After a short night to digest that game, I guess the one thing that does stand out about it were the number of penalties.
We didn't see many holding penalties period in the NFL this season, but we saw more than our share called in the Steelers' win over Arizona in the Super Bowl.
Most, however, were clearly holds.
In fact, after seeing it several more times, I'm actually of the belief now that Justin Hartwig's fourth quarter holding penatly in the end zone that resulted in a safety wasn't really a hold as much as he got bullrushed and the guy fell on top of him.
On the Harrison interception, I didn't see the hold on Warner until about the fourth replay. There was so much going on during that play that it just wasn't obvious. People complaining about that one have to realize that all of the officials were down in the other end zone and they have to immediately start trying to run with the play. I'm sure at that point, the officials on that side of the field are trying to watch and see if Harrison goes out of bounds, if there's any illegal blocks in the back, etc.
There was really none of the officials who would have had a proper angle to call a holding penalty at that point. Life goes on. You don't like it, don't throw the pick.
I thought LaMarr Woodley's sack and strip on the final play was clearly a sack and strip. The replay showed Warner's arm go back to throw the ball and then he's hit before it comes forward.
That made up for the horrible call on the previous sack and strip in the third quarter when the only reason his arm came forward was because he was hit. He wasn't attempting to throw that ball.
Cardinals fans have a legit complaint on the roughing the passer penalty on Karlos Dansby in the third quarter. That wasn't roughing. Nor, however, was it intentional grounding as some talking heads would have you believe. Ben Roethlisberger was outside the tackle box – he was at the hash mark and left tackle Max Starks was inside the hash mark by a yard when the play began - and the ball was thrown past the line of scrimmage.
© The Steelers were kind enough to invite me to their post-game celebration Sunday night and a good time was had by all.
It shows what a classy organization they are and it was really nice to see the players celebrating such a dramatic win with their friends and families.
It was also nice for the front office people - the ones behind the scenes that you never see - to get that opportunity to let their hair down after a long and successful journey.
The highlight of the night had to be seeing Snoop Dog freestyle a Steelers rap to the tune of Gin and Juice. I got part of that on my Blackberry as a recording. If I actually figure out how to get it off of my Blackberry, maybe I'll post the audio here sometime this week.
© Talking to some front office people last night we figured out there are five people in the organization with six rings, five with six I began to call them.
Team chairman Dan Rooney is the obvious one. Joe Greene has six as well, four as a player, two as a member of the front office.
The others are video coordinator Bob "Mack" McCartney, longtime college scout Bill Nunn and Human Relations/Office Coordinator Gerry Glenn.
Congratulations to them as well.
© I'm off to the airport to return to Pittsburgh. I'll check in again later when we arrive.
Thanks for all of your hard work Dale. I really enjoy reading this blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat a night!!
Dale,
ReplyDeleteI agree about the first sack/strip/
fumble of Warner, that his arm only came forward because he was hit from the back/side under the arm. He may have wanted to throw a pass, but his arm didn't come forward by his own free will.
I also thought the holding on Hartwig in the endzone was iffy, but Hartwig did grab a fistful of jersey as he was being run over.
Cardinal fans should quit complaining about calls. Good teams overcome them - the Steelers did - even including the 10 yd holding penalty setting them back to the 12 yd line on the winning drive.
Overall, I thought the officiating crew did a good job. They were consistent in what they called which is all any player or coach wants.
BTW, what did that Cardinal player do that made Harrison punch him?
Dale,
ReplyDeleteHows Ward doing? What percent do you think he was on Sunday? Two thinks killed me in this game. First was the Wildcat play. I thought they did it to help set something else later on. I was wrong. The second was the prevent D. Ike T did a great job on Fitz, so why the prevent? Over all a great game. Give some props to Arizona, I thought we were going to stomp them. One last thing. Was that a T.D. when been went for the score on his run? I thought for sure it was. Have a great 4 month vacation.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteAlong with what others are asking about how Hines is, but what happened to Nate Washington? During the ceremony I saw him both when Namath was bringing the trophy past all the Steelers and when the trophy was being presented to Mr. Rooney Hines was talking to Nate and you could see Nate had on a sling.
If Washington got hurt, it must have been at the end of the game, on the winning drive with the catch he made for a first down at the AZ sideline.
ReplyDeleteDale, love the blog. I know I'm wasting no time savoring the victory, but I'm interested in seeing what happens to Bruce Arians. Any updates or insight you have on possible staff changes in the coming weeks will be of great interest.
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested to hear what Kevin Colbert had to say, so I'll eagerly await your story on that one.
Washington hurt his shoulder blocking for Holmes on his 40-yard catch-and-run. Sweed was in at the goal line after that and Washington wasn't on the field.
ReplyDeleteHines wasn't 100 percent for sure, probably more like 80. But he served as a nice decoy and had some good blocks. That was why they went to him early in the first quarter to let the Cards know he could be a weapon, but Holmes was they primary weapon and they knew that going in.
I'm pretty sure they used the wildcat to set up the passing play they had been working on with it, flipping the ball to Roethlisberger and letting him throw it deep, but the moment never came.