Super Bowl XL Rundown

Five Quick Hits

* Great Hall of Fame class this year. But how did Thurman Thomas get left out?

* This Martina Hingis comeback is for real. Quarters at the Australian Open and finals in Tokyo? She's quickly becoming someone nobody wants to play.

* If you didn't like the Rolling Stones at halftime, you don't like rock and roll. That was worlds better than ridiculous boy bands or pompous U2.

* Has there ever been a less appetizing slogan than "brown and bubbly?"

* If there's any antidote for a lackluster Super Bowl, it's rings for Dan Rooney, Bill Cowher, and Jerome Bettis.

***

On the heels of several Super Bowls that were questionably hailed as the best ever (XXXIV and XXXVIII, I'm looking in your direction here), Sunday's game is being panned as perhaps the worst ever. What are your criteria? Competition, for one. The game was close, and the outcome was in question until the final minutes. Greatness of the teams? This Super Bowl was definitely lacking in star power. Quality of play? Neither team had a particularly good game, and let's lump the poor officiating into this category, too.

Personally, I believe Super Bowl XXXV was the worst. It featured one of the weakest Super Bowl winners in history (the Baltimore Ravens) and one of the worst Super Bowl losers in history (the New York Giants), the most exciting plays came on back-to-back kickoff returns that lasted a combined 15 seconds, and the game wasn't even close. But that's neither here nor there, so let's focus on Super Bowl XL.

The pre-game was far less torturous than in recent years, and someone — although I'm not sure who — deserves credit for that. However, I heard rumors about a drinking game involving the phrases "Super Bowl Extra Large" and "one for the thumb," and if you played, you aren't reading this now, because you are dead from alcohol poisoning.

What Went Wrong?

Why is this game being panned from almost every corner? For starters, look at the teams involved. Pittsburgh is an amazing football town, but it's a relatively small market. Seattle, as has been pointed out innumerable times in the last few weeks, is sequestered in the Pacific Northwest. Neither energized the country the way a team from Boston or New York does, and most of the fans watching just wanted to see a good game. I've never heard so many people say they don't care who wins.

From that background, the officiating played a major role. Nearly everyone who watched the game thought it was called unfairly, and with most people not having a rooting interest, that was a very big deal. When fans aren't invested in the outcome, they mostly want to be sure it was the right outcome.

The most memorable plays from this game were — almost universally — penalties and turnovers. And not great-defensive-play turnovers. Bad-decision, poor-throw turnovers. The trick play was beautiful, and Willie Parker's long touchdown run was okay, but those were overshadowed by bad plays and controversial calls.

First Quarter

The Seahawks started with a true Bill Walsh-West Coast Offense, throwing two short passes to Darrell Jackson to open the game. Following a handoff to regular season MVP Shaun Alexander, they went back to Jackson. Clearly, Mike Holmgren was trying to call on some of the old 49er magic that helped him earn two Super Bowl rings as an assistant.

Pittsburgh managed two false starts on its way to a quick three-and-out, despite that the crowd was composed almost entirely of Steeler fans. The teams traded punts until Seattle, with all the momentum, finally found the end zone with a 16-yard pass to Jackson. Then, in a trend-setting move that, in retrospect, can be seen as the beginning of the end for Seattle, an official nullified the touchdown by calling offensive pass interference on Jackson.

It was a ticky-tack call, unquestionably, but it was not precisely a bad call. Jackson clearly stuck his arm out, and if it was more of a stiff-arm than a push-off, you're still not supposed to do it. It's rare, though, for such an understated foul to be called, and especially in a game of this magnitude. The Seahawks settled for a field goal.

The Steelers followed with a third straight three-and-out, and Seattle's Tom Rouen managed his third straight punt into the end zone. Little things like that can be the difference between an average game and an ugly one. The first quarter ended with Seattle dominating, but only up three points. Pittsburgh didn't have a first down yet.

The second quarter was young when the officials made their second really questionable call. It's in the books as the first of 1,001 drops by Jerramy Stevens, but he caught the ball and took two full steps before the ball came loose. I thought it was a fumble. The refs did make a good no-call just before the end of the first quarter, on an incomplete pass to Hines Ward.

