About : tv stands for flat screens australia
Title : tv stands for flat screens australia
tv stands for flat screens australia
michaels:the two coaches. and the first littleinteresting tidbit, john, is arizona winning the toss,with that potent offense, and electing to defer. madden: yeah, rememberthe last super bowl that ben roethlisbergerwas in. he said he started nervousand was nervous the entire game. and i have a feeling here the cardinals want to check himout tonight right off the bat
to see if he's gotten ridof those nerves. had a 23 quarterback rating.still won the game. neil rackers to kick off. six touchbackson 18 kicks. gary russell,who is their short-yardage back and runback specialist,is back there. raymond james stadiumin tampa. the buildup is over. and away we goin super bowl xliii.
russell.from the 4-yard line. straight up the middle. and rackers will stick his nosein coverage. he's right there.rackers makes the tackle. let's take a lookat the steeler starters. ben roethlisberger,miami university. willie parker,clinton high school. hines ward, georgia. santonio holmes, the ohio state university.
heath miller, virginia. matt spaeth,university of minnesota. max starks, florida. chris kemoeatu,university of utah. justin hartwig,west des moines valley. darnell stapleton,rutgers university. willie colon,hofstra university. that steeler offensive lineunder a lot of fire earlier in the year.
but they've played betterthrough the second half and in the playoffs. and they startwith three tight ends, and they run itup the gut. and they give itto willie parker, who takes the ballup to the 31-yard line. so a gain of 3for willie parker, who had the longest runin the history of the super bowl three years ago in detroit.
there's ben. averaging better than 10 winsper season over the last five. won the super bowlin his second year, john. madden: it was interestingon that first play. on first down, they hadthree tight ends in there. ran to that side. now on second down, you can see they havethree wide receivers.
play fake. roethlisberger rolls. first pass to ward! and hines ward,with that knee -- and andrea discussed allthat went on -- got wide open, then gets forced out of boundsby roderick hood after a gain of 38 yards. i think that's a playthat ben roethlisberger needed and a playthat hines ward needed.
see, this is a bootleg. you fake the run to the left,bootleg out to the right, make a little pump faketo hold that linebacker, and then get hines wardup there free. watch him. now, he looks likehe's running fine, to me. he didn't have to cutto his right. his bad legis that right leg, so he's gonna have a tough timecutting off that, maybe. but knowing hines ward,i don't believe that.
already longer thanany pass play for roethlisberger in super bowl xl. toss. can parker get outside? yes, he can! and parker turnswhat would've been no gain into a nice gain. arizona struggling on defenseall season long. playing better in postseason.
but through the year,the arizona cardinals giving up a lot of long plays,allowing 49 touchdowns -- the most ever by a teamto get to the big show. that play wasagain three wide receivers, and the cardinalswere in nickel. so they got two big plays against the cardinalnickel defense -- five defensive backs. they have sean mchughlined up
as the fullbackin the backfield, and he'll provide leverage. and parkeris gonna get taken down. it's close to a first down,but they may have stopped him. and that's adrian wilson,and you'll see a lot of him. the strong safety, the senior cardinal in termsof longevity with arizona. eighth year in the league.drafted in '01. yeah, and as you say,he's the strong safety,
but he plays an awful lotlike a linebacker. and you see him. he's right thereon the left of the screen. you just see him coming inright here. he was at the lineof scrimmage. and most of the time,if it's a running down, adrian wilson will be upor around the line of scrimmage. that is enoughfor a first down. warner biding his timeon the bench.
the ballis at the 22-yard line. two tight endsin this set. ward in motion. roethlisberger.gets it away quickly. and finds the tight endover the middle, and that's heath miller. he loves to goto heath miller. and miller will set upa first and goal. 21 yardsright over the middle.
and the cardinals said thatthey were gonna pressure ben, and they comeon this play. and here's heath millerright here. ben roethlisbergerfeels the pressure and gets ridof the ball quickly on a slight postto heath miller. watch willie parker there,the running back. he gets chike okeafor. and that lets ben get rid of itto heath miller.
gary russell in the backfieldwith carey davis. their short-yardagepackage. and this is russell. and that's a great playby antonio smith. smith, out of oklahoma state,in his fifth year, racks him upbehind the line of scrimmage. so from first and goalat the 1-yard line. they go to second and goalat the 5. he's one of those guysthat will get penetration.
and you see right there.he gets the penetration. in fact, they get penetrationon both sides. this defensive linedoes a very good job at that, especially antonio smith. and darnell dockett alsowill get penetration down here. now they put parkerback in the game after they gowith their short-yardage unit. three wide receivers. nate washingtonis the third wideout.
they're gonna give the ballto parker. he's gonna moveto the outside. and parker tries to getto the goal line and can't. as you can see, he'll be stoppedinside the 1-yard line. ralph brownand roderick hood both up from the secondaryto stop him. it'll be third down and goalon the game's opening drive. i thinkthe pittsburgh steelers have found somethingin that three wide receivers --
that it'spretty good throwing, but it's very, very goodrunning. they're havingmore trouble running with their threetight ends than they are thus farwith their three wide receivers. steelers -- it's been roughfor them, as you can see, on third and fourthand short. that's the situation hereright now. and roethlisbergerwith a bootleg.
the fake.ben looking for the end zone. can he run it in? he leans inand gets the touchdown! [ crowd cheering ] he leaned right throughdarnell dockett. and as was the casein super bowl xl, pittsburgh getson the board with a roethlisbergerrushing touchdown. that's what you get
when you havea 245-pound quarterback. he gets down right here,puts down his shoulder, and runs it right intothe end zone like a fullback. usually,you don't see quarterbacks hit with their throwingshoulder. this is the super bowl. ben roethlisberger says,"all bets off." justin hartwig,his center, helped escort himinto the end zone.
jeff reed lines upto kick the extra point. and the cardinals --and there's the challenge flag. so ken whisenhuntis going to challenge. there's such irony here. arizona has challengedthat the runner was down prior to crossingthe goal line. this is very close. we think,in looking at the replays, that his knee was down.
check his left knee. where is the ballwhen his knee is down? we have a coupleof different angles for you. there it is.the question is -- that's the end of the playright there. where is the ball? now, keep in mind, the officialscan use composite angles. they don't have to seeone camera shot that shows you everything.
they can reach a conclusionfrom multiple shots and figure out where the knee isand where the ball is from different angles. so it looks likethere's a chance this is gonna getoverturned. and if it does, what a decisionupcoming for tomlin. here's mcaulay. after review, the runner was downshort of the goal line.
the ball will be placedat the 1-foot line. fourth and goal. arizona is not chargedwith a time-out. please set the play clockto 25 seconds. and mike holmgren is saying,"now?" [ both laugh ] 'cause three years ago, ben got the benefitof the doubt. and nowwhat is tomlin gonna do?
they're gonna kickthe field goal. yeah.a 5-minute drive. they startedat their own 28-yard line. six rushes, two passes. the big one to wardfor 38 yards. and now jeff reed withwhat amounts to an extra point because the ball will be spottedat the 9-yard line. a 19-yard field-goal attempt for one of the best kickersin the league.
right.and i agree with this call. i knowit's a tough thing to do. it's a lot tougher for a coachto kick the field goal here than it is to say,"yeah, go for it." right. but this isa percentage play. this is a playyou have to do. mitch bergerwill spot it. and the kick by reedis good.
ken whisenhuntwith the challenge. another look.it's interesting he deferred. and that could've beena bad call if pittsburgh goes inand scores a touchdown. but thenthe challenge here, and they settlefor the field goal. well,he saved it there. because had he lostthe challenge and then had to defer it,and then had the 7 points,
he would say,"this is isn't the way i dreamed of startinga super bowl." and then he would've been downto only one challenge the rest of the game. if you win a challenge, you still have the opportunityfor two more. kickoff fieldedby j.j. arrington. and arrington brings it upto the 27-yard line. let's take a lookat the cardinals.
kurt warner,university of northern iowa. edgerrin james, the u. terrelle smith, arizona state. larry fitzgerald jr.,university of pittsburgh. anquan boldin,florida state university. leonard pope,university of georgia. mike gandy, notre dame. reggie wells,clarion university. lyle sendlein,university of texas.
deuce lutui, u.s.c. levi brown, penn state. the cardinals starters,as they begin from the 27. and warner will give the ballto edgerrin james, who was the starterat the beginning of the season, lost his job,and now has reassumed that role. the cardinals were ranked lastin the league in rushing, but they finished fourthin the league overall in offense because they were secondin passing.
right. and they've been betterrunning in the playoffs. and edgerrin james, because he sat outabout half the season, seems very fresh now. warner out of the gun. boldin is 81. you can't miss fitzgerald.he's on the same side. he's 11. warner looks to the right sideand throws. and the catch is made.
and paying the price right therewas steve breaston, who gets knocked to the groundby bryant mcfadden a little shortof the first. it'll be third and 1. you know, steve breastonis the third wide receiver. so when you see himin there, the cardinals are goingthree wide receivers. but this guy,during the regular season, caught 77 passes.
so you say,"what kind of a passing offense is the cardinals?" it's basicallya three-wide-receiver offense. all three wideoutsover 1,000 yards. and they gave hima first down. they looked at the chains,moved them. so first down.here's hightower right now. up to the 39. and our first markerof the game.
terry mcaulay,who reffed the -- holding.offense, number 69. 10-yard penalty.first down. mcaulay was the referee in the philadelphia-new englandgame in jacksonvillefour years ago. that's mike gandy,the left tackle, who's gonna be in the crosshairsall night. right, because he's blockingjames harrison
most of the time,and james harrison was the defensive playerof the year. he didn't hold harrisonon that play. you're gonna see right there.it's against james -- he's holding james farriorright there. but he does have his workcut out for him, though, with james harrison. all night.pick your poison. this is the old 2-4-5 --two defensive linemen,
four linebackers,five defensive backs. and a fumble as edgerrin jamestook the hand-off. they spread it out, and then they gave it to jameson a delay, and he's able to recoverhis own fumble. brett keiselwas able to knock it away. but they recover, and it will besecond down and 20. troy polamalu,who wears contact lenses, is onthe pittsburgh sideline.
so it got dislodged,and they work on troy. you can see that.that's against the quarterback. when the running back just openshis arms, puts his hands there, and the quarterbackhas to slide it in. it looked like kurt warnershort-armed it a little. second and 20. and now jamesstarts to slip as he comesout of the backfield. let's take a look
at the steelers'number-one-ranked defense. aaron smith, northern colorado. casey hampton, texas. brett keisel, b.y.u. lamarr woodley, michigan. james farrior, virginia. larry foote,detroit pershing doughboys. james harrison, kent state. ike taylor, swaggin'.
troy polamalu,southern california. ryan clark, louisiana. bryant mcfadden, florida state. polamalu back in. by the way, swaggin' is not aninstitution of higher learning. ike just telling youhe's got swagger. right, and he's going to beon larry fitzgerald most of this game. he'd better have swaggertonight.
third and 17. and that pass is thrown into the face of a blitzand incomplete. intended foranquan boldin. and the pressureput on that time by lawrence timmons,number 94. and that's the thing. one of the thingsthat the cardinals like to do against the pressureor the blitz
is get the ball out therequickly on a screen pass. they were trying to get it outto anquan boldin, and they just didn'tget it there. 'cause the steelersrealize that too. they know that when they comewith the pressure, then forceor press those wide receivers for that speed screen. ben graham, the first aussieto ever play in a super bowl. started the yearwith the jets.
kicked in one gamefor the saints. that was a gamein london. and then winds upin the super bowl with arizona. he's been botheredby a groin pull. that's a bad kick.it's fielded at the 26. and holmes brings it backto the 31-yard line. pittsburgh ballat the 31-yard line. willie parkeris the running back. and roethlisberger will takethe snap out of the shotgun.
