I will admit, I was cheering for the underdog Cards who shocked me and a lot of people by taking a 23-20 lead by just over 2 minutes to play in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl. Then Ben Roethlisberger showed his mettle, and toughness and led his team down the field with little resistance. Soon, they were knocking on the TD door. And, Santonio Holmes, the wide receiver, pushed the door in with a brilliant catch on the sidelines for the late score.
This game turned out to be a shoot-out. Kurt Warner was terrific throwing for 377 yards against the top-rated defense in the league. His precision passes were pretty to look at. What was beautiful to watch was Larry Fitzgerald gathering in the ball from Warner while he was in stride and seamlessly moving upfield and outraced two defenders for the Cards' score that must have sent the fans in Phoenix beserk. But the game wasn't over yet. The Pittsburgh QB had life and fight in him as well. He was able to avoid defenders all night and he looked for somebody open. More often than not, he found his man. Hines Ward saw limited action because of a banged up knee but Santonio Holmes took over and won the MVP with some great catches.
Most bizarre play: James Harrison lumbering 100 yards at the end of 1st half for Steelers TD. OK, he intercepted the ball, Somebody tackle this man. No Cardinal players seemed to get close to him. I don't know if he had blockers or what. But, someone could have prevented 6 points. Sequel: Harrison is seen on replay in 2nd half pounding, throwing punches on a Cardinals player. That's off the wall. There went any shot of MVP. I believe he was penalized on play which hurt them.
Cards had too many penalties. Over 90 yards when they averaged half of that in regular season. Three of 4 were personal fouls which prolonged Steeler's drives. The Steelers don't have a great defense. Not when a player can torch you for a lot of passing yardage. And, Larry Fitzgerald had 5 receptions for close to 100 yards in the 4th quarter alone. Warner played great and directed his team to a thrilling TD drive in the late minutes. It just happened that Ben did the same with less time on the clock.
The Steelers offense won this game. Big Ben came up big in the clutch.
Bruce Springsteen half-time was almost highlight of the night. He and his band were awesome. Talk about cranking it up. They did.
