Nearly 20 years later, the officiating in Super Bowl XL remains under scrutiny. Joining Julian Edelman’s Games with Names podcast that aired Tuesday, Fox Sports 1 analyst Colin Cowherd took a quick jab at the refs for giving the Pittsburgh Steelers favorable calls in their 2005 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
The conversation began with Cowherd praising then-Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren.
“It’s the only Super Bowl where I thought officiating was really poor,” Cowherd told Edelman. “I thought Pittsburgh got a lot of really fortunate calls. Pittsburgh was good though.”
From the moment the game ended, the refs have been called into question. Among the most controversial was a Seattle offensive lineman being flagged for holding that negated a completion to Pittsburgh’s 1-yard line. Right tackle Sean Locklear was called for holding LOLB Clark Haggans. You can judge its validity below.
On the next play, QB Matt Hasselbeck was sacked and two plays later, Hasselbeck was intercepted by CB Ike Taylor. Pittsburgh’s ensuing drive would end with WR Antwaan Randle El’s famous touchdown pass to WR Hines Ward, effectively ending the game.
Seattle was called for four more penalties and 50 more penalty yards than Pittsburgh. In 2010, head referee of the game Bill Leavy admitted he had a bad performance.
“It was a tough thing for me,” he said. “I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter, and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that.”
The calls made a 2023 list of the most controversial Super Bowl moments of the 21st century.
While it’s fair to say the officiating didn’t greatly benefit the Seahawks in that game, it’s hardly the central reason why they lost (and in fairness, that isn’t Cowherd’s point). Seattle’s offense was a miserable 5-of-17 on third down, allowed RB Willie Parker to bust off a 75-yard run, and gave up a 3rd and 28 that led to Pittsburgh’s first touchdown. The refs may have had a bad day but Seattle had a worse one.
Check out the entire episode between Cowherd and Edelman below.
