SUPER BRAWL ONE FOR AGES
TAMPA, Fla. – Finally, after everything that had happened in an epic, ebb-and-flow game for the ages – arguably the best Super Bowl we have ever witnessed – it was Big Ben Roethlisberger, starting from his 22 with 2:30 left, throwing a bullet into the right corner of the end zone, over a trio of Cardinals, for Santonio Holmes, who somehow kept both feet inbounds, a six-yard TD catch with 35 seconds left – same as Plaxico Burress last year! – that gave the Steelers their 27-23 victory, their record sixth Super Bowl championship, against Kurt Warner and the never-say-die Cardinals.
This turned into a classic heavyweight brawl, Big Ben standing toe-to-toe with the wondrous Warner, MVP Holmes standing toe-to-toe with the great Larry Fitzgerald, last men standing hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
In the end, Big Ben, the pocket-elusive quarterback the Giants didn’t want as much as Eli Manning, and Holmes, the receiver who needed to step up with Hines Ward not quite Hines Ward, refused to let their team lose.
“It’s now or never,” Big Ben had said in that last-gasp huddle, and now would mean his second Super Bowl ring.
” ‘Ben, I want the ball in my hands no matter what … no matter where it is,’ ” Holmes told his quarterback.
Ben listened, and hit Holmes, Sweet Holmes (9-131, 1 TD) four times on that last desperate drive to glory.
Big Ben was 6-of-8 for 83 yards on the final drive.
He resembled Amani Toomer on the last catch.
“My feet never left the ground,” Holmes said. “All I did was extend my arms and use my toes as extra extension to catch the ball.”
Warner (31-43, 377 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) was heroic in defeat, Warner and Fitzgerald (7-127), bringing the Cardinals back in the fourth quarter the way they did with a pair of touchdown connections, before Roethlisberger-to-Holmes stole their thunder.
All this, after Steeler linebacker James Harrison made a play that none of the legends who came before him – not toothless Jack Lambert, not Jack Ham, not Greg Lloyd, not Kevin Greene, not Joey Porter … not Mean Joe Greene, not Mel Blount, not L.C. Greenwood – ever made, a play that no one, on either side of the ball, had ever made, a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown, the longest play in Super Bowl history, as time ran out in the first half.
There were 18 seconds left in the half, and Warner was one yard away from making it Cardinals 14, Steelers 10. Warner, out of timeouts, was certain he had Anquan Boldin on a slant.
He was dead wrong.
Harrison took one step forward, faking a blitz, then took a quick step back and darted into Warner’s passing lane, in front of Boldin, and he was rumbling with the ball, and the Lombardi Trophy, down the right sidelines.
Deshea Townsend pushed Warner out of the way and Harrison kept chugging, racing Cardinals and racing the clock. Mike Gandy dove at him and missed and now Harrison was 10 yards or so from the end zone.
Fitzgerald, sprinting just out of bounds, made a desperate reach to pry the ball loose as Harrison reached the 2-yard line, and Steve Breaston, angling over full speed from the opposite side of the field, slammed into Harrison with all his might.
But Harrison crashed headfirst into the end zone, holding onto the ball for dear life, out of time and out of oxygen as he collapsed on his back. Steelers 17, Cardinals 7.
“I thought I had just one-on-one [coverage] on the outside,” Warner said. “I wasn’t able to see him around my linemen.”
Here came Warner anyway. Troy Polamalu had been the kryptonite inside Fitzgerald’s cape, playing so Warner would have throw underneath. It took Warner eight completions to cover 87 yards, the last one a one-yard fade to Fitzgerald against Ike Taylor. Steelers 20, Cardinals 14, 7:33 left.
Darnell Dockett sacked Roethlisberger, and Warner had it back at his 25 with 5:28 left. He got to the Pittsburgh 26 before Wayne Gandy held Harrison for the third time, and the Cardinals punted.
But the punt forced Big Ben to start at his 1, with 3:26 left, and here came a third-down holding call in the end zone against Justin Hartwig.
Safety.
Warner started at his 36, 2:53 and two timeouts left.
Terrible Towels waving everywhere.
Fitzgerald beat Taylor with an inside move and Warner hit him in stride and Superman was gone, 64 yards, touchdown.
A holding penalty pushed Big Ben back to his 12. No matter. Aaron Francisco fell, and Holmes had a 40-yard gain, to the 6.
Finally, Sixburgh.
