Super Bowl Conspiracy?

One of the worst officiated Super Bowls I have seen. I'm not even a Cards fan either. How do you not reveiw that last play for the Cards?

Im a big conspiracy theorist from way back.. I just KNOW Odonell threw those picks to Dallas on purpose.. lol..

It did however look as if Warner turned to run to the sideline as soon as he let that pass on the goalline go.. as if he knew he had to make it look good on the missed tackle.. ;D

::)Conspiracy theory??

Anyone who would be involved in something like this would be getting paid a lot...............and anybody with those morals would sell out to the first higher bidder to sing their song.

This is as bad as sports/talk radio. A bunch of fat men criticizing the play of professional athletes and coaches.

YGBFKM

How about we talk about some of the plays that ACTUALLY happened. IMO that interception return was one of the greatest plays I've ever seen in my life. Right up there with Marcus Allen's run against the redskins.

I think the game would have been more interesting if they had penalized Holmes 15 yards for using the ball as a prop in a celebration..which would have given them 15 yards on the kickoff. I would also like to see that 'fumble' reviewed. Would the Cardinals have won if those two officiating errors were called properly..who knows especially when you have one of the best jumpball WR's in the game. I've said this twice about the Steelers of the modern age: In 5 years no one will even remember that they were the champs..except Steeler fans. I've never been on the side of old school fans when they preached dominance. I miss that. I want dominance in football again. Especially pro football....



Now on to the actual plays that happened. The interception was a result of a bad play call. I was speaking to my family/friends...thinking fade to Fitzgerald 2 times......and they come out with a slant I believe....when I saw they weren't running a fade....I yelled out NO! You throw the fade twice and take the FG. Harrison's play was great, but have QB's ever thought about falling down in front of the defensive train on the sideline....at least make them stumble over you.

You presume we are all fat, one could make many assumptions about you.

Harrison's run back doesn't even trump last year's Tyree catch so settle down.

I just think dc, that in that situation, against that defense, and you without a run game, you take your two shots with high jumpballs, and if you miss them both you still have the FG. Yeah, you were right, they were giving up that play, but you have to believe that the DC has seen that you have been eating them alive with that play, and that in a crucial moment he would take that away. It was a mistake and that's something that all coaches will make.

Yes, there was a conspiracy - did you realize all of the refs graduated for the same college as the Rooney family. The replay official was a staunch Democrat who gave money to the Obama campaign. Unless you saw the blimp view you probably didn't notice the the end zone did not go in a straight line but instead veered out to make more room for that last catch -- Tampa Bay -- lots of pittsburgh retirees live in the Bay area...

seriously, I think the worst call was the roughing the passer call -- Rothlesberger(sp?) is a BIG guy who repeated fought his way through arm tackles - to call that and extend the scoring drive was the wrong call.

I agree too. LeBeau had a great call. I couldn't tell if it was a type of man with Harrison as a drop-off rover/floater, or if it was a true zone-blitz, but either way they gave them the all-out blitz look, Harrison stepped up towards the OT, then dropped off right in the throwing lane. Warner had heat on him and thought he had an easy TD on a quick-pick type slant/under combination. He didn't.

If not for the 4th quarter, that play was one of the biggest plays in NFL history. It was basically an 11-12 point play; if you have the ball down there your expected points run to about 4-5 points, and instead he ran it back for a TD (even bigger since if he was tackled the half was over). Ended up being the difference in the game too.

That said, in turns of single play swings, the fourth quarter saw: (a) the long Fitzgerald TD, which was huge, (b) Santonio Holmes's long catch and run which put them on the 5, which basically ensured victory (again your expected points down there runs to about 4-5), and (c) his fantastic TD catch.

www.advancednflstats.com/2009/02/incredible.html



That's the game probability swings. Look at how huge those plays are. The graph is of a team's chance of winning based on field position, score, who has the ball, and time remaining. He has been doing this all season. (Does not take into account if, say, the Steelers are more talented than Cards, etc. More generalized but still fascinating.)

The game turned on those three plays.

dc,

The irony of Harrison's interception is that it was supposed to be an all out blitz, but he dropped on his own (he admitted it and LeBeau said the same thing) thinking they were going to run a slant. LeBeau said in the Pittsburgh papers this morning that it was just Harrison being a football player using his instincts and making a big play. Fits into his philosophy of putting his players into position to make the plays and turning them loose. Also shows that it sometimes pays to be lucky.

All in all it was an unbelievably exciting game between two teams that showed great heart and determination. I am a die-hard Steelers fan, but Arizona earned my respect through their play. This was one of those games that was going to be tough for either team to lose. My hat's off to both teams for a great game, and if you listened to or read the comments of both teams after the game, it was refreshing to see mutual respect and humility from both of them. No excuses, no whining, no me first, just gracious winners and losers who showed great class.

How about this call?

The call not to go for a TD early in the game and kicking the field goal. I turned to my wife and said....."that will come back and haunt Pittsburgh". Gal darn, if it almost killed them in the end. I was screaming for Pitt to go for it and Madden was playing the conservative card. Jam that in there, go up 7-0 on your first drive and make a statement. Might have kept Arizona from making any comeback attempt if they're up 28-7. And BTW....great catch by Holmes....MAN!!!

The funny thing? Harrison wasn't supposed to be there. Of course, that's what they said about him when he was scuffling to make an NFL team.

Harrison's responsibility on the play was to cover the running back, Tim Hightower, when he flashed out of the backfield. Instead, Harrison dropped into what was actually a pick play being run by Boldin and fellow receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

"He certainly wasn't supposed to draw up to get the slant on Fitzgerald," explained defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. "But he was in the area for sure, and James' instincts just took over. And that's why James is the Defensive Player of the Year in the league. He's just a football player."

One thing I saw left me puzzled. Block in the back applies in pass protection right? I know it's been called on us before so I'm purty sure it does, but I saw several times when Ben was doing his thing, darting (can a guy that big dart?) all over the place when a Steelers OL clearly blocked a DL in the back after which they got a big completion.

Roughing the passer was bad, the holding call that benefited Ward was ridiculous (sometimes you have to be able to feel where a guy is, that's just good D in football, basketball, really any other sport), not reviewing the end of game fumble, surely they must have. A very poor job by the crew.

Bottom line, Harrison makes a great play and the Cards don't get him on the ground. Do that, the half is over, no points, and the Cards likely win. And what a great job the Cards D did when the Steelers had 2 opportunities down close and they held 'em to a field go. Great effort by both squads and both are to be commended...

Does anybody want to inform Coach LeBeau of his new first name?