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| Ben Roethlisberger lifting the Lombardi Trophy |
Number six. Well you know I have to dedicate it to one of the most storied franchises in NFL history the Pittsburgh Steelers. This one is about their sixth championship which has become one of the most unbelievable matches of all time. The Steelers were taking on history as if they won in Tampa, they would be the most successful team in Super Bowl history with 6 Super Bowls to their name. That's right of the 52 Super Bowls the Steelers have been in 8 Super Bowls, and they have won 6. They won their first 4 championships in the mid and late 1970s. Their previous victory was 3 years earlier as they took part in Super Bowl 40 and defeated the Seattle Seahawks in a 21-10 win. However, the year after their then head coach retired and hired former Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin.
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| WR Hines Ward attempting to avoid a tackle |
Pittsburgh finished 2nd in the AFC with a 12-4 record and at the time made history being the first team in the AFC to go to 7 Super Bowls. They were led by Ben Roethlisberger who ended up getting 3,301 yards 17 touchdowns however he did throw 15 interceptions. His top receiver was Super Bowl 40 MVP Hines Ward with 1,043 yards and 7 touchdowns from 81 catches. His other reliable weapons outside were Santonio Holmes who had 55 catches for 821 yards. Tight End Heath Miller had 48 catches for 518 yards himself. While their offence was good, their strength lied in their defence. Their line was anchored by Arron Smith who had 60 tackles and 6 sacks. Behind him, two of the linebackers were in the top-10 ranked sack leaders. Lamar Woodley had 11.5 sacks meanwhile the Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison had 16 sacks. Fellow linebacker James Farrior had 3.5 sacks but led the team in tackles with 133. Their secondary was also elite with Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu who had 7 interceptions.
Their opponents were one of the oldest NFL franchises and most unfancied teams to ever step on a playoff pitch rather than the Super Bowl. That NFL team was the Arizona Cardinals. They started in 1898 off in Chicago as an amateur team that became professional just twenty years later and one of the original franchises when the league started in the 1920s and won the NFL championship in 1947. Then they moved to St Louis(when the fancied team Chicago Bears won the city), where they stayed until the late 1980s when they moved to the desert and have remained there since then. The only time Arizona was mentioned with a Super Bowl it had hosted it twice (3 times later on in this countdown.). Another thing that has to be said was that Arizona's head coach and assistant head coach Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm were on the Steelers coaching staff for the Super Bowl 3 years earlier.
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| QB Kurt Warner playing in his 3rd Super Bowl |
By 2008 they were still one of the most unfancied teams and even made the playoffs winning the division with a 9-7 record. Still, they had 3 stars on offence with a former MVP in quarterback Kurt Warner who had overcome years of mediocrity and injuries after his last Super Bowl appearance for St Louis Rams 7 years earlier. He had one of his best seasons with 4,500 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. His top weapons were wide receivers Anquan Boldin who had 89 catches for 1038 yards and 11 touchdowns, and destined hall of fame player Larry Fitzgerald who was the top receiver with 96 catches 1,431 yards and 12 touchdowns. While the Steelers defence was elite, you couldn't say the same for the Cardinals. They were inconsistent, and it showed ranking 28th in points allowed out of 32. However, they had two stars on defence in Pro Bowl safety Adrian Wilson and rookie cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
Their playoff runs were both home games. The Steelers started off against the San Diego Chargers and ended up dominating them 35-24. The most significant stat was that in the 3rd quarter out of the 15 minutes on the clock, San Diego had just 17 seconds. That's right 17 seconds. In the AFC Championship, they then defeated their AFC North rivals the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 beating their rivals 3 times in the same season (they play each other twice in the regular season). Meanwhile, the Cardinals started their playoff run by defeating the Atlanta Falcons 30-24, then going to Carolina defeating the Panthers 33-13 and finally defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 30-25 in the NFC Championship.
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| Ret. General David Petraeus doing the coin toss ceremony |
The first quarter of the match was tranquil with the Steelers scoring the only points of the quarter on a field goal after Roethlisberger drove the Steelers to the 1-yard line after a 38-yard pass to Hines Ward and a 21-yard strike to Heath Miller and failing to convert a scramble on 3rd and goal. On their next drive which took them into the 2nd quarter, Santonio Holmes Miller and Gary Russell were the main contributors in a touchdown drive to make it 10-0, 1 minute into the second quarter. The Cardinals offence finally got going with Warner throwing a 45-yard deep pass to Anquan Boldin then on the next play Warner was nearly tripped over; however he threw the ball into the endzone, and Ben Patrick caught it to make the score 10-7.
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| James Harrison with one of the most iconic plays ever |
Then after a couple of punts, Roethlisberger threw a pass that was tipped and intercepted by Karlos Dansby with less than 3 minutes in the half. The Cardinals then drove down to get another touchdown and to take the lead of the game. However, with 18 seconds left on the clock, Warner attempted to throw a pass to Anquan Boldin only to have James Harrison intercept it on the goal line then he ran down the sideline all the way to score the touchdown and make it 17-7 at half time.
The halftime show that year was done by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, who had finally accepted the invite after denying it for years. The only score of the 3rd quarter was a 21-yard field goal by Jeff Reed to make it 20-7. It seemed that the game was going away from the Cardinals. If they needed a touchdown, it had to happen fast; otherwise, time was running out. They got it in the 4th quarter as they went on an 8 play 87-yard drive that took nearly 4 minutes off the clock which ended up with Fitzgerald catching a pass despite being heavily covered to make it 20-14.
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| Fitzgerald beating a tightly covered defence for his first touchdown |
Later on, in the quarter, the Cardinals were forced to punt the ball, but it backed the Steelers up on their own 1-yard line. On 3rd and 10 on the same yard line, the Steelers fans were going nuts because Ben just threw a 20-yard pass to Santonio only to discover that the centre had been caught on a holding penalty in their own endzone. The result was a safety which put the Cardinals behind by 4 points at 20-16. The free-kick put the ball on Arizona's 36-yard line then 2 plays later Fitzgerald caught a pass in the middle of the field and then ran right through the middle of the Steelers secondary and scored a 64-yard touchdown to make it 23-20 Cardinals with less than 3 minutes on the clock.
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| Fitzgerald beating the defenders to take the lead. |
Then came the most unbelievable winning drive of all time. It started off with a holding penalty pushing the Steelers back 10 yards then after a big play of 40 yards by Holmes again which took the Steelers to the Cardinals 6-yard line after two failed attempts came to the play of the game. Roethlisberger was looking around for a receiver that was open his first two options were covered, so he threw a 50-50 pass. 50-50 in NFL means either a catch or it goes through the hands and out of bounds. Guess who was there to catch it. Yes, it was that man Santonio Homes again this time to produce one of the greatest catches ever. Holmes was in the back corner jumped up caught the ball managed to keep both feet inbounds as this is important for making a catch. After a replay review, the decision stood, touchdown Steelers leading 27-23 with 35 seconds left on the clock.
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| What a Catch by Holmes |
Arizona did try a Hail Mary (Long Pass gamble throwing every receiver to the one area of the pitch. However, the Steelers defence forced a fumble and ended the game there and then. Santonio Holmes ended up as the MVP with 9 catches for 131 yards and the winning touchdown. Ben ended up with 21 completions for 256 yards and 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Meanwhile, Kurt Warner had 31 completions for 377 yards 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. His top receiver was Fitzgerald with 7 catches for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns.
That's number six done and dusted I'll be back with number 5 soon as we now know it's the Patriots and the Rams in the Super Bowl.
KRO Mark
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