NFL officiating must be improved

Paul Tagliabue and Mike Pereira:

Something must be done about the state of officiating in today's NFL. Super Bowl XL was filled with so many blown and questionable calls that the integrity of the league has been called into question. While we do not necessarily believe in a conspiracy theory for the Steelers to win the Super Bowl, there is no denying that the game was completely lopsided in the officiating.

There were four key calls that went against the Seahawks during Super Bowl XL:

1) Darrell Jackson offensive pass interference was marginal at best. The official called the penalty after being lobbied by the defensive player.
2) Ben Roethlisberger's TD run did not break the plane of the goal line. Again, the linesman initially called down by contact but after the ball was moved forward be Roethlisberger, he decided to call a touchdown instead.
3) Holding call on Sean Locklear was a phantom call. This play was a huge momentum changer as the Seahawks would have had the ball at the 1 yard line. Also, the defensive player who was "held" on the play was offsides, which was not called.
4) The most embarassing call, though, probably did not affect the outcome of the game was the illegal cut block on Matt Hasselbeck.

All replays show that the Pittsburgh Steelers were given the benefit of every call. Conversely, no questionable calls went against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

First the fiasco with the Troy Polamalu in the playoff game against the Colts, and now this farce. There are no repercussions for bad calls by the referees and they continue to make horrendous mistakes. Please, for the sake of America's favorite sport, something must be done.