Skip Sayless

I wish that were his name, and that he lived up to it. This guy just plain sucks.

Your defense battled its guts out and mostly stuffed Pittsburgh's run. But one breakdown allowed Willie Parker to escape untouched for a 75-yard TD. You can't overcome mistakes like that in a game like this.
But, no, you can't overcome 11 lost points worth of penalties, either. On this night, you belonged in the Super Bowl as much as Pittsburgh did, for what that's worth.

Well, Skip, it's worth about as much this column is worth to Walter Jones: nothing. I'm sure the whole Seattle team picked their chins up a little higher today knowing Bayless considered them equal but star-crossed competitors to the new champs.

Is Bayless the biggest woulda-coulda-shoulda sports "writer" in America now?
WOULDA:

A 7-0 Seattle lead would have tightened the Steelers' throats more than 3-0 would have.

COULDA:

In the end, [Seattle] lost because of two bad calls and because Pittsburgh simply made three or four more good plays. The Steelers converted 8 of 15 third downs to your 5 of 17. Too many drops and near-TD catches, too many off-target flings by Hasselbeck at crucial times, too much high-schoolish clock management by the quarterback and coach at the end of the half and game.

SHOULDA:

The play [Roethlisberger] made that salvaged a first-half lead for the Steelers -- the scramble left and deep heave from barely behind the line of scrimmage -- should have been batted down or even intercepted by your safety Michael Boulware. Instead, Boulware made a poor play on the ball and Ward caught it. On Randle El's trick touchdown pass -- Pittsburgh's best pass of the night -- your cornerback Marcus Trufant took a bad angle and ran underneath it. So two bad plays by your defensive backs helped Ward -- who had dropped two passes, including one that should have been a touchdown -- win the MVP award.

Skip says, "Your Seahawks lost this game a little more than Pittsburgh won it." But you know who really lost this game for the Seahawks? Carson Palmer.