Super Bowl XL

Well, it's done and over with. Congrats to Head Coach Bill Cowher, tailback Jerome Bettis, and the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers on their 21-10 win over Seattle.

I wasn't too far off on the scoreboard, as I predicted a 21-17 Pittsburgh victory, but I was very off on how they'd win the game.

Pittsburgh didn't win by winning the turnover battle, by winning the special teams duel, or getting the better overall performance out of their quarterback. They won it with the big play and making the most of the opportunities they were given. That was anything but the case with Seattle.

If one was to look at the statistics of the first half, they'd probably conclude that Seattle had at least a one score, if not a two score lead going into halftime. But, that was anything but the case. The Seahawks appeared to go up 6-0 on a touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to wideout Darryl Jackson, when a flag was thrown. This would be a trend that Seahawk fans would have to witness throughout the game. Jackson was called for offensive pass interference and Seattle ended up settling for a field goal and a 3-0 lead. Pitt answered to go up 7-3 on a questionable touchdown run by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. It was initially called a touchdown, so there had to be "indisputable" evidence to overturn the call and there wasn't any, but again, the call went against Seattle. Head Coach Mike Holmgren ran into some problems calling plays on the Seahawks' final drive of the first half. Tailback Shaun Alexander ran the ball on a questionable play call and Hasselbeck called an audible. When all was said and done, Pittsburgh ended up calling a timeout with 13 seconds left on the game clock and 5 left on the play clock. In other words, Seattle let way too much time tick off the clock. They ended up attempting a very long field goal and Josh Brown just missed it to the right. Seattle lead in pretty much every statistical category going into the half, yet trailed 7-3. The clock management going into the half was awful, to be kind and the calls were not going Seattle's way.

Pitt's offense got the big play they needed to start the second half, as running back Willie Parker busted through a hole and was off to the races for a Super Bowl record-setting 75-yard touchdown run to put Pitt up 14-3. This game was odd from the outset. Right when a team looked to be firmly in control of the game, something would happen instantly to change the total complexion of the ball game. The Steelers were driving, facing a 3rd and 3 from inside the Seattle four-yard line, Roethlisberger threw a wobbly duck that was picked off by Seattle corner Herndon, who ran it back a Super Bowl-record setting amount of yardage and gave the Seahawks new life inside the Pittsburgh 25-yard line. Hasselbeck then hit tight end Jeremy Stevens for a touchdown to close the gap to 14-10. That seems like the only catch Stevens made all game. Last I heard, he had dropped three. The Steelers punted it on their next drive and Seattle had a chance to take the lead. Hasselbeck hit Stevens inside the 2-yard line to set up a 1st and goal, but wait a second. There's a flag thrown for a hold on the Seahawks! Now, the offensive pass interference call on Darryl Jackson, I saw that penalty. But, this holding call seemed rather phantom to me, like it wasn't there. Another call goes against Seattle! Two plays later, Hasselbeck gets picked off and that drive goes for no points. That was the biggest play of the game, as on their next possession, Cowher pulled out one of his gadget plays, ran the reverse pass with Antwaan Randle-El and he hit receiver Hines Ward in stride for a touchdown. To be perfectly honest, Randle-El's one pass to Ward was better than any pass of Roethlisberger's all game long! That put the Steelers ahead 21-10. Seattle couldn't do anything after that. The Steelers drained clock on their last possession. There were six plus minutes when the drive started and Seattle had all three timeouts left. When the drive ended, there was a minute and a half left and Seattle had no timeouts remaining. Fittingly, Seattle drove the ball in the closing seconds, but had horrible clock management to end the game just as they had to end the first half and Roethlisberger took one knee to drain the two seconds that were left on the clock for Pittsburgh's 21-10 victory.

Why did Pittsburgh win? They got the big play. Roethlisberger had a very average game. Parker had one huge run, which was good for six. Randel-El's gadget play was good for another long touchdown. On their first touchdown drive, Pitt faced a 3rd and 28, and Roethlisberger threw a long wobbler to Hines Ward at the 3-yard line for a first and goal. Big Ben then scored on 3rd down. Pitt also got all the breaks and calls. The only call or break that Seattle got was toward the end when Hasselbeck was clearly touched by a Pittsburgh player as he went down to the ground, fumbling the ball when he went down. It was initially called a fumble, but upon further review, the refs got it right and said Matt had been touched as he was going down, so it was to be a first and ten for Seattle. Other than that, though, Seattle got no big breaks. The Roethlisberger touchdown could've gone either way. It was one of those gray-area plays, where it'll go whichever way it was called on the field, because there's not enough video evidence to overturn the call, whichever way it went. If the refs had initially called it short of the goalline, I can guarantee you that the call would not have been overturned and it would've been a 4th and goal decision for Cowher and company. The offensive pass interference call was pretty valid I thought. The holding call in the 3rd quarter was not valid from what I saw, though. Refs can call holding on any play if they want. Why they wanted to call it on that very play, I have no idea. Seahawk receivers didn't help Hasselbeck any either. Darryl Jackson had a huge first quarter, tying a Super Bowl record with five receptions in the opening fifteen minutes, but he was virtually silent in the final three quarters. Tight end Jeremy Stevens caught the only touchdown of the game for Seattle, but he dropped three other balls, very catchable ones at that. Shaun Alexander was not Mr. Touchdown. He was all but shutdown by the Pitt defense. With Seattle's lack of a running game, dropped balls, missed kicks, and poor execution to end the halves, did they deserve to win? No, I can't say they did. But, I don't think they deserved to get hosed on that holding call either. From the first possession onward, the refs seemed as if they wanted to be the stars on the field as opposed to the players. Especially in the final game of the year, let the players play. Pittsburgh probably deserved to win, but shouldn't have received so many breaks. Perhaps they, Seattle, and football fans everywhere can just say that in Super Bowl XL, the Football Gods were wearing black and gold.