fakes the inside give. works it to holmeson the outside. gets a block out therefrom miller. stays in bounds. and santonio holmes, who's beena big-play guy in postseason, with a gain of 25 yards. watch what happens here. it's the same thing thatthe cardinals are trying to do, is they see the blitzor they feel the blitz,
they fake and justget it out there quickly. a quick, quick screento the outside to your guy that can makebig plays with his feet. santonio holmesis their big-play guy. he's their speed guy.he's their punt returner. and that's all that is -- throw it out thereto him quickly and let him bea punt returner. the boys mixing it up
back at the 40-yard linefor a couple of moments while we were in replayafter the play. the ball will be spotted at the 44-yard lineof the arizona cardinals. so roethlisberger, who started super bowl xlnervously and admits to it -- and didn't play very welloverall, with a 23 rating -- starts tonight's game3 out of 3 for 84 yards. one thing that willget rid of those nerves
is to get in a rhythm, and ben has gottenin a pretty good rhythm. right off the bat. play-action.buys him a ton of time. he's gonna go deep!very deep! and the ball floats and isknocked away at the last minute by the very speedydominique rodgers-cromartie after nate washingtonhad gotten out in front. he had beaten him,and the ball just hung.
right. and that's whyyou want speed in your corner. and this is what you callmake-up speed. he is beaten, as you say.the ball is in the air. but watch rodgers-cromartiecome and get it. that is a heckof a defensive play because he made upabout 5 yards. and nate washingtonhas speed also. "ooh."[ chuckles ] larry fitzgerald said,"that one was too close."
rodgers-cromartie theirnumber-one draft choice out of tennessee state. from the 44-yard line. they send itout to holmes quickly. and the tackle is made thereby rodgers-cromartie as we take a lookat the arizona d. antonio smith, oklahoma state. bryan robinson, fresno state. darnell dockett, f.s.u.
bertrand berry, notre dame. chike okeafor,west lafayette red devils. gerald hayes,paterson, new jersey. karlos dansby,woodlawn high school. rod hood, auburn university. adrian wilson,north carolina state. antrel rolle, the u. dominique rodgers-cromartie,tennessee state. dockett, dansby, and wilsonwould be three key guys --
line, linebacker,and defensive back. now third and 5. and mewelde moore comesinto the game. and that's antonio smithcoming off the line and sayingthat he was induced. right. the cardinalswere in a three-man line. and they had six defensive backson that defense. false start. offense, number 62.
5-yard penalty.third down. that's the center,justin hartwig. it looked likethey were gonna blitz. they had --it was a 3-2-6. looked like hartwig was gettingready to pick up a blitz. here he is.you see he's talking. he has his left point. he's pointing out who'sthe mike, who's gonna come. and then he madethat little move there,
and antonio smithjust took off. now third down and 10. three down linemenfor the cards. how many will they send?as they show blitz. and they're coming. and roethlisberger is ableto step up and extend the play. and he comes backthe other way. and he almost falls down.and then he gets it off! and it is caught at the33-yard line by heath miller.
and that is something thatroethlisberger does so well. every time you thinkthe play is over, it's not. that's ben roethlisbergerjust being superman. i mean,he is so big and strong. and you can blitz him,and you can get to him, but you don'tget him to the ground. and this is what he doeswhen he scrambles. he's not looking to run. he's looking to reset himself,continue to look upfield,
and find a receiver. see, he sets a pocketout there. then he comes back,sets a pocket over there, and finally findsheath miller. wildcat right now. willie parker is gonna takethe snap. parker.out of the wildcat. breaks a tackle in the backfieldand then cuts it back and gets just aboutback to the line of scrimmage.
gerald hayes,the middle linebacker, almost stopped himfor a 4-yard loss. but on a third and 10, roethlisbergernot only escaping, john, but spinningall the way around, finding the receiverfor 11 yards. right. and that'svery difficult to coach. and bruce arians, the offensivecoordinator, knows that. but i'm very impressed withthe way he's calling this game.
it's a very good pace.he has great mixture. he's going from two tight ends,three tight ends, mixing up his formations.mixing up his snap count. on that first drive, they wenta lot on quick count -- first sound. 2 1/2 to goin the quarter. parker sets upin the slot. miller comes overon the left side. on second and 10.
it's dumped offon a middle screen to miller. and he gets banged down but not until he picks upa first down. calais campbell, the rookieout of miami, makes the stop. and they'll movethe chains. and again, the jobthat ben roethlisberger is doing and that bruce arians is doingin calling these plays -- this is just a screen passto your tight end. you just let him golike he's blocking
and then get inbehind his tackle. miller,their third-leading receiver during the regular season --48 catches, three touchdowns. the closer they getto the goal line, the better ben likes him. willie parkerover the right side. finds the holeand gets dragged down but not until he picks up9 yards. tackled thereby adrian wilson.
sean mchugh led the block. and at this point in the game,pittsburgh has outgained arizona 131 yards to 13. yeah, when you getsean mchugh in there, that means that you havethree tight ends in there. and you just watchyour center. right herehe makes a good block. hartwig --that's a tough block to make. when you have a guyon your outside shoulder
to the sideyou're running to and you can whipyour body around and hook him, that is a big playby justin hartwig. second and a short 2. quick pass.slant. holmes. that's a first down. rodgers-cromartie makingthe tackle. and so pittsburghknocking on the door again. they got inside the 1.
a challenge by whisenhuntwas upheld. they settled for 3. that whole thingabout ben roethlisberger and being nervouslast time and maybe being nervousthis time -- there's nothing to it, is there?look at that. nothing like experience. he's beento the rodeo before. and as mike tomlin said,he's a different guy.
he's a different guy now than he wasthe last time they were here. ball at the 8. washington.they fake it to him. they give it to parker. and parker takes the ballto the 5-yard line. antrel rolle, the safety,making the tackle, as the clock ticks downto the end of the first quarter. and roethlisberger says,"let's go the other way.
let's go toward the south.we're done with the north." they picked up 3 pointsin the quarter. they'll have a second and goalwhen we come back. that is the end of the firstquarter in super bowl xliii. al michaels, john madden,tampa, super bowl xliii. look at roethlisberger. those were his total numbersin super bowl xl, and tonight a tremendousfirst quarter, john. well, he started right off herewith that bootleg
and hitting hines ward. then he comes back.and watch the hit that he takes. but he throws a perfect passto heath miller. now, this is something. this is just ben roethlisbergerhere. one of the thingsthe cardinals are trying to do is tacklehis throwing arm. they tried that.it didn't work. so nowit's second and goal.
we startthe second quarter. nobody behindroethlisberger. and he hits millerover the middle. and miller is gonna get stood upat about the 1 1/2-yard line as he runsright into gerald hayes. and so now it's going to bethird and goal again. and this is the second skirmishwe've had thus far tonight. usually in a skirmish you'll find hines wardright in the middle of it.
for a wide receiver, i think he's the scrappiest guythere is. he loves to doall those physical things. he'll block.he'll block a defensive end. he'll block a linebacker. if there's a fight to be fought,he wants to be part of it. the old boxing term --"pound for pound." maybe the toughestin the league. yeah, if we were choosingto do something,
i'd thinki'd take hines ward first. mm-hmm. third down and goal. they go to the short-yardageguys. gary russell isthe short-yardage man. look at those numbers. he was faced with third and goalin the first quarter. originally got in,but it was challenged. and the challengewas upheld.
so now here we are againon a third down and goal at the 1-yard line. they're spending a lot of timeon this play. they talked about it and theywent back in the huddle. then he went overand talked about it again. you'd have to thinkit's a pass play, wouldn't you? well, he has 150 to 200 playson that wristband, so maybethey needed some help with the dewey decimal systemor something to find it.
just imagine what the printlooks like on that. you'd better haveted williams' eyesight. third and goal. russell. puts his head down.does he get into the end zone? he does.touchdown! he goes right betweenright guard darnell stapleton and right tackle willie colonright here. they get off.they get off well.
they get a good double team.they get a push. they push dockettright back into the end zone. here's where it all starts,right here. they get him up,then they get him going back, and then they geta touchdown. parker istheir regular back. moore istheir third-down back. and russell is the guyon short yardage. reed for the extra point.
and that kick is just insidethe right upright. good-looking shot. tonight's aerial coveragebrought to you by bud light. downtown tampa, florida. raymond james stadium,just up dale mabry and the siteof super bowl xliii. and tonight, 12 1/2 minutes ofpossession time for pittsburgh on those two drives. and arizona has had the ballfor five plays.
and when you only have the ballfor five plays, obviously, you're not going toget in any kind of a rhythm. and that's whatkurt warner is. he's a rhythm quarterback, andhe hasn't gotten started yet. and on this drive,i think he'd better get started. reed's kick. arrington moves overto his right. and then he drops it,picks it back up. gets up pastthe 10-yard line
and is taken downat the 17-yard line. pittsburgh seeking an unprecedented sixth superbowl title. cardinals in the super bowlfor the first time ever. start at the 17-yard line. james, the running back.he's carried twice for 3 yards. warner.good pocket. throws incomplete. leading his tight enda little too much.
that's leonard pope. kurt warner's statsfor the season -- again, he was in competitionwith matt leinart at the onset of the season. and there he was --second in completion percentage. second in yardsto drew brees. 30 t.d. passes. third in rating. that time he looked likehe was trying to get the ball
to larry fitzgerald deep. then he had to come across laterto the crosser. larry fitzgeraldhad nothing out here on the bottomof the screen. we saw matt leinart,heisman trophy winner. backup quarterbackto warner. four-man rush. the pass goes to the outside,and they go to james. and james very closeto a first down.
so they go to popeand to james on the teamthat has three wide receivers each with 1,000 yards. yeah, that's whati was saying earlier. i mean, eventually,he's going to get to those guys. i think he trieda little running. usually, if they throw the ballto the outside, it's usuallyto the running back. most of the wide receiverscatch inside stuff.
they throw very little outsto their wide receivers. second first downfor arizona. pittsburgh has eight. terrelle smith -- they bringhim in as the fullback. fake to james.off play-action. warner steps up, throws. goes to james again. so they fake it to himand then go back to him. he's covered by the linebacker,james farrior.
and that timebrett keisel came in and put a lick on warneras he released. you know that pass protectionis gonna be a thing. and kurt warner saysthat what he likes to do is, when he's trying to go deep,to have an outlet. so that's what james was,is the outlet. good pass protection hereon lamarr woodley. you know that you have toget him blocked also. we talk about harrison.
but if you paytoo much attention to harrison, you're gonna get somefrom woodley. and that time they got itfrom brett keisel. plant job. hightower is the back. second and 5. warner under pressure.throws to the outside. that's a nice catchmade by steve breaston. he's the number-three guy.
fitzgerald is the megastar,boldin is terrific, and breaston kind ofsneaks his way through. second-year manout of michigan. fifth-round draft choicelast year. and that's whathe's throwing here. he's throwing againstthe six defensive backs. and here it's just a quick outto breaston. we talk aboutjames harrison and that matchup over thereon mike gandy.
now, they're going to havea guard step out and help gandy. he's not gonna be all by himselfdown there on harrison. from the 39-yard line. edgerrin james. and again, it'sthe lowest-rated running attack during the regular season. james farrior and brett keiselare in on the tackle. and arizonahas begun this game with their first fourrushing plays gaining 4 yards.
and what willprobably be the thing that they'llget to here is, is you pass on running downsand you run on passing downs. because when theyget in that two-man line, six defensive backs --the steelers -- i think that would bea lot easier running than this base defensethat they're in now. this is darn near impossibleto gain yardage running on. offensive coordinator.
you saw a shot of him --todd haley. now they swing itto the outside. and this is caughtby james. and james to the 49-yard line,across midfield, breaking out ofa troy polamalu tackle. that's a gain of 11 yards and another first downfor the cardinals. that's whatthe cardinals like to do. they bring their ends in.
you see how they narrow downthe split there. and thenif you come inside with them, if your coveragecomes there, then they're going to slipthe back outside of them. troy polamalu -- you're notgoing to see a lot of those. i mean, troy polamalu,usually, when he gets his sights on you,he's gonna get you. that was a good move thereby edgerrin james. james has caughtthree passes tonight.
fitzgerald has been blankedto this point. here's hightower,the rookie out of richmond, with some tough runningto the 46-yard line. polamalu coming in,and then larry foote. this is gonna bea holding penalty against the cardinals. they like to get hightowerto the outside running and edgerrin jamesrunning inside. ben patrick,the tight end,
i think is the guywho is gonna get called here. and it is --patrick, the tight end. and that's the secondholding call now in the game against the offensive line. hightower stays into flank warner out of the gun. a three-by-one set.three receivers to the right. they put hightower in the slot.send him into the pattern. and the pass is juggledand caught by steve breaston. breaston tothe 46-yard line.
