Pittsburgh Steelers: Arizona's final play was reviewed

I read some stories that questioned the final Arizona play: why wasn't it reviewed by the officials? This, of course, brings into question the Steelers victory. Here are some articles that discuss the issue and conclude that the Steelers do deserve the sixth ring. Here. Here. And here.


The first article is from nbcsports ("Officials confirm Warner fumbled at game's end," Tom E. Curran, 1 February 2009): Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner — who was sacked and lost the ball at the Steelers' 44 with five seconds left — was wondering why it was so hastily determined he fumbled. He thought it was an incompletion. Warner said his arm was coming forward when the ball was knocked out by Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley . . . According to NFL VP of Officiating Mike Pereira, the replay official upstairs did see the play clearly. “We confirmed it was a fumble,” said Pereira. “The replay assistant in the replay booth saw it was clearly a fumble. The ball got knocked loose and was rolling in his hand before it started forward. He has to have total control.”


The second article is from Sports Illustrated (“Monday Morning QB – Tuesday,” Peter King, 3 February 2009): The Kurt Warner fumble with five seconds to go actually was reviewed -- and upheld. There is no question that, cosmetically, replay assistant Bob McGrath, sitting upstairs, should have called for a booth review and let Terry McAulay see the play down on the field. But understand the mechanics of the way this process works -- and understand the process was aided by a penalty call on the field. When the ball was knocked loose from Warner and the Steelers recovered, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called on LaMarr Woodley for excessive celebration. So now, in the replay booth, McGrath had extra time, well over a minute, to use the touch-screen system of examining replays of the play.


This blog entry is here to remind myself of the context should I ever get into an argument with someone who thinks the Steelers stole their way into a sixth Super Bowl victory. First, the articles state that the officials got the call correct. Second, the articles state the an error in process was made by the officials. The replay assistant should have allowed the play to get reviewed on the field. So essentially, there was an error in process, but not an error in the call. Therefore, no one should think, "Arizona should have gotten another shot at the end zone." One can always think about "what-if" scenarios, but one should admit that this was the only appropriate scenario.