right? one minutia, many minutiae; which is certainly what the nfl's about to be overwhelmed with.

I have been waiting for this article - checking Salon hourly - to see what you thought of the officiating. Now I feel vindicated. I guess the good news is the Steelers won anyway.

"Three of the four road teams won, something that hasn't happened in the round of eight since 1971."

Only two of the away teams won this weekend. Seattle and Denver won at home, while Pittsburgh and Carolina won on the road.

Carolina won at Chicago

Pittsburg won at Indy

Denver and Seattle both won at home.

I've been complaining about this to anyone who will listen, except Joey Porter, because he's scary: It's not as if all of the busted fourth quarter calls went Indy's way. Big Ben went for fourth-and-short in the fourth quarter, and did not have the yardage on his own. However, after an illegal push from behind by Jerome Bettis, the Steelers got a comfortable placement for first down. If, instead, the refs had called Bettis's push, the Colts probably take over on downs at (around) the 50. Alternatively, the refs could have called offensive movement on the O-line flutter, in which case the Steelers would probably have punted. Instead, the Steelers burned up another 5-and-change minutes on the clock. This sequence of events is just as BS as the blown interception call.

Regarding "three of four road teams won last weekend"; Seattle and Denver both won at home, doesn't that make it 2 of 4?

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Instant Replay causes at least as many problems as it solves. The refs no longer trust themselves to call what they see real-time, they know that anything close will be challenged and they will have a second chance to 'get it right', which leads us into the rulebook BS that King refers to.

Yes, King, no one in Indianapolis thought Palamalu's INT was anything but. I don't hear any chatter about being jobbed by the refs. We are resigned to losing The Edge, as why would any potential HOF back stay long term on a team that doesn't give him the ball in crunch-time situations. 13 carries, no receptions. Peyton needs an OC/Governer/ess who will take the decision-making off the field and put it in the booth where it belongs. Is Julie Andrews available?

To not be prepared for Pittsburgh's blitz is downright criminal in coaching terms and no adjustments made during the game reflects an unwillingness to intervene in crisis situations that appears to be Dungy's m.o. and that has cost him dearly.

I was wondering about the legality of Bettis' push on that play; the CBS announcer (whichever one it was) kept lauding him for "pushing the pile," but it looked to me like he pushed Big Ben, which I understand to be illegal. But if it was, why didn't the CBS guy, or the other CBS guy, or anyone else (except DJ Ninja), mention it? Is this another ambiguous rule situation?

That said, the associated claim about O-line "flutter" is nonsense. They showed the replay a half dozen times, and each time I was surprised to see the Colts stand up and point. No announcer (on TV or radio) identified a single Steeler who so much as took a deep breath. Meanwhile, the Colts encroach, go offsides, do everything short of tackling Ben, and the refs decide that nothing at all happened. If I were an Indy fan, that play is the next-to-last one I'm complaining about.

Anyway, the fact that everyone is talking about the intercept and no one is talking about the Bettis push might suggest to DJ that it's not, in fact, "just as BS" as the interception call.

I just couldn't watch poor Tony Dungy lose the game so when there was an obvious interception which clinched the victory, I turned off the TV. Imagine my shock when I heard about the finish as I turned the TV back on to watch the start of the second game!

The problem is that each rule is written to plug a hole that the previous rules left open or opened accidentally. That's how they get to be byzantine and counter-intuitive. So, I hope when King gets time, he'll tell us what actual text he would suggest inserting in the rulebook, and what current rule(s) he would replace, to define "catch" or "possession" in a way that would bring officials' calls into alignment with common sense without creating still further problems.

All the talk about bad officating has overshadowed one of the great hustle plays of all time in any sport. Ben Watson running about 120 yards to catch Champ Baily before Champ ran 100 yards to make it to the end zone. I was really rooting for New England to lose, but still thought this was an all-timer never-give-up play.

I suggest you award an annual Ben Watson Hustle award.

Thanks for the catch, folks. I don't know when or why I got it in my head that three road teams won.

In overtime, all calls are reviewed by the replay booth which says that the NFL already has people there. My suggestion is this:

Have two people who are reviewing in the replay booth (or separate booths). They both review the play. The field referee stays on the field and does NOT review the play. If the two reviewers both think the call should be overturned, they overrule the field call, and the call is reversed. If either one of them side with the onfield call, then the call stands.

This saves the time of the referee walking over to the sidelines putting on the hood and walking back to the field of play, which in and of itself lasts two minutes. If one reviewer looks at the play for 10 seconds and decides they had it right the first time, then he/she signals in and the game can resume regardless of whether or not the other person is still looking at the play. If a decision can't be determined after 30 seconds (or whatever time limit you want) then the play is determined inconclusive and the field call stands.

Now we have a much faster system with more people seeing the play and less chance of a misinterpretation of the rules. And at the most, the NFL has to hire one more person for each game.