it was first and 20. breaston is able to pick up,on that play, 13 yards. it'll be second down and 7. you talk to kurt warner,and this is what he wants to do. this is an emptybackfield. spread out the offense.spread out the defense. just read the defenseand get it to the open guy. steve breaston grew upjust outside of pittsburgh. loved the steelers.
dreamed of playing in the superbowl with the steelers. he playsagainst the steelers. a ton of time. warner surveys, throws. and he hits anquan boldin,who's inside the 10! and he gets taken downat the 2-yard line. well, sooner or later. boldin and fitzgeraldhad not caught a single pass. it took 20 minutes.but here it is for 45 yards.
and kurt warnercan still get the deep ones when he getsthis kind of protection. it's a littleplay-action pass. but lookat the protection. look at the time that he hasto look, to read, to find the open guy, and then step upand throw it to anquan boldin. boldin kind of runsan option route here. starts to the inside, gets thedefense to come to the inside,
then goes back out. ran away from mcfadden. and warner, as he's been proneto do recently, starts to stumble. and then the pass is caughtin the end zone by ben patrick,the tight end! kurt warner,in every postseason game, has been getting tangled upwith his offensive linemen. but that time he's ableto maintain his balance
and hits patrickfor the score. and it's usually he getsstepped on by his center, and it's happenedin every game that we've seen so farin the playoffs. but kurt warner is able to comeout of the play-action pass and make a perfect throw. ben patrick did not catcha touchdown pass caught the 2-point conversionagainst philadelphia at the end of that last drive.
todd haley,the offensive coordinator, going over that last drivewith warner. an 83-yard drive with justone rush and eight pass plays, three of those early onto edgerrin james. rackers to send the ballto the 5-yard line. collected thereby gary russell. russell to the outside, and he'srun out of bounds at the 22. and, john, we were trying tofigure out this week, with warner in postseason,whether he was just being klutzy
or whether he was tripping overhis offensive linemen's feet. yeah, and it's the centermost of the time. see, he keeps his left footup there on running plays or on play-action passes. and the center hasa problem. if the guy'son his left shoulder, he'll step on himwith his left foot. if the guy'son the right shoulder, he'll step on himwith his right foot.
he's going left. now, watch his left foot,right there, come back and stepon kurt warner foot. you'd think at some pointthey would say, "kurt, put that left foot backa little," especially when he knowshe's shaded to that side. and of all things,it results in a touchdown. and then on a rollto the right, it is carey davisfor a gain of about 5 yards.
you know, john,every year we talk about teams before the season starts,and you're always saying, "well, this teamfigures to face this team." and maybe it was the giantsand the cowboys in the nfc. and we talked aboutthe big three in the afc. pittsburgh was about the fourthor fifth choice consensuswise. and arizona was about sixthor seventh in the nfc. i don't even knowthat arizona was mentioned, teams that you would say,
"who's gonna bein the super bowl?" and then pittsburgh hadthe toughest schedule. and like you said,you have new england, you have indy,you have san diego. and then maybe after those guys,maybe the pittsburgh steelers. second and 4. parker slips awayfrom wilson. and instead of a loss --and then wilson tracks him down. so adrian cameinto the backfield.
that's how quick he is. and he's the dominant forceon that arizona defense. and thenafter the tackle was escaped, back he goesto catch him from behind. you know,he really is a linebacker in the numberof a defensive back and the bodyof a defensive back. he is a big guy.he's 6'3". and when he's up closeto the line of scrimmage,
he really becomesthe fourth linebacker. and he playslike a linebacker. he does not playlike a defensive back. 6'3 and 230, which means he's about25 pounds more than warner. kurt downin the very low 200s. first and 10. roethlisberger.the pump fake. and he's gonna take a shotdown the field.
and it's rodgers-cromartiewho got his hands on it. outstanding coverageon santonio holmes. it'll be second and 10. rodgers-cromartieis doing a heck of a job. they thought they could geta double move on him. and that's what they do. you seeholmes is gonna come out, and then he's gonna runan out-and-up. cromartie started to takea little half a step there.
but he is so quick in his turn,in his reaction, he got back and knockedthat ball out of there. he's made two great playsso far. he's so quick,he started to slip on that play and still caught up. that's when you knowyou have speed, when you can slipand beat a guy. second and 10. off the fake.
set up the screen, but there'sno blocking right there. and the pop is madeby karlos dansby on willie parker. the cardinal defense, they don't get a lotof national television exposure. you don't hearabout a lot of these guys. but there wasvery little doubt in the voice of clancy pendergast,the defensive coordinator, the other daywhen we talked about his mvp.
he says, "karlos dansbyjust does so much for us." well, you can see himcall the defenses, so you know that he'sthe quarterback of the defense. and he's not onlya pretty good pass rusher, he's a very good tackler, buthe's very good in pass defense. you see him back here. he lines up deeper than mostlinebackers on passing downs. he's 8 yards back here. third and 12.
ben.the flag is thrown. roethlisberger throws.that's holmes. and for the moment, they havea first down at the 41. but when you see a flag come infrom that angle, it's almost alwaysoffensive holding. holding. offense, number 68. 10-yard penalty.third down. chris kemoeatu,the left guard.
right. and it wasway back on the other side. kemoeatu isthe left guard, and ben scrambledout to the right, so the holdingwas way away from the play. here's chris kemoeaturight here. see him? he looks -- oop!there, right there. he got the old arm aroundthe neck on darnell dockett. dockett is a guythat is tough to block too. you say,"who's gonna get the penetration
on that front lineof the cardinals?" it's usuallygonna be dockett. a lot of very key plays during the playoffsin particular. and terry mcaulaywill make the call again here. it's a third and 22that's gonna go to a... encroachment. defense, number 90. go to a third and 17.that's dockett.
maybe that's how he getsso much penetration -- he jumps early. but, you know,he's one of those guys, when you first watch filmand people flash in front of you or flash the waythey're playing -- darnell dockett is a guythat flashed to me when i first started watchingthis cardinal defense. he'll play nose tackle, as he isnow, in the three-man line. then he plays what they callthe three technique
most of the time -- the outsideshoulder of the guard. but right nowhe's this guy right here. his forced fumblein the atlanta wild-card game turned that gameearly in the second half. a little dump-offto moore. and he'll get taken downat the 33-yard line. and there is dockettin on the coverage as well with rodgers-cromartie. that's one of the waysthat he flashed.
he would start on a pass rushand if the ball is thrown, he will always turnand run. it can be completed10 yards down the field, and darnell dockettwill end up being down there. mitch berger to punt. steve breaston ran a punt backfor a touchdown when these two teams metin the regular season last year. the veteran bergerwith a line-drive kick. breaston fields itat the 23-yard line.
breaston coming aroundthe corner. up past the 30.the 40. into steeler territory. and all the wayto the pittsburgh 42-yard line! it's a 43-yard punt by bergerand a 35-yard return. and when you kick it that low,you're normally gonna set up the opportunity for somebodylike breaston to run it back. the interesting thing -- i think it wassupposed to go to the right.
you see how breastonstarts there to his right. it was good coverageto that side. back on this side, the steelersare out of their lanes. so he started to the right,where it was supposed to go, where he had the blocking, and then he reversed field,got a good block right there, and then he was ableto break in the open. monty beisel,the backup linebacker, special-teams star.
now warner is gonnahand the ball to james. a little stiff-arm. and james comesto the short side of the field and gets run out of boundsafter a nice gain. forced outby james farrior. edgerrin james -- rememberhe went to indianapolis in 1999. that enabled indianapolis to trade marshall faulkto the rams. faulk and warner team upfor a super bowl title,
go to another super bowl. and now we comefull circle -- james and warnertry to win a title. i always thought when the coltslost edgerrin james that that was gonna bea great big loss because not onlywas he a heck of a runner, but he was a great passprotector for peyton manning. double-tight-end setfor the cards. warner.with a flag to be thrown.
and kurt's passis incomplete. and mcaulaythrowing the flag. the pressure was put onby farrior. personal foul.chop block. offense, number 32. 15-yard penalty.second down. on james. well, it was a blitz,and he had to help. if a guy is engagedand you come and chop him,
that's illegal. see, he can block,and he can even chop, but if the guy is engaged --right here -- he cannotbecause of the engagement there. if it were just a single block,he could do that. but they were comingon the blitz, trying to get pressure onkurt warner right up the middle. foote's the guythat got chopped. james now on the benchon second and long.
second and 19.hightower is in the game. the fake to him. warner steps up. and he's gonna get sackedat the 45-yard line. coming in from the sideand behind is lamarr woodley. he's the bookend, of course,because you got james harrison as the defensive playerof the year, and on the other sidecomes number 56. that's what mike tomlinis smiling about,
because he knewthat this could happen. he saidthat he told woodley, "if they want to turn all theirprotection to the other side "and you get one on one,you have to beat it, and you have to come upwith big plays for us." five sacks in postseasonfor woodley. now it's third and 22. and again, fitzgeraldhas not caught a ball. he's caught five touchdownpasses in the playoffs,
and they've all comein the first half. tonight, nothing. there he is. taylor is on him. [ whistles blowing ] and arizona's gonna takea time-out. first charged time-out,arizona. third and 22when we come back. 2:59 to go in the half.
when the number-one defenseplays in the super bowl, the resultis normally terrific. and that's the case here. the steelers led the leaguein defense. the bucs beat the raidersin '02. the packers wontheir super bowl after leading the leaguein defense. of course,you had the '85 bears. and there is dick lebeauat 71 --
his 50th yearin the league. there was some speculationabout maybe time for retirement. but he told his teamthe other day, "no way. you're not getting meout of here." if you know dick lebeau,he's 71 going on 48. well, his mom is 95.good genes. right. he has great genes,and he has a great mind. and players love him.you know what i mean? he lets guys do things.
puts them in positionsto do different things and, you know,give illusions on defense. and the things that he doeson defense, i really admire. he rushes fouron a third and 22. and the pass is dropped by jameson the outside. so arizona with a nice startto this drive, and then it's stymiednear midfield. and they will punt with 2:55to go in the second quarter. one thing that steeler defenseis giving up, though,
is those flats. of course,that was third and forever, but that whole time they'recovering those inside guys. when they run inside,like fitzgerald goes insideand hooks and slants, they're really collapsing onthat and leaving the flats open. graham with a sore groin. and you've gota false start here, which is gonnaback arizona up.
offense, number 48. 5-yard penalty.fourth down. graham got hurt. they were practicing beforethe nfc championship game, and they had him sliding outwith the ball and punting on the run,so he got hurt. and you could see him -- every time he puntedagainst philadelphia, he'd punt, and thenhe would really grimace.
he'd look to the sideand grimace. this is his second punt,right now, of the game. and it is takenat the 16-yard line. and great coverageright there! going down the field. steelers --the defensive backs huddle. and what a job they've doneon fitzgerald. if there is a stunning statisticto this point in the game, it's the factthat he has no catches.
boldin has one.it was good for 45 yards. i think the cardinals will learnto take advantage of that, because they're really loadingup defensively on larry fitzgerald. mewelde moore startsas the running back from the 16-yard line. and moore gets it before roethlisberger almostgot tackled in the backfield. and at the 22-yard line,the stop is made.
that was travis laboywho came in so quickly around the right-defensive-endside that he almost got roethlisbergerbefore he handed the ball off. laboy is right here, and he justmakes a heck of a move. of course, it looked likeit was gonna be a screen pass, so the tackle, max starks, had started to go outto the left. and he's playingwith a torn biceps that's gonna require surgery --55, laboy.
second down and 4from the 22-yard line. ben protected well. but thenhas that deflected and interceptedat the 33-yard line! karlos dansby withthe deflection and the pick. that's what we weretalking about -- karlos dansby being very goodin pass defense. no coaches' challenges allowedin the last 2 minutes. roethlisberger this yearwas more prone
to havingpasses deflected. he had only three last year.he had nine this season. robinson deflected it.dansby picked it. warner starts from the 34. two time-outs for arizona. the steelers have to watch outfor gadget plays by the cardinalsin this area of the field. warner rolling. running out of room.
and then he'll throw the ballout of bounds. it'll be second downand 10. also coming up will bethe gatorade halftime report. and mr. bob costas and the gangare in the pirate ship, buccaneer covehere at raymond james stadium. bob and the pirates -- hopefullynone of them from somalia. but we've got a lot of folksup there with him. if you readall those names, it would be halftimebefore you finished.
