Wednesday, February 22, 2006
A Bittersweet Super Bowl For Steelers?
If you had told me at the beginning of the NFL season that the Pittsburgh Steelers would win the Super Bowl and I would be anything but ecstatic, I would have told you you were crazy. I have been a Steeler fan my entire life and since I was 9-years-old, I have been hoping for a Super Bowl victory — the proverbial "one for the thumb." But I will admit there were moments in the days after Super Bowl XL where I wondered if it was all I had hoped it would be.
I have discussed this previously, but it is worth mentioning again how many times the Steelers have tried and failed to get to, let alone win, the Super Bowl. Suffice it to say that the Steelers have lost untold playoff games in excruciating fashion and have often done this at home and as the favored team.
Steeler fans are tried and tested — battle-scarred and with intestines of iron. They have suffered through the ugly '80s with QBs like Cliff Stoudt, Mark Malone, and Bubby Brister.
They have agonized through the winning, yet ultimately disappointing, '90s when QBs like Neil O'Donnell and Kordell Stewart always seemed to flame out at the worst possible moment. Last year's amazing 15-1 regular season and the seemingly inevitable AFC Championship home loss had set the Steelers up as footballs version of Phil Mickelson before he won the Masters. The fans yearned to be Tiger Woods again.
At times this season, the Steelers looked like the dominant team they can be, with a power running game — augmented by the speedster Willie Parker — and tough defense. Ben Roethlisberger was maturing into the athletic quarterback the Steelers needed. He would run the offense and make plays when he needed to keep drives alive, but he wouldn't be called on to win it on his own. But injuries, a lack of consistency, and some boneheaded plays by Tommy Maddox led to three straight losses and a record of 7-5. Suddenly, the Steelers were going to be lucky to make the playoffs at all.
This is where this amazing season turned around. I am sure you're familiar with the story at this point. The Steelers won their last four games in dominating fashion and despite being a sixth-seed, looked dangerous. But the road ahead was anything but easy. As the sixth-seed, the Steelers would have to win three games on the road just to get to Detroit and Super Bowl XL.
Well, as we found out, the Steelers' momentum carried them right through the playoffs. Despite a slow start, and thanks in part to an injury to the Bengals' Carson Palmer, they rattled off impressive wins against the top three seeds in the AFC. Perhaps this home-field advantage wasn't all it was cracked up to be? I could hardly believe that the Steelers had finally managed to make it back to the Super Bowl. To do it in such dominant fashion was even better.
So I know what you are thinking. What part of this story is bittersweet? Steelers make amazing run and win the Super Bowl! What's not to like? Well, if you watched the actual Super Bowl game, you probably know what I am talking about in the title to this piece.
The fact of the matter is the Steelers didn't play their best game on Super Bowl Sunday. I don't know if it was the two weeks off, being designated the home team and favored to win, or all the distractions of just being there that led to their poor play in the first half, but things could have gotten ugly real quick. The offense was out of rhythm and the defense seemed to be giving up an awful lot of dink and dunks. It was only through some fortunate breaks and Seattle's inability to take advantage that gave the Steelers a halftime lead. And it took a huge third down improvisation and a controversial goal line call to get them that! The second half played out much the same. The Steelers made a couple of huge plays, the defense played the classic bend-but-don't-break style, and the Seahawks failed to come up with the plays when they needed to.
During the actual game, I was trying not to have an aneurysm as the game swung back and forth. I was exhilarated by the big plays and crushed by the mistakes that threatened everything. At the end, I was exhausted but giddy just thinking about the offseason basking in the glow of a Super Bowl win.
But in the days following the game, a sour taste began to form in my mouth. The airways and Internet were full of complaints about how bad the game was and how lopsided the officiating was. Seattle coach Mike Holmgren complained about having to "fight the officials, too." ESPN's Colin Cowherd spent two days basically asserting that the Steelers didn't deserve to win and that the game was ruined by the refs.
I must tell you that this let the air our of my sails a bit. I began to wonder if maybe I just didn't see what everybody else saw on that Sunday. I hate to admit it, but I began to doubt whether the Steelers really had won that game fairly. In the end, I came to see that this was ridiculous and let me tell you why.
Here is what I think happened. In a game where neither team seemed able to consistently dominate in all facets of the game and where a few big plays made the difference, it led viewers to over-emphasize a few judgment calls by the officials. Because the game didn't seem to be played at a level we have come to expect from the last few Super Bowls, the judgment calls appeared to play a much bigger role than they did. The Steelers' previous wins, and Seattle's win over Carolina, had led to high expectations that weren't fulfilled
What bothers me the most about much of the hot air that has followed this Super Bowl is the inability of supposedly-knowledgeable people to differentiate between a blown call and a tough call. Far too many people to mention have screamed in print, online, and on the air that the officiating was horrible, atrocious, one-sided, etc. People have insisted that the best games are those where you don't even notice the officials.
Of course, we would all love to have a game like that. But that is a perfect scenario, not your average game. The fact of the matter is that if the Seahawks had made a few more plays or if the Steelers have avoided a few key mistakes, the game likely would have settled down into a clear-cut victory instead of the messy play punctuated by huge changes game it turned out to be.
