Source: The Sporting News
The Sporting News
I told you the Steelers would win
February 6, 2006
By Arnie Spanier
The worst call of the game was when they whistled Matt Hasselbeck for blocking below the knees on the INT return. Hello? He made the tackle!

Source: USA Today
Super Bowl referees foul, but then so was everything else
Ian O’Conner
How could the head of a Super Bowl crew tell the world that Matt Hasselbeck was guilty of an illegal block after he tackled the Steeler who had just intercepted his pass?

Source: ESPN
Steeling one: Hawks get robbed
By Skip Bayless
Worse, Hasselbeck was wrongly flagged for a below-the-waist block when he was trying to make the tackle. Hasselbeck was punished 15 more yards.

At that point, your guys seemed to be hanging their heads as if they had decided the NFL just couldn't live with them winning its showcase game.

Source: FOXSports
Refs were far from Super in this one
Kevin Nench / FOXSports.com
After a sack, Hasselbeck threw a pick and then was penalized 15 yards for making the tackle. I'm not kidding. The same thing happened in the Indy-Pittsburgh game in the regular season. It's like the officials become so discombobulated during the change of possession that they just randomly start throwing flags. The call was that Hasselbeck had thrown an illegal block below the waist on the return. Never mind that Hasselbeck wasn't trying to block anybody and did, in fact, make the tackle. Just another terrible call that cannot be reviewed in Paul Tagliabue's NFL.

The Steelers took quick advantage of their enhanced field position and just like that it was 21-10 Pittsburgh when it should have been 17-14 Seattle.

Source: ESPN
Game’s third team upstaged Steelers, Hawks
By Michael Smith, ESPN.com
Three plays later, Ike Taylor picked off a Hasselbeck pass, and Hasselbeck went low to make the tackle on Taylor's return and was called for a 15-yard personal foul for a low block. The Steelers set up shop at their 44. That one right there made no sense.

Source: Miami.com
Posted on Mon, Feb. 06, 2006
Throw a flag on these Super Bowl referees
BY JASON WHITLOCK
Kansas City Star

…but the final backbreaking call helped set up Pittsburgh's game-icing, reverse, wide-receiver-pass-to-Ward touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Ike Taylor intercepted Hasselbeck deep in Pittsburgh territory. Hasselbeck stopped Taylor at the Pittsburgh 29 with a perfectly executed form tackle across Taylor's knees. The refs flagged Hasselbeck for illegally "blocking" Taylor across his knees and gave the Steelers 15 additional yards.

The Seahawks justifiably can complain that Sunday's one-sided officiating disrupted their offensive rhythm and undermined their focus. The officiating had to creep inside their head.

Source: Toronto Star
TV unveils zebras at their worst
Lousy officials simply hijacked The Big Game
Feb. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM
CHRIS ZELKOVICH
Seconds later, Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck tossed up an interception and was penalized for a low block on the play, even though he was tackling, not blocking. ``We think it was a bad call," Michaels said. ``It's kind of like adding insult to injury."

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