[ laughing ] right. second and 10from the 34-yard line. tim hightowercomes into the slot. five receiversinto the pattern. warner hit as he throws.and that one is almost picked. intended for fitzgerald. lamarr woodley came in and decked warneras he got rid of it. this is what kurt warner likes,though.
it was an empty backfield. so the only protectorshe has right here. so if they bring an extra guyfrom one side like you see woodleycome here, he's gonna have to takethat hit. he's gonna have to get ridof the ball before he gets there and take that hit,but he knows that. he knowswhere the protection is, and that's what he wants.
third and 10. three wideagainst the nickel. a little dump-offgoes to hightower. hightower with a nice slip moveto the outside. and to the 23and a first down. he breaks away from ike taylorand by doing so turns what would've beena fourth down into a first down. what they're doing is,they're so worried about larry fitzgeraldwhen he goes inside
that they're lettingthese flats go to the outside. they're going here,and they're doubling fitzgerald, and they have everyoneout there. and then when you getthe running back, whether it's hightower orit's edgerrin james or whoever, then that's gonna bewide open. from the 24. they'll give the ballto hightower again. hightower a fifth-rounddraft choice out of richmond.
aerial coverage being broughtto you tonight by bud light. downtown tampa.gorgeous night. temperature right nowlow 60s. no threat of rain. ben roethlisberger watchingto see what happens after that turnover. james and hightowernow both come into the backfield after that arizonatime-out. the cardinals haveone time-out left in the half.
warner throws. and finally number 11,fitzgerald, makes the catch. sooner or later. it took 29 minutesand a few seconds. but fitzgerald makes the catch.it's 11 yards and a first down. well, they put edgerrin jamesout in the flat that time, and they come off on himin the flat. and in doing so, they finally let fitzgeraldget away from a double.
and then arizona comes quicklyup to the line of scrimmage and pittsburgh has to takea time-out, their second. they've been letting edgerrinjames go in the flat and doubling out hereon fitzgerald. you see it here. he starts inside, and theycome off on edgerrin james. when they did that, that's whatthe cardinals were looking for. "if you're gonna come offlike this, "we're gonna throw itto fitzgerald.
"if you're gonna stayon fitzgerald, we'll get the ball outto edgerrin james." interesting thing is theylined polamalu up on him and had ike taylor playingalmost in a safety spot. right.it's an inverted cover 2. usually it's the cornerup on the wide receiver and the safety deep. when they put polamalu up,they invert it, put the safety shortand the corner deep.
warner in postseason inthe red zone has been fabulous. and one of the fabulous thingsthat he does is throw to larry fitzgerald,who outjumps everyone. fitzgerald with five touchdownsin postseason, all in the first half. 43 seconds. warner from the gun. sends hightowerinto the slot. five receiversgo into the pattern.
over the middle. the catchis made at the 5-yard line. that's boldin,who gets banged down by timmons. up they come.clock is running. each team with one time-out.half a minute left in the half. second and 3. swing it to the outside. here's boldin.he's gonna get the first down. that's gonna take itto the 2-yard line. clock continues to roll.they look over to the bench.
and whisenhunt will takehis final time-out. so 18 seconds, as they burntheir final time-out. and it will befirst down and goal at the 2. we were talking earlier about what they were doingto larry fitzgerald. they weren't going to let himget the ball. they weren't going to let himmake any big plays. you see polamalu is up there --that's that inverted cover 2 -- and the corneris over the top.
here now it's just a corner onhim and the safety over the top. here he has a double team thereand polamalu. but the thing they were able todo is get the ball in the flats. now when they come offon the flat -- look at this. when they come off here, then larry fitzgeraldis gonna be wide open. so that's the bind that the cardinals have putthe steelers in. and if you give kurt warneran open guy,
he's not predetermined. he's gonna findthat open guy, read it quicklyand get it to him quickly. he's got boldin and fitzgeraldto the left. he's got breastonto the right. 18 seconds. they can pick down here. from the gun. steelers show blitz.here they come.
he gets it away -- and it'spicked off at the goal line! there's a flag thrownon the runback. james harrisonto run it back. and harrisonis past midfield. harrison going downthe sideline. harrison still on his feet. harrison is going to goall the way. and waiting for the officialto get there. touchdown is signaled.
a flag is down on the runbackback at the 9-yard line. prior to the pass,personal foul. grasping the face mask. offense, number 74. the foul occurredduring the last timed down. the touchdown counts. we'll have a try for point. unbelievable. harrison completely gassed.the call is on reggie wells.
it's a 100-yardinterception return. look at him. you know that you have toprotect against james harrison because he's sucha great pass rusher. on that play, he faked likehe was gonna rush the passer and he dropped backinto the lane -- and then made this run. it's the longest playin super bowl history. the question, too, is,is he in?
remember,there's no challenge. there's no challenge.it has to come from the booth. wow! and they will look at it.i guarantee you that. the clock has expired. here's fitzgerald. he's coming in.where does he land? he's landing on fitzgerald's legwith the ball. breaston comes back in.
not only a great playby james harrison but a great callby dick lebeau, because who would thinkin that situation that instead of rushingyour best pass rusher, you would drop himin coverage? so the playis being reviewed. this is amazing. for the first halfto end like this. the cardinals are gonna go into take the lead --
at worstcome up with a tie. and then what a runbackby harrison. for a linebackerto do what he did, no matter what happensat the end here and what the result will be,that was incredible. let's watch it again. here you can see kurt warneris looking to that side. he's going to throwthe slant. he thinks fitzgeraldhas it,
but james harrison drops backin that lane. then james harrison runslike james brown. as you say,the knee couldn't be down, because when his knee went down,if it were down on anything, it was downon larry fitzgerald. and that could bewhat determines... ...whether he got inor not. all he has to do is get tothe front part of the goal line. you see fitzgeraldgoing down.
does the ball hit the groundbefore it gets to the goal line? again, going back to whatwe talked about before, they can usecomposite replays. even though you don't seeany definitive replay from one camera or angle, you can make a compositeout of it. i think a guymakes a play like that and a run like that, you have togive him a touchdown. that, to me,is a touchdown.
if they don't,that would be... they can look at it inside outand upside down, but james harrisongot a touchdown there. so think of itthis way -- it's either a touchdown,or it's the end of the half. they don't even haveanother play. so if they rule the play over,the half is over. and it would bea 3-point game instead of going ona 10-point game.
one more time. you look at a guy who's reallyenjoying his oxygen. after review,the ruling on the field stands. touchdown. they have signaled -- you can tell by the crowdreaction that it is a touchdown. because the ball is onfitzgerald's leg and is not downon the ground as the defensive playerof the year
gets into the end zone. and now the extra pointfrom reed. an amazing turnof events. and the only good newsfor the cardinals, as they goto the locker room, is they will get the ballat the start of the second half because they deferredafter winning the coin flip. let's go to alex flanagan.alex? coach, you had the opportunityto score.
instead, they do. what happened, from yourperspective, on that last play? well, obviously,we made a bad throw, and we didn't get him down. in that situation,you got to get him down, especially with so little timeleft on the clock. now that you go in, how do youhandle that momentum shift? well, we respondedto being down once already. so we get the ball coming outthe second half.
we got to do something with itpositive. all right, coach.al, back up to you. michaels:all right. thank you, alex. and again, the ruling stood,it was a touchdown, because the ball wound upon fitzgerald's leg before it hit the ground. and back we come toraymond james stadium in tampa. halftime. super bowl xliii.17-7. john,that was an epic play.
i mean, that wasjust one of the greatest moments in the historyof the super bowl. obviously,clearly it depends on what's gonna happen heretonight, whether that'sthe game-turning play. but harrison,after the pick, he runs throughthe entire state of arizona to get to the end zone. i know.
it was a great call by defensivecoordinator dick lebeau. he kind of savedthat one. he was waiting for the slantdown there on the goal line. so he takes harrison --and you'll see him. he'll start uplike he's going to pass-rush, and then he dropsright into that lane where boldin is runningthe slant. and you see kurt warner.he's looking all the way. that's where he's going.
he's expecting harrisonto be a pass rusher, not a pass defender. and after that interception,how about this great run? i mean,that was something. they were talking aboutwas it a touchdown -- a guy makes a play like thatand a run like that, that has to be a t.d. so a little bitabout james harrison. the defensive playerof the year.
football fansknow him well. he was cut four timesearly in his career -- three times by pittsburgh,once by baltimore. we were talking to him the otherday, and we said, "hey, look. "after each of those releases,what would you be doing if you hadn't beenpicked back up again?" he said,"i'd be flipping burgers. and the other funny thing about talking to james harrisonthe other day --
he was complainingabout the number of times that he had to dropin this game plan. he goes, "oh,they're not letting me rush. they're having me dropall the time." and then he drops, and it's thebiggest play of the game so far. so if you're ken whisenhunt,you go into the locker room, you have a long halftime. much longer than it would bein the regular season. is that good? bad?does it mean anything?
and what do you sayto the team? well, you hate to havetoo much time to stew in your own juicesand think about it. but maybe you can think about itand you can get over it and then get on to the nextthing that you have to do. and that's whatken whisenhunt knows -- "we're gonna get the ball now.we have some things going. we just have tokeep those things going." and i think we saw the slantand the flat and those things.
and mix in a little run. the play-pass, play-action pass,has been very effective. so they can do thingsagainst this steeler defense. and obviously they justcan't afford that big turnover. longest play of any kind,including kick returns, and let's go to andrea kremer.andrea? well, mike tomlin very curtat halftime. now, the steelers had 140 yardsof offense in the first quarter, only 22 in the second quarter.
he said, though,"we never got out of rhythm. "we just have to execute,obviously, and we had one bad play" -- ben roethlisberger'sinterception. so, because they deferred,arizona gets the kick. fielded at the goal lineby arrington. arrington will get tripped upas he crosses the 20. falls forwardto the 24-yard line. arizona has made wonderfuladjustments at halftime,
but so haspittsburgh's defense. the cardinalsin the third quarter -- the most points scoredin the nfl in that quarter. pittsburgh allowedthe fewest points. 29 over 16 gamesis sensational. and one of the things tony dungybrought up at halftime is mike tomlinis going to be upset with the lack of pass rushon kurt warner, that once kurt warner startedgetting the ball out of there,
the steeler defense didn't geta lot of pressure on him. edgerrin james in the backfieldwith warner. stepping up is kurt. over the middle.it's a short gain. pass is caught thereby anquan boldin. boldin had a 45-yard receptionin the first half. he's caught four nowfor 61 yards. and boldin looks likehe's favoring his shoulder here. remember,he had the hamstring
that cost him the carolina game,came back. and now he comes off,the inside receiver, with a shoulder problem. you're gonna see him right thererunning a crossing pattern. and that's a big thing, because we know aboutlarry fitzgerald and boldin. it's kind of a combinationof the two is what the cardinals needright now. second and 6.they're gonna run a draw here.
and james is gonna slip a tacklein the backfield and take it upto the 37-yard line. so edgerrin jamesalmost got taken down before he could get outof the backfield. keisel was there.picks up a first down. gain of 9. this is a play that they ranwell in the playoffs so far. and again, it's againstthat nickel or dime defense. and i think if you're going torun against the steeler defense,
you run againsttheir nickel defense. it's a lot easier.you can get plays like that. now they're back in base. this is tough to runagainst this defense. from the 37. edgerrin again. and that running game, which was dead last in theleague in the regular season, coming alive in postseason.
it's gonna beimportant here. larry foote makes the tackle.gain of 7. second and 3. anytime they havecasey hampton in here, they usually control that partof the line of scrimmage and you don't get any runningin there. casey hampton controlledhis guy, but edgerrin jamesjust ran right by him. that was pretty good blockingthere by the cardinal line. 'cause that is not easyto do.
fitzgerald flankedwide to the right. they send breastonin motion to the other sideof the formation. edgerrin james again.cuts it back. fights for a first down.may have it. harrison is thereto make the stop after farriorknocked him down. that's the thing that harrisonis so tough about. we know that he comes fromthis right side, or weak side,
and you know the pressure he'sgonna put on the quarterback. but he's also therefor the cutback run. when you run away from him,he's gonna run you down. and then,when you start to cut back -- right there.you see where he is? he's right thereto take that cutback. first down,signals mcaulay. and i see boldingoing back in now. i think that's big.