I don't want to analyze each supposed bad call one by bad call as others have already done that. But I defy anyone to say that they were all clear-cut bad calls by the officials. Yes, you could argue that the push-off that negated a touchdown could have been a no call. But it is worth pointing out that it was technically a penalty and likely was more of an impact on the field that could be seen on replay. TV replay takes away important angles and removes depth perception for the most part. The fact that the ref struggled to get his flag out on time also made it seem like he called it only after the defender complained. All of these factors add to the sense that the call robbed the Seahawks.
But lost in all of this is the fact that the Seahawks still had the ball 1st-and-20 at the 26. The fact that the Seahawks gained minus three yards on the next three plays surely can't be blamed on the refs. In the AFC Championship Game, the Steelers had a touchdown called back on a illegal formation penalty (putting them at 2nd-and-13 at the 17), but they scored a touchdown the very next play. I understand the illegal formation wasn't viewed as a touch call, but they still bounced back and scored anyway. Seattle failed to do this.
The same is true of another of the so-called blown calls. With the Seahawks driving and looking to possibly take the lead, Matt Hasselbeck completed a pass to Jerramy Stevens to the one-yard line only to have it called back because of holding. Again, ABC made it seem like it was a questionable call by not mentioning the flag until after the play was over (when it was called immediately) and by John Madden opining that he didn't see holding on the play. But what even Madden admitted was that the camera angle wasn't particularly good. He said he didn't see holding from the replay.
I won't go into the technicalities of holding, but in the refs mind, the blocker illegally impeded the pass rusher. Was it a close call? Probably. Would everyone agree that it was clearly holding? Probably not. But he ref clearly though it was and didn't hesitate to make the call. It wasn't outrageous or horrific, it was simply a call that came at an incredibly important juncture. If the mistakes that followed, sack and then Hasselbeck interception, hadn't happened, the call wouldn't loom so large. The Seahawks still had the ball on the 29 with over 11 minutes to go trailing by four points. The game was in their hands and they blew it.
Interestingly enough, all of the conspiracy theories count this as seven points "taken" from Seattle and yet refuse to count a Steelers 4th-and-inches as seven points if Roethlisberger's touchdown had been overturned. They complain about Hasselbeck's penalty for a low block and ignore the missed call on a block in the back on Seattle's interception return. They complain about the pass interference call, but ignore what appeared to be a clear Seahawk fumble that was ruled an incomplete pass.
And that is why all of this talk of a ruined game and a undeserved win are silly. There were many, many chances for Seattle to win that game. If they had not dropped so many passes, missed a couple of field goals, managed the clock with even a semblance of skill, been able to place a punt in the field of play just once, made a few key tackles, not bit on a fake — if they had been able to do any number of things, the game would have turned out very differently. But they didn't, and they lost.
Did the Steelers play their best game on that Sunday? Heck no. Would I have preferred Ben Roethlisberger to have played better? Of course (although it is worth remembering that he was the youngest quarterback to win the Super Bowl). Were some of the calls debatable and tough to judge? Yes, but that is true week in week out. The magnitude of the game and the general lack of consistent play raised these few calls into what seemed like game changing decisions. But Willie Parker's touchdown run was still a thing of beauty. The fake Antwan Randel El run and subsequent pass was as well-executed a trick play as you will ever see. The Steelers found a way to win.
The delicious irony is that Steeler fans have long had to wrestle with these demons themselves. They have had a long history of close calls and questionable officiating. This is a team that lost a playoff game, in part, because of the ticky-tackiest running into the kicker penalties in the history of the game. This is a team that had an official screw them on a coin toss! And lest we forget this is a team that almost lost a playoff game this year because a ref overturned a clear interception on one of the worst calls ever made. It is worth pointing out that this call was not just a judgment call, but an outright error that the league even admitted was wrong. The Steelers are no stranger to losing even when they feel in their hearts they are the better team.
At bottom a win is a win. Period. Full stop. As the years go by, I hope this Super Bowl won't remembered by this quasi urban legend of a stolen game, but by the character of the winners. Coach Bill Cowher took over from a Hall of Fame legend and managed to succeed at the ultimate level. Hometown hero Jerome Bettis took a frame made for a blocking fullback and turned it into a Hall of Fame career at running back. He has been a team leader, an ambassador for the game, and a gentleman his whole career. Many pro scouts didn't think Hines Ward would make it in the NFL and yet here he is Super Bowl MVP. Even though he struggled mightily in this game, Ben Roethlisberger showed courage, determination, and made a couple of huge plays when he had to.
This Pittsburgh Steeler team never gave up when everything seemed against them. They engineered one of he most remarkable playoff runs in history and played some great football along the way. I won't hold it against them because the final game wasn't quite what I expected. For you Seahawk fans, you can either use this pain to get better, or you can fade away. Complaining about what might have been won't get you any closer to your goal. If anyone knows the truth of that, it is Pittsburgh Steeler fans. I count myself a proud one.