Toe-Tappin' to Glory (Days)

“After all, they are the Steelers”. That’s how I ended my Super Bowl prediction column last Friday. I’d maintained that the Cardinals were a bit deficient on character as a team, that they’d quit on a few games during the season, and despite their huge talents, they’d lose in the end.

That’s the way it ended up, of course, but NOT for lack of character. The Cards effort was even throughout, and at a very high level. I’m a little ashamed to have suggested otherwise. That they lost a tough one is bad enough. They made a hell of a game of it.

The game was decided on two plays really; the interception return for 100 yards and a touchdown by James Harrison was a 14-point swing, and the Cards showed a lot of heart to come back from that at all.

In fact, it seemed to me that Harrison should have been a stronger candidate for MVP himself. He also appeared to come up with a Warner fumble recovery in the third quarter, but it was later ruled an incomplete pass. But how can you argue with the selection of Santonio Holmes and those 9 big receptions for 131 yards, including the game-winner?

The second big play was the Holmes toe-tapper, a beautifully-thrown Big Ben TD to Holmes in the corner of the endzone with just 35 ticks on the clock, with Santonio deftly tapping those feet down in bounds while fully extending to make the catch.

But Warner was awesome. Even after that last Holmes back-breaking touchdown, here came Warner again, bravely leading his charges downfield in the face of the black and gold rush. It reminded me of last year’s Giants victory over the Pats, when all Giants fans hearts beat a little faster when the ball was back in Brady’s hands, even with just 20 seconds left.

Kurt brought his team back from 10-0 and, against any other team, would have had a 14-10 lead at the half. But the Steelers were too smart, dropping their best pass rusher Harrison into coverage, thus enabling him to pick off the Warner short toss intended for Boldin. Harrison made like Earl Campbell on the return, behind a cadre of black and gold, and voila! The score became 17-7 Steelers instead.

Pittsburgh extended their lead to 20-7 after the third quarter and it looked as if they could coast the rest of the way and still win. But Kurt would have none of that. The fourth quarter was all Arizona as Warner took advantage of the Steelers two deep safeties to complete pass after pass downfield, completing eight passes in a row to five different receivers for 87 yards and a touchdown to bring the Cards within six.

The Cards defense stiffened and on Warner’s next opportunity, he drove the Cards downfield again but a Cards penalty helped stall the drive at the Pitt 36. The subsequent punt put the Steelers on their own 1-yard line. And, after a Steelers holding penalty in the end zone for a safety, the Cards were really in business.

At the 2:53 mark, Warner threw an incompletion, but then threw a beautifully-timed pass to Fitzgerald over the middle, who proceeded to race downfield, splitting those two deep safeties easily for still another touchdown and, incredibly, the Cards were up by 3 points.

That set the stage for Big Ben’s heroics. Starting from his own 12-yard line because of still another Pittsburgh holding penalty, Roethlisberger found Holmes time after time for big yardage, 14, then 13, then 40 and 6 on his perfect strike to Santonio in the corner with just 35 seconds on the clock.

If Warner was awesome, and he was, I don’t know what to call Roethlisberger. Does he make any throws from the pocket? Isn’t anyone ever open on his first look down the field? It seemed as if every big throw came only after a lot of running and ducking and dodging and pumping.

But Big Ben had been doing it all night; he looked like the greased chicken from “Rocky” only much much bigger. Not only did he use the scramble but he also used the pump fake more than a few times, especially before that 40-yard strike to Holmes to get to the six-yard line.

He did get time on that last throw, though, just standing tall in the pocket and throwing a dart to the corner of the end zone behind three Cards secondary men for the game-winner, as the handful of Cards fans present spent the rest of the evening trying to peer through yellow towels.

It was a great Super Bowl though, one of the best ever…..maybe not on a par with the Giants victory over the Pats last year for sheer suspense, but it had more big plays for sure, and, dare I say it, arguably better players.

For the Steelers, there was Big Ben and Hines Ward, Holmes and Willie Parker and for the defense, Harrison and Polamalu, Farrior and Woodley. The Cards trotted out Warner and Fitzgerald, Boldin and Edgerrin James, and on defense some newer stars such as Dockett and Wilson, Rolle and Rodgers-Cromartie.

It had better announcers too, John Madden and Al Michaels easily surpasing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and, oh yeah, better music too, although the Boss may have lost his voice somewhere along the way. The pre-game was better than last year’s too, with Costas and Chris Collinsworth, Mike Holmgren and Tony Dungy.

The Boss made Tom Petty look a little tame, and, come to think of it, did a lot of scrambling and arm pumping himself. Bruce exhorted the audience through “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”, then “Born to Run” with the big man Clarence and his sax, then “Workin’ On A Dream” before segue-ing nicely into “Glory Days” with Stevie Van Zandt.

Yeah, the Boss was great, but his toe-tappin’ had nothin’ on Santonio’s. We’ll be seeing those feet for another twenty years or so.

.