had they lostanquan boldin, that would be a big, big lossfor the cardinals. somewhere,what i would start doing -- remember how they had the guyin the flat, edgerrin james? i'd try and get boldinin the flat and have fitzgerald runthat same pattern and put themon the same side and get that combination goingwith the two of them. here's boldin nowin the slot to the left.
breaston is outside.fitzgerald is wide to the right. james and hightowerare both in the backfield in the gun with warner. and the pass is high. but caught by boldin.he had to leap to get it. and bryant mcfaddenis right there. one other thingabout harrison, who's the star of the game,obviously, at this point -- one of 14 kids,a commingled family.
he has seven brothers.he has seven sisters. the oldest child is 51. as he told usthe other day, "i have a lot of nephewsolder than me." right. and of the 14,he's the youngest. and i'll guarantee you, when you're the youngest of 14,you're gonna be tough. you answer that dinner bellin a hurry, don't you? they all bully you there,and you don't get anything.
you have to fightfor every bite you get. boldin and fitzgerald coming out of the same spoton the right side. they swing it out to james. across the 50. and then he's taken down hereby lawrence timmons a yardinto pittsburgh territory. and that's oneof the reasons that the steelers are having a tough timegetting to kurt warner
is that they're givingthat flat away. so he can look downfield,and if there's nothing there, he can just goto the flat. you see fitzgerald there.and see what he takes. you see how he takesthis whole thing there and then just opens upthat outside. third and 6. warner stepping up.gets hit as he throws. and the passis incomplete.
and that timeit was james farrior who came in to jar it. and they may have -- now the question is, do theycall it a completed pass or not? i haven't seen themcall it anything yet. no. james harrison is the guywho came up with the ball. and he has it! it's a turnover,and it's harrison again. before you haveany heart attacks in arizona,
i think you're gonna get areversal here, from what we see. it's challenged. does warner have controlof the ball as he comes forward with it,trying to throw it, trying to pass it? this is not the tuck rule. he's not trying toput it back in. he's trying to throw it. he's trying to get the passaway.
he gets hit by farrior. here comes the call from mcaulayafter the challenge. that'll bean incomplete pass. mcaulay making his -- or he will be making his wayback out in a moment. because he did have controlof it and the arm was going forwardand the ball was in his hand. that'll make itfourth and 6 instead of pittsburgh gettingthe ball in arizona territory.
you can see harrisoncome around back, but james farrior is the guythat made the hit. after review, the quarterbackhad control of the football and his arm was going forward. it's an incomplete pass. it will be fourth and 6on the pittsburgh 49-yard line. please set the game clockto 10:59. and this is somethingyou almost never see. when they putthe new challenge rules in,
you get two challenges. if you win both challenges,you get a third challenge. so whisenhunt is 2 for 2on two huge plays in this game, and he still hasa challenge left. the thing that he has tobe worried about, talking about his team,is about pass protection and getting that nickel passrush now, because the steelers are gettingawfully close to kurt warner. santonio holmes back to receivethe ben graham punt.
and the formeraustralian rules player has it fair-caughtat the 18-yard line. we're showing youcuba gooding jr. remember he wasin "jerry maguire" and he playedan arizona cardinal, and he became unconsciousin the end zone. and i'll never forget --we were there the night -- it was a monday-night gamein 1995 on christmas night when they didall of the scenics.
and there he is with the arizona cardinalsreally in the super bowl. were you in that moviewith him? i still got a $28 residuallast week. from the 28-yard line. it's willie parker, whoslips down at the 15-yard line. willie parker.feet coming out from under him. chike okeafor and adrian wilsonwere there. loss of 3.second and 13.
adrian wilson --again, the safety right here. they bring him upright on the line of scrimmage, so they have eight menup there. if you run at him,he's gonna make the play. again, if you run away from him,he's there for the cutback. ben from the gun. you've got four receiversset to the left there. and he goesto the right side, which they're very oftenprone to do.
they had a four-by-one. a flag comes inat the end of the play. holmes closeto a first down. run outby dominique rodgers-cromartie. anytime they can get holmes on a single coverageand a man off him, they're gonna get the ballto him quickly. personal foul.grasping the face mask. defense, number 29.
15-yard penalty. automatic first down. so 7 plus 15 --that's a 22-yard play. and here's the four-man bunchover here to the left. so you try and get the coverageto come over to this side, and then you go overto the right or back side, where you have a man-to-man,a singled-up, and you get itto santonio holmes, your good runnerand speed guy.
at the 36-yard line. roethlisberger was 12 of 15for 136 in the first half. ben to the right side. to the 42-yard line. crowd: heath! that's the tight endmaking the catch with karlos dansbyin on it. matt spaeth making the catchright there. [ laughing ] the steeler crowdthought it was heath miller.
and you haven't heard muchabout hines ward, either. remember, he caughtthat first one on that bootleg and hasn't caughta pass since. and you wonderhow healthy he is and how much of a decoythey're using hines ward as. ward with that one catch very early in the gamefor 38 yards. parker is gonnaget taken down about 2 yards shortof the first down.
chike okeafor, 10th yearin the league, makes the stop. let's go to andrea. kremer: i was talkingto bruce arians before the game, and one of the things that hewanted to do was watch and see how long hines could hold up. but the main thing he wanted himfor was situational football -- third down, red zone. and if there was a long drive,he wanted to pull him out. he definitely wantedto keep an eye on his snaps.
of course,with that sprained mcl incurred during the baltimoregame in the afc championship. he's in here.it's third down and a long 1. this is a situationthey'd want hines ward in there. pressure from the back side.and the pass. and there is exactlythe situation you want him in. hines ward. coverage pretty goodby roderick hood. comes away with a huge smile,as he is prone to do.
and ben returns the grin. well, that's what they do. i mean, hines ward is thatthird-down possession guy. he's also the guy that ben roethlisbergeris going to look to. and he sees it.he just runs a short out. enough for the first down.and he gets it. he wasn't inon the down before, because the down before they hadthree tight ends in there.
so that's one waythey can get him out too. look at the smile. this guy just lovesto play football. adrian wilson was saying,"he's a football player first and a receiver second." loves life. roethlisberger chased. look at benkeeping the play alive and at least turning whatwould have been a 15-yard sack
into maybe an incompletion. but he was in the pocket. roughing the passer. oh, and now you gotroughing the passer. defense, number 58.15-yard penalty. karlos dansby.of all things. roethlisberger keepsthe play alive, gets rid of it, and then dansbywith a personal foul. yeah, two big penalties
on this drivefor the cardinal defense. first oneon rodgers-cromartie. here you see the ball is gone,it's out of there, and then the hit by dansbyon roethlisberger. that was close. yeah, you know, you got a quarterbackwho's all over the place. you never knowwhen the play is over. and now you're asking a guyto put the brakes on.
and he's so big and strongthat you have to run through him and get him to the ground,and that's a tough thing. and then if he throws it,you have to pull up quickly. i don't think that was a bad oneon dansby. 2-yard loss. okeafor is there, taking down willie parkerbehind the line of scrimmage. you used to thinkabout the steelers, and we know about defense
and the traditionof running the ball, but here's parker tonight --3 yards a carry. moore has carried once.that's it. they're averaging, are thesteelers, 2.4 yards per carry. well, i'll tell you,if they have this lead going into the fourth quarter,i know the pittsburgh steelers, you're gonna geta heavy dose of running. more than halfway throughthe third quarter. second and 11.
holmes on a quick flip. cuts back inside.to the 21-yard line. runs right insiderodgers-cromartie. 15 yardsand another first down. they're gonnahave to do something either he has to get up closerand hit him or they have to give himhelp. get a linebackercoming out underneath. because if he plays offlike this,
they'll just keepthrowing the ball out there to santonio holmes. the cardinals don't havea defensive answer for that. they havethree tight ends again. and this timeit is parker getting taken down. there it's monty beiselwho comes in -- backup linebacker,number 52 -- and dansby as wellin on the stoppage. a gain of 1.second and 9.
bruce arians again doinga good job of mixture here. you know,not only a mixture of plays, but a mixtureof personnel groups. he wasthe wide receivers coach three years agoin the super bowl. whisenhunt wasthe offensive coordinator. whisenhunt goesto arizona. arians gets elevatedwhen tomlin gets the job. second and 9.
parker again.big hole! inside the 10. and then he gets downto the 5-yard line. he was downand the ball came out but not untilthe play was over. in behind the guard,kemoeatu, who pulls outand provides the escort. you want to see a realgood block by a tight end? watch number 83on this one, al.
heath miller.he's right here. i mean, he comes there, and he just getsunderneath the shoulder pads, picks him up,puts him on his back. and when you get a blocklike that, you have to havea pretty big run. i think the most underrated guyon this pittsburgh offense is heath miller. he does more thingsthan any one person.
parker. can't cut it back. taken downby karlos dansby. it'll be second downand goal with 4 1/2 to playin the third quarter. this is just kind of playingsteeler football here. now gettinga little more run here. then you'll use the play-action,and you do those kinds of... ...kinds of things.
here's heath miller againmaking that block. i mean, that's about as gooda block as a tight end can make. and it's on the sideyou're running on. i mean, it's where you need --where you have to get that edge. heath miller got itfor them. 11th play of the drive. good mix -- they've hadsix rushes, four passes. the backfield is empty. good pocket.
and then it's dropped. good protection. heath miller over the middle.couldn't hold on. and says to ben,"that's on me." yeah, and it was on him. like we said earlier, the closeryou get to the goal line, the more ben roethlisbergerlikes heath miller. but he does so many thingsfor them. i mean, he blocks.
they'll get himin the backfield. they'll have him wham.i've seen him trap nose tackles. every kind of a blockthat there is to make, heath miller willand can make. big stop herefor the cardinal defense. hold them to a field goal, it's a two-possession leadfor pittsburgh. they score a touchdown,it's three possessions. mewelde mooreis in the backfield with him.
roethlisberger.tries to escape. and he just flings it into the areaoutside the 5-yard line because bertrand berryput the pressure on him. mcaulay: there's no foulfor intentional grounding. the quarterbackwas out of the pocket. the ball got pastthe line of scrimmage. fourth down. close. it's close.
outside of what they callthe tackle box. you line up the tackles. you extend the linestraight back. was he outside that?here it is. take a look at it. it would have to beright here. it's already in there.the red line. does he getoutside the red line? yes, he does. yep.
right outside, yeah. good call.got it right. 27-yard attempt. but a big stop for arizona tokeep it a two-possession game. reed forthe field-goal attempt. made one earlier from 18. so two chip shots for himin this one tonight. mitch bergerto put it down. and reed's kick is good,but there's a flag down.
there's a flag down. and a personal foulagainst adrian wilson. three big penalties againstthe cardinals on this drive. huge. personal foul.unnecessary roughness. defense, number 24. ran over the holder. half the distance to the goal.automatic first down. gigantic call.
he ran into berger. yeah, mitch berger, the punter,is also the holder. see him here.the kick is gone. oh, yeah. no doubt. and of all guys to do it,a guy in his eighth year, leader of the team. in a terrible situation, where now he puts his defensein the hole again
and they have to come upwith a goal-line stand. that could very well bea 4-point penalty. and again,now they have a chance to make ita three-possession game. and the pittsburgh steelers,if they get that situation, they'll just bethe old pittsburgh steelers -- they're gonna run the balland play defense. that's it. parker is the set back.first and goal.
three personal fouls by arizonaon this drive. two of them, no doubt. one of them --the one on dansby -- maybe.who knows? meanwhile, mike holmgren issitting here having flashbacks to the last super bowl. but that's another story. second and goal. holmes split left.he comes in motion.
they run a pickon that side. instead a rollto the right. the ballis batted in the air! and it isalmost intercepted. chike okeaforwas able to bat it. carey davis was there.the fullback. antrel rolle almost came upwith the interception. i think it was a pretty goodplay there by carey davis to save this.
the ball goes up in the airand anyone can get it. and he looks likehe kind of got it and knocked itout of rolle's hands. and so nowthat arizona defense has to turn inone more huge play. third and goal.2:49. mewelde moore is the back. roethlisberger out ofthe gun. ben's gonna run iton a quarterback draw.
