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View Full Version : Players point finger at themselves, not refs



stillers4me
12-30-2013, 05:39 PM
Following the lead of their coach, the Pittsburgh Steelers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/pit/pittsburgh-steelers) players pointed a collective finger at themselves for missing the playoffs even though a blown call probably prevented them from extending their season.

The NFL reached out to coach Mike Tomlin (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10215978/mike-tomlin-pittsburgh-steelers-coach-bemoan-missed-call-kansas-city-chiefs-fg-attempt) about an illegal formation penalty that should have been called near the end of the Kansas City Chiefs (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/kc/kansas-city-chiefs)-San Diego Chargers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/sd/san-diego-chargers) game on Sunday. The call would have given Chiefs kicker Ryan Succop (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/12731/ryan-succop) another chance after he had missed a game-winning 41-yard field goal near the end of regulation.

The Chargers won in overtime, 27-24 (http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=331229024), to claim the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoffs.

“For it to come down to that, that’s our fault,” defensive end Cameron Heyward (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/13977/cameron-heyward) said. “Next year we shouldn’t have that problem.”........

Read more @ http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/post/_/id/3953/players-point-finger-at-themselves-not-refs

Shoes
12-30-2013, 05:43 PM
Good your right, now get to work.

GoSlash27
12-30-2013, 08:02 PM
I agree. When your fate is in the hands of the hapless Jets on the road *and* KC's second- stringers in San Diego, you have no right to bitch about how it turns out. Even if it almost happened and even if it *would've* happened except for bad officiating. If you're not in the driver's seat, it's *your* fault. Period, full stop.
I like the attitude Mike and the team have taken and I feel very optimistic for next year.

fansince'76
12-31-2013, 07:46 AM
I like the attitude Mike and the team have taken and I feel very optimistic for next year.

Same here. I can only imagine Harbaugh's reaction if the Ravens would have been in our position and that happened, considering how much he bitches about everything.

Moose
12-31-2013, 07:52 AM
0-4 start is the killer. I don't think the ref's are at fault on that. And that damn crap idea of ' it's only 1 game' shit goes to the way side. Hopefully 'next' year will be different.

GBMelBlount
12-31-2013, 07:58 AM
Nothing wrong with acknowledging blame when it is legitimate imo.

They are arguably out of the playoffs because the refs completely blew two calls.

It pisses me off.

The only problem imo is when you dwell on things to the point of it becoming whining (see seahawksfans, etc.).

I am still a little pissed as I would be in heaven watching the Steelers play this weekend.

Regardless, I am moving on and TOTALLY stoked about 2014.

NCSteeler
12-31-2013, 08:20 AM
I'm not a big believer in momentum carrying from one season to another,every team is different, especially with all the changes we have been seeing lately. BUT it certainly feels better to win 8 of the final 12 while playing a lot of young guys, then it did last year losing 5 of the final 7 .

GBMelBlount
12-31-2013, 08:22 AM
I'm not a big believer in momentum carrying from one season to another,every team is different, especially with all the changes we have been seeing lately.

BUT it certainly feels better to win 8 of the final 12 while playing a lot of young guys, then it did last year losing 5 of the final 7 .

This

Craic
12-31-2013, 08:25 AM
Nothing wrong with acknowledging blame when it is legitimate imo.

They are arguably out of the playoffs because the refs completely blew two calls.

It pisses me off.

The only problem imo is when you dwell on things to the point of it becoming whining (see seahawksfans, etc.).

I am still a little pissed as I would be in heaven watching the Steelers play this weekend.

Regardless, I am moving on and TOTALLY stoked about 2014.

Naa, the way I see it, the refs decisions are actually part of the game. I'm even on the fence concerning video review anymore. Do refs make mistakes? Yes. All the time. So if you want to make sure that catch is called a catch, make sure the ball is a few more inches off the ground, or work on your skills to shield the refs vision of the ball when it does hit the ground. Those little things that used to make the game so interesting . . . the little talents to gain a bit of breathing room are gone. I actually miss them. So no, I'm not upset about the refs blowing the calls, because that's to be expected from humans.

What's left is the expectation that every game will be called absolutely perfect and down the middle, but down the middle in one fanbase's eyes is slanted to the opposing team in the other fanbase's eyes. Then, we get all upset when there is a mistake or two in a game. But the long and short of it is that it's the Steelers fault for not being in the playoffs: Oakland game, Ravens game, Miami game, Vikings game, etc. Win two of those, and we're a game behind and pushing Cincy for the AFCN title.

GBMelBlount
12-31-2013, 09:27 AM
Naa, the way I see it, the refs decisions are actually part of the game. I'm even on the fence concerning video review anymore. Do refs make mistakes? Yes. All the time. So if you want to make sure that catch is called a catch, make sure the ball is a few more inches off the ground, or work on your skills to shield the refs vision of the ball when it does hit the ground. Those little things that used to make the game so interesting . . . the little talents to gain a bit of breathing room are gone. I actually miss them.

