The Steelers Get Rooney and Nearly Get Robbed
This week in the NFL was one of the most exciting, frustrating, and newsworthy in recent memory. The most notable to me was the Steelers game against the San Diego Chargers.
Steelers vs Chargers
This week’s game was one of the most frustrating and annoying games I have ever watched. It also is a great game to bring up if you want to convince your friends that the NFL is rigged, or was attempted to be rigged.
Why? The officiating was simply awful. I will make no attempt to hide the fact that I am biased towards the Steelers. However no matter where your NFL allegiances lie, the quality of the referees was undeniably horrific. Not only were there phantom calls throughout the game, but the disparity in penalties was absurd. There were 13 penalties called against Pittsburgh, and 2 called against San Diego (with one being the last play of the game).
And what a final play it was. The Chargers had one last shot of desperation to win the game, so they attempted the tried and true “lateral it to anyone within throwing distance and hope we get lucky” play. One of the laterals was retrieved by Troy Polamalu, who proceeded to run it back for the touchdown. This was inconsequential to the victory, but nevertheless was heavily reviewed and eventually overturned. What makes this so significant?
Gambling. The Steelers were favored to win by 4 points, meaning that anyone who bet on the Steelers needed them to win by that margin. Polamalu’s score would have covered that because the Steelers would have won by 7 (or 8 if they kicked the extra point). However with the negated touchdown, they only won by 1 point meaning those who bet on the Chargers actually ended up winning. This story at Yahoo! Sports explains more of the gambling ramifications.
The NFL also came out and said that the call was incorrectly handled. This is the second time in recent memory that Polamalu has been robbed of a play by the officials.
Do I really think there was criminal motive or involvement? Probably not, but the situation is certainly suspicious. Even more suspicious was the lack of ESPN coverage of the interception of the year. Polamalu made easily the most athletic defensive play of the NFL season but it got no hype on sports networks (at least that I saw).
Steelers Franchise Remains in Rooney Family
Throughout all the controversy, the Steelers did come out on top on Sunday. The good news began earlier in the week when it was announced that the Steelers franchise will remain in the Rooney family. Dan Rooney and Art Rooney II have been trying to get majority control of the Steelers by getting the ownership rights from the other members of the family. The siblings want to forfeit their control of the team and pursue their racetrack interests. Rather than selling within the family, they were considering offers from people outside the franchise who were interested in majority-owning the Steelers.
This is good news because the franchise has been under Rooney control for its entire history. The family has always been a model of leadership and ownership, and Dan Rooney remains of the most respected owners in all of football. A large part of the Steelers success can be attributed to the shrewd ownership by the Rooney family.
Cleveland vs Buffalo
Wide right. I almost do not need to say anything more than that. Buffalo had their hearts ripped out on Monday Night Football for the second year running. There was a very exciting finishing to an equally exciting game. Cleveland kicker Phil Dawson hit a monster 56-yard field goal to put the Browns up 2. Buffalo kicker Rian Lindell had an opportunity to make a 47-yard field goal that would have won the game, but hit it as mentioned…wide right.
Tough loss for the Bills who have fallen completely on their faces since starting 5-0. Brady Quinn looked decent but the thing of note is that Cleveland insisted on keeping Derek Anderson last year when they could have dealt him for a 1st and 3rd round pick. Now midway through the season they switch to their future anyway after delaying the inevitable with a huge contract to Anderson. This is an example in stark contrast to the Rooney ownership which has typically….well….made sense. Cleveland has no clue what they are doing on or off the field, including the management.
November 19th, 2008 | 2:41 pm
Xane is gonna be so angry about your rips on the Browns organization. I too am happy the Rooney’s maintain possession of our franchise. Despite how ridiculous the win was on Sunday, we at least came away with it.
November 19th, 2008 | 3:30 pm
Thanks Justin. You have confirmed my suspicions about that game - especially the ending. And the Steelers weren’t the only ones robbed by that totally lame call. My son, who has Polamalu on his fantasy team, was so pumped. A fumble recovery AND touchdown - major points. But wait a minute… illegal forward pass. Where? I must have blinked. I was stunned by the total lack of a replay also. I didn’t think of the gambling angle, but what you say seems to make sense.
November 19th, 2008 | 5:41 pm
I forgot to mention the fantasy implications. While not as serious, I am sure many fantasy games were decided by the lack of Polamalu’s (or the Steelers defense’s) points. As a big fantasy player I definitely understand the pain there.
November 19th, 2008 | 7:49 pm
I’ve been saying pro sports are rigged for 4 years now. No one seems to believe it. The Steelers were favored by 4, and I saw a figure online that said that about 80% of bets at one online betting site on that game were made on the Steelers -4. It makes you wonder how much the NFL makes when the Steelers blow a game by only winning by 1. I agree with your analysis of the Browns management. I still will continue to love them. My huge problem with the Steelers organization is that they drafted and have tried to make a superstar out of Ben Roethlisberger, who clearly is not up to the challenge.
November 19th, 2008 | 8:16 pm
I am happy to hear that the Rooney family will remain the primary owner of the Steelers. This is pretty important, and great news.
November 20th, 2008 | 8:39 am
in football the statement “a win’s a win” is never more true. therefore i don’t care that the touchdown was overturned because we still won, if we were down however…..
i am thrilled that the rooney family still leads the city of pittsburgh even tho they did sell the steelers for one year to buy into the eagles but bought the steelers back in under 12 months.
it is comical how much of true losers the bills, and their fans, are.