sticks said...

neither a cards or stiilers fan. but this is the 2nd year in a row the outcome was decided by the black and white. mds - you must be smokin' crack. even after the hit warner still had control of the ball during the process of throwing it. it was unquestionably a forward pass that went incomplete. you better borrow someone's glasses. on a deciding play like that they have to take the time to review just like they did for the other ones. the immaculate deception strikes again.

2-02-2009 @ 2:26PM

Bruce Ciskie said...

Wow. Some of you shouldn't even be allowed near a computer if this is the best you can come up with.

Anyway, Warner's hand was going forward without the ball in it. He almost looked to be batting it ahead because he had lost control of it. Seemed pretty obvious to me, but I'm sure I'm just either blind, on drugs, or a Steeler fan.

Holmes should have been flagged, but the officials looked like they were busy conferring to make sure they got the call right. They had more important things to do and didn't have time to stand around and wait for someone to commit an excessive celebration foul.

The only call I had a major issue with was the roughing-the-passer on Dansby. But as Snyder pointed out in the Zebra Report, it's consistent with how they've called late hits on the QBs all year. I hate the new standards on that, but the standards aren't going anywhere.

It was a great Super Bowl, one of the best ever. Too bad many of you will be too busy whining about it to ever recognize it as such.