This game has to be one of the best Superbowls I have ever watched. Many people are already talking that this IS the best Superbowl of all time and as much as I would like to agree with them, I still have to give it to the Patriots over the Rams. However, even non Steelers fans can agree with me when I say that, that was one of the most intense fourth quarters anyone has ever witnessed. There were a couple of underlying stories going on for this Superbowl. 1. The chess match between the two coaches, 2. The battle of two pretty opposite Quarterbacks. The 3rd was the question,who was going to win the battle of great offense vs great defense? Did this game answer all of these questions? Not really, but it was a hell of a game regardless.
The first quarter pretty much belonged to the Steelers. On the opening drive Pittsburgh was able to eat up the clock, and eventually get a field goal after Ben Roethlisberger's run, this was what seemed as the first of many challenged plays. The Steelers were then able to stop the Cardinals and then drive down and score on a Gary Russell TD punch. Then Kurt Warner fired back with a TD pass and the Cardinals offense seemed to be back. At the end of the second quarter Kurt Warner was leading the Cards to another apparent scoring drive when the leagues defensive MVP did something no one has done in a Superbowl ever before, and James Harrison was able to step in front of a slant pass and return the ball 100 yards for the score with no time left on the clock. This gave the Steelers a 17-7 point lead going into halftime.
Nothing really happened in the 3rd quarter as the Steelers got a field goal, but once the 4th hit, shit started to get nuts. For all game the Steelers did a great job covering Larry Fitzgerald, in fact he only got his first catch leading up to the final minutes in the 2nd quarter, but the fourth quarter belonged to him. With 7 minutes left in the 4th and the score being 20-7 Pitt, Warner was able to drive the Cards down the field and hit Fitzgerald for a 1 yard lob making the score 20-14. I started to panic. Both teams failed to get any points in the next two drives, but Arizona was able to punt the ball to the Steelers 1 yard line. Pitt ran a couple plays and one play that seemed like Willie Parker was tackled in the endzone but he was able to get the ball onto the one with a late push. The next play Ben threw the ball to Santonio Holmes for an apparent 1rst down, but there was a flag down and a tick tack holding penalty was called on Pitts Justin Hartwig and that gave the Steelers an automatic safety. The score was now 20-16.
The Steelers punted the ball from the safety and the Cards got the ball with all the momentum. Then right there the unthinkable happened. The age-less Kurt Warner hit Larry Fitzgerald for a 64 yard pass and the Cards took the lead to be 23-20. I pooped myself, The Steelers defense did such a good job containing Fitzgerald but Warner took advantage of the one mistake they had. With 2:30 seconds left that gave the Steelers and Big Ben to have one final drive to tie it or better yet win the game.
The drive started a little past the 20 yard line. Ben Roethlisberger was able to engineer one of the most heart pounding drives I have ever seen in my life. Every single down seemed like he had to escape and my a play on the fly. On the Drive he was able to hit Santoinio Holmes, and Nate Washington, and eventually get the team to have a first and goal. On first down Ben threw a catchable pass that could have been caught by Santonio Holmes, but it went through his fingers and I was thinking field goal. However, on second down Ben was able to escape a couple of defenders and threw a perfect pass to Santonio Holmes who was triple covered and he was able to make probably the best catch in Superbowl history as he snagged it, then dragged both feet to put the Steelers ahead 27-23. After the Steelers were able to cause a fumble from Kurt Warner on the Cards final game, all Ben needed to do was kneel the ball down and celebrate his second ring in 5 years, pushing him to the Elite status in NFL Qbs.
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