So worth it

I watched the Seattle/Dallas game. Loved it. So far, I'm loving the aftergame stuff.

Bill Parcells has pretty much thrown Romo under the bus. He said in his interview that it was basically an extra point, the snap looked good, and "I don't know what happened after that...", and, "You know you've got to finish the game. We just didn't do that."

Parcells is an ass.

I've heard the game commentator (I think it was Al Michaels), and TV analysts (so far Ron Jaworski and Mike Ditka) say something about how the ball Romo dropped "looked slick" or "shiny". Oh my. How many excuses will we make for a stinking Cowboy. HE SCREWED UP. HE CHOKED. Stop it.

Best Play Made: On the botched FG, Jordan Babineaux of the Hawks lined up on the far left of the defense, preparing to come around the corner to try to block the kick. The snap was quick (maybe he wasn't) and he ran maybe three steps, realized he was not going to have a chance, so he held his ground on the outside for a second, then realized that the snap was dropped. He then sped towards the ball, almost tripped over a teammate who had dived towards the spot of the kick, then avoided a pathetic attempt at a block by the kicker, continued on and chased Romo all the way around the other side of the field, getting just close enough to dive at his feet, and just grabbed enough ankle to upend Romo just short of not only a first down, but likely a touchdown.

Not to Mention: Babineaux has been a safety but was moved to cornerback because of injuries, and the other cornerback, Pete Hunter, according to the TV guys, was sitting on his couch last week and was signed by the Seahawks this week. I think. I can't find the transaction on ESPN.com at all. Anyway, these guys held the Cowboy W.R.'s to 9 catches for 109 yds. Considering that the Cowboys were predicted to pass all over the place.... well, good job.

SHUT UP: As soon as the game ended, the cameras followed Romo off the field. There was a quick interview with the WINNING QB, Hasslebeck, then it was all about the Cowboys, and "Will Parcells retire?" talk. SHUT UP. We know the "media" loves the frickin' cowboys already. Aside from the recap of the actual game all the post game talk seems to be all Cowboys, with heavy doses of Parcells, Romo, and even for some goldarn reason... Terrell Owens (2 catches, 26 yards - why is he newsworthy?).

HOW ABOUT: Matt Hasselbeck - did it again. That pass to Stevens to take the lead... awesome. 40 yards in the air-on a line-on a dime. Sweet. Stevens - Big time game, 5 catches for 77 and two TD's, no drops (that I saw) from a guy who is best known for dropping passes. I already mentioned the cornerbacks, how about Tatupu (almost) saving that ball for the TD. Tatupu and a few others for the stop of Witten at the 1 1/2 yard line to force the FG try. Shaun Alexander - limped off the field on the final drive but came back on a play later, but I heard no info from the TV about what happened (had he been a Cowboy, there would have been a sideline reporter telling us if it was just a wedgie or something).

REFEREE: Lets hear it for the Ref actually looking at the spot of the ball on the 1 1/2 yard line stop. Very nice, and clearly they got the call right in the end. No part of the receiver's body ever crossed the one yard line, and the ball was mid-body at best. There was no "forward progress" to dissect, the guy caught it and was stuffed on the spot. The idiot official coming in from the sideline to mark the spot was about two feet closer to the goal line than the player, and a yard or more from where the ball itself was. How he thought he was going to get away with that I'll never know. It sure seemed like he was just going to mark it far enough for the first down but it was just too blatant to stand. The TV guys seem to be complicit in the Cowboy favoritism, so it must be a league issue. On one reviewed call, the TV kept showing different angles to show that the call should go in the Cowboy's favor. All the angles showed Seattle favor. Then to commercial while it was reviewed, then back from commercial they showed a different angle, overhead shot, and stopped the film at a point and said that the guy was in bounds (see the green between his foot and the sideline?). I say, keep the film rolling so we can see where his foot actuall comes down. And then when the call initially was in Seattle's favor, they showed a replay that was not going to be of use in overturning the call, then quickly went to commercial, and when they came back, they had some magnificent super slo-mo, close-up high def view of the Seattle guy's toe barely touching the sideline. Where was that camera shot on the Cowboy-on-the-sideline call?

So what was the worst play of the game? Nope, not Romo. High pressure situation, rookie, "slick ball" and all, plus I told you that Romo would collapse in this game, so his was expected. Just higher profile. I saw a worse display of football. Really, I did. It was on the kickoff return for a touchdown by Dallas. As the runner followed his blockers, I saw Seattle guys running towards the play from the opposite side of the field. Uh, the kick went right, the runner ran that way, why are you on the other side of the field? But that was not it. At some point the runner had pulled even with the last blocker ahead of him. They were running side by side and there was a Seahawk player in the way. The blocker was not in a position to keep the Seattle guy from at least pushing the runner out of bounds. It looked like the Seattle guy was the kicker. But that's no excuse for what I saw (and I watched the run over and over to make sure I'd seen this right). The kicker ignored the runner and went after the blocker. Really, it happened. If you get a chance to see the highlights again (NFL.com will have them, probably ESPN and SI.coms) watch it. Watch as the runner comes upon the last guy with a chance to stop him. Watch that guy move into the blocker running next to (not in front of) the runner. Pathetic.

I hope Sunday's games are fun. This sure was.