Michael Smith gets it right

If I had a column to write today, this would have been it.

I am so very disappointed in the zebras having determined the outcome of the game that it makes me sick. And the team I was pulling for won!

Bruce - your point about the Seahawks playing well enough to win, and perhaps better than any losing side in the SB is well taken. In addition to gaining 410 yards (to the Steelers 367, I think), the author of the piece to which I link above claims that the penalty yardage amounted to 161 (yards lost on the plays plus the penalty yardage itself). It was worth at least 4 points directly, and many more indirectly.

I was thinking about other post-season games where I thought the winning team was outplayed by the side with fewer points. I think the biggest margin in a game where the losing team outplayed the winning was when the Ravens, in their SB year, defeated the Titans 24-10. I just looked up the stats and it is even worse than I remember: First downs - Titans 23-6; yards - Titans 317-134; possession - Titans 40:29 to 19:31. It would be interesting if you can come up with a better example of the losing side outplaying the winning team in the NFL playoffs or SB. Any nominees, Brucie?