Second Quarter

Evidently tired of losing the ball with punts, Pittsburgh opted to get intercepted instead, and Seattle countered with Rouen's first punt in the field of play. The Steelers finally put together a drive, highlighted by one of Ben Roethlisberger's few really good plays, a heads-up pass on which he stopped just before crossing the line of scrimmage, eventually hitting Ward at the three-yard line. That set up the most controversial play of the game, Roethlisberger's scramble for the end zone.

Initially, the side judge ran in as if to spot the ball. At the last moment, though, he raised his arms to signal a touchdown. It was a close call, and replay reviews were inconclusive. Michael Wilbon wrote that the play "was clearly and conclusively not a touchdown." Well, Wilbon clearly and conclusively watched a different replay than the one I saw half a dozen times. It looked like the nose of the ball broke the plane of the end zone while Roethlisberger was in the air, but only for a split second. It's one of those cases where the referee can't reverse the call on the field, no matter which way it originally went. Like the penalty on Jackson, it wasn't a bad ruling, but the first two big calls both went against the Seahawks, potentially resulting in a seven-point swing.

Seattle responded with a drive to put themselves in field goal position at the end of the first half. With 48 seconds on the clock and a timeout remaining, the 'Hawks had 2nd-and-10 at Pittsburgh's 40. Alexander gained four yards on a handoff, and the clock ran down to 13 before the Steelers called timeout.

I thought it had to be intentional. The Seahawks were going to run one more play, call their timeout, and try a long field goal. I even got mad at my television because Al Michaels and John Madden were criticizing Seattle for poor clock management, when it was all part of their plan! I was wrong. The 'Hawks just blew it. How jayvee. Josh Brown eventually missed a 54-yard kick.

What the First Half Meant

From my notes: SEA:PIT ~ PHI:NE

In Super Bowl XXXIX, the Eagles dominated the first half, but couldn't build a lead. Going into halftime, you knew they had squandered their opportunity, and the Patriots were going to win. In Super Bowl XL, the Seahawks dominated the first half, but couldn't build a lead. Going into halftime, you knew they had squandered an opportunity, and the Steelers were probably going to win.

From my notes: too many flags

It's an old maxim that you shouldn't notice the officials. There had been seven penalties called, including one that was declined. Normally, that's not a ton, but you just felt like the officials were having a big impact on the game.

From my notes: SEA three-man rush on all third-and-long

Pittsburgh had no rhythm on offense. Parker was getting nowhere, and Roethlisberger looked like Tony Eason (if you don't know who Eason is, don't worry — that's pretty much the point anyway). With the Steelers doing nothing on first and second down, they were getting in a lot of long-distance, obvious passing situations, exactly what Pittsburgh's coaching staff has always tried to avoid for Roethlisberger. The Seahawks responded with a three-man rush, dropping eight defenders into coverage and daring Big Ben to try to find an opening.

From my notes: where are PIT's stars?

Offensively, Seattle was going with Holmgren's short-passing offense. He called 25 passes and only 11 runs, one of which went to Mack Strong instead of Alexander. The league's MVP wasn't even a decoy — he was simply forgotten. The Seahawks weren't putting points on the board, but they weren't beating themselves, either. Troy Polamalu and Joey Porter were invisible, and Matt Hasselbeck was keeping the ball safe. Seattle dominated the half, but trailed 7-3 at the beginning of the third quarter.

Third Quarter

Pittsburgh's offense opened the second half with Ward's second drop of the game. I noticed towards the end of the season that he seems to have developed a problem in this area. That didn't stop me from naming him to my all-pro team, but it's something he needs to work on shoring up. Ward's drop was quickly forgotten, though, because on the next play, Parker broke a Super Bowl-record 75-yard touchdown run.

The Seahawks' answering drive ended in a missed field goal, and the Steelers drove to inside Seattle's 10 before Kelly Herndon's record-setting 75-yard interception return set up a touchdown pass to Stevens. Seattle's defense was starting to have serious injury problems at this point, though. Rocky Bernard, Andre Dyson, and Marquand Manuel were all out of the games with various ailments.

This quarter was just the opposite of the first half: Pittsburgh dominated, but both teams scored a touchdown, and the fourth quarter began with the same point margin as the third.

Fourth Quarter

It didn't take long for things to totally fall apart. The quarter began with Seattle in the middle of a drive, and it crossed midfield on the first play. After a completion to Bobby Engram and two runs by Alexander — the third and final time that he got consecutive carries — Hasselbeck hit Stevens at the one-yard-line. The play was called back, though, when Sean Locklear was cited for holding. There was one problem: replays failed to show Locklear holding anybody.

