TAMPA, Fla.— The Pittsburgh Steelers capped off a sixth Super Bowl Sunday night with a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in a stunning finish.
The Steelers fans and their yellow terrible towels were out in full force. The Cardinals fans were pumped as well despite being outnumbered.
Prior to the game, Arizona QB Kurt Warner was presented with 2008 Walter Payton Man of the Year award in recognition of his off-the-field work in the community and his on-the-field accomplishments.
“Of all the awards given to NFL athletes, the Walter Payton Man of the Year is the one that stands out above the rest to me because of what it represents,” said Warner.
Faith Hill, five-time Grammy winning artist, sang “God Bless America” and Oscar-winning singer Jennifer Hudson sang the national anthem.
Game Review
The Cardinals won the toss but elected to kick to the Steelers. A curious decision given that their defense has allowed 49 touchdowns—the most by a Super Bowl team.
Sure enough, QB Ben Roethlisberger marched the Steelers downfield with ease. On third and goal, Roethlisberger bootlegged right, didn’t have a receiver and had to use his powerful body and a little help from his O-line to get into the end zone.
Cardinals coach Whisenhunt threw the red flag to challenge the ruling on the field that Roethlisberger wasn’t down before breaking the plane of the end zone. And he was right!
Fourth and one for the Steelers meant Pittsburgh had to take the three points. Arizona’s defense bended but it didn’t break.
Different Styles
Roethlisberger’s elusiveness in the pocket is the one difference between him and Warner. Roethlisberger is able to make big plays when he’s scrambling and fighting for his survival. For all of Warner’s greatness, his scrambling ability is a weakness. He describes himself as a “pocket passer.”
The Steelers established an early and effective short passing game after their first drive featured long passes of 38 and 21 yards respectively. Arizona’s defense had no answer as the Steelers would dominate the first quarter.
Time of possession after the first quarter: Pittsburgh 11:28, Arizona 3:32—pretty one-sided.
To start the second quarter, the Steelers were knocking on the Cardinals door again. This time, running back Gary Russell pounded it in for a 10–0 lead.
But Kurt Warner and the Cardinals would respond. Warner quickly established his passing game and then threw a 45-yard strike to Anquan Boldin to the Steelers one-yard line.
Warner would throw a nice floater to tight end Ben Patrick for the score. With renewed confidence, the Arizona defense then stepped up and made the Steelers punt for the first time of the night.
The Cardinals special teams then responded with a 34–yard run back by Steve Breaston. You could sense the tide turning in favor of the red birds.
Pittsburgh committed the game’s first turnover at the two-minute warning as Roethlisberger’s pass was tipped high in the air and LB Karlos Dansby came up with the pick.
Warner moved the Cards against the clock down to the Steelers two-yard line and then the unthinkable happened. Steelers LB James Harrison intercepted Warner and rumbled 100 yards to the end zone with moves a running back would envy. The interception return was the longest play in Super Bowl history.
At half time, the Cardinals were hoping for a 14–10 lead, or at worst a 10–10 tie. Now they had to settle for a 10-point deficit, 17–7.
Half-time Show
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band kicked off the show with a “10th Avenue Freeze Out.”
“Is anybody alive out there,” shouted The Boss.
Springsteen also played the classics “Born to Run,” “Glory Days,” and “Working on a Dream” from his new album.
Second Half
Pittsburgh re-established control with a drive helped out by two personal foul penalties by the Cardinals. After the Steelers seemingly settled for a field goal, Arizona got tagged with another personal foul penalty. And back came Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense—first and goal!
But the Cardinals were trying to make a turning point in the game of their own. The Steelers settled for a field goal and a 20–7 lead. But equally important, the Steelers had used up a lot of clock, leaving only 2:11 in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Kurt Warner went to the no-huddle offense with good effect. He drove his team 87 yards in eight plays to get within six points of the Steelers. Larry Fitzgerald caught a one-yard TD pass for the score.
The Cardinals defense then came up with a big stop. With the ball back, Warner went back to work and this time the relatively well-behaved Steelers got called for a personal foul, putting the Cardinals at midfield.
Warner hit Breaston for another big first down before a holding penalty set them back 10 yards. The penalty would force the Cardinals to punt with three and a half minutes to play.
The Steelers would get penalized in their own end zone on the next possession giving the Carinals a safety for a 20–16 score.
With the ball back and less than three minutes to go, the Cardinals would get the big play out of Larry Fitzgerald that everybody was waiting for. Warner would find the athletic receiver down the middle, splitting the Steelers’ safeties. Fitzgerald would dash 64 yards to the end zone and a 23–20 lead.
But Ben Roethlisberger has been in this position before. For a young QB, he’s already a master at the two-minute drill.
Santonio Holmes would become Roethlisberger’s favorite target catching four passes on what would become the game-winning TD drive. The wide receiver would be named the game’s MVP.
An unbelievable six-yard TD reception in the corner of the endzone would be the play that all will remember.
“Drop back, scramble right, scramble left, find someone open,” was how Roethlisberger described the game-winning touchdown to Holmes.
“We love winning this for the fans. It’s special to win one for Rooney [the owner of the Steelers].”
Kurt Warner said after the game, “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t play our best game, a clean game.” Warner went on to praise his team.
“I’m very proud of our guys, there was no sense of panic. We were confident we could make plays.”
The Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII, their sixth Super Bowl in seven tries, making them team to have won the most Super Bowls.
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