Have you noticed that the era of the ‘Super Blowout’ is long gone? Growing up, it seemed like every Super Bowl was a Super Bore, with the notable exceptions of 1988 (49ers win late over Bengals) and 1990 (Norwood wide right). Since 2001, however, nearly every game has been close, and while you can debate the quality of the play, you cannot deny the high drama and the seeming ‘can you top this?’ aspect the past two years.
My colleague here at GANT, Chris Morelli, usually writes a column about Penn State. After the last few weeks, however, I think he might need to change the column name to ‘OnSteelers’, as he’s definitely strayed from the confines of Happy Valley (Chris, we kid because we care.) However, since Chris has thrown down the gauntlet, let me show that The Eye can rise to any challenge – since he’s already given us a game review, let’s analyze some of his points, as well as raise some new ones.
Let’s start with the points Chris made that I agree with (if you haven’t yet read his OnLion column, now would be a good time to do so to get a frame of reference):
-I agree that Harrison’s play is probably the top defensive Super Bowl play of all time. I’ve been wracking my brain for two days and cannot come up with another defensive play of that magnitude. I am compelled to point out that the officials missed a block in the back on the return**, but that happens fairly often on long returns – the officials are out of position and scrambling to get downfield, as well as concentrating on whether Harrison stepped out of bounds. That said, what a GREAT effort by not only Harrison, but his fellow defenders to make block after block – when he made the pick I thought there was no chance he’d make it past the 50.
**About the officiating – they missed that block, and the roughing the passer call on Ben was weak – but aside from those I thought it was very well officiated. Yes, there were a lot of flags – there were a lot of REASONS for those flags! Don’t blame refs for enforcing the rules in a game like that, blame players on BOTH sides for committing a lot of penalties, some of which defy explanation. The crew did a great job keeping the pushing/shoving shenanigans to a minimum, and above all FINALLY calling the holding on James Harrison.
-Warner should now make the Hall of Fame. He has now set two impressive records: the top three Super Bowl passing yardage games, and more impressively the career Super Bowl passing yardage mark – in only three appearances! We’ll look at his performance in a bit more depth below, but in my mind he’s among the all-time greats.
-Polamalu did indeed have a bad game – one of the worst I can remember from him since he was a rookie. He missed several tackles in the first half, and on the last touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald you can clearly see that Polamalu bit on Boldin’s ‘out’ route, which opened the entire middle of the field. Everyone has a bad game at times, and since the team won his will be quickly forgotten as he continues on the path to Canton.
-I agree that offensive line is absolutely, positively THE priority in the draft. I disagree with his #2 and #3 selections, we’ll get to them below. As for the line, it was extremely gracious of Big Ben to give his line a shout-out in the postgame celebration – but the simple fact is, the line almost cost the team the game. I submit that this was the worst offensive line ever to win a Super Bowl, especially the guards and center. There was no room to run inside all season, Ben was being hurried and pounded all season, and for all their injuries the Steelers simply got lucky that Ben never missed a game. Good teams and good management know that the secret to success is to always improve. I am sure the Steelers will address the line in the offseason, and they must – they won’t win the division if they bring back the same line.
-Whisenhunt was a great hire; the Doritos ads were the best; Ben should have been MVP. No debate on any of those. I will expound a bit on Ben – here’s a guy who has won more games his first five seasons than any QB in history; who came back from a terrible accident in 2006 (yes, it was his own fault, that’s not the point); who dealt with an abysmal o-line this season; who now has TWO Super Bowl victories; and who has led more 4th quarter/OT comebacks than any QB in the last five years. Yet I still hear a lot of people call him ‘overrated’. There are exactly two QBs I’d take ahead of Ben: Peyton Manning and, if healthy, Tom Brady. Pittsburgh fans are loyal and vocal, but they have one long-standing weakness: an inability to appreciate their QB. You’d think the years of Stoudt, Brister, Kordell, and Maddox would have cured that. Ben will be in the Hall of Fame someday. I hope Steeler fans recognize his greatness long before that day.
Now, on to a few disagreements with Morelli:
-Everyone always gets in a big hurry to anoint this or that as the ‘greatest of all time’. Hall of fame votes are delayed for just that reason – to allow everyone to cool off and see things in context. My initial reaction is that this Super Bowl was among the top three ever. HOWEVER, consider that 12 months ago we watched the supposed ‘greatest team ever’ get knocked off in what was THEN immediately called ‘the greatest game ever’. Which was ‘better’? I honestly am not sure yet. Let’s savor this win and let a few years pass, watch the tapes, read the archived de scri ptions of these games, THEN make that call.
-Along those same lines, I think Holmes’ catch and Tyree’s catch are tied. Holmes’ was harder from a footwork perspective and it DID score points; however, Tyree’s catch came with a defender all over him, trapping the ball against his helmet – and came about as a result of Eli pulling some Ben-like moves to avoid the rush. To choose one over the other is mainly a matter of personal taste and team fanhood. Again, let’s set this aside for a few years.