but he won't be able to get pastthe 3-yard line. that's gabe watsonwho comes in. and what a job. if arizonais to come from behind, they can thank their defensefor doing it twice. yeah,and that's the thing. you try and spread them outand you run ben roethlisberger. you see him.he's right here. you see he gets penetrationright there.
he makes a swim moveon the center, gets in the backfield, and gets ben roethlisbergerbefore he gets started. that was a big playby gabe watson. this is a 21-yard attemptfor reed. berger holding. and that kick is good. with 2:13 to play. pro bowl next sunday.
i'll be watchingyou guys. as the kickoff will scootthrough the cardinals and go all the way... take a knee. yeah. get it out of the end zoneand take it at the 20-yard line. warner going to work.down by 13. kurt warner in postseasonhas been tremendous. averaging almost300 yards passing per game.
of course,he holds the record for most yardsin a super bowl. he is one and twoon that list in the historyof super bowls. winning against tennessee,losing to new england. there's brenda warner. the warners,parents of seven. he takes overat the 20-yard line with 2:11 to playin the quarter.
five-man rush. kurt steps up, throws.catch made. but meeting breaston right away,no room to roam, is lawrence timmons. and he saves it --4-yard gain. lawrence timmonsis in there now because they're playingtheir nickel defense. he's the nickelmiddle linebacker. in fact, the guythat used to play that position
is troy polamalu. you say, "geez, we're not seeinghim blitz much anymore," 'cause he doesn't playthat position in nickel. timmons plays it now. fitzgerald heldto that one catch at the endof the first half. give it to james. to the 28-yard line. you look at the career arcof kurt warner, john,
and very few athletes -- i mean, they start out,and he's boxing groceries. he's playing in the nfl europeand arena league. then the graph goesall the way to the top. then it kind of goesto the bottom, and you thinkhe's about done. and now he's trying to make itgo as high as it did in '99 again. watching him on tv,i thought,
"there's something differentabout kurt warner." obviously, the wayhe's playing is great, but he looked different. he used to play at 225. today he's 203.so he lost weight. looks like he's been at the spafor a month. third and 2.he's gonna roll to the right. moving pocket.and then it's caught by boldin. so they movethe chains here
in the final minuteof the third quarter to set up a first downat the 33-yard line. and he's the only quarterbackthat wears gloves. we know that he said that he had some problemsholding on to the ball and he had some thumb problemsand stuff, so he started wearing glovesa couple years ago -- in any weather. he's the only quarterbackthat wears gloves all the time.
here you see himwith the rams. obviously he didn't have glovesin those days. it's been his last couple years,every game, with the cardinals. he's taken almost no shotsdownfield tonight. and that's unusual. here is warnergiving it to james. he's only attemptedone pass more than 10 yards fromthe line of scrimmage tonight. well, you know, becausethe pittsburgh steeler defense
has taken it away. they're playingthat cover 2. and you say, "geez, we haven'tseen much of polamalu. he's not up thereon the line of scrimmage." no, he's playing back.he's the guy that's deep. he's not letting kurt warnerthrow deep. both those safetiesyou don't hear much of because they'replaying deep. and the cardslet the clock expire.
bill bidwill,the owner of the cardinals. his family has owned the teamsince the early '30s. founded in chicago. here at raymond james stadium.al michaels, john madden. we startthe fourth quarter. antrel rolle, 21,goes in motion. he's a safety. occasionally comes inon offense, as is the case here.
sets upon fitzgerald's side. he caught one passduring the regular season. warner dancing around.throws. and it is caughtup at the 47-yard line. there's a flag down back at the 29in the offensive backfield. offense, number 69. 10-yard penalty.second down. second holding callon the left tackle tonight.
that's mike gandy. and mike gandy hasthe toughest job of the night. he's the guy that has to blockharrison here. and you see james harrisonjust bull-rushes him. you expect a speed rush. he bull-rushes him. and right thereat the end, he got his left handup around harrison's neck. that's really not badpass protection
till right thereat the end. of course, if he doesn't dothat, harrison gets kurt warner. second and 19. that's 91 yards in penaltiestonight against arizona. and that's caughtup at the 30-yard line. anquan boldinmaking the catch. most penalty yardagesince super bowl xii, a denver-dallas game31 years ago. dallas had 94in that game.
this is the thing this steelerdefense was talking about -- you're not gonnasack warner a lot, because he gets ridof the ball. but you don't want to let himget in rhythm and you don't want to let himget comfortable. in the second quarter, they hada little trouble with that. they didn't have troublein the first quarter, nor did they have troublein the third quarter in making himuncomfortable.
we'll see todd haley's callon a third down and 13. good protection,but then the pass is high. trying to get it to hightowerover the middle. so a lot of short stuffand underneath stuff and no forays downfield. and it's fourth and 13. cardinals tonight. look at that. fitzgerald, no factor.
boldin's caught sevenbut only a 10-yard average. breaston four for an averageof 9 yards per reception. at some point --you don't want to force it, but, doggone it,you're gonna have to. this is the super bowl.it's the fourth quarter. you're down 20-7.you have to get some big plays. graham gets the kick away. timmons almost blocked it. and it's a very short kick.
all kinds of sidebars,backstories in this one. dan rooney in the back row.his son art in front of him. and, of course,they hired mike tomlin when conventional wisdomhad whisenhunt and grimm, who were both on cowher's stafftwo years ago, as the front-runners. whisenhunt gets interviewedby miami, atlanta, and arizona in addition to pittsburgh. pittsburgh hadn't madeits choice.
he had to make his move.he chooses arizona. grimm doesn't get pickedin pittsburgh and goes to the desertwith him. first down nowat the 43-yard line. roethlisberger.faking it to parker. under pressure.fires over the middle. and the pass is incomplete.and there's another flag. hines wardwith roderick hood there. hood making contact.
and if it'sa defensive foul, that will put arizonaover 100. prior to the pass, holding. defense, number 26. 5-yard penalty.automatic first down. that won't put themover 100 because it'sa 5-yard holding call, but that's 96 yardsand another first down. that's rod hood there.
you see, you can bump himthe first 5 yards. after 5 yards,you can't touch him. so that first group of bumpswas okay. it was the second onewhere they got the flag. didn't you know that hines ward,that once the game started, you wouldn't be mentioning how many practices he missedand all that stuff? he's just a gamer. little doubt.
to the cardinal47-yard line. mike tomlin -- mentioned himin the pregame show, talking about the fact -- youngest coach everin the super bowl. 36.second year in the league. went to schoolat william & mary. he is so young,he played against james farrior, one of his players. farrior was at virginia.
says, "i hadno recollection of it. william & mary was likea warm-up game for us." and he's youngerthan kurt warner. but he has becomethe blueprint. and that's a nice stophere. darnell dockettstopping him. john, we've heard owners --in particular steve bisciotti telling ozzie newsomein baltimore last year when they were looking fora coach
and they wind upwith john harbaugh -- who's a pretty good choice -- he says, "go out and find methe next mike tomlin." a lot of owners are thinkingin those terms right now. that's what they're doing,and that's not a bad thing. you get that young coachthat you know is bright, that you know he can bea head coach. and if you can be a head coachat any age, you can be onewhen you're a young head coach.
and then he had success.here he is in a super bowl. and, you know,"go find me one like him, that can do the same thingshe did." third and 8.from the 50. roethlisberger pressuredout of the pocket. and finally they get to him.at the 36. and that's a big-time sack bydarnell dockett on a big play. because we still have12 minutes to go, but it was a third down,and this forces them to punt.
and arizona could wind upwith the ball in relatively decent positionwith a decent runback. two big playsby darnell dockett. he made a big playon the one before. and then again, he getson the nose, takes a side. and for a big guy,he has a great burst. and he burstright into ben roethlisberger. he was the man who saved what would have beena roethlisberger touchdown
earlier in the game and wasoverturned on a challenge. berger's kick.very good kick. fieldedat the 13-yard line. and it is steve breaston who gets buried thereby william gay. 11:30 left.fourth quarter. steelers by 13. this drive startsat the 13-yard line. warner.
over the middle.that's caught. breaston makes the catch.gain of 12. again, larry fitzgerald tonight,just one catch. his father --well-known story. gotten a lot of pubthis week. and there he is. the senior fitzgerald,who writes a weekly column, and has for years,in a minneapolis newspaper. he's also been a radio hostfor a number of years.
chronicling his son tonight. we're hoping that he's gonna geta little bit better story than he has at this point. from the 25. warner throwsover the middle. wide open thereis jerheme urban, who makes the catch. and now the arizona cardinalsgoing without a huddle. working with alacrity.
it'll be a first downup at the 44-yard line. the cardinals are doing whatthey have to do now. they're opening up.they're speeding the pace up. they're getting the balldeeper down the field. look how deepthose safeties are. they're giving them thatwhole middle but nothing deep. warner.hit as he throws. gets it away.short gain. taylor and townsendtake care of fitzgerald.
finally making the catch. harrison forced the issuewith warner there. and that's the second catchfor larry. and againworking without a huddle. you seejames harrison here. i mean, he's justa super pass rusher because he's so strongin the legs. he can get underneathyour leverage and underneath your power.
look at how deep these safetiesare back here. that's why they're not gettinganything deep, because those two safetiesare not letting you get deep. second and 4.and underneath. the pass goes to j.j. arrington,their third-down back. so arrington hasn't playedthat much until now. was botheredby a tweaked knee. makes the catch.22-yard gain. all of a sudden,arizona in business at the 28.
and you give kurt warneran opening, he's gonna find it. with those safeties that deep,look how open the middle is. look at his eyes here. he sees it.he sees those safeties deep. he knowsif they're that deep and taking awaythat outside stuff, "i am going to have a checkdownin the middle." drive startedback at the 13-yard line.
quickly downfield. pass caught.fitzgerald. fitzgerald will pick upa first down. you see the flagthat came in. and larry takes the ballinside the 10-yard line. but another penalty. we've had 96 yards of penaltieson arizona and 15 against pittsburghtonight. penalty is declined.first down.
take the play. look at the handson larry fitzgerald. i mean,he has big and strong hands. he's the outside receiverhere. he wins the battle right thereon the line of scrimmage. but look how his handsjust go up and he just plucks the ballout of the air. he has very big handsand very, very strong hands. both he and boldinhave strong hands.
at the 10.first down and goal. warner perfecton this drive, which has consumedonly 2 1/2 minutes and has gone 77 yards. and then the passto the outside. fitzgerald makes the catch. and fitzgerald is ridden down byike taylor at the 5-yard line. it'll be second down and goalfor the cardinals. they've been playinglarry fitzgerald
so much to the inside. look how far offthey are. now, if they want todo that -- and he'd been going insidethe whole game. now they're saying, "if you want to play offthat far and double, we'll just throw the outin front of you." father and son. larry's caught three passeson this drive.
also they brought injerheme urban and j.j. arrington, who'd barely playeduntil this drive. they wentto the no-huddle. and all of those thingshave put them in a position to get right back in it. second down and goal fromjust inside the 5-yard line. warner dumps it. hightower.can he get in?
he can only getto the 1-yard line. and just to make itofficial -- terry mcaulay had signaledthat was a time-out, arizona. he meant to say --he turned it around when we went to the break --"time-out, pittsburgh." they tooka defensive time-out. kurt warner knows that he's gonna have somethingthere in the middle. has his outside receiversgoing outside.
