Steelers "Officially" Win

I made my not so world famous meatball subs for dinner last night. This is significant because the Steelers are undefeated when I make meatball subs. So of course they won, 11-10. Officially.

But what was up with the officiating for this game? Were the Steelers really the only team capable of committing a penalty? What was it, 15 penalties called against the Steelers compared to 2 against the Chargers?

Really, I don't have a problem with the penalties. What I do have a problem with was how the end of the game played out. Troy knocks the ball out of mid air, scoops it up and barrels into the end zone. 17-10. Game over.

Not so fast. The officials review the play and incorrectly determine that there was an illegal forward pass on the play. Show me. I watched the same replays that the officials were looking at and there was no forward pass. So they incorrectly take the 6 points off the board for the TD and then with no time on the clock, these knuckleheads have the Steelers lining up for an extra point.

First of all, you just said no touchdown. So no TD means no extra point, right? Plus, even if it is a touchdown, there is no time on the clock so there is no extra point attempt since the Steelers are ahead. Somebody needs a refresher class in Officiating 101.

So the refs totally botch the end of the game. Then the NFL issues a correction, stating that the refs blew the call, but it's too late to correct the final score and statistics. Thanks for nothing. My fantasy team doesn't get those 8 points back (2 for the fumble recovery and 6 for the TD) and more importantly, all of the people who bet the Steelers minus 5 don't get the money that they should have won.

Instant replay was instituted to prevent these kind of mistakes, not create them. Is demanding that the officials actually have a firm grasp on the rules of the game asking too much?

UPDATE: From ESPN.com.:
Both teams left the field on what looked to be a game-ending play, but were called back by the officials for the extra-point attempt. At that point, the replay official called for a review.

After watching the play, Green initially announced the ruling on the field was upheld and the touchdown counted. But the officiating crew huddled again before the extra-point attempt and changed the call, deciding that an illegal forward pass should have ended the play.

Green, in a postgame interview with a pool reporter, said that call was errant -- even though his explanation for the confusion was almost as confusing as the play itself.

"We should have let the play go through in the end, yes," Green said. "It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play, we should have let the play go through."

Green said the confusion occurred because there was a misunderstanding about which lateral was in question.

"The first pass was the one that was illegal, but it only kills the play if it hits the ground," Green said. "That was incorrect to have killed it at that point. The ruling should have let the play go on. That's just the way that it played out. We believe the second pass was legal."

Green was asked why, since the ball didn't hit the ground during any of the tossing, the officials decided after huddling that the play should have ended.

"We didn't kill it on the field," Green said. "After [the] discussion we decided ... there was some confusion over which pass we were talking about and it was decided that it was the second pass that was illegal that did hit the ground and therefore we killed the play there."

However, the officials realized afterward they erred.

"I know," Green said. "The rule was misinterpreted."

Asked about the officiating -- the Steelers drew 115 yards in penalties to the Chargers' 5 -- Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin declined to comment.

"No, I have never seen a game ended with 13-to-1 in penalties [the official tally was 13 against the Steelers, two against the Chargers], but I am not answering questions about the officiating," Tomlin said.

The call affected betting on the game since the Steelers were either a 4½- or 5-point favorite and would have covered if the touchdown counted.
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Does that clear it up for you? Me neither. I think the ref must walk around holding a "moran" sign when he's not officiating football games.