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espn

NFL ref admits mistakes in Super Bowl
ESPN.com news services

RENTON, Wash. -- NFL referee Bill Leavy acknowledged he made mistakes in the Seattle Seahawks' 2006 Super Bowl loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The veteran official began an annual training-camp rules interpretation session with the Seattle media after practice on Friday by bringing up the subject without being asked.
"It was a tough thing for me. I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that," said the veteran of 15 NFL seasons and two Super Bowls.
"It left me with a lot of sleepless nights, and I think about it constantly," Leavy said of the game in February 2006. "I'll go to my grave wishing that I'd been better."
Several calls went against the Seahawks in their 21-10 loss to the Steelers. It was Seattle's only Super Bowl appearance.
This week is the first time since that game Leavy has been in Seattle with the Seahawks. He and a mini-crew arrived Thursday to help with the team's practices and give it a rules presentation.
Leavy didn't specify which plays he "kicked" that day in Detroit.
Early in the fourth quarter, tackle Sean Locklear was called for holding on a pass completion that would have put the Seahawks at the Pittsburgh 1, in position for the go-ahead touchdown. After the penalty, Matt Hasselbeck threw an interception, and then was called for a low block on a play that ended with him tackling Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor on the defensive back's return.
The penalty moved the Steelers from their 29 to the 44. Pittsburgh used its better field position to score the clinching touchdown four plays later.
The next day, then-Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren told fans at a civic gathering at Qwest Field, "I knew it was going to be tough going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts, as well."
Holmgren, now a top executive with the Cleveland Browns, has since said he's gotten over that game.
But Leavy hasn't.
"I know that I did my best at that time, but it wasn't good enough," said the retired police officer and firefighter in San Jose, Calif., who became an NFL referee in 2001. "When we make mistakes, you got to step up and own them. It's something that all officials have to deal with, but unfortunately when you have to deal with it in the Super Bowl it's difficult."
When high-profile referee Ed Hochuli visited the Seahawks' training camp in the months after that Super Bowl, he and his crew took good-natured ribbing from players.
"The Super Bowl was one of those games where it seemed the big calls went against Seattle," Hochuli said in August 2006. "And that was just fortuitous -- bad fortuitous for Seattle.
"The league felt, actually, that the Super Bowl was well officiated. Now, that doesn't mean there were no mistakes. There are always mistakes, but it was a well-officiated game."
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Glad he's admitting it. But, everybody outside of Pittsburgh already knows that the officiating was off during that Superbowl. The game was fixed, pure and simple.

Granted, two weeks earlier, the Steelers were the victims of the absolute worst call in NFL history - Polamalu's interception off Peyton Manning that was called an incomplete pass, - but this was no reason for the refs to take the Superbowl from Seattle.

I'm not saying this because it was the Steelers,, But that was probably one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen..

I'm not sure if the final outcome would have been different, but damn,, it was just terrible.

And yeah, every Pittsburgh fan I know doesn't think it was poorly officiated..

Amazing...

Quote:

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The next day, then-Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren told fans at a civic gathering at Qwest Field, "I knew it was going to be tough going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts, as well."

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I do give Bill Leavy credit for being honest...but it did take him 4.5 years to admit his mistakes...making Holmgren look like a coach who was simply making excuses for his teams loss in the Super Bowl.

Leavy, finally admitting his mistake to the Seahawks 4.5 yrs later is "a little lame" because many of those men who played that day are now gone from the Seahawks.

...what is worse, IMO... Leavy admits his mistake after Holmgren is gone.

When Leavy has the guts to admit his mistakes to Holmgren, face to face...then I might have some respect for Leavy.

In some respects, Leavy may be part of the reason Holmgren is now in Cleveland...had the Seahawks won that Super Bowl...would Holmgren be in Cleveland today?

Geez Mac, have a heart.
It's rare for an NFL official to admit such terrible mistakes (those may have cost the Seahawks the Super Bowl, especially the phantom holding call), so I give him props for doing it in front of the media, even if it is four years after the fact.

