ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Nearly two months after his Seattle Seahawks
lost the Super Bowl,
Mike Holmgren is still feeling the pain.

Especially about the officiating."To have the story of the Super
Bowl be the officials,
that is crazy," Holmgren said Wednesday.
Holmgren wasn't pounding-the-table angry. He was his normal self:
calm, rational, even a little laid-back.
But he said he's still stinging from the 21-10 loss to the
Pittsburgh Steelers,
in part because he knows his team didn't play very well;
in part because of a series of calls that went against the Seahawks
at critical times in the game. He has said that before.
At a rally at Qwest Field after the team returned from the game in
Detroit,
he told the fans: "We knew it was going to be tough going up against
the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped
shirts, as well."
Holmgren was not fined by the league for those remarks,
even though most coaches are disciplined when they publicly
criticize officiating.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Wednesday that he had a letter from
his staff
sitting on his desk informing Holmgren that he was being fined. But,
remembering Holmgren's contributions to the league during his 14
seasons
in Green Bay and Seattle - and how much Holmgren helped Tagliabue do
his job -
the commissioner never mailed it.
"So I adhered to a rule that I learned long ago that the first draft
of a letter
is better put in the trash can," the commissioner said. "The issue
is resolved."
Holmgren said that as he watched the Super Bowl unfold, he kept
thinking:
"We're due (for a call)."
"It was an unusual game and I don't think you ever really get over
it,"
he added. "You think about it for years. It was devastating."
There were four critical calls that went against the Seahawks,
starting with offensive interference in the end zone
against Darrell Jackson in the first quarter,
negating what would have been the game's first touchdown.
Replays showed that Jackson's arms made contact with Pittsburgh
safety Chris Hope
before they separated - technically pass interference, but often
a "no call."
The first touchdown came on a third-down run by Steelers quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger in the second quarter. He appeared to come down
short of the goal line,
but instant replay was inconclusive, so referee Bill Leavy upheld
the call of a touchdown.
A holding call on Sean Locklear in the fourth quarter erased an 18-
yard completion
from Matt Hasselbeck to Jerramy Stevens to the Pittsburgh 1.
That would have put the Seahawks in position to go ahead 17-14 with
around 12 minutes left.
It was a close call that was difficult to see on replay.
Soon after the Locklear penalty, Hasselbeck threw an interception
to Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor, then made the tackle, but was called for
a block below the waist,
giving the Steelers an extra 15 yards.
They scored soon afterward on a pass from Antwaan Randle El to Hines
Ward.
The NFL later acknowledged that the call on the interception was
wrong,
but said the other three were legitimate.
Mike Pereira, the league's supervisor of officials, reiterated that
again Wednesday,
although he acknowledged the NFL is trying hard to standardize how
offensive holding is called.
Pereira, not surprisingly, doesn't share Holmgren's view of
postseason officiating.
"I refuse to buy into that mistakes we had in the playoffs are an
indictment
to the officiating system," Pereira said. "I refuse to let a few bad
things unravel
the whole organization."
But he also acknowledged the urgency for consistent work by his
crews.
"It's a hard game to officiate and we have to continue to get
better,"
he added. "We had some mistakes in the playoffs and we have to
suffer the consequences.
We have to make sure we bring our 'A' game and keep our officiating
elevated."