Super Bowl XL Recap

The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seatle Seahawks 21-10 to win the franchises fifth Super Bowl championship, led by the game's MVP Hines Ward.


Seattle dominated much of the first half, holding the Steelers to zero first downs in the opening quarter. Despite the offensive and defensive domination, Seattle's largest lead at any one time was 3-0.

In the second quarter, Ben Roethlisberger scrambled and flipped the football overhand to Ward, creating something out of nothing. This play seemed to spark the Steelers offense. It led to a magnificent pass on third and long to Ward. The problem with the pass was Ben may have stepped over the line of scrimmage, voiding his great effort. ABC never showed a conclusive replay and it was surprising that more replays were not shown of that play.

It led to a quarterback scramble for a one yard touchdown. This play has been considered controversial, but it's very clear that Ben got the ball past the plane of the goal line while in the air. By the time he landed, the ball was short of the endzone, but he had already gave his team six points.

Seattle's final drive of the first half has been much maligned. I had no problem with the call of running Alexander with 40 seconds and one timeout in order to get closer to field goal range. What killed Seattle was they made no effort to stop the clock after the run. Hasselbeck made one mistake (we'll get to his second half interception in a moment) and it was audibling twice while the clock trickled towards ten seconds left in the half. At that moment, Seattle was forced to rely on a long field goal attempt.

Willie Parker started the second half with the Super Bowl's longest run in history, 75 yards. Halfway through the fourth quarter, Antwan Randle-El, the ex-college quarterback, threw a 43-yard pass into the arms of Hines Ward to give the Steelers a 21-10 lead that would not change.

Seattle almost had its chances in the second half. A huge interception by Kelly Herndon, who had not played well, turned the momentum around. Herndon's return was longest in Super Bowl history. A TD catch by Jerramy Stevens cut the lead to 14-10, but by then, Pittsburgh was in control. Stevens dropped several key passes and one he caught was called back. Stevens performance was indicative of the game.

The officiating was terrible. However, the couple of calls that have been highlighted are not the reason. First was Darrell Jackson's, who had a great first quarter, touchdown catch. He was called for pass interference. The replay showed he clearly pushed off in front of the official. As mentioned, Roethlisberger's touchdown was legit. It was his long pass before that was questionable.

Stevens catch at the one yard line, that would have given Seattle a great chance to win, was called back on a hold. At first, I had no problem with the call, but every expert seems to say it was not a hold, so I digress. Afterward, Hasselbeck through a pick that would not have happened, but for the holding call. Hasselbeck made a great tackle, but was called for a penalty for a clip, even though he tackled the man AND it was above the waste. It was really a horrible call that allowed Pittsburgh to begin with great field position. Ike Taylor, who picked the pass, redeemed himself from his poor performance to that point.

Another mistake happened on a Steelers' scoring drive. Ben called timeout, but the play clock had already hit zero. However, he was not penalized, but given the timeout.

However, Seattle contributed greatly to their own demise. They never could overcome these bad calls. In addition, they bungled their time management at the end of the game as well as the end of the first half. Matt Hasselbeck played really well. Shaun Alexander ran for 95 yards on 20 carries, which was solid. But neither side of the ball could make a big play. Punter Tom Rouen kicked the ball into the endzone like it was his job. His job is actually to kick it in front of the endzone.

Ben Roethlisberger didn't play great, but his performance was close to Elway’s in Super Bowl XXXII. He made the big play, whether it was a run, a pass, or a bloc, when it was needed. The defense bent but did not break. Parker and Jerome Bettis exploited the backup safety, Pruitt, who played awful.

In the end, Pittsburgh won ugly. But they wouldn't have it any other way. Congratulations to the Steelers.