Category: Super Bowl (Page 33 of 36)

I don’t mean to paraphrase myself but I wrote the following in a previous post.

Everyone thinks that it is RB Shaun Alexander that makes the Seahawks go. But Seattle’s passing game is so important, especially against a stout rush defense like Pittsburgh. Seattle will not win if Hasselbeck doesn’t play well, and the quarterback from the other team isn’t in quite the same situation. Ben Roethlisberger can play poorly and the Steelers, with their outstanding running game and defense, can still get a win. Seattle’s offense is their strength and the pressure is really on Hasselbeck to play well.

Roethlisberger’s line: 9/21, 123 yards, 2 INTs

Ugh.

Hasselbeck’s line: 26/49, 273 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

But it’s that last stat that turned the game. With the Steelers leading 14-10, and the momentum definitely in Seattle’s favor, the Seahawks had a third-and-18 on Pittsburgh’s 27-yard line. Hasselbeck overshot his receiver and Ike Taylor intercepted the ball. Had he just thrown the ball away, Seattle would have had a chance at another field goal to pull within one. (Keep in mind that the Seahawks were only in this position because of a very questionable holding call three plays earlier on a pass to Jerramy Stevens that would have given the ball to Seattle inside the two yard line.)

After a horrible unnecessary roughness penalty on Hasselbeck’s tackle of Taylor on the interception return, Pittsburgh took over near midfield and eventually scored on the gadget play from Antwan Randle El to Hines Ward, which put them ahead to stay, 21-10.

Hasselbeck had to play perfect and he didn’t – Steelers win.

He’s gone. He has to be. Jerome Bettis just wrote the storybook ending every football player dreams of. How could he possibly come back for another year? Not only did he win his first championship in his final season, but he did it in front of his hometown crowd. It all started in Detroit so many years ago, and now it’s ended in Detroit with a Super Bowl victory. You can’t script a better ending, and there’s no way Bettis screws that up.

In the end, the Steelers cashed in on their big plays and the Seahawks didn’t. A few costly penalties, including the offensive pass interference call on Darrell Jackson in the first half that negated a touchdown, squashed Seattle’s chances and helped the Steelers win Super Bowl XL 21-10.

If you just watched the game and ignored the scoreboard, it would’ve been difficult to tell who won since neither team sustained any sort of momentum throughout the game, but three plays sealed the deal for the Steelers: Willie Parker’s 75-yard touchdown run in the opening moments of the second half, Ike Taylor’s fourth-quarter interception with the Seahawks driving deep into Pittsburgh territory midway through the fourth, and, of course, the huge 43-yard TD pass from Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward on the ensuing drive. The Seahawks, meanwhile, were hurt by several big drops from tight end Jerramy Stevens and Shaun Alexander’s inability to get much of anything going.

So Bettis and Cowher finally have their rings and Holmgren’s still looking for his first away from Green Bay. Congrats to the Steelers. And as a Browns fan, that’s not an easy thing to say.

After totaling 11 yards on his first six carries, Willie Parker gave everyone the “action” I was referring to in my first-half post, ripping off a 75-yard TD run on the Steelers’ opening possession of the second half, the longest run in Super Bowl history.

Not to state the obvious, but that’s a huge play for Pittsburgh. I mentioned earlier that nobody’s been able to establish much momentum thus far, but this could be the play that gets the Steelers rolling.

7-3? Wow, didn’t see that coming.

With the way the Seahawks have been moving the ball between the 30’s, they’ve got to be disappointed to only go into halftime with a field goal. And where was Darrell Jackson in the second quarter? He had five catches in the first quarter and routinely got open on the quick slant, but aside from a couple near-misses at the end of the half, Jackson was silent in the second quarter. The Steelers D has done an excellent job on Shaun Alexander, limiting the MVP to 31 yards on 10 carries.

As surprising as it may be that the Seahawks only have three points, it’s even more suprising that the Steelers have the lead coming out of the half. They’ve looked lost offensively and are fortunate Roethlisberger’s leap at the goal line was ruled a TD by the line judge; the replay wasn’t conclusive enough to overturn either call.

But it’s all shaping up to be an intriguing second half. Can the Steelers get pressure on Hasselbeck? Will the Seahawks further exploit the Pittsburgh secondary with Darrell Jackson? If the Steelers can continue to bottle up Alexander and, more importantly, find a rhythm offensively, they’ll pull out the win. Neither team has been able to establish much momentum, though the Seahawks have come thisclose to pulling off several big plays, including a first-half touchdown strike from Hasselbeck to Jackson that was called back on an offensive pass interference call. There’s still a lot of game left and this one is still very much in the air. Hopefully, we’ll see more action in the final 30 minutes than we saw in the first 30.