Super Bowl XLIII

In a welcome surprise the Super Bowl actually lived up to the hype this year! Now I don’t want to overstate the games greatness as the entire game was perhaps not the best ever but there was a flow and had some of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history sprinkled in every now and again. Some will say that the Cardinals got a raw deal in terms of some of the calls that went against them. Perhaps one can make a case for that. The Roethlisberger run on the first drive that was challenged and then overturned was a tough play to call and on the field but they did in the end get it right...but it did cost the Cards a challenge. The fumble call at the end that wasn’t reviewed was clearly a blown call, even though I thought it was correct and it was an open hand going forward they could have taken a few minutes to actually see for sure. What I found perhaps the most questionable call/no-call was on a play I never saw until after the game on a highlight package and that was Santonio Holmes using the ball as a prop in a LeBron James style gesture where he used the ball and pretended it was Talc and then proceeded to throw it into the air. That should have resulted in a 15yrd penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, thus giving the Cardinals even better field position and more time to work on less field on the final drive. It was interesting how that was overlooked.

The beauty of this game was the amount of "best of all time" plays. Granted it is always the easiest thing to call the most recent event as the best but in this case I think there may be room for discussion. Joey Hairston’s 100yrd interception return for a TD...with no time left on the clock...at halftime...if he goes down it’s over no points no other chance to score...and he goes down on Larry Fitzgerald and rolled into the end zone.

~ The 2 faces of Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was shut out for the first 3 quarters, then came the fourth where he went off for 7catches 127yrds 2TDs.
~ How clutch Santonio Holmes was with his 9 catches 131yrds 1TD and what may be considered as one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history, up there with last years David Tyree or Dwight Clark in the end zone.
~ One of the best passing games in Super Bowl history by Kurt Warner 31/43 377yrds 3TDs
~Ben Roethlisberger and his ability to scramble, stay on his feet, not take a sack and buy time to make play after play and extend drives. Ben should have been the MVP, maybe it sounds cliche that the QB for MVP but if he doesn’t stay on his feet Holmes doesn’t have a chance to make those throws.

Possibly as the most interesting and compelling part of the game itself was that not only did the Cardinals cover the spread but they actually had the best comback in Super Bowl history AND won the game on Larry Fitgerald’s TD run ...The only problem was that there was too much time left on the clock and Pittsburgh came back and won the game back from them and nothing proved that more then the picture of Fitzgerald on the sidelines mouthing ‘No, No, No, No, No’