Three Lost In Shuffle Observations
1. Someone needs to do a spot-shadow tracing of Larry Fitzgerald's route on the James Harrison interception return. It's amazing. He started 4 yards deep in the end zone, got blocked, sidestepped more blockers, went out of bounds to get clear, ran into a TEAMMATE WATCHING THE PLAY ON THE SIDELINES at the 30! and caught up to Harrison a second time but about 12 inches too late. Imagine that. In a 305-foot odyssey, he only needed to make up a foot to have saved the touchdown.
2. Marshall Faulk made a great point on the NFL Network. Santonio Holmes used the ball as a prop in his post-touchdown celebration on the climactic play. It should have resulted in Jeff Reed kicking off from the 20. That, coupled with the lack of an earnest replay after the Warner fumble/incompletion shows that the game got too madcap for the officials at the end.
3. Also, if you go by the letter of the law, Cardinals defensive tackle Bryan Robinson should have been ejected for throwing a punch in the first half during a scrum. It was blatant. And what James Harrison did to poor Aaron Francisco (a guy who was on the scene for almost every negative play for Arizona in the final quarter) was not a penalty. Period.
- Curran
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How does Matt Millen get a job speaking on what to tell the steelers in the locker room at halftime? This blew me away after the 0-16 season with the lions.
1. Even if Harrison hadn't gotten in the Steelers would have gotten the ball for on play because of the flag on Fitz for the facemask. (Fitz was on "defense" at that point thus it was a defensive penalty. Right??)
2. Holmes did not "use the ball as a prop" until well after the play and at that point the game was in time out for the offical review. Giving him a personal foul for what he did during a time out is a big "reach".
3. Amen. He was taking a defender out of play. If Francisco had just stayed down until the play was over, Harison wouldn't have had to "keep him down". Was it violent? Yes. This isn't Bridge these guys are playing!!
The game was out of hand before the first half was even over. Don't forget the missed block in the back and holding penalties on that return. It probably should have been brought back. The game seemed pretty lopsided as far as officiating goes in the first half. Just my unbiased view as I'm not a fan of either team.
The roughing the passer call against the Cardinals that gave the Steelers a fresh set of downs and 15 extra yards was a pretty bad call.
I mean, I don't even think Rothelisberger fell down! Hard to expect a 240-265 lb man, running full speed to pull up and make absolutely no contact....and I'm a Steelers fan!
Every week in every game someone is complaining about calls made, calls not made and who won or lost because of them.
The facts are this; Arizona completely out played the Steelers for 7 minutes of the fourth quarter. They jumped ahead to take the lead and it was in the bag until the Steelers out played Arizona for the last 2 minutes of the game.
If Arizona's defense would have stopped the Steelers offense on the first-and-twenty (after a holding call) or the third and six, or any of the other plays in that 78 yard drive, the Steelers fans would be complaining about the blown holding call in the end zone that resulted in a 9 point swing for Arizona.
The game was won by the players not the refs - and deep down inside, no matter if we like to admit it or not, we all know it.
Speaking of trackin Larry Fitzgerald's route to the near tackle. I thought if you went out of bounds during a play you were out of the play unless you imediatly reentered the field. And you had to be forced out of bounds. Not run up the sidelines unobstructed for about 40 yards then try to make the play. Speaking of where was the penalty?