Pittsburgh Steelers razzle-dazzle to Super Bowl title with hot second half

"Steelers record motown hit" read the headline. Sure the refs were awful, but the fact is the Steelers made plenty of huge completions and timely runs when they had to make them. The refs had nothing to do with the poor defensive playcalling that led to Parker's 75 yard romp untouched. (UNTOUCHED!) for a TD. The refs didn't have anything to do with a backup corner getting posterized on Randel El's TD pass to Hines. The refs didn't affect the Seahawks inability to defend a crucial 3rd and 28. (Third and twenty-eight!). The refs didnt miss two field goals...indoors...on turf.

And then their punter blew FOUR opportunities to saddle the Steelers in the shadow of their own goal post. The result? FOUR touchbacks. Unacceptable.

You give up a flea-flicker in the Super Bowl, and cant stop a 3rd and 28 and you dont deserve to win. Even Michaels and Madden knew the Steelers were gearing up for a gadget play. It was even a play that the Seahawks had seen on film from the Cleveland game. But with the starting corner down with an injury, the backup bit on the reverse.

Holmgren sure did a great job of clock management too.

Nevertheless, the Steelers did what Super Bowl champs do. Play stifling D when they had to, make sizzling razzle-dazzle plays, and take advantage of their oppurtunities.

The Steelers did, the Seahawks didn't. With or without the refs.

Here's some great stuff from Steve czaban on the game. Click here for his site.

Hail to the Steelers! True champions, in every sense of the word. Think about how HARD it is, to go down at home in the AFC Championship game a year ago, and then somehow summon the strength to return all the way and get it done the next year. It’s the hardest thing in sports, and easily the most under-rated. Teams and players of weak character, allow crushing defeats to crush them. They crumble, and are often not heard from for years.

Not the Steelers. I like stories like theirs. It’s what sports should be all about.

I am thrilled for Bill Cowher. Every hater out there now can just shut the hell up. He goes from being a Steeler fan’s muttered lament (nice coachin’ Cowhah!) to a near lock for the Hall of Fame. He’ll coach in Pittsburgh until HE’S tired of doing it, and for no other reason. That might just be 20-plus years, completely unheard of in the “modern” era.

He outcoached Holmgren badly. He did so with his team not playing particularly well. While a Seahawk fan might gripe that the Steelers only really made 3 big plays (Ben’s floater to Ward, Parker’s run, and the Randle El lightning bolt) the fact remains that you still have to coach through all that. Too many times I saw Holmgren with a face that appeared as if he just swallowed a box of tacks. Hardly confidence inspiring.