Even in a Super Bowl that turned out to be a subpar day for both starting quarterbacks, it seemed inevitable that one of these efficient, gutsy warriors would make a play to establish himself as a winner and a champion. Such a moment is merely standard operating procedure for a game of this magnitude. This play would and did occur, not dramatically or climactically in the fourth quarter like so many great Super Bowl games had previously unfolded, but in the second.
The first half was a battle for field position as both offenses struggled. The Steelers, however, struggled mightily, and were unable to manage a simple feat such as a first down until nearly 20 game minutes had expired. To top it off, the play after that breakthrough was a Seattle interception. While the Seahawks led 3-0 going into the latter stages of the first half, many viewers entertained the thought that perhaps Pittsburgh may not score any points in this Super Bowl until it was too late and Seattle had already gotten their share. Perhaps the black and gold may not even score at all (which would be a Super Bowl first).
When the Steelers finally did manage a drive into Seahawk territory and field goal range, the offense took a turn for the worse yet again. Go-to receiver Hines Ward dropped what, for him, would be a routine 22-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone. Hardly the play of a Super Bowl MVP. A curious 10-yard offensive pass interference call and a Grant Wistrom sack later, the Steelers were facing an endless 3rd-and-28 from the Seahawk 40. Yet another promising drive stalled short of points, or so it seemed.
The most realistic goal of this 3rd-and-28 play was to perhaps gain 10 yards and a decent shot at a Jeff Reed field goal to tie the game at three. Yet on a night where the glitches had been exposed in Big Ben's Steel Machine, even that seemed unlikely.
Roethlisberger faded back and instantly found Wistrom ready to pounce on him once again. No. 7 calmly felt the pressure, stepped up in front of the pocket and juked around to the left, narrowly evading the defensive end as he lunged futilely to the turf. While the young quarterback saw that there wasn't a defender in front of him for easily 10 yards, he danced sideways rather than running downfield, as he treated the 40-yard line of scrimmage as if it was the edge of a cliff.
It was decision time for our hero, but unlike the defense, he had never given up on the pass all along. The play took on a surreal quality as Big Ben stopped completely, planted himself inches behind the 40, and took a moment to look back at the shattered defense behind him, as if to say, "can I really do this?"
Patiently, he straddled the line of scrimmage for another precious second or two before finally letting loose a laser-guided missile with coordinates pre-set for Hines Ward. The star receiver had come open near the goal line for just an instant, and Roethlisberger had found him. Had this pass sailed so much as nine inches to the left, it may have easily become the second interception for Seattle safety Michael Boulware.
Who may have guessed that at that moment as the ball sailed towards the two combatants, the game's outcome and the Super Bowl MVP honors may have been up for grabs (a number of defensive players have won the MVP with two interceptions, assuming no offensive player particularly shines and his team wins)? Ward was looking to redeem and erase the memory of the dropped TD pass that started this series. He came down with it cleanly thanks to his quarterback's sniper-like accuracy, presence of mind, and poise under pressure that equalled a truly special play. Pittsburgh was now set up 1st-and-goal at the Seahawk 3, ready to finally break their offensive drought.
Three plays later, Roethlisberger kept the ball for a barely-legal score diving over the goal line. This gave the Steelers a 7-3 lead and the confidence to believe they could, in fact, win the big one, even on a bad day.
Many will point to Willie Parker's longest-TD-rush-in-Superbowl-history play that opened up an 11-point Steeler lead or the brilliantly designed "gadget" play that got Antwaan Randle El a clean shot at a 43-yard TD pass to Ward off a reverse, thus nearly sealing the MVP award for Hines, as the Super Bowl's most significant or most memorable moment.
Yet this was what ultimately seized the momentum from the Seahawks wave of metallic blue. It was a broken play, one in which Roethlisberger again exceeded the challenge with every physical and mental tool at his disposal. He out-ran, out-smarted, and out-threw the opposition all in a single play. Once again, as he had done throughout this NFL postseason, the QB with the funny last name on his back had revealed his inner champion.