I agree, worst officiated game I've ever seen.

I don't know if it was the WORST officiated game.....There may have been plenty of other games that could have had far more bad calls within it. However the bad calls that happened did seem to be one sided and did shape the outcome of that game.

All the ref did was admit what EVERYONE already knew.

That's the beauty of having human refs. People make mistakes, they may affect the outcome of the game. It's been like that since the beginning of football.

It's the human element of the game. It's fine, no need to apologize ...

...unless he did it for money.

So it wasn't the worst officiated game I've seen?

The only thing I can think of as I read how nice everyone is being and how accepting they are of the mistakes ... is what if it wasnt the Superbowl.. what if it was the AFC title game?

And not Seattle vs. Pittsburgh ... but Pittsburgh vs. US

They beat us again .. go on to win the superbowl ... would you guys all be so quick to forgive if it cost us a chance at a championship?

No way, I'd be ripping the guy apart.

But that's just because emotions are involved. But emotions are what makes sports what they are, so I wouldn't really expect anything else.

Eventually you have to let things go. It has been 4 years. No one complains about the Rudd helmet toss anymore.

j/c

No doubt that was a poorly officiated game, i have never met one steeler fan who would agree they got some breaks in that game

Did that game change the future of Holmgren- absolutely, no way Holmgren is with the browns now if he had a superbowl title in seattle.

Good for the ref to step up and say what everyone already knew, but he could have done it a bit sooner......

Quote:

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Did that game change the future of Holmgren- absolutely, no way Holmgren is with the browns now if he had a superbowl title in seattle.

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bigfoot...maybe Browns fans should be thanking Bill Leavy for blowing some critical calls in Holmgren's last Super Bowl appearance.

Sometimes it's strange how things work out...

...a perfect end to Leavy's story would be if Leavy gets a second chance to officiate a Super Bowl game against a team Holmgren was associated with...

J/C

What's funny is that I was watching a show on either ESPN, or the NFL network, can't remember which, and they showed bad calls from back in the seventies that helped Pittsburgh beat Houston and get to the Superbowl, and calls against I think it was the Raiders, that helped them get to another.

The call in the Houston game was pitiful. The TE I believe makes a great catch in the corner of the endzone, dragging his second foot. He was clearly in bounds and everybody knew it. They call it incomplete, and that gave Pittsburgh the win and the Superbowl birth.

The immmaculate reception is another, many say that was not a legal play at the time. If you ever see the replay, another thing is they never show the ball which is hitting the ground, when Harris is grabbing it.

I see the Steelers play alot living where I do. I also have been to many of their games. And I have to say, if it is on purpose or just by luck, I have never seen a team get away with more uncalled penalties in my life. Also plays like the BS spotting of the ball last year against us, always seem to involve them. Just makes me hate them more.

My friends are all big Steeler fans, and even they admit to many of the crap calls that go for the,, but they all just smile and say tough luck. One of these days hopefully the tide will change against them, but I've watched it for over 39 years and it is mind boggling.

I feel ya, when you talk about the iffy calls that have benefitted the Stoolz.

It really does make you shake your head when you add them all up, doesn't it?


My advice: Get a couple slices of DiCarlo's (the original downtown shop- not the one out by Wintersville on Sunset...), grab a couple beers, and fuggedaboudit.

The Stoolz will get their turn in the barrel... and then you'll get to hear all those traitors who live in Ohio but root for a PA team whine and howl and cry.... and it'll serve'em right, too.




The first time I ever met my soon-to-be Pops-In-Law ( a long-timer Steubenville resident and longtime Stoolz fan), I told him that "any Ohio citizen who'd actually root for a Pittsburgh team should move to Pittsburgh...

...on foot.

...without using a bridge."


We actually hit it off that weekend, 26 years ago. I think he respected the fact that I stood up for my Brownies that day- and every day since.


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You got my sympathies, eryze19akaBT58...

That's one strange town you live in, Dawg. Almost feels like Pennsylvania on some days. And WVA on others. Almost anything by Ohio.




Stay strong, you hear?