Sour Grapes It Is (This is really going to sound like I'm a Cards fan)

The prevailing image for me during Arizona's 23-27 loss to Pittsburgh in last night's Super Bowl was Larry Fitzgerald with his helmet on and gloves hanging from the bars on his facemask, pleading, "No, no, please no..." as officials reviewed Santonio Holmes' game winning catch with just over 30 seconds left in the game.

This Super Bowl, one of the greatest I've ever witnessed behind the Broncos' 1997 win over the Packers and last year's incredible Giants/Patriots affair, was characterized by great plays and iffy calls. I'm not sure what it is about these Steelers but they sure bring out the worst in referees. The Cardinals were flagged 11 times for over 100 yards worth of penalties, 2 of which where very bad calls in my mind (roughing the passer and defensive holding) which resulted in first downs and sustained long drives for the Steelers. The Steelers were hit with a couple of indefensible personal fouls (on the player's part) and a holding penalty in the endzone that resulted in a safety (the guy had a good shot at knocking the Roethlisberger pass down if not for the hold).

The Cardinals got beyond those calls and eventually took the lead in the game with just over 2 minutes left. It was a well designed play with the two inside receivers running out patterns to make the safeties cheat towards the sidelines, Warner then hit Fitzgerald (being covered by James Harrison???!!!) with a 10 yard slant and ran right past the two safeties for a 64 yard TD to go up 23-20. Pittsburgh's next drive was very well executed, Roethlisberger avoided sacks a number of times and made the plays when it mattered. The big play was on a long Santonio Holmes catch down the sideline where it looked like Roethlisberger faked the DB on that side out of his zone with a very nice pump fake and threw it to a wide open Holmes. A few plays later, Holmes made a great toe-tapping catch in the corner of the endzone to take a 4 point lead. The Cards still had a chance though with 2 timeouts and just over 30 seconds left.

I have a serious problem with how the officials handled the last 15 seconds of the game. The Cardinals hit two passes to the middle of the field to take it to the Steeler 44 yard line with 15 seconds to go, no timeouts. The Steelers got good pressure on the next play but Warner ran away from it and as he was attempting to heave a pass to the endzone, his arm was hit by Woodley and the ball came loose. Immediately I thought it was an incomplete pass as it looked like his arm was going forward. The refs called it a fumble and awarded the ball to Pittsburgh. I thought, "It doesn't really matter because they have to booth review it." The play was that close. In fact, on further review I still thought it was an incomplete pass (I'm sure Pittsburgh fans would say the opposite). When the ball was awarded to the Steelers, Lamarr Woodley took his helmet off and started to celebrate, drawing a 15 yard penalty. Next thing I knew Roethlisberger was kneeling the ball and the game was over. An official appeared to wave his hands from side-to-side for some reason, not sure if they always do that or something else was going on but the game was over and I was extremely confused.

Booth reviews came about because the NFL wanted to make sure calls were correct in the last 2 minutes of games. They didn't want to have games decided by incorrect calls. I've seen some of the most obvious plays be reviewed because they wanted to be sure they got it right. With the Super Bowl on the line, they failed to review this play and cost the Cardinals a shot at the endzone. The unbelievable part is that because of Woodley's penalty, the ball would have been placed at the 29 YARD LINE! The Cards would have had one shot to the end zone from 29 yards out. If you don't think they have a legitimate chance to score from there you're crazy. Even in a hail mary situation, the Cards have the best jumper in the game along with 2 other physical receivers with great hands. The worst part about this whole situation is that none of the announcers mentioned it. It pains me that none of the game announcers or any of ESPNs talking heads made any mention of the non-review. I can't wait to listen to Rome or Simmons to see if they mention it but I would bet money that they do.

Either way it was an incredible game. The Cardinals showed that they can play with anybody, including the best team in the league with one of the greatest defenses of all time. What really lost the game for the Cards was the 100 yard return by James Harrison to close out the 1st half. If he didn't score, the Cards win. If Warner doesn't throw a pick, the Cards win. If Tim Hightower doesn't get blocked in the back on the play, the Cards win. If Kurt Warner fell over and made Harrison trip over him, the Cards win. I actually had a problem with Holmes winning the MVP partially because of this play. While it was predictable the either him or Roethlisberger would win it, I don't know how you don't give it to Harrison. That return was the longest play in Super Bowl history. If he didn't flash in front of Boldin in time or if he hadn't caught the ball, the Cards would have kicked a field goal at minimum. Harrison also drew many damaging holding calls against the Cards' left tackle and pressured Warner all night. Holmes' catch was a great one and they needed it to win the game but he had 131 receiving yards on the night. Harrison had 100 return yards as a D lineman and he made the game's defining play.

-PSon