Steelers win Ring #6, beat Cards in Super Bowl 43

The Arizona Cardinals were game & both QB Kurt Warner & WR Larry Fitzgerald were every bit the star players we expected them to be. The Cards behind in the score throughout most of the game finally took the lead 23-20 with Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald connection for a 64 yard touchdown with 2:37 remaining. Then it became the Big Ben & his Homeboy show (Santonio Holmes), as they drove for the winning, awesome & very spectacular touchdown catch with 35 seconds to go for the final score of 27-23.

Big Ben re-deemed himself after a horrible super bowl performance when the Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks a few years back. He & Holmes hooked up for what seemed every crucial pitch & catch & run in final 2 minutes. The Steelers marched for 78 yards in that final drive. Holmes 6-yard game winning catch is one for the history books, as not only was it clutch, it was spectacular (reminding many of Steeler hall of famer Lynn Swann). Holmes had 71 of the 78 yards in that final drive on 4 catches. All night, Roethlisberger, criticized this season for taking too many sacks & fumbling quite a bit, kept plays alive by moving & scrambling out of trouble and avoiding costly sacks. On the Steelers’ final drive, like the Superstar that he is - he operated the no-huddle offense with touch & accuracy that was needed. Roethlisberger completed 21 of 30 passes for 256 yards. Holmes, the game’s most valuable player, caught 9 passes for 131 yards.

In the last drive – it was Roethlisberger & Holmes show. He connected for one pass of 14 yards, then another for 13 yards. Later, Big Ben scrambled for 4 yards and hit Holmes again for 40 big yards. Finally, he found Holmes in the back corner of the end zone for the winner, Holmes dragging his feet inbounds while his body fell out. Big Ben redeems himself, Santonio Holmes wins Super Bowl MVP & Steelers get ring #6 – almost a cinderela story book ending.

All of this outshined the game performance by QB Kurt Warner who brought his team within 3 minutes of the Cardinals 1^st Super Bowl win & Larry Fitzgeralds awesome 4^th Quarter play. Warner had a superb game, 4 TD’s completing 31 of 43 passes for 377 yards. Fitzgerald caught 7 passes for 127 yards with 2 TD’s.

Despite all the great plays & the awesome ending with 2 minute drive & spectatular catch by Holmes – no doubt the games best play was by NFL Defensive player of the year LB James Harrison. Last play of the 1^st half, Harrison goes the the distance on a 100-yard interception return – probably the greatest plays in Super Bowl & Pittsburgh Steelers history that swung the Game when it appeared the Cards were about to take the halftime lead. On a first and Goal play from the Steelers’ 2-yard line with 18 seconds left in the 1^st half, Warner threw a short pass intended for Anquan Boldin – Harrison sniffed the play perfectly & cut in front of Boldin to make the pick at the goal line and take off up the Arizona sideline. The NFL Defensive player of the year & Pro Bowl linebacker was slowed a few times on both sides of the 50, with QB Warner himself attempting & failing to make the tackle, before finally being brought down by Larry Fitzgerald’s tackle - but not before shoving the ball across the goal line. Instead of the Cards possibly scoring a TD & giving them a 14-10 lead, the Steelers looked to have taken control of the game with a 17-7 . The play was reviewed by replay officials & it was ruled correctly – TD for the Steelers. The replay was important because no time was left and Pittsburgh couldn’t have run a play from scrimmage if they had been stopped short of the goal line.

Big Ben said “Those are the type of plays he has been making all year. That’s the reason why he was the Defensive Player of the Year.” How odd was it that it was Harrison who made the pick & then returned it for a TD, much less a record breaking 100 yarder. Harrison had only three previous interception returns in his career with a 33-yarder this season being his longest. The previous longest play from scrimmage was Jake Delhomme’s 85 yard TD throw to Muhsin Muhammad for the Carolina Panthers 5 years ago against the New England Patriots. It also broke the Super Bowl scoring-play record held by Desmond Howard’s 99-yard kickoff return for the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl 31 against the New England Patriots.

What a long & crazy season this was, Can we get number 7 next year?

below NFL Defensive Player of the year James Harrison strikes again, with a spectacular 100 yard touchdown interception to end the half - nearing the end zone for the score.

below Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes, makes the acrobatic catch on his tippy-toes to win the game in the final 35 seconds.