and then he runswhat we call a middle screen. most screens that the cardinalsrun are to the outside. that onewas right up the middle. third and goal.hightower is the back. the rookie out of richmondis the running back. and it's gonna be a fadefor fitzgerald, who's gonna go up and makethe catch for the touchdown! larry fitzgerald. and his father,like a true journalist --
no cheeringin the press box -- as the 6'3" fitzgeraldgoes over the 6'1" ike taylor and hauls it in. there's no one that does itbetter than larry fitzgerald -- to go up and get the ballat the highest point. and the defender cannot goas high as he can go. i mean, he is super, super,super at this. and he didn't do muchthree quarters. then you get here at the end ofthe fourth when they need him,
and he's made big playson this drive. neil rackersfor the extra point. and that drive tookonly 3:57. it goes 87 yards. larry fitzgerald, six receivingtouchdowns this postseason, tying the mark set by jerry ricein '88. let's go backto the way he plucks it. that's why you have to havebig hands and strong hands. and then if you have big handsand strong hands
and you can jumplike that, you're going to make touchdownslike that. that had a little david tyreein that play. just a little bit. caught a little bitof the front part of the helmet. it was just a matter of time,though. didn't you feel that, you know,they were doubling him, those safetieswere way off, that the cardinalshad to find a way
to get the ball tolarry fitzgerald, and they did. rackers' kick is fieldedat the 6-yard line. this is carey davisrunning it back. up to the 24-yard line. pushy-shovey herewith davis and beisel. let's go backto the receiving radius. well, you know,that's what quarterbacks love, is when you have a big radiuslike that, where you can jumpand you can use your body
and you have a big body and you can just pluck the ballout of the air. and all kurt warnerhas to do is not necessarily alwaysthrow it to larry fitzgerald, but just throw it awayfrom the defender. taylor right there. but we've seen fitzgeralddo that so much, especially in postseason, where he's really come intothe country's consciousness.
from the 24-yard line. the hand-offgoes to parker. willie parker takes it upto the 28-yard line. monty beiselmakes the tackle. it'll be second down and 7after a gain of 3. larry fitzgerald has keptthe cardinals in this game, but another guyis darnell dockett. just think of the big playsthat he made. they're down there on the goalline that last series,
when he was gettingpenetration. this guy has come up very bigtoday for the cardinal defense. that defense did. especially after the personalfoul on adrian wilson. the two goal-line stands,limiting them to a field goal, keeping them in a position whereit's a two-possession game. and now, of course,it's a one-possession game. second down and 6. ben is gonna get buriedat the 18-yard line.
and that is dockettcoming right up the middle. he was on the right guard,darnell stapleton, on this one. you see him right here.he just takes an inside charge. he's so powerfuland so strong that he goesin that center-guard gap. right there.and he just explodes it. and when he comes outof his explosion, he's right onben roethlisberger. 10-yard sack.
mewelde mooreis the back. third down and 16. time for ben. swings it out, near side.catch made. and short of the first downis miller. so they had to protectagainst a 16-yard gain. miller winds upwith a gain of 10. but it will befourth down and 6, and the cardinalsare gonna get the ball
with under 6 minutesto play. now i know what ben -- what mike tomlin's thinkingabout right here is, "we got the number-one defensein football. "we've been number oneall year. "and nowwe're in the super bowl. "we're inthe fourth quarter. "we're about 5 minutesleft to go. we have to provewe're the best defense."
berger with a wobbly kick. it takes a pretty decentpittsburgh bounce. and will roll deadat the 25-yard line. go back two decades. if the steelers havean 11-or-more-point lead -- there it is -- one lossin 144 regular-season games. there was one tieas well. 10-0 in postseason. but right now,
in a game in which it was 20-7not that long ago, it's 20-14. from the 25-yard line. j.j. arrington is inthe backfield with warner. fitzgerald comesto the left. looking to the right. looking for boldin. that timetaylor covers boldin. and now you've gota lot of shoving going on.
and you've got a flagcoming in. ken whisenhunt is rightin the middle of the play. and ike taylor was therewith the coverage. again, that was whati was talking about, is you throw it awayfrom the defender to your big wide receivers. and kurt warner says those guysare so big and strong that no defendercan go through them. i think boldin just showed thaton that play.
after the play, personal foul.unnecessary roughness. 15-yard penalty.first down. ike taylor.not swaggin' right there. look at this.i mean, that's a play. you put it on the outside where there's no waythe defender can get him. they got taylor.he threw that first punch. they got the right guy.they usually get the second guy. i think they got the right guyin ike taylor that time.
he threw the first punch. that's pittsburgh's firstpenalty in the second half. ball at the 49after the foul. 5 minutes to go. they run a drawwith arrington. he gets taken downby farrior. again, arrington playingso little. had a tweaked knee. we didn't see urban.
they brought them both inon that last drive. they went to no-huddle. haley mixed it up,and they went 87 yards. and they're back in businesshere. they're doingthe same thing. they're goingno-huddle again. shotgun.four wide receivers. i think they can still dosome business in that middle. warner's lookingover that middle.
and they're doing business --you bet! breaston.to the 26-yard line. polamalu looks at the officialand he says, "where's the hold?" no flag.first down. 23-yard gain. we talkabout the patterns and the quarterback throwingand the guys catching. but look at thispass protection. look at that pocketfor kurt warner. he can look and readand step up.
and no one is closeto touching him. boy, if they pull this off, al,and if kurt warner does this, and all the talk -- "should hebe a hall of famer or not?" here's a flag here. and warner's gonnathrow it away. you've got a hold.mike gandy again. holding harrison. when you have harrisonover you, well -- three holding calls tonighton gandy.
and you knew thatthat was gonna happen. he's so tough to block. and you have to keep himoff your quarterback. you see he fakedto the inside. and usually when your feetget out of position as a tackle, then you use your arms or yourhands and you do it illegally. that's what happenedto gandy. got faked inside,put his arm outside. warner has10 consecutive completions.
first and 20 at the 36. ooh.and polamalu tried to sneak in. intended for boldin. and he'll do that. i mean, here's troy polamaluon the outside, and he's readingkurt warner. and thenhe just jumps inside. you know, he didn't play himfrom the outside. kurt warner was trying to get itto his outside shoulder.
polamalu almostmade that play. brenda warner. she's been here before.her third super bowl as well. second down and 20. boldin and fitzgeraldboth coming off the left side. warner over the middle. and that passis almost picked. and that time it wastyrone carter who was there. incomplete. jerheme urbanwas the intended receiver.
and now you havea third down and 20. you know, norv turner, whose chargers lost tothe pittsburgh steelers, said, "one thingabout the steeler defense -- "dick lebeau will always waitfor the fourth quarter, "and he'll have a special blitzthat you haven't seen. it's usually a corner." i would think if he'sgoing to do a special blitz, it would beon this play here.
and the cardinalshave to think about, do they go to set upa field-goal opportunity? right now it's 53 yards. do you get half of it and giverackers a better chance? key, key play.third down and 20. and he gets hit as he throws.the pass is incomplete. lamarr woodleyput the pressure on. so now you're in a situation --it's fourth down and 20. warner's lookingto the bench.
the other thing you can dois punt. you can punt,try to pin them deep, have your defense take over,get the ball back. because if you try a rackersfield goal and he misses, you give pittsburgh the ballnear midfield. yeah, here comes woodley. again, you expect those guysto speed rush, and then they bull-rushand they go right through you, like he did on levi brownthat play.
as you say,punt is a possibility. punt is a pretty good callright here. that penalty on gandyvery harmful. really took themout of field-goal range. he puts the noseof the ball down, does graham. can they stop itinside the 5? and they... there are two flags nowway back where the kicker was. meanwhile, the ball is downedat the 2-yard line.
but again, the gamehas become very chippy. you've got mcaulaythrowing a flag. there's another flag downback at the 35-yard line. it was fourth and 20. during the kick, personal foul. unnecessary roughness. receiving team, number 92. half the distancefrom the end of the play. first down, pittsburgh.
huge!james harrison. they said 92.after the play. so here's the ball. the changeof possession -- it's huge in the sense thatat what point it was called. here's harrison. so if that happens beforethe change of possession -- and look at that.yeah. he ought to be thrown outfor that.
i mean, i love him. i love the way he's playing,but that you don't do. you don't punch a guyand punch him when he's down. you know,and i like aggressiveness. i like tough football.but that's overboard. and i saidit all depends -- it was huge in the sense that,during the kick, it's a post-possession foul. so in other words,they already deemed possession
to have been changed, meaning that it's nota first down for arizona. pittsburgh keeps the ball,but they're at the 1-yard line. can they getbreathing space? 3:26 leftin the fourth. and roethlisbergeris gonna throw. and that pass is incomplete.intended for hines ward. and three red shirtssurround him. and that stops the clock.3:21.
second down and 10. here's where the steelers better getdarnell dockett blocked, because he's the guy that's beencausing the havoc inside. he's been gettingpenetration. and he's the guythat could make a big play here. just as i say that,he runs out of the game. and let's givea shout-out to -- i think if i'm coaching, i wantdockett in there right now.
to me, when you got thembacked up like this, this islike goal-line. shout-outto michael adams, who was the guy who downedthe ball at the 1-yard line. can parkerget out of the end zone?! can he get outis the question. and they're gonna say he does.he just gets out. the whole ballhas to get out, as opposed to a touchdown,where the tip of the ball
touches the front of thegoal line -- that's a touchdown. in this case,to come out of the end zone, the entire footballmust come out of the end zone. arizona now takesa time-out. it'll be third down and 10from just outside the goal line. oh, baby,i'll tell you what. they had him. if the whole ballgets out, it got outafter the initial contact.
yep, that second burst by parkeravoids the safety. you've gottravis laboy, 55, is the guy right therewho wrestles him down. and we're gonna havea third down and 10 now with 3:04 left in the fourthand arizona using a time-out. so they have two left. if laboy could've held himthere, that would've been a safety. but right at the end,
parker was ableto get the whole ball out. now, if you're the steelers,there's a dilemma here. sure, you want to getthe first down, obviously. that would bethe best result. but you have to also think aboutgetting some extra space. otherwise, mitch bergeris gonna have to take that snap about 9 1/2 yardsback from center. right.and what you want is 15. so one of their goalshas to be,
get the ball outat least to the 5-yard line to give your punter the full15 yards from the snapper. ben. they could take a safety heretoo. out of the gun.roethlisberger. gonna throwover the middle. and the pass is going to becaught by holmes! at the 21-yard line. santonio holmes gets insiderodgers-cromartie.
and a flag is down. holding.offense, number 62. that's a safety. the foul occurredin the end zone. safety. justin hartwigis the center. so instead of holmes maybesecuring a lombardi trophy, you've got a safety,you've got a 20-16 game, and you have a kick comingfrom the 20-yard line.
look at this. justin hartwiggetting a takedown. and again, the rule is, holdingin the end zone is a safety. 2 points. look at that passto holmes. got inside cromartie. hartwig held chike okeaforfor the safety. and now it negatesthis play right here, which would've taken themout to the 21,
given thema fresh set of downs, and compelled arizona to useits remaining two time-outs. oh, boy. just think how importantpenalties have been in this game or how big they've been --on both sides. there hasn't been a safetyin a super bowl since bruce smithsacked jeff hostetler here in tampain super bowl xxv. bruce smith going intothe hall of fame yesterday.
i was saying earlierthat mike tomlin had to call on his defensein that last situation. now he reallyhas to call on them. one thing --after the safety, you get a free kickfrom the 20-yard line. so the cardinalsshould get pretty good field positionafter this. kicks it away.breaston is back to receive it. hauls it in at the 28and gets buried at the 36.
that's a great play right thereby patrick bailey, who plays almost exclusivelyon special teams. right there to smother himat the 36-yard line. great tackle by bailey. first of all,you have to get by blockers. you have to get down there. then you have have totime it up. then you have to make a tacklelike that. dan rooney.jacket off.
suspenders tightened up. [ chuckles ] right.standing up. bracing himself. this is big.this is big. set upfor a fantastic finish. j.j. arringtonis in the backfield. boldin and fitzgeraldshare a word on the right side. and that passis incomplete. in and out of the handsof anquan boldin. the steelers are usingtheir dime defense now,
so it's just all about pass rushand pass coverage. and, again,i liked the cardinals when they got inthat no-huddle pace and started getting the ballto fitzgerald. and maybe somewhereon this drive, they ought to go backto that. now they got those safetiesdeep again. warner has time. fitzgerald!into steeler territory!
