Superbowl Review

Holmes' Game-Ending Reception

This past Sunday pitted the surprising Arizona Cardinals against the defensive-minded Pittsburg Steelers in the NFL Superbowl. It was a classic match-up of offense versus defense. The Cardinals, with future Hall-of-Famer Kurt Warner at Quarterback and two of the games top Wide Receivers in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, led the NFL in an amazing 14 offensive statistical categories in the postseason. The Steelers, featuring the likes of Safety Troy Polamalu and Linebacker James Harrison, the defensive Most Valuable Player for this past NFL season, were arguably one of the best defensive teams of all time this past season.

Early going in the game was rough on the Cardinals, as a few mental mistakes and a misread on a offensive play inside the red zone left the Cardinals trailing 17-7 at halftime. The third quarter didn’t go well for them either, and they entered the fourth and final quarter trailing 20-7. No team had ever come back from such a large deficit in one quarter of the Superbowl, but the Cardinals quickly found momentum and ended up taking the lead 23-20 on a 64-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Fitzgerald with 2:37 left in the game. The Steelers did not give in, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers on a 78-yard drive, capped by arguably one of the best touchdown catches in Superbowl history by Santonio Holmes. The third-year receiver, who had an overall remarkable game with 9 receptions for 131 yards on the day, dived fully outstretched towards the back corner of the endzone with 30 seconds left in the game to catch the pass from Roethlisberger. The truly brilliant part of the play was Holmes’ ability to tap both of his feet in the endzone before falling out of bounds. The game was an emotional rollercoaster, or as Al Michaels, the television commentator for the game, said immediately following the touchdown by Holmes, “The emotions in this game have been over the moon!” The game had excitement, depression, a late lead change, and a game-ending dazzling display of athleticism. Can a sports fan ask for anything more?

RJ