toobfreak
Tungsten/Glass Member
First of all, IN NO WAY do I argue for the Steelers. They stunk, they played bad, and they don't deserve to be in the post-season with better teams. Sure they can play great, the problem is that with such inconsistency as to regularly lose to the worst teams when they should have won with one arm tied behind their back.
But they are not in the Wild Card Hunt for one particular reason: Cleveland lost to the Ravens by two points. The Browns/Ravens game was not aired here but after it was over, a local news channel air bits of it. Specifically:
LATE IN THE GAME, Baltimore went in for a TD and the runner jumped over the crowd with the ball BUT NEVER ACTUALLY CROSSED THE PLANE. He was clearly short on the reply. Then he lost the ball and Cleveland recovered the fumble and ran it back for a TD of their own WHICH WOULD HAVE WON THEM THE GAME and the Steelers Wild Card.
But rather than let the play play out, an official whistled the play dead right after the ball was fumbled robbing Cleveland of the TD WITHOUT his knowing that Baltimore had scored or not or what had happened, even though he could have let it play out and they could have reviewed it all later to sort out the details.
Browns fans furious over quick whistle from officials
I saw the video and the article does not do justice to the fact of how the Browns (and by default the Steelers) were robbed) in what was apparently just one of many disastrous game and season changing blunders by NFL part-time referees.
NFL officiating has now become so contently bad that they must now be considered the third opponent. Had that play not been wrongly whistled dead, Cleveland would have won, and the Steelers not the Ravens would be in the play offs as the 4th seed.
But they are not in the Wild Card Hunt for one particular reason: Cleveland lost to the Ravens by two points. The Browns/Ravens game was not aired here but after it was over, a local news channel air bits of it. Specifically:
LATE IN THE GAME, Baltimore went in for a TD and the runner jumped over the crowd with the ball BUT NEVER ACTUALLY CROSSED THE PLANE. He was clearly short on the reply. Then he lost the ball and Cleveland recovered the fumble and ran it back for a TD of their own WHICH WOULD HAVE WON THEM THE GAME and the Steelers Wild Card.
But rather than let the play play out, an official whistled the play dead right after the ball was fumbled robbing Cleveland of the TD WITHOUT his knowing that Baltimore had scored or not or what had happened, even though he could have let it play out and they could have reviewed it all later to sort out the details.
Browns fans furious over quick whistle from officials
I saw the video and the article does not do justice to the fact of how the Browns (and by default the Steelers) were robbed) in what was apparently just one of many disastrous game and season changing blunders by NFL part-time referees.
NFL officiating has now become so contently bad that they must now be considered the third opponent. Had that play not been wrongly whistled dead, Cleveland would have won, and the Steelers not the Ravens would be in the play offs as the 4th seed.