My totally unbiased opinion of the Super Bowl.

Since the Steelers didn't play noticeably better than the Seahawks on Sunday, it's worth mentioning the importance of some of the breaks they received throughout the game. Now, by breaks, I don't necessarily mean pure, dumb luck. It could be that they just barely scratched out a 1st down or were the beneficiaries of a few calls that could've gone either way, or maybe they watched a Seahawks player drop what would have been a great catch.

(I’m trying to sound neutral here. Bear with me.)

Here's just a few examples of how things broke right for the Steelers on Sunday. They occurred on back-to-back drives midway through the 2nd quarter.

Leading 3-0 with 9:30 remaining in the half, the Seahawks had a 3rd and 3 at their own 30. Matt Hasselbeck threw a screen pass to Mack Strong at the 32 and Strong appeared to have the 1st down after being tackled at the 33 but was ruled a few inches short after receiving an unfavorable spot. I know this sounds petty, especially since it wasn't as if Seattle was inside the 20 or even at midfield, but the questionable spot and/or the failure to convert on 3rd down -- whichever way you want to look at it -- proved to be costly, because it forced the Seahawks to punt and led to a drive that resulted in a Steelers touchdown.

On the ensuing drive, Pittsburgh ran its first two plays on the ground and had a 3rd and 6 at its own 45. Roethlisberger dropped back, then stepped up to elude a rush by Bryce Fisher, who grabbed Roethlisberger's jersey but was pushed away by an offensive lineman. Roethlisberger then ran up and improvised a flip pass to Hines Ward, who gained 13 yards on the play to pick up the 1st down. Again, it seems like such a small thing at the time, but if you think about it, that 1st down was a matter of inches. A tiny bit quicker and maybe Fisher drags Roethlisberger down at the 40, and it took a sloppy throw on the run from Roethlisberger to complete a 1st down.

That conversion led to this a few plays later.

Forced to a 3rd and 28 after Grant Wistrom sacked Roethlisberger at the Seattle 40-yard line, Roethlisberger again was forced to scramble out of the pocket. He nearly stepped over the line of scrimmage but was able to maintain his balance and threw a deep lob to Hines Ward, who caught the ball at the 3-yard line to give the Steelers a 1st-and-goal. This wasn’t exactly a break, just a freak play. Another 3rd and long, another broken play, another 1st down.

Roethlisberger scored two plays later, when he dove into the endzone and was ruled to have crossed the plane of the goal line. It appeared that the ball was short of the line, though, and the Seahawks challenged the touchdown, but the ruling on the field stood.

The problem here isn't whether the replays were conclusive; they weren't. The problem is that the officials' initial ruling on the field was that the ball crossed the plane of the goal line. Had the official ruled initially that Roethlisberger was short, the inconclusive replays would've resulted in a 4th-and-goal, not a touchdown.

So to recap the breaks that had to fall into place in order for this touchdown to happen:

1. Mack Strong was tackled at the Seattle 33 and received a bad spot, forcing Seattle to punt on 4th and inches.
2. On 3rd-and-6, Roethlisberger had to break free from Fisher and then rush a flip pass to Ward.
3. On 3rd-and-28, Roethlisberger came within inches of crossing the line of scrimmage but was able to pull up and fling a 37-yard pass to Ward.
4. Roethlisberger's run on 3rd-and-goal looked to be short, but was called a touchdown after a booth review.

Pittsburgh deserves credit for making these plays happen, but I can't help but feel that they were more than just a little fortunate.

Here's another "break" that fell in Pittsburgh's favor and turned out to be a huge difference in the game.

On the Seahawk's final drive of the 1st half, they had a 2nd and 6 at the Pittsburgh 40 with 1:13 remaining, trailing 7-3. Hasselbeck threw what appeared to be a touchdown pass to Darrell Jackson in the right corner, but the ruling on the field was that Jackson only had one foot inbounds when he caught the ball.

If you'll notice in the replays, though, Jackson catches the ball with his left foot inbounds, and as his right foot crosses past the pylon, the pylon begins to tip over, meaning Jackson had at least grazed the pylon with his second foot. This should have been a touchdown or given the Seahawks a 1st and goal at the 1-yard line, or at the very least, the officials should have called a challenge down from the booth.