February 6, 2006
Greg Wyshynski:
Good column. I think this play, combined with the TD run and the block he threw on the Randle El pass, should have given Roethlisberger the MVP award over Ward. Both of Ward’s big catches were on plays where the person throwing the ball made the better play. And Ward also had his share of truly awful drops in the game. Big Ben deserved the MVP, IMO.
February 6, 2006
Mark Pruitt:
I was watching the game with a group of friends. We watched that play over and over on Tivo. The field awareness and “pass down the field” mentality that Big Ben has is almost unbelievable. This play, the ugly toss to Hines for a first down; if you were creating a QB for a movie, this is the kind of stuff you would have him do.
February 6, 2006
Nick Reavis:
Me and two buddies of mine also watched the game and i believe that Roethlisberger did throw a good pass but if it also wasn’t for Ward then they would not have got that far. The QB did throw a good pass but like you saw and like was said if that ball was alittle bit lower then it would have been an interception and it wouldn’t have been good for the steelers.
February 6, 2006
Jeff Pohlmeyer:
Not to sound like I’m complaining, but the Steelers definitely got some calls early in this game, ie. Roethlisberger’s “touchdown” and the offensive pass interference call on Jackson. The Seahawks shot themselves in the foot, though, only going 1-3 in the red zone. There were few big plays in the game, but I have to think that Ike Taylor’s interception was the play of the game, because that just killed any kind of momentum that Seattle was building. Greg’s wrong, though, you can’t give the MVP to a quarterback who had a 22.6 passer rating with no touchdowns and two picks.
February 6, 2006
Doug:
Hello NFL, the next time you want to hand deliver a championship to a team, don’t make it so obvious. That was the single most poorly called game I’ve ever seen except for a few weeks ago in denver. And it had to be the most boring game since the Bucs and the Raiders. If the officials didn’t purposely blow the NE-Denver game for the Pats, then you’d have been watching Belechik’s boys beat the crap out of Seattle yesterday. You’re all on notice .. NE will be back.
Congrats to Sgt. Slaughter for finally winning the big game after being the coach there for 14 years. But next time, hunt the other coach down and shake his hand. and UGH to the halftime show, next time it’sin detroit let’s see some Bob Segar, Motown, Kid Rock and Eminem doing the duty. What’s up for next year NFL? The Moody Blues?
February 7, 2006
Greg:
The Steelers winning the Superbowl on Sunday bordered on ridiculous. Anyone watching the game with any objectivity could see that the Steelers were simply handed the game by the referees. There offense could be narrowed down to two big plays with the rest being much less than memorable. To have so many “phantom” penalties against the Seahawks at some of the most crucial points of the game left one to seriously question the integrity of the game. The way the media for the past two weeks played up the “fairytale” story of the Steelers is it any wonder the NFL did what it needed to do to complete the storybook ending the media worked so hard to develop. I was a neutral observer last weekend as my team is in a rebuilding stage but I felt the pang of sympathy for the Seahawks and the uphill battle they waged all game.
February 8, 2006
Greg Wyshynski:
Greg - Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory. The “phantom” holding call at a big moment of the game — please explain how the referee who threw the flag knew it was going to be a big moment in the game. Did he throw it after the whistle? I just don’t understand fans calling this game fixed when Seattle had about seven penalties called against it in the game; you’re acting like it was 17.
February 8, 2006
Jeff Pohlmeyer:
Greg (the one from February 7, not Greg Wyshynski), for you to say that the game was entirely the fault of the officials is wrong. Sure, there were some interesting calls: Roethlisberger’s touchdown not being acknowledged until he had pushed it past the goal-line while on the ground, and the pass interference on Jackson not being called until the defensive back went and pleaded with the referee. To blame the whole loss on the refs is just wrong, though. They didn’t lose by a field goal or something, they lost by 11 points, and the Seahawks had plenty of opportunities to turn the game around, but like I said earlier, they just shot themselves in the foot. This game was theirs for the taking, even with the poor officiating and they didn’t step up to the plate when they needed to.
