'IF" the officiating is remotely unbiased, I don't think there is anyway on the planet earth that Rex and his herd of Buffalo can get by the Seattle Seahawks.
Don't misread me, I'm not just pounding my chest and trying to sell everyone on the idea that Seahawks are unbeatable, however I am trying to tell anyone who will listen to me that the Seahawks are playing at a whole lot higher level than I've seen them before, including the last two times we made it to the Super Bowl, right now.
I know this most recent tie with the Cards puts some of what I'm saying into question. I have, and will continue to go back and study the films from the last game. I try to be as objective as I possibly can, and agreed it's hard for me to be 100% objective because of my love of the Seahawk team, but with that said, the film footage doesn't lie.
In this last game in Arizona, our defense put up a hell of a fight that I don't think any other team in the NFL today could have sustained, and against all odds did everything but win that game for us.
Not wanting to sound like a cry baby, our Oline got mugged this last Sunday Night by officiating. I won't argue what is so blatantly obvious, go back and look for yourselves, at the number of and types of penalties that were called against Seattle in the course of "Every" possession we had. Pay close attention to the type of penalties being called against us, almost everyone of them were those marginal at best infractions that are seldom ever called against either Oline, unless there is a hosing underway.
Coupled with the fact that the same and more flagrant type of infractions were being committed against our Dline, with almost no flags being thrown by the same officials that were tossing them like confetti at the Seahawks Oline. The stats are what the stats are so far as penalty yards charged against each Oline in the course of the game.
My point being is that you can't use the statistics put up by the Seahawks Oline on Sunday night as evidence of their true overall performance. It's clearly skewed by biased officiating.
The Seahawks Oline, as cheap as we were in assembling them, and granting that they are still a developing diamond in the rough, anyone with an eye for football, will agree that they are shining up pretty fast this year.
Try for just a moment, disregarding the overwhelming number of yards, by way of penalties that were placed in their way this past Sunday night. Presented to any other NFL Oline, it would have been thought that the officials had created an unsurmountable obstacle to overcome for any team. Russell Wilson and his boys are no ordinary Oline this year, nor is our Dline, and in spite of the best efforts and actions of the officials, combined with the Cardinals best defensive efforts as well, they were unable to break the spirit and unmatchable determination of the Seahawks, to win against all odds, and fought their way back into a position to win this game on more than one occasion.
For the benefit of example, the missed field goal, the other one that slayed me personally, was the one that Russell passed to Jimmy in the corner of the end zone, and where the Cardinal's CB held Jimmy, hands locked on his chest and jersey, almost 15 yards down the field, clearly preventing him from getting anywhere near the end zone to catch that pass, that I might add Jimmy has caught a hundred times before if left unabated.
There was no penalty called on the Cardinals CB and the commentators, while pointing out the gross holding and pass interference that was going on unchecked by the officials, were in the same breath stating that, it was uncatchable anyway, well yeah duh, being held nearly all the way down the field it was.
The Seahawks should be able to beat the Buffalo Bills like an drum in this next game, if we are allowed to play a game of football, unabated by biased officiating that has become central topic of discussion on every NFL team forum on the net this year. Sure we all whine that our team got some bum calls, but lets get honest with ourselves and recognize that some teams really are drawing a high number of these marginal, subjective offensive penalties, and I think they have a right to not only be frustrated by it, but want to do something to stop it as well. .
I've volunteered before and will again. I lease a server and am more than capable of building and hosting a website, wherein fans from all over the NFL, not just of the Seahawks, can immediately following any game, enter and score the officiating of that game, supported by real facts, both good and bad. The Officiating Crews and their individual officials performances in each game, and those collective ratings would be compiled, evaluated, scored by the fans and then submitted to the NFL for review and assessment.
Unfortunately I fear that our findings might fall on deaf ears, in so far as generating any real efforts by the NFL Governing Body, to try and establish fair and unbiased officiating within their ranks. One thing we will accomplish is, letting The NFL, know, under no uncertain terms, that we are aware of what is happening and that we want to see changes made.