30, 20, 10! arizona has the lead! he hit himin the perfect place. that middlewas wide open. as i said, those safetieswere 20 yards deep. and you're gonna seethat big hole there. and once larry fitzgeraldgets into that hole -- look,the safeties are deep, and they're offlooking for the wide receivers.
and larry fitzgeraldcatches that ball and runs right through it. kurt warner read the defense,knew where he had to go, and he went to the perfect guyin the perfect situation. and watches himselfgo into the end zone on the big screen. rackers forthe point after. and with 2:37 to playin regulation, the cardinal lead is 3.
here's what kurt warnerwas looking at. talking abouthow deep these safeties are. you see they're back here. now look at thiswhole area here. and if you can just geta receiver into here, then he can runright through it. and that's exactlywhat they did. you see the big holein the middle? the safeties workto the outside,
he gets fitzgeraldin that hole, and he runsright through the defense. looking up at the board.there he is. [ laughing ] there's abouta half-second delay up on that board. so when he'sat the 10-yard line, he's only at the 15on the video. but one thing you know -- when you get out in front,you never want to look back.
todd haley,the offensive coordinator. he saw those holesin there. he knewwhere the weaknesses were. he knew that he had toget a guy in there. it had been a back before. that time he gotlarry fitzgerald in that hole. rackers' kick. to the goal line. this is carey davis.
bangs his wayup to the 22-yard line. this would be the biggestcomeback in super bowl history. the biggest deficit eraseduntil now had been 10 points. this game was oncea 13-point game, at 20-7. and that arizona defense, which stiffened twiceon first and goal and withstood the adrian wilsonpersonal-foul penalty -- arizona's defense right nowcan win the game, in effect, by stopping them.
it's funny --you go through the whole season and all the statsand the pittsburgh stats. but when you needed themto play, they didn't do it. and nowthe arizona defense, not a great stat defensethis year, but nowyou need them to play. are they going to do it? from the 22-yard line. roethlisberger buys time.
dumps it off underneath. catch made.flag down again. mewelde moore. we have had 16 acceptedpenalties in this game. this is gonna be holdingon the steelers. it'll be the sixth penaltyagainst pittsburgh. holding.offense, number 68. chris kemoeatu,the left guard, with a hold. yeah, when you see that umpirethrow that flag --
he's the officialright behind the defensive line, and he's looking for holding,and that's all he's looking for. there's benin the regular season. since '04when he came into the league -- 17 game-winning drives inthe fourth quarter or overtime, which is where we areright now. first and 20from the 12. roethlisberger.avoids the sack. dockett chases him.
throws on the run.caught. he extends the play again, assantonio holmes makes the catch. 27-yard line. ben trying to get a play offbefore the 2-minute warning. they have two time-outs. plus, the clock will stopat the 2-minute warning. i don't believe they'regonna be able to get the -- well, they do. just beforethe 2-minute warning.
and ben is gonna godeep downfield. and that pass is gonna be tippedand incomplete. and no flag. intended fornate washington. tampa, florida.super bowl xliii. al michaels and john maddenwith you. what a game.23-20. twists and turns and just abouteverything imaginable. the harrison play at the endof the first half.
there's your quarterbackcomparison right now. warner, 344. warner with the numbers oneand two marks in super bowl history, and in a 3-point game,this would rank sixth right now if he doesn't gainanother yard. no super bowl gamehas ever gone to overtime. they've been close,but never into o.t. it's third and 6from the 26.
cards showing blitz. and here they come. and roethlisberger escapesand throws. and the pass is caught. holmes reaches up,makes the catch. dansby was back therein coverage with him. blitzing the backers. francisco came in,the safety, as well. huge first down.
and that's the thingabout the blitz. and the cardinalseven talked about that. you want to blitz ben. but if you don't get himand he can step up, he can make a big playon you. two time-outsfor pittsburgh. pass caught. washingtonwill try to get out of bounds. and he can't.so that keeps the clock rolling. adrian wilson makesthe tackle.
again, pittsburgh at leasttrying to get into field-goal range for one of the better kickersin the league. and it's becomea little bit windy here on a night that startedcompletely windless. 70 seconds to go.first and 10. roethlisberger stepping up.he's gonna run. not far. he's gonna be taken downat the 46-yard line.
and the pittsburgh steelersare going to spend a time-out. they have one left. 61 seconds.jeff reed. and when you kickat heinz field in pittsburgh, you're kicking at probablythe toughest venue in the nfl. this not nearly as tough.but what about the wind? andrea, you're down there.what's going on? kremer: well, it's definitelypicked up down here, al. now, jeff reed told me that,going in this direction,
his range is 53 yards. but keep in mind that he wouldnow be kicking into the wind with the breeze picking upas it has. right, the front coming infrom the north, because it's the northern endthat he would kick toward. so the wind picking up. there it is. there wasn't a breath of airbefore the game and until sometime herein the second half.
second down and 6 now. so to be in that range, they would have to getinside the 35-yard line. make it a 52-,53-yard boot. rushing five. ben pumps, throws. caught. holmes!francisco falls down! holmes is gonna take itinside the 10, and he's gonna getto the 5-yard line!
with 49 seconds. and roethlisberger trying to get them upto the line of scrimmage. but they will takea time-out. a time-outwith 49 seconds. their final time-out. unbelievable.ben roethlisberger buying time. and then you can seesantonio holmes can do that. you see, he runs an in, and thenhe can just come under control.
francisco comes up.he falls down. holmes, a great runner, turnsto the outside and up the field. watch ben.he pumps it. and his handsare so big and strong -- he pumps it likehe's going outside, holds it, brings it back, and then gets itto santonio holmes. pittsburgh has now takenits final time-out. holmes has caught eightfor 125 yards. so they can takea time-out.
you have 49 seconds. and if they can getinto the end zone, they will, with the extra point,compel the cardinals to go all the way intothe end zone to win the game. forget about the tie. that arizona defense, so toughdeep in its own territory. they'll have to be toughagain. the steelersspread it out. three men to the right.two to the left.
ben coming backthe other way. and holmes can't makethat catch. santonio holmes that time. rodgers-cromartiewith the coverage. it'll be second downand goal. and you think they're gonna haveto do something to santonio holmesover there for the deep one. because he had that. i mean, he was open,
and the ballwent right through his hands. mm! now you think,"what's the next thing they do?" if santonio holmesis one thing, to me, the next thing is heath milleror hines ward in this area. ward and holmes are bothlined up to the right side. miller slot left. washington outside left. roethlisberger has time.
throws for the backof the end zone. and it is... caught for a touchdownby holmes! unbelievable! incredible! the official comes in. let's just make sure he's inon a play like this, obviously. they will take a long lookupstairs. ben.to the corner of the end zone.
does he getboth feet down? left, definitely. did the right tap, as well,with control? you have to have controlwith both feet down. i say yes. i do too. both feet in, both feet down,and control of the ball. amazing.three cardinals are there. you got three guys.
he had it on the other sideon the play before, though. right,the right foot is coming up, but it'sdown on the ground. is it down on the ground? does he toe-tap itas he has control of the ball? he has controlall the way through. and that's the whole issueright there. and i say he has both feet downand control of the ball. we have 35 seconds.
if it stands, with the extra point,you've got a 4-point game. and then warner and company,with two time-outs, would have to gothe length of the field. field judge coming in --right there -- he's the closest man to it --to signal a touchdown. an amazing play. greg gautreaux,the field judge. there's harrison.
the emotions in this gamehave been over the moon. you know,could kurt warner do it? could the cardinals do it?then they do it. could the steelers do it?could ben roethlisberger do it? they they did it. i think the call is definitelygonna stand, because there's nothingthat we can see that would overturnthat call. you have to see somethingthat overturns
what the callon the field is. i don't thinkthere's any doubt. he had both feet in,and he had control of the ball. after review, the receivercontrolled the football, came down on both toesin bounds. touchdown,as ruled on the field. santonio holmes, who's had so many big playsin postseason, including that punt runbackagainst the san diego chargers
that turned that game aroundin the divisional round. again,that was a great call by the offensive coordinator,bruce arians, because he had the corneron the left side, and instead of saying, "let's go backand do the same thing," he put holmesover on the right side and ran the same pattern. jeff reed.
to make ita 4-point game. and that's exactlywhat he does. 27-23. 35 seconds. two time-outsfor the arizona cardinals, who have to geta touchdown. again, look what ben does. i mean, he's so big and strongthat he can buy time. he can move a little.
he can pump, bring it back,reload it, and stillget it out there. kurt warner thinking, "what inthe heck do we have to do here?" "oh, no." santonio holmes makinghis ninth catch. 131 yards tonight. fitzgerald has caught six. and he's gonna haveanother opportunity with arizonagetting the ball back.
running the kick backwill be j.j. arrington. what the cardinals really needright now to give them some sortof a chance, a decent shot, is an outstanding runback. here comes reed. he's gonnaback arrington deep. from the 1-yard line. arrington.15, 20. and all he getsis up to the 23-yard line.
so they need 77 yardsin 29 seconds. and they do havethe two time-outs, so they can still workthat middle. i mean, if pittsburghwants to do the same thing and play that dime defense,play those safeties deep, and give them the middle,kurt warner could take it again. boldin, fitzgerald,and breaston. all three 1,000-yard receiversline up on the right side. jerheme urban lines upto the left.
warner buying time. over the middle.fitzgerald makes the catch. fitzgerald gets the ball outto the 44-yard line. and arizona is compelledto take a time-out. you just have to take it here.you can't try to spike it. they have one left.22 seconds. one thingthat the steeler defense will do is you guardthe sidelines. you don't let them getthe outs.
and if they do getsomething where they're runningtowards the boundaries, you have to tackle them. you cannot let them completea pass and get out of bounds. dick lebeau, 71-year-olddefensive coordinator. has been in footballall his life. and he's seen it all. and that's where experiencein coordinators come in is right here, where no matterwhat the situation is,
you've been there before. any problems you have,you usually know how to fix. his team trying to give hima 50th-anniversary gift. 10 years as a player,40 as a coach. first down.22 seconds. one time-out. they have to go56 yards. warner.going underneath. and it'sto the 44-yard line.
and this is arringtonmaking the catch. and they have to usetheir final time-out here. so it will come downto this. you have to work the sidelinesat this point or just throw it upinto the end zone and maybe fitzgerald winsa jump ball. right, and that's the thingthat the steelers do. they give you that inside. then they make you takethe inside
and then don't let youget out of bounds, make you useyour time-outs. now you have to throw outsor comebacks. you have to throw patternsto the boundaries or in the end zone. ben roethlisbergerwith a 256-yard night. one touchdown pass. and it may be enoughto win super bowl xliii. a lot of things in footballis when you do them.
i mean, there are stats, and people have numbers,and they did this or that. but did you do it when youhad to do it to win the game? that would be answereddefinitively. from the 44. breaston to the left. three receiversto the right. warner stepping up. buying time.under pressure.
trying to sling it away. was the arm coming forward? that's lamarr woodleywho got there. and lamarr woodleycreates the fumble. and a pittsburgh recoverywith 5 seconds left! brett keisel recovered it. warner buying time,trying to find room. flags on the field nowafter the play. farrior tookhis helmet off,
but that would bepost-possession if this play stands. after the play,unsportsmanlike conduct. recovering team. 15-yard penalty.helmet removal. the question is,is it a fumble? is the armcoming forward? clearly, another thingthey will look at upstairs. no challengesin the last 2 minutes.
is it the empty hand?is the arm coming forward? he's trying to get it out. the question is,is it an incomplete pass? and, of course,the cardinals are all saying, "go over to the hood. go over to the hood." it looks like a fumbleto us because his armis not coming forward as the ballis coming out.
and indeed they looked upstairs.they confirm it is a fumble. and the pittsburgh steelers become the first franchisein history to win six super bowls. i don't knowthat you can beat last year's game with the giantsand new england, but this isin the neighborhood. santonio holmes on the driveafter arizona had taken the lead after they had eraseda 13-point deficit.
[ laughing ] there's thegatorade bath for mike tomlin after the changeof possession. and in his second year,he not only becomes the youngest coachto coach in a super bowl, clearly the youngestto win a super bowl. jon gruden was 39 when he won for tampaagainst oakland back in '02. and santonio holmes from,as he likes to say, and all buckeyes, the ohio state university --
nine catches, 131 yards,and the game-winner. you think that bothof these teams played so well. and the gapbetween winning and losing is the widest gapin sports. but they were so close,and they played so hard. and both teams,when they were down and they kept fightingand coming back. to me, this is the way footballshould be played. this is what the nfl is.
and this is a heavyweightchampionship fight. back and forth. and how manydifferent story lines and twistsdid this one have, and how manydifferent leads could you writeto this game? it was a classic. when santonio holmes had to makethe play, he made it. when ben roethlisberger had tomake the throw, he made it.
they were both perfect.