So no, I'm not upset about the refs blowing the calls, because that's to be expected from humans.

What's left is the expectation that every game will be called absolutely perfect and down the middle, but down the middle in one fanbase's eyes is slanted to the opposing team in the other fanbase's eyes. Then, we get all upset when there is a mistake or two in a game. But the long and short of it is that it's the Steelers fault for not being in the playoffs: Oakland game, Ravens game, Miami game, Vikings game, etc. Win two of those, and we're a game behind and pushing Cincy for the AFCN title.

I understand your thoughts Craic.

However sometimes it comes down to how much a person loses by that call. Granted it hurts to see the Steelers lose due to a blown call but how much have we as fans REALLY invested other than a few hours watching the game for entertainment or shooting the breeze on the message boards and reading articles, etc? Does IT really affect our lives that much? Arguably no.

Let me share a story to show another perspective.

Imagine you were a wrestler in the state open finals and your dream was to win the state open.

Your opponent is 29-0 and it is 5-5 going into the final period.

You are on top and your opponent does a sitout and tries to do a "switch."

You step over and drive his shoulder into the mat exposing his back to the mat for at least 5 seconds while still in "control" which should normally earn 3 back points but at absolute minimum 2 because you are in control until reversed.

Your opponent reverses you but your receive no back points and lose the state open championship, a goal you had been working towards for years, arguably because of a poor call (or non call) by the referee.

Your opponent is voted mvw for the entire state open tournament.

My point is....while people are human and make mistakes, it CAN hurt like hell when you have invested so much to win something and not achieving the goal arguably came down to a ref blowing a call.

While you can argue that it is the wrestler's fault for letting it be that close SOMETIMES when you are equally matched it simply comes down to a break going one way or the other no matter how hard you try to put the outcome out of a refs hands....and sometimes it hurts like hell because you personally sacrificed so much to reach that goal.

Not arguing, just offering another perspective.

HollywoodSteel
12-31-2013, 09:48 AM
Naa, the way I see it, the refs decisions are actually part of the game. I'm even on the fence concerning video review anymore. Do refs make mistakes? Yes. All the time. So if you want to make sure that catch is called a catch, make sure the ball is a few more inches off the ground, or work on your skills to shield the refs vision of the ball when it does hit the ground. Those little things that used to make the game so interesting . . . the little talents to gain a bit of breathing room are gone. I actually miss them. So no, I'm not upset about the refs blowing the calls, because that's to be expected from humans.

What's left is the expectation that every game will be called absolutely perfect and down the middle, but down the middle in one fanbase's eyes is slanted to the opposing team in the other fanbase's eyes. Then, we get all upset when there is a mistake or two in a game. But the long and short of it is that it's the Steelers fault for not being in the playoffs: Oakland game, Ravens game, Miami game, Vikings game, etc. Win two of those, and we're a game behind and pushing Cincy for the AFCN title.

I guess the NFL wasted a bunch of dough working out a deal with these refs. We should have just kept the scrubs. Everything in your post would still hold true. Just a few more fun variables. We can just say it's part of the game.

smokin3000gt
12-31-2013, 10:50 AM
That bothers me most about the obvious and blatant no calls/bad calls is there are so many flags thrown when there shouldn't have been one. Then when there should be a legitimate penalty, everyone forgets where they keep their flag.

touchdownward
01-01-2014, 01:42 PM
Taking the blame and not blaming the refs is what classy teams do.


On a side note, I was in a Walmart in Alabama the other day and the cashier kept ringing up my half off items at full price. I caught him each time. He then saw my shirt and said "oh you're a Steeler fan". He then went on to say that his Mom was too, but he is a seahawks fan and hated the Steelers. I said it was the Super Bowl we beat ya'll in wasn't it. He said "yep".
I see the crybabies still need there bottle after all these years. :chuckle:

tube517
01-01-2014, 02:03 PM
Nothing wrong with acknowledging blame when it is legitimate imo.

They are arguably out of the playoffs because the refs completely blew two calls.

It pisses me off.

The only problem imo is when you dwell on things to the point of it becoming whining (see seahawksfans, etc.).

I am still a little pissed as I would be in heaven watching the Steelers play this weekend.

Regardless, I am moving on and TOTALLY stoked about 2014.

Problem is, I would literally be in heaven had I not taken my BP pills on Sunday before all this craziness happened. :chuckle: Damn refs. They still suck.

