Did the Seahawks win the Super Bowl last night?

I didn't watch last night's game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.  Unusual for me, but staring at Adam LeVine for a couple of mindless hours sounded better to me.  Also, I was on the second television watching The Voice because my main television was recording two different shows, thus making it impossible to watch another live.  Since the inception of the DVR I rarely watch anything live, sports being one of the only concessions, so I had paused The Voice for thirty minutes before tuning in and wasn't able to go back and forth between the show and the game like I normally do with a Monday Night Football game not involving the Steelers.  All of this is why I missed the big finish.

For those who live in a cave, MNF's game came down to the wire with a Hail Mary pass being thrown by Seattle's quarterback Russell Wilson into the left corner of the end zone.  What occurred next is what has the sports nation in an uproar this morning.  According to one official, and honestly, instant replay, Packers safety M.D. Jennings flew over several players to catch the football.  As he was falling back to earth, Seahawk wide receiver Golden Tate reached his hand around Jenning's arm and touched the ball.  Both men fell to the ground and wrestled each other for said ball with Jennings the clear winner, the ball always clutched in his two hands and held tightly against his chest.  That official called a touchback. The other official saw Jennings and Tate both catch the ball simultaneously, and according to the NFL rules, "If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both retain it, the ball belongs to the passers. It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control."  That official called a touchdown.

Time had run out on the clock.  The call went to review, another mistake according to the rules, and was upheld as a touchdown.  Uproar, chaos, and confusion ensued.  Seahawks coach Pete Carroll jumped up and down, his arms emulating a touchdown, before jumping into players.  One would have thought he had just won the Super Bowl or at least the playoff game getting his team into the Super Bowl.  After the game Carroll said, "From what I understood from the officials it was a simultaneous catch.  Tie goes to the runner.  Good call."

Okay, first of all let me just say I can give him his excitement in pulling off a last second stunner during the game in real time in the moments during and after the touchdown call.  That happens all the time in football and sports.  Someone makes a great play, a great catch, a touchdown and in the heat of the moment excitement is shown.  But as an armchair football fan, I know not to get too excited because we now have challenges, reviews, and instant replay.  Hell, I didn't jump up and down when Santonio Holmes made his unbelievable catch in the corner of the end zone in the Steelers/Cardinals Super Bowl until after the review and the referee declared it an official touchdown.  And for the most part you can't argue with instant replay that can be slowed down and reversed.  I can do all of that now myself on my own DVR equipped television. The play went to review and I guarantee Pete Carroll saw it, over and over and over again, on some giant screen in that stadium.  Unless the man is a complete idiot, and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, he knew what he saw was, as Trent Dilfer later said, "a debacle."  He knew the controversy it would cause.  He knew this was only week 3 of the season and he knew of all the issues with the replacement refs.  Shouldn't he have just calmly walked off the field and done his ridiculous in-your-face celebration in the privacy of the locker room? Can you imagine Mike Tomlin in that situation?  Bill Belichick? Tony Dungy?  Tom Landry? 

Why is it that all of the college coaches who break into the NFL as coaches act like children?  Carroll had to know he won that game because of a crappy call.  Yes, that happens more often then it should, but why would you go overboard on celebrating a win like that?  As a coach, a man, wouldn't you want to shake your head, shake the opposing coach's hand, and then acknowledge at your post game interview that, "something has got to be done about his labor dispute with the NFL referees?"  Wouldn't you rather go down in history - and make no mistake these three weeks of replacement referees from Division III, high school, and the lingerie leagues will be historical and part of a film maker's NFL movie - as a coach who maintained pose and credibility in the face of nonsense?  Obviously not in Pete Carroll's opinion.  I hope he gets up this morning, watches his actions on television, and rethinks his behavior from now on, but I'm not holding my breath.