February 8, 2006
Pauli:
Quit whining, Seattle, you guys had penalties in that game that weren’t even called. Ben R. was clipped on the 76 yard interception return. That Stevens interference in the end-zone was amazingly sloppy; he would have caught it anyway, why did he push off? It’s his job to know better….
February 8, 2006
greg:
Jackson’s “push-off” in the end zone was so incidental that in the regular season, that call is never made. Granted, he would have caught the ball even if he had not placed his hand on the defenders chest but lets not accommodate a whining defender who feels he was taken out of play by some incidental contact. (Seattle +7)
Ben Roethlisberger has already acknowledged publicly that he himself believes he did not get the ball across the goal line. Some would argue that the mighty Steelers would have made another attempt at a touchdown on forth down rather than tie the game at 3. On a day that took them approximately 19 minutes to get their 1st first down, I would tend to believe that just getting some points on the board and placing yourself in a tie would have been the choice of Cowher. The upstairs replay booth commented that a touchdown was not scored on that play but was overruled on the field. (Steelers +3)
Steven’s catch on the 1 yard line negated by a hold call that upon review showed there was no hold would have given the Seahawks a first down on the Steelers 1 yard line. Four tries to punch it across the goal line on a day when the Seahawks were moving the ball against the mighty Steelers would have been highly probable Review the comments from the sportscasters who during the game could not come up with a hold penalty in that play. (Seattle +7)
Roethlisberger calling a timeout clearly after the play clock had run down to zero but nonetheless given the timeout. Huh?
Hasslebeck being flagged with an illegal block when he was clearly making a tackle which placed the Steelers somewhere around mid-field set up perfectly the Steelers special play that gave Ward the touchdown. Huh?
The start of the second quarter and the mysterious hold penalty that negated a starting drive on the Steelers 46 yard line and placed them back on their own 20. Huh?
Never in Superbowl history has a team lost the Superbowl who won the game in offense, turnovers and time of possession. Granted, there were some dropped balls and some poor time management at the end of the first half and the end of the game that could have certainly cost the Seahawks some additional scoring. But thank God for that or this game would have been a blowout like so many other Superbowls we have seen in the past.
Never mind the fact that most of the nation, not just the Northwest, thinks that the officiating was horrendous at best.
Have any of you been listening to national radio over the past few days or seen anything on the internet or even on television? The outcry does not come just from the Northwest as Steeler fans would love everyone to believe.
The Steelers should go down in the history books as 2005 World Champions but with a little asterisk to explain that statistically speaking, they were the worst team in history to do so.
Seahawks play was not so horrible that they did not deserve to win the game; the game was taken from them.
Enough said.
February 8, 2006
Greg:
Jeff,
In your response to me you commented on the Roethlisberger touchdown and the Jackson touchdown offensive pass interference call. Seattle plus 7 and Steelers -7 gives Seattle a 14 to 17 win. Thanks for proving my point.
February 8, 2006
Greg:
Greg Wyshynski,
I believe there were 7 penalties but review if you will, the magnituted of nearly all seven penalties and their placement at crucial or pivotal points in the game. Not much is ever said about a holding call that negates a 3 yard run.
February 8, 2006
Josh Burrell:
i think the super bowl was the worst superbowl ever. the referees wern’t making great calls like the touchdown by Jackson. they called that play a offensive pass interference. I thiink that play dramaticly shifted the momentum of the game. I feel the refs were on the steelers side.
February 9, 2006
Greg Wyshynski:
Magnitude? The only calls that can be called critical are the Roethlisberger TD (on third down — they could have easily punched it in on 4th…but either way, the Steelers had the momentum back) and the pass interference in the end zone (Jackson had his hands on the DB. You can’t dispute that). The other six penalties were judgement calls that were made without the officials knowing what the result of the play was going to be. There’s no conspiracy. In fact, the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS were given 9 penalties in the previous Super Bowl. Are you telling me the NFL didn’t want them to win? That’d be a first.
It’s just pathetic to see fans from a first-time Super Bowl team ignore all the dropped passes, all the blown coverages, and two missed field-goals so they can craft some half-assed theory that the referees were favoring the Steelers. There were seven penalties called against Seattle. Seven…