If you haven’t heard, Bill Leavy says he screwed up in Super Bowl XL. Uh, wasn’t that like 5 years ago? Anyway, Max Starks, who has been vocal about Chad Ochocinco and now this, says that Levy should retire if he feels bad about the situation of hurting the Seahawks.
Max Starks offered up some advice for referee Bill Leavy if he still feels so terrible for a couple controversial calls he made during Super XL nearly five years ago. “He should go ahead and retire if he feels so bad about it,” Starks said Saturday. “Just do us all a favor and not referee anymore.” In Seattle for the first time Friday since refereeing Super Bowl XL in which the Steelers defeated the Seahawks 21-10, Leavy, a 16-year veteran official, unexpectedly apologized to the Seahawks for two blown fourth-quarter calls that helped the Steelers to the victory.
Early in the fourth quarter with the Steelers leading 14-10, Locklear was called for holding Clark Haggans on a pass completion to Jerramy Stevens that would have put the Seahawks at the Steelers’ 1-yard line. “Well, that was a holding,” Starks said.
“And that’s coming from an offensive lineman. It pains me to admit those kinds of things.” Hasselbeck threw an interception three plays later and then was called for an illegal block to move the Steelers near midfield. Four plays later, Antwaan Randle El’s reverse pass touchdown to Hines Ward sealed the game for the Steelers. “You know what, even if you give them that touchdown, we still win the game,” Starks said. “It would’ve been 14-10. We still win. I know we have no regrets. We have won another one since. You look back on it, and you’re a human being and that was a judgment call and you have to live with it. If you thought it was iffy, then don’t make the call.”
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mark
August 8, 2010 at 12:55 pm
WOW. I cant believe that this is a topic that is still firing people up. Maybe a few calls that went Pittsburghs way were boarder-line, but it wasnt the ref’s fault that Hasselback threw the pick, or that their TE (Stevens) had the dropsies or that they couldnt tackle Fast Willie on his historic run or that they couldnt stop a reverse TD pass that sealed the game or that their punter kept booting them into the endzone for touchbacks or their kicker missed 2 FG’s. Get my meaning? Games are won and lost by players and coaches performing to the best of their abilities. Sure, a bad call can influence outcomes, but a good team can and usually will make their own breaks. The Steelers took advantage of any break that came their way. That holding call on Locklear; that was HOLDING by the rules. The offensive Pass-interference in the 1st qaurter was a push-off. The only questionable call in my mind was the low-block on Hasselback off the INT. Maybe it was/ maybe it wasnt. Bottom line was he threw the pick! Lets go back to the times the ref’s might have hurt the Steelers with “Bad” calls. The famous coin-flip in Detroit, the Penalty (running into the kicker) and lack of time out in the playoff loss to the Titans in OT, the Polamalu INT against the Colts a few weeks B4 the Super Bowl. ETc.. This is just recently!How many times did the NFL apologize to the Steelers after a call they got wrong? I am not saying that the NFL was “looking out” for the Steelers in that Super Bowl. I am just saying that calls go for and against teams all year, every year. Lets be honest.
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brainwise
August 9, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Both teams made a slew of errors, so it’s not surprising that a ref might have blown a call or two. However, the bottom line in Superbowl XL is that the team that made the least mistakes won. And, as I recall, the Steelers whomped the Seahawks in their next regular season meeting, so much so that the ‘Hawks coach conceded and suggested it was time to move on.