-While I agree that the announcers went overboard on Harrison’s foul in the 4th quarter (no way are the refs tossing ANYONE for that foul in that game situation), I see no evidence of anti-Steeler bias in Madden’s commentary. I thought he pretty much called’em as he saw ‘em, both Sunday and the last several seasons. He’s definitely slipped as an announcer, but he’s getting old. Of course, I was four the last time he coached – I wonder if perhaps some Steeler fans who actually saw him coach might have some anti-Madden bias??
-The answer is not to run Willie Parker more to the outside, especially with the current o-line. That will simply lead to a lot of 4-yard losses, as opposed to 1-yard gains. The answer is to a.) get a new line, and b.) run Parker a lot less. Frankly Parker is a very overrated running back, he has a reputation as a ‘boom or bust’ type back. I’ve seen lots of bust, but where’s the boom?? He’s still living off the 75-yard run in Super Bowl XL. Guess how many runs he has had since then over 40 yards? TWO, and both came in 2006. Yes, ‘Fast Willie’ hasn’t broken a run longer than 34 yards the last two seasons, but he’s sure piled up the 1 and 2-yard runs. Yes, a large part of that is the line, and he was still a great find out of North Carolina as an undrafted free agent – but let’s not kid ourselves, he was never a GREAT back and now he’s considerably below average. The Steelers will find this out the hard way if they depend on him in 2009.
-That leads us to draft needs. O-line is a clear #1. D-line is actually #2 on my list, those guys played very well this season but check out their ages – Brett Kiesel is 30, Casey Hampton is 31, Aaron Smith is 32, Chris Hoke is 32, Travis Kirschke is 34, Orpheus Roye is 36. At the very least they need to draft some depth, and ideally they’d draft Hampton’s replacement – he’s so fat now that he’s more or less immobile. He’s a great run-stopper, but with his weight and age issues the end will likely come quickly for him.
As for the third area to draft, let’s look at the team. QB? All set. RB? A bit thin, especially if Mendenhall doesn’t work out. WR? A lesser need – with Holmes, Ward, Sweed, and Washington (Assuming they keep Nate), that’s a good core group. LB? All set. CB/S? All set at safety, will only need a CB if the team opts to let Bryant McFadden walk as a free agent. I think they’ll try to keep him. That leaves RB as the #3 need, and it’s a distant third in my opinion – you can find good RBs down in the draft, and I think the 3rd or 4th round is the time to look for that position. Bottom line: The Steelers should devote at LEAST three picks to the O-line and one or two to the D-line. My early favorite for the top pick: PSU center A.Q. Shipley. He fits a need, he’ll almost certainly be available, and he won the Rimington Trophy as the best collegiate center.
But there’s plenty of time to look to the future. The draft comes soon enough – allow yourselves a month or two to savor the 6th Lombardi Trophy, and forget the flaws of the team. Always remember, Cleveland and Philly would love to have even ONE of those trophies – we have SIX!!! Read ‘em and weep, Cowboy fans!!
Last item: my game analysis. Pittsburgh came out throwing, which was a wise decision against the Cards’ defense, and Dick LeBeau’s defensive strategy seemed to have the Cards confused the entire first half. The Harrison return was huge but I don’t believe it was the turning point in the game – I think the game was still easily within reach for the Steelers even if they trailed 14-10 at the half. I also believe that his score lulled the Steelers into a bit of a false sense of security – they tried to run the ball WAY too much in the second half, even when it was clear the running game wasn’t really there. I was disappointed that they got so conservative, another score in the third quarter might have put the game away.
As for the Cardinals, in the second half they made a really smart decision – to heck with this rushing nonsense, throw the ball!! Trying to establish the run against Pittsburgh was just wasting downs for them – it was never really going to work. Better to chuck it 40+ times and take your chances with the best wideout corps in the game. Warner also started to find Fitzgerald, even forcing it to him at times, and again that was a good call – he’s SO good that you just need to give him a shot at the ball. His first TD was evidence of that.
In the end, though, as we discussed last week the key matchup was the Cards’ ‘D’ against the Steelers’ ‘O’ – and in the end, the Cards folded as they had so often this season. The Cards were unable to stop the Steeler passing game all night, but especially at the end when it mattered most. Now, some credit goes to Ben for this – he’s done that to a lot of teams – but the lack of pass rush on the final drive really allowed Ben to pick apart the soft Cardinal zone.
The Cards are apt to become the latest Super Bowl loser to miss the playoffs the following season, especially if Warner retires – they still have significant holes on defense, and unless Leinart is finally ready, their offense won’t be nearly as prolific. Still, it was a great run, and I hope for their fans’ sake it is something for the franchise to build on. At the very least, for the time being the Arizona Cardinals are no longer among the laughingstocks of the league – that title is now reserved solely for the Lions and Bengals.
Note on next week’s column: last week I discussed the possibility of a local high school review in this week’s column, but we’re going to push that to next week to give me a chance to interview the coaches involved. My plan is to tackle Clearfield sports next week, possibly Curwensville the week after that.
Dave Glass lives in Clearfield with his wife, Suzanne, and their six children. He can be reached at buggyracer@verizon.net
