Super Bowl: Halftime

it wouldn't be so egregious if the Seahawks didn't have a history of being on the wrong side of the calls. the worst to date, of course, was the Testaverde "touchdown" that kept the Hawks out of the playoffs about 5 years ago. the touchdown they took away from Jackson was awful; there was no push-off. the ref called that out of fear of being wrong, but he was wrong. the Steeler touchdown was closer, but still looked as if they got it wrong.

the holding call on the punt return was bad, too. there were hands to the chest and nothing grabbed. a clean block, and the ref, who was blocked on the play, called it on a guess.

the big play, in my mind, was not Roethlisberger making the long pass to Ward; it was Boulware not knocking it down. he went for an interception and got muscled out of the way. had he just slapped it down -- he was in position to do so -- then Pittsburgh punts and Seattle maybe marches down field.

still, the Seahawks played the better game. if they cut out the mistakes, the Steelers cannot stop their offense. and they have more of a hold on Pittburgh's offense. the Steelers can't run; the Seahawks are getting just a bit more. Alexander is much more likely to go off on a big one than Parker. if the Seahawks can force a punt after the kickoff, they can take the lead back and push it. Hasselbeck is having a very good game; he can easily ratchet that to great and win this game. but the Hawks have to stop the stupid mistakes. that's the only reason they're behind. they have been the better team. the second half is when they can prove it and make it matter.