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

Super Bowl Predictions

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• Hines Ward will play but will do nothing except level an unsuspecting DB.
• Anquan Boldin will have a monster game. 2 TDs and 100+ yards.
• Larry Fitzgerald will have 1 TD max and under 75 yards receiving.
• Kurt Warner will complete more than 30 passes but only one will be over 30 yards.
• Ben Roethlisberger will have a minimum of 3 turnovers and one will be a fumble.
• Arizona will not crack 50 rushing yards.
• There will be 5 turnovers in the game.
• There will be 8 sacks in the game, 5 of them will be on Roethlisberger.
• Steve Breaston will have at least one monster return or catch.
  
• Adrian Wilson will lay a harder hit than any of the Steelers' DBs.
• Mitch Berger will punt a ball under 30 yards but he will also make at least one tackle.
  
• Jeff Reed will hit 3 field goals.
• The Arizona D will make a monster play when it looks like all is lost.
• Heath Miller will be Pittsburgh's leading pass catcher (whatever that means to you).
• Pittsburgh will run a trick play in which Nate Washington will be prominently involved. It will go for over 50 yards.
• Arizona will run a trick play and it will not work. Troy Polamalu will play a prominent role in breaking it up.
• Arizona will score first and be up at halftime.
  
• Final score: Arizona 27, Pittsburgh 23
• I will crush a decent amount of booze and Teddy's famous pulled pork.
  

I am ready for some football.

-PSon

Philly in the Super Bowl? Not in the... Cards (sorry)

I was originally planning on doing a sort of list of thoughts I had during the game but a lot of it ended up being recaps of big plays that happened. Not funny and not interesting. Instead I decided to make a list of the things I learned during the NFC Championship game.

• Philly has a TE named Brent Celek (pronounced Sell-eck). I couldn't see if he had a sick mustache but if he doesn't, what an incredible waste of a last name. Celek manned up for two TDs on the day.
• Kevin Curtis is fast. I mean Don Beebe fast. I'm talking Brandon Stokley fast. This guy has the heart of Wayne Chrebet and he's as cagey as Ed McCaffrey. Just impressive. He looks like Wes Welker out there.
• Edge James is alive and well and apparently playing for Arizona, where old people go to die.
• I already knew Larry “Samson” Fitzgerald was a god among men. I guess Philly forgot their scissors today because Samson torched them for three TDs. Here’s what I wrote after all three. 1) Fitzgerald across the middle, left wide open. He breaks three tackles and gets in the endzone. The Cards look fired up. Can't say the same for the Philly D. Warner went 4-4 for 44 yards on the drive. Not a bad start. 2) Unbelievable play. Warner pitches it back to J.J. Arrington who throws it cross field to Kurt. Warner loads up with all his might and bombs it to Fitzgerald who is covered by a mere mortal. Predictably Samson embarrasses the guy, almost tripping himself by stepping on the defender’s chest, balance regained, 62 yards to the barn. 14-3. 3) Asante Samuel mugs Fitzgerald on what would have been an easy touchdown. 1st and Goal after the pass interference. Samuel then grabs his hamstring and winces like Kobe after a missed shot. Warner then throws the easiest fade route I've ever seen to Fitzgerald for his 3rd TD.
• Donovan McNabb still has wheels, and he has a sense of humor. I actually thought it was funny when he picked up the phone on the Giants’ sideline last week. This week after his TD to DeSean Jackson he busted out a sweet little dance that reminded me of my boss walking into a meeting shooting jokes from the hip*. “Hey, I see we have Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the house tonight. 62 yards to the house? I haven’t see someone taken deep like that since that donkey show in Tijuana. Heyooo! I haven’t made a pass like that since Coach Reid’s wife. Heyoooo, you I’m just kidding Andy, who loves ya?”
• DeSean Jackson is only a rookie but he’s showing signs of being a great player, further removed from the days of him dropping balls on the 1 yard line. He made an great play with almost 2 minutes left in the 1st quarter. McNabb fired a pass across the middle, it was deflected and consequently intercepted by Aaron Francisco. Francisco ran it back probably 20 yards and was run down from behind by DeSean Jackson who tomahawked the ball, causing Francisco to fumble. The Eagles recovered. All-in-all they lost 8 yards on the play but it was a 1st and 10 because of the change of possession. That could have been a game changer.
• Here’s what I wrote about Arizona’s gameplan coming in; The Cards have come out with an incredible game plan, picking the Eagles' aggressive D apart with misdirection and screen passes. Warner is getting the ball off quickly to underneath routes. Pretty incredible coaching if you ask me. Besides the long pass to Fitzgerald, the Cards have shown themselves to be content with gaining small to medium chunks of easy yardage. Key stats - Kurt Warner 10 for 11, 153 yards, 3 TDs. Larry Fitzgerald 5 catches for 99 yards, 3 TDs. 3 minutes left in the 2nd. The Eagles better find an answer for this combo soon.
• Quintin Demps is a cheap shot artist - Quintin Demps takes a flat-out cheap shot at Kurt Warner well after the play, right in front of a referee. Warner and Demps were literally standing next to each other and Demps leveled him. Hey Demps, the Cards don't need your help to move the ball on your shell-shocked D.
• NFL referees are still bad; 4th and 10 for the Eagles. The Cards blitz, McNabb does a good job of avoiding, passes to Kevin Curtis who gets tackled by Roderick Hood before the ball gets there and there's no call. Tough way to lose. There's still a chance but the Eagles have to prevent the Cards from gaining a 1st down on their next drive.
• Nobody deserves this more than Adrian Wilson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Kurt Warner. Big games from all 3 of them. Adrian Wilson spent his entire career with this team and his loyalty pays off with a trip to the Super Bowl in 2 weeks. He had 7 tackles, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble in the game. Kurt Warner already has a Super Bowl championship and an MVP yet nobody gave him a chance as a starter. He won the starting nod over Matt Leinart and now has led the Arizona Cardinals to their 1st ever Super Bowl. Larry Fitzgerald has played the best postseason of anybody I can remember. He caught everything thrown to him, he made plays after the catch, and he inspired teammates with his infectious enthusiasm. He also now holds the record for the most receiving yards in a postseason and he still has one more game to play.
• This Arizona team plays with emotion. It was great to watch guys like Larry Fitzgerald (probably the best WR in the league) jump around like school girls after their last touchdown. Kneeling on the sidelines as the time ran down, you could see genuine tears in his eyes as well as the eyes of many of his teammates. Adrian Wilson, who was rock solid all game, let it all out during a postgame interview. He could hardly express how he felt in words but you could see where that team’s heart and drive came from. The much maligned Arizona D stopped Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams, and Brian Westbrook in three straight games. They are playing out of their heads right now and I truly believe that they have a legitimate shot of beating the Steelers. As long as Warner can avoid turnovers and their D can hold Willie Parker to a mediocre game, they can certainly do it. Preparation is the key to the game, they came out of the gates against Philly with a plan on how to attack what the Eagles did best on D. Can they do the same against the best D in the league?

-PSon