Ignore the inevitable claims that Sunday’s game was the best, or even one of the best, Super Bowls. XLIII was at best the third-best Supe involving the Steelers, considerably inferior to the two Dallas-Pittsburgh games, 1975 (21-17; the one where Lynn Swann went nuts) and ‘78 (35-31, the one where Jackie Smith dropped a game-winner).
There was very good stuff. But there was also very bad stuff, too much of it.
Observations:
*After a post-Tom Brady season in which “commit to the run,” became almost a religious mantra, the Super Bowl involved two teams who couldn’t run the ball. Yes, the Lombardi was just won by a team with a bad offensive line, which ought to be impossible. Would Manheim Central’s Dan Kreider have made a difference?
*Ben Roethlisberger is a unique player, amazing at running around, sort of parallel to the line of scrimmage, frantically rebuilding the pocket and creating plays - that one in the first half where he got competely spun around, then wheeled and instantly found Heath Miller was almost scary - but completely ordinary at everything else. I was struck with how similar his game Sunday was to a Donovan McNabb performance- McGuyver-esque escapes, terrific drives and then endless stretches of nothing, a throw batted straight up in the air at the line of scrimmage, etc.
The difference, of course is that Big Ben got it done at the end. But maybe that difference is really Santanio Holmes….
*Once you’re down 20-7, with the Steelers’ safeties playing centerfield, if you’re the Cardinals, why aren’t you going no-huddle, shotgun, four or five wides on every play? I really think it’s that “commit to the running game,” thing again.
*Are you sure Warner’s last fumble, in the final seconds, was really a fumble? I’m not. And after having the replay booth consult on everything short of the coin toss, don’t you at least take a peek at this?
As ESPN’s Bill Simmons pointed out, you look at the replay there, overturn, give the Steelers an excessive-celebration penalty, and now Warner’s throwing a Hail Mary to Larry Fitzgerald from the Steelers’ 30 with the Super Bowl on the line and the entire adult population of Pittsburgh going into full v-fib….
*Penalties - 18 for 162 yards overall and 11 for 106 by the Cardinals - were a problem. A big problem. There was some overly officious officiating (the roughing the passer call on the Cards on a play when Roethlisberger not only didn’t get roughed, but intentionally-grounded, for example), but mostly it was just players doing some incredibly stupid things (like the Cardinal who steamrolled the kick-holder, or James Harrison pummeling a Card like a WWE villian).
*This is a problem that apparently bothers only me, but football should decide on a clear and widely-applicable definition of what “possession” means, and also what being “down” means. There sure isn’t any such thing now.
If you really play attention, as I do when covering Penn State, it’s astounding how many bad spots you notice. I’m assuming now that the rule is that the ball should be marked where it is at the instant a part of the carrier’s body hits the ground. If that’s the rule, there are first downs in virtually every (I think it’s literally every, but I’m using the word virtually to be conservative) game that aren’t really first downs.
The play at the end of the Steelers’ first drive Sunday, when Roethlisberger apparently scored a touchdown, but upon relay was ruled down at the 1-inch line? If that’s not a touchdown, there are 20 bad spots in every football game. And I mean clearly, absolutely bad spots.
A couple weeks ago (I meant to write about this but didn’t get around to it) in a Steelers-Ravens playoff game, Santonio Holes caught a pass, took two full running steps, lunged forward, and the ball came loose as he hit the ground. After a replay challenge by Ravans’ coach John Harbaugh, this was ruled an incomplete pass.
That’s just ridiculous.
*Is there anyone on Earth who believes that their viewing experience would have been compromised if, instead of giving Bob Costas, Mike Holmgren, Jerome Bettis, Matt Millen, Cris Collingsworth, Al Michaels, John Madden, Andrea Kramer, some other sideline chick I never saw before, Dan Patrick, Tiki Barber, Keith Olbermann and Al Roker camera time, NBC had gone with half that many people?
I didn’t think so.