It's an old adage in the NFL that holding could be called on every play. So you would think when it does get called, it would have really happened. Instead of 1st-and-goal at the one, Seattle had 1st-and-20 at the 29. Casey Hampton sacked Hasselbeck, then Alexander ran for a seven-yard gain before Porter brought him down to behind. It looked to me, and a lot of other people, like a horse-collar tackle. That would have meant half the distance to the goal and an automatic first down. No call.

On the next play, Hasselbeck threw a "please intercept me" pass and was picked off by Ike Taylor, who returned the ball to the 29 before being tackled by the quarterback. Insult to injury, Hasselbeck was called for a low block, which he never made. That was the single most inaccurate call in the game, although the phantom holding penalty that set it up was more damaging.

In the course of four plays, three bad calls went against Seattle: the phantom holding against Locklear, the uncalled personal foul against Porter, and the non-existent low block (a 15-yard penalty) against Hasselbeck. Every big call in the game was going against the Seahawks. I didn't have a big problem with either of the controversial calls in the first half — neither one is even in my notes — but they started to look really bad around this time in the game. Normally, those things even out. In this game, they piled up.

What followed was the best playcalling of the game. Parker took a carry for one yard, then Antwaan Randle El gained seven on a screen to the left. On third down, Roethlisberger lined up in a shotgun formation and ran a draw for the first down. That was a great call, but it was nothing compared to what came next. Randle El had just done some damage on the screen, and the Steelers went right back to him. Parker took a pitch left and handed off to Randle El, the former Indiana quarterback, coming right on a reverse. Everyone bit. On the run, Randle El tossed a near-perfect pass to Ward, who jogged into the end zone. 21-10, nail in the coffin.

Now in serious trouble, Hasselbeck started to press and completed barely a third of his passes from that point on. Alexander got only two carries in the final half of the quarter. There was no more noteworthy drama in the game, as Seattle's offense sputtered and Pittsburgh ran the clock down. The only question was who to pick as MVP.

MVP

There was no obvious choice in this game. In most Super Bowls, it's a question of narrowing down a list of candidates. Last year, you could've made a good case for Deion Branch, Tom Brady, Rodney Harrison, or Corey Dillon. This year, no one seemed particularly worthy.

Nobody had a better first half than Seattle LB Leroy Hill, but he (and his team) disappeared after halftime. I eventually narrowed it down to Randle El or Hampton, finally deciding on Randle El. Ward won, however, and I don't think it was a bad choice. From a statistical standpoint, certainly, he had the best game. He also had two key drops, though, and I felt like Randle El was more dynamic.

He was the first Steeler to make a first down, averaged 16 yards on punt returns, got a crucial first down when Pittsburgh was milking the clock, made the touchdown-saving tackle on Herndon's return, and threw the best pass of the game to seal the deal. I won't argue with Ward, though.

Biggest Coaching Mistake

Paul Brown, the father of modern football, said of Jim Brown, "When you've got the biggest cannon, you shoot it." Seattle's biggest cannon was Alexander, who during the regular season rushed for 1,880 yards, averaged 5.1 yards per carry, and scored an NFL-record 28 touchdowns. On Sunday, he had only 20 carries, despite averaging almost five yards per attempt. Hasselbeck had 49 pass attempts. Some of those were late in the game, when the Seahawks needed to score quickly, but all day, Alexander was the forgotten man in Seattle's offensive attack.

Aftermath

Did you ever think you would see Bill Cowher cry? I expect my cows back before the Pro Bowl. And there hasn't been a nicer Super Bowl moment in years than Jerome Bettis announcing his retirement from the victory podium. It's a perfect way for him to leave the game after a great career, as a Super Bowl champion in his hometown. Speeches don't get much more gracious than that, either.

Cowher and Bettis have been the topic of a lot of Hall of Fame discussion recently, and my column next week will focus on the Hall, but I've got to ask: is there anyone the guys at ESPN don't think is a Hall of Famer?

This column is almost ready to go into hibernation for the offseason, but I'll check in next Tuesday with extensive coverage of all things Canton, and maybe the Pro Bowl if I watch it.