I really don’t think either team played anywhere near their best football. It wasn’t necessarily ugly football, or particularly mistake-filled, but it rarely was awe-inspiring. Both teams seemed tight and tentative for most of the game. Most of the game was played at about a 6. On various individual plays, the Steelers pushed it up to a 10, while the Seahawks never could. One team made plays, and one didn’t. That’s pretty much the story.

The story in the grander context of things is that it’s nice to see a stable, family-owned franchise be rewarded for how they do things. How many organizations would’ve fired Bill Cowher when he was going through some substandard years? Maybe all of them except the Steelers. I mean, even Steelers fans wanted him fired at various times. It was just a month or two ago that I was forwarded an e-mail by a pissed off Steelers fan with a picture of Bill Cowher pushing carts at a Wal-Mart.

But Dan Rooney never wavered, he trusted his instincts, he trusted the belief that a good coach does not suddenly turn into a bad coach overnight, and he stuck with him. It’s nice to see that kind of loyalty rewarded. I’m never going to be a Steelers fan, but I respect how the Rooneys do business.

Various other unorganized thoughts:

• I’m kinda glad the game wasn’t decided by a tiny little margin, so Josh Brown doesn’t have to feel like a schmuck.

• Max Starks deserves a lot of credit for hustling his big ass downfield after the Herndon interception.

• It’s too bad the Seahawks didn’t play better today. Penalties, more than anything else, even the Jerramy Stevens drop-fest, absolutely gutted their chances to win. The most damaging was probably that holding call that nullified a play that had them set up near the goal line. That was weak. But I think it’s very rare that officiating changes the outcome of a game, I don’t think that happened tonight, and I don’t think it’s as bad as people are making out to be. More on that in a second.

• Benjamin Roethlisberger played probably the best 22.9 QB-rated game you’ll ever see. He threw the ball pretty terribly. The best pass thrown by a Steeler yesterday was by Antwan Randle-El. Benjamin was not comfortable, all game long. But he made some huge plays, too. The little flick pass to Hines for a first down, toeing the line of scrimming before heaving a (kinda bad) pass to Hines Ward inside the five, the first down run, the TD run… speaking of which…

• The replays on that were just completely inconclusive. There’s just no way to tell if a point of the football ever broke the plane. However the official called it on the field was how it was going to stand. The way I saw it, there was no way that anyone on the planet earth can be 100% sure that that football did or did not break the plane of the endzone. All you could see was forearm and shadow.

• The 1st quarter Darrell Jackson push-off call. Maybe it wasn’t a lot of contact, , but… when you fully extend your arm into the DBs chest – particularly in the endzone – you risk getting called. And I don’t think he even needed to do it. If he’d have just turned in the same direction with no contact, it’s probably an easy TD catch.