Here’s what Ross Tucker and Matt Williamson said about the penalties in the Super Bowl and Jim Harbaugh’s sideline behavior on Monday’s ESPN Football Today podcast.
Q: What do you think of the way Crabtree handled questions about the controversial no-call on the last 49ers’ last play? (He said, “If somebody’s grabbing you, you always expect a call, but you can’t whine to the refs. It is what it is. Got to just take it like a man and take that L.)
TUCKER: “I like the way Crabtree handled it. I don’t care at all stylistically for how Jim Harbaugh handles himself on the sideline. I think he sends a horrible message to coaches at the lower levels. I mean, he throws down his clip board and his headset on every call, so how do you know when he’s really, really upset with a call? Any call that goes against him, he has a hissy fit and this one was no different.
“Here’s the reality, though. I don’t think the Niners have much of a leg to stand on. If I just isolate that play, No.1 Crabtree initiated the contact, No.2 in that situation I don’t have a problem with them letting them play. They let them play all game long. By the letter of the law it probably should have been a holding penalty, but that being said, I seem to remember another team that benefitted greatly on a fourth down late in a game from a lot of contact where they just let it play. Oh yeah, that was the Niners in the NFC Championship game when NaVorro Bowman was all over bodying up Roddy White on fourth down.
“And not only that. If we’re going to talk about officiating in this game, Isaac Sopoaga master blasted Joe Flacco a full yard out of bounds. That was the most blatant missed call of the game. That would have given them first down at the one yard line. Late hit on Sopoaga as Flacco was clearly out of bounds.
“And not only that, Chykie Brown never even touched Akers on the roughing the kicker. He fell down below him, and then Akers landed on top of him and acted.
“So when it comes to the officiating, the Niners need to just relax because they were the beneficiaries of officiating in a lot of different instances.”
WILLIAMSON: “I agree with everything you just said. Overall I don’t think it was a very cleanly officiated game. There was fighting and stuff they could have nipped in the bud earlier.
“And I’m with you on Harbaugh. I honestly think Harbaugh is knocking on Bill Belichick’s door to be the No.1 head coach in the entire league right now, but he is a buffoon on the sideline. It’s an embarrassment. He throws his play sheet all the time, not just when it matters most. Cry wolf all you want, but he looks like a goof on the sideline. What are you doing, man?
“I know Harbaugh is exuberant, played in the league, is a player’s coach, but as a player would you rather have a Tom Landry on the sideline?”
TUCKER: “I would rather not have Jim Harbaugh and the way he acts.”
Q: Jim’s brother, John, called Jim the best coach in the NFL. What do you think of that?
TUCKER: “I think John Harbaugh handles things with a lot more class than his brother, and if roles were reversed, I don’t think that’s how Jim Harbaugh would handle it, but whatever.”
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