My top four plays from #45 in the Super Bowl

[Brandon_Cox]

I'm referring to Line Judge Jeff Seeman, who had an all-pro day.

1) With about 7 minutes left, Malcolm Mitchell (who had an outstanding second half) caught a critical pass for a first down and had a brain cramp. Without being touched by Goodwin, he inexplicably put the ball on the turf. Fortunately, he kept his hand firmly on top of the ball. As soon as Goodwin touched Mitchell, Seeman blew his whistle and ruled that Mitchell retained possession and was down by contact. He didn't give the cornerback a chance to rip the ball away. A potential crisis was averted.

2) On the tying 2 point conversion, he got 2 things right. First, he threw a flag on Freeney for offsides, then he immediately and correctly ruled Amendola crossed the goal line. Excellent work.

3) Obviously, he was outstanding on the Edelman circus catch. While all the other zebras were looking around with befuddled expressions on their faces, he ran in from over 30 yards out and called it a catch. If he gets that wrong, we have to challenge and Atlanta saves their last time out. Matt Ryan getting the ball with 50+ seconds with a timeout is a whole different animal from what happened. I'm not saying Atlanta would have scored but I'm sure glad we didn't have to find out.

4) Finally, the game winner. What if he rules James White down at the 6 inch line? If we challenged, would the NFL have had the balls - and the integrity - to overrule that call and have the greatest game ever played end on a ref's reversal. I'm not so sure. Suddenly it's 3rd down and anything can happen. Fortunately, Seeman called it a touchdown and got it exactly right, the confetti cannons went off and the NFL had no choice but to confirm.

Look, we all love to rag the refs when they screw up but this dude got every big play exactly right. A tip of the cap to Jeff Seeman.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Great points, and overall a good game by the refs.

But on that last one, I think all challenges in OT come from the replay official, coaches cannot challenge.

 

[bormio]

Seeman's father was an NFL referee I believe (Jerry). Remember him as a little guy who reffed a lot of big games.

 

[aluminum seats]

You might want to think about changing the thread title which is maybe a little too clever for its own good. But good post.

They did miss what could've been an important unnecessary roughness call against Edelman early on, and they definitely blew the extra point penalty, but overall they had a good game and came up big in most of the important moments.