It's unfortunate that neither of those three things happened, since it seems likely the Seahawks would have either taken a 10-7 lead heading into halftime, or at worst, brought the game to within 7-6. Instead, the drive ended with Josh Brown's 54-yard field goal attempt going wide right and the Seahawks heading into halftime trailing, 7-3.

One more.

There were a lot of turning points in the Super Bowl, but arguably the biggest one occurred early in the 4th quarter. Trailing 14-10, the Seahawks had mounted an effective drive to begin the 4th and got the ball to the Pittsburgh 19, but the drive died when Ike Taylor intercepted Hasselbeck at the 5 and returned the ball to the Pittsburgh 28-yard-line. Four plays later, the Steelers gave the ball to Antwaan Randle El on a reverse and Randle El threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Ward to give the Steelers a 21-10 lead.

What makes this series of plays interesting is that the Steelers shouldn’t have gotten this opportunity to begin with because the Taylor interception should never have occurred.

Three plays before Hasselbeck was intercepted, he connected with Jerramy Stevens up the middle for an 18-yard reception, a play that would have given the Seahawks a 1st-and-goal at the 1-yard line. This never happened, of course, because the play was nullified after the referees flagged Seattle’s right tackle, Sean Locklear, for a 10-yard holding penalty on Steelers linebacker Clark Haggans. I’ve looked at this play a dozen times in super-slo-mo, and I still can’t see why the refs called a hold. Although Haggans beat Locklear, Locklear’s right arm was still inside Haggans’s frame and wasn’t hooking Haggans's body. That's not a hold.

Two plays later, after Hasselbeck was sacked by Casey Hampton on 1st and 20, Shaun Alexander ran for 7 yards before being dragged down from behind by the shoulder pads by Joey Porter. This was by definition a horse-collar tackle by Porter, an illegal play that should have resulted in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic 1st down for Seattle. The officials didn’t make the call, however, and on the next play, Hasselbeck was intercepted.

And then to add insult to injury. . .

On Taylor’s interception return, he was tackled at the 28 by Hasselbeck. The officials flagged Hasselbeck for blocking below the knees, a personal foul that resulted in a 15-yard penalty and gave the Steelers starting position at their own 43. The problem with this penalty was that Hasselbeck didn’t block below the knees -- he tackled below the knees. I'm not sure what the referees saw here. Even Al Michaels thought this was a bad call.

Summing up the breaks the Steelers got to score their third touchdown:

1. Locklear was flagged for a questionable 10-yard holding penalty, a call that erased a Stevens reception that would have given Seattle 1st-and-goal at the 1.
2. Porter brought Alexander down with a horse-collar tackle, but wasn’t flagged for it. The Seahawks should have gained 15 more yards on this play and a 1st down.
3. On Taylor’s interception return, Hasselbeck was flagged for a 15-yard personal foul penalty for blocking below the knees, even though he was going for a tackle.

This is obviously just a small portion of the game, but when you consider this along with the two Darrell Jackson touchdowns that weren’t counted, it means the Seahawks lost what could have been three touchdowns. Instead of netting 21 points, they only netted 3.

The point of all this -- in addition to taking away from Pittsburgh's victory and pissing on the officiating crew -- was to highlight how big a role the breaks play in pro football. In particular, think about how big a 3rd down conversion is. If Mack Strong receives a favorable spot on that 3rd-and-3 play, the Seahawks get a new set of downs and three more attempts at moving the chains, instead of having to punt. If Bryce Fisher is able to get a better grip on Roethlisberger's jersey and bring him down for a sack, the Steelers have a 4th and long and are forced to punt; instead, they convert the 1st down and end up scoring a touchdown on that drive. If Roethlisberger runs up a couple of centimeters more on 3rd and 28, he crosses the line of scrimmage and that 37-yard pass to Ward never happens. The result of the play would have been 4th and forever.

Defining what constitutes a "break" is subjective. For example, I thought the Seahawks got a bad break when Darrell Jackson's touchdown reception was called back; the officials thought it was offensive pass interference. What amazed me about what happened to Seattle, though, wasn’t just that they got jacked so often, but that they got jacked so often on potentially game-altering plays -- plays that could’ve led to 1st downs or put them in field goal range or given them a touchdown.

It wouldn't be fair to Pittsburgh to say Seattle was robbed -- who's to say the Steelers wouldn't have responded well if the Seahawks had gotten the breaks? -- but I definitely think the game would've been a million times more exciting if Seattle wasn't getting jacked on every other drive.