Post Superbowl

Last night’s game was pretty decent, but not great like last yr’s game with the New England Patriots and New York Giants. From what I remember, that game was very competitive until the very end and people were watching on the edge of their seats. The game didn’t even come close to the greatness of last yr’s game at all. People are saying last night’s game was one of the best because of the ending. The ending of the game was great, but not the entire game. There were too many penalties from both teams which did play an effect on the game. I would like to say that the Steelers were the better team to beat the Cards and Homles deserved his MVP trophy. Ben was 21/30 with 1 TD and 1 Int whereas Holmes had 9 catches for 131 yards and one game changing TD catch…that seemed impossible.

My prediction was wrong and I’ll admit it. I picked the Cards to win. On offense the Cards were much better than the Steelers. Warner threw all around the Steelers with 377 yards total and 3 TD’s and 1 Int. The only reason the Steelers were able to march down the field was because of the poor D of the Cards. Holmes was running all over them with his 9 catch performance. They could not finish. If you have a great offense, but not a great defense that could not stop the opposing team…it’s a bad equation. That offense (Cards) will either get a big lead to win the game or the defense of the other team (Steelers) will make some stops to get the ball back where the Cards D couldn’t stop them on some possessions, which is what happened on there come back winning TD drive in the last possession of the game. Holmes caught four (I think, but could be wrong) clutch passes on the last drive to win the Superbowl. Arizona’s D just couldn’t stop the passing game of the Steelers. Even though the stats don’t show it, but Big Ben played well when he needed to. I said that Ben wasn’t your fantasy first rounder type of a QB, but when the time comes, he goes out there to get the win. He is 8-2 in the playoffs and has two rings now. I was very surprised how well the Steelers D could stop the running game of the Cards. Edge only had 33 yds of rushing. That aspect of the game hurt them a lot. You just can’t always throw against a great defense every time. You need the run to set up the pass.

Defensively, the Steelers looked a little lackluster in the game. Warner threw over 370 yds against them with Fitzgerald, Boldin, and Breston getting some key plays in the game. That 64 yd pass TD from Warner to Fitz showed how Haley exploited the Steelers D by having the number 1 and 2 receivers running an out pattern and Fitz in the slot, running a cross in the middle for the TD catch. Also I believe the Cards scored too quickly with too much time on the clock left for the Steelers to come back (2:37). I believed they should’ve ran a couple times and then set up that pass play, but I wasn’t calling the plays and I didn’t see what they guys up in boxes were looking at. I want to mention how well the O-line for the Cards was allowing 2 sacks and keep Warner protected to throw for 3 TD’s and 1 Int. They should get an honorable mention, but not Gandy.

What made the game…penalties. There were some that were questionable such as the roughing the passer in the 3rd quarter (I think). There were some that affected the game such as 3 holding calls against Gandy for the Cards. I believed Harrison was too much for Gandy in the trenches. There were a total of 18 penalties in the game where the Cards had 11 of those. Last yr’s Superbowl only had a total of 9 in the game.

In closing, the game was fun to watch, but not even close to where it ranks against the Pats and Giants game. Even the commercials weren’t as good, but fair. The only commercial that really stood out was the Cash4Gold. I better get on there and sell my gold for money with this economy. Seeing Ray Lewis doing ballet was priceless in the Sobe ad. The “I’m Good” PepsiMax was very comical. That Transformers spot was very good; the movie will be one of the must sees of this summer.