I can't wait for September.

st33lersguy
01-01-2014, 03:44 PM
You finish 8-8, you do not belong in the playoffs. Had they not played like a bottom 5 NFL team for half the season, they would have made the playoffs anyway

stillers4me
01-01-2014, 03:55 PM
You finish 8-8, you do not belong in the playoffs. Had they not played like a bottom 5 NFL team for half the season, they would have made the playoffs anyway

Well, apparently it's set up that an 8-8 team can get into the playoffs. It's not how you start. It's how you finish. We finished strong. .....and 2nd place in the division. We deserved that spot. ...... 6th seed. Bottom of the barrel. And we've been there and climbed out of it before. So we didn't deserve XL because we were only the sixth seed? If the refs hadn't screwed up, and we played Cincinnati this week, you wouldn't bother watching because we didn't "deserve" to be in the playoffs?

ALLD
01-01-2014, 04:32 PM
The one game we should have won with a gift of bad weather from God, and we lost it to a sun team. Just because we played much better in the second half does not translate into the result of consistent performance thought the regular season.

stillers4me
01-01-2014, 04:36 PM
Taking the blame and not blaming the refs is what classy teams do.





But you can be damn sure Dan Rooney had a conversation with his buddy Rog about it.

(Sorry TDward.... I didn't mean to edit your post, only quote it. Sometimes I get my "powers" mixed up. :lol:)

st33lersguy
01-01-2014, 04:41 PM
Well, apparently it's set up that an 8-8 team can get into the playoffs. It's not how you start. It's how you finish. We finished strong. .....and 2nd place in the division. We deserved that spot. ...... 6th seed. Bottom of the barrel. And we've been there and climbed out of it before. So we didn't deserve XL because we were only the sixth seed? If the refs hadn't screwed up, and we played Cincinnati this week, you wouldn't bother watching because we didn't "deserve" to be in the playoffs?

For starters I never said that 6th seeds do not deserve to win Superbowls, and I don't know where you got that. There was also a noticeable difference between the Superbowl team that went 11-5 and beat out a 10-6 Kansas City team for that final spot and this team. When a team starts 0-4, starts 2-6, lose to bottom-feeder dregs such as Minnesota and Oakland, puts themselves in a situation where they were incredible long shots to makes the playoffs, and need to make a major push just salvage a mediocre .500 record, there is a lot more to blame than a couple of bad calls.

stillers4me
01-01-2014, 05:08 PM
For starters I never said that 6th seeds do not deserve to win Superbowls, and I don't know where you got that. There was also a noticeable difference between the Superbowl team that went 11-5 and beat out a 10-6 Kansas City team for that final spot and this team. When a team starts 0-4, starts 2-6, lose to bottom-feeder dregs such as Minnesota and Oakland, puts themselves in a situation where they were incredible long shots to makes the playoffs, and need to make a major push just salvage a mediocre .500 record, there is a lot more to blame than a couple of bad calls.

Nobody is blaming just " a couple of bad calls". At the time those call made, we had put ourselves in the equation to qualify for the spot. If not for inept officiating, we would playing this weekend, regardless of the road we took to get there. We can't go back and change the first half of the season, but they did what was necessary to change the second half.

steelreserve
01-01-2014, 11:13 PM
Naa, the way I see it, the refs decisions are actually part of the game. I'm even on the fence concerning video review anymore. Do refs make mistakes? Yes. All the time. So if you want to make sure that catch is called a catch, make sure the ball is a few more inches off the ground, or work on your skills to shield the refs vision of the ball when it does hit the ground. Those little things that used to make the game so interesting . . . the little talents to gain a bit of breathing room are gone. I actually miss them. So no, I'm not upset about the refs blowing the calls, because that's to be expected from humans.

What's left is the expectation that every game will be called absolutely perfect and down the middle, but down the middle in one fanbase's eyes is slanted to the opposing team in the other fanbase's eyes. Then, we get all upset when there is a mistake or two in a game. But the long and short of it is that it's the Steelers fault for not being in the playoffs: Oakland game, Ravens game, Miami game, Vikings game, etc. Win two of those, and we're a game behind and pushing Cincy for the AFCN title.

I'd say that's all right on the money. I don't even think replay has improved the accuracy of the officiating. The calls they blow by coming to a dumb conclusion from the replay basically cancel out the dumb calls that they correct after watching the replay, so overall they blow just as many calls and the breaks mostly even out over time. You do slow down the game and give them time to think about stupid crap like the Tuck Rule, though.

Anyway. Basically what we all know. If you feel "robbed" by an officiating call that wasn't even in your own game, you probably didn't do enough to put yourself in a successful position to begin with. It's too bad that whole series of lucky breaks turned out to be such a tease, but the bottom line is that when you're 8-8 you have no right to bitch about not making the playoffs.

