Pittsburgh: 27
Arizona: 23
This was by no means a great Super Bowl and it bothers me that people see this in the top five of Super Bowls. From top to bottom, it was rather boring. Now, the finish was amazing, possibly better than last years. The Santonio Holmes catch in the corner of the endzone, though, was not an amazing catch. Yes, it was a good catch, but it's nothing Steve Smith of the Panthers hasn't done multiple times before. We see that on SportsCenter's Top Ten every week for 17 weeks.
It doesn't deserve a name, as David Tyree's one-handed snag deserves. It doesn't deserve any notoriety, aside from the fact that it was the Super Bowl winning catch. Larry Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown catch was far more impressive than Holmes', as in scoring he broke away from three defenders, making them look as if they had never played a down of football in their lives.
I was sincerely hoping that despite the loss, Fitzgerald would be named MVP, because he performed at a higher level than anyone else in that game.
In my prediction (which, by the way, was only two points off), I noted that Kurt Warner's arm would be an enormous factor in this game. As you saw, I was more than correct. Warner was 31-43 for 377 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT. That one interception proved costly, as the game was 10-7 Pittsburgh, with Arizona at the Pittsburgh 2 before the half. Warner dropped back, looking to hit Anquan Boldin in a slant, only to find Steelers linebacker James Harrison waiting. Harrison intercepted the ball and returned it 100 yards for the touchdown, proving to be the longest play in Super Bowl history. What could have been a 14-10 Arizona lead, or even a tie game at 10 all, turned into a 17-7 lead for the Steelers.
Warner also lost the fumble that ended the game, when Arizona was driving on the Steeler 44. After scrambling for quite a few seconds, Warner was hit from behind, even though it appeared the ball and his arm were coming forward, therefore resulting in an incomplete pass. However, the call on the field was a fumble, Pittsburgh recovered, and wound down the clock with a kneel-down for their sixth Super Bowl victory and second in four years.
My initial shock quickly turned to disappointment when the play was not reviewed and the fumble remained. I was heartbroken for Larry Fitzgerald and Kurt Warner, two men that outperformed their counterparts and the defense let them down. Next week, the Pro Bowl!
Note the sarcasm.
No comments:
Post a Comment