Psycho Ward 86
01-01-2014, 11:30 PM
For starters I never said that 6th seeds do not deserve to win Superbowls, and I don't know where you got that. There was also a noticeable difference between the Superbowl team that went 11-5 and beat out a 10-6 Kansas City team for that final spot and this team. When a team starts 0-4, starts 2-6, lose to bottom-feeder dregs such as Minnesota and Oakland, puts themselves in a situation where they were incredible long shots to makes the playoffs, and need to make a major push just salvage a mediocre .500 record, there is a lot more to blame than a couple of bad calls.

my god. this is the only post that needs to be in this thread as far as im concerned.

look at us. 3 days after the end of it, and were still whining like seahawk fans. i bet the cardinals arent whining this hard on their board and they actually had a good team this season with a better record in a far more brutal division.

GBMelBlount
01-02-2014, 07:01 AM
Personally I have no problem with friends complaining for a few days on a message board amongst friends about a call that blew them out of the playoffs and I certainly don't liken a few days of complaining to the Seahawks.

This is how you get shit out of your system.

I'll defer to Vince Lombardi on this one: "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser"

zulater
01-02-2014, 10:15 AM
Personally I have no problem with friends complaining for a few days on a message board amongst friends about a call that blew them out of the playoffs and I certainly don't liken a few days of complaining to the Seahawks.

This is how you get shit out of your system.

I'll defer to Vince Lombardi on this one: "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser"

Good post! :applaudit:

We're not robots, we're going to react. I mean really it was right there. Was anyone thinking when Succop was lining up for that 41 yarder that hey this doesn't matter, we didn't deserve it, we were only 8-8. No you thought it was going to happen. You thought we were looking at a trip to Cincy.

Then boom the carpet gets pulled out from underneath you. Then you see the overtime no fumble. Then you find out about the illegal formation and what ramifications that had on things, and yeah you belly ache for a couple days. Lament what could have been, how close it was etc... But you get past it. Also I confine my bitching to other Steeler fans. I'm not going on neutral cites and telling fans of other teams how we got shafted.

Anyway I might hang on to the bitterness for another week, watching the games this weekend will bring it to the fore. But then it's done. On to the draft and next season.

GBMelBlount
01-02-2014, 10:19 AM
Good post! :applaudit:

We're not robots, we're going to react. I mean really it was right there. Was anyone thinking when Succop was lining up for that 41 yarder that hey this doesn't matter, we didn't deserve it, we were only 8-8. No you thought it was going to happen. You thought we were looking at a trip to Cincy.

Then boom the carpet gets pulled out from underneath you. Then you see the overtime no fumble. Then you find out about the illegal formation and what ramifications that had on things, and yeah you belly ache for a couple days. Lament what could have been, how close it was etc... But you get past it. Also I confine my bitching to other Steeler fans. I'm not going on neutral cites and telling fans of other teams how we got shafted.

Anyway I might hang on to the bitterness for another week, watching the games this weekend will bring it to the fore. But then it's done. On to the draft and next season.

Thanks.

Now please stop it with the whining! :lol:

stillers4me
01-02-2014, 10:42 AM
Being able to vent here has kept me from bitch slapping Bengals fans and out of jail.

GoSlash27
01-02-2014, 05:11 PM
We're not robots, we're going to react. I mean really it was right there. Was anyone thinking when Succop was lining up for that 41 yarder that hey this doesn't matter, we didn't deserve it, we were only 8-8. No you thought it was going to happen. You thought we were looking at a trip to Cincy.
What I was thinking when he was lining up for the kick was "He's set up too far left and he's gonna miss right". And when he missed, I thought, "yeah, that figures". I didn't even notice the illegal formation at the time.
I was very pessimistic about our chances of sneaking in, so I wasn't overly disappointed when we didn't.

st33lersguy
01-02-2014, 08:37 PM
i bet the cardinals arent whining this hard on their board and they actually had a good team this season with a better record in a far more brutal division.

Yeah, I'd certainly be pissed if my team won 10 games, won IN Seattle (the only team to do so in the last 2 regular seasons), and missed the playoffs only because we had the misfortune of playing in a VERY tough division and a tough conference

zulater
01-02-2014, 08:48 PM
Yeah, I'd certainly be pissed if my team won 10 games, won IN Seattle (the only team to do so in the last 2 regular seasons), and missed the playoffs only because we had the misfortune of playing in a VERY tough division and a tough conference


No one cried for the Patriots when they missed the playoffs with an 11-5 record in 08.

Lots of 10-6 teams have missed the playoffs over the years.

st33lersguy
01-02-2014, 10:56 PM
No one cried for the Patriots when they missed the playoffs with an 11-5 record in 08.

Lots of 10-6 teams have missed the playoffs over the years.

Yeah but it still stinks, especially when a lesser team with a worse record gets in the playoffs because they benefited from having to beat out weaker competition for their playoff spot

Aussie_steeler
01-03-2014, 01:07 AM
Time for the players to put it on the 2014 bulletin board and use it as motivation for 2014.

Destiny lays in your own hands, not in the hands of others.

Eliminate others from the picture and determine your own destiny.