Super Bowl 40

Pre Game

5:05pm

We’re coming to you live from my apartment for Super Bowl 40! They just finished introducing the MVPs from all the previous Super Bowls, and I just got home from reffing a game I didn’t remember I had, but now I’m ready for football. I have a nice Lean Pocket- Chicken Fajita heating in the microwave and will be enjoying some Bud Light during the game (more corporate plugs to come later).

Anyway, here’s how I see the game going down; Pittsburgh will start out slow, make a huge defensive play in the 4th quarter, take a lead, and Fatty McGee will run out the clock. Pittsburgh 24 Seattle 13, Pittsburgh wins its record 5th Super Bowl.

5:09pm

Seattle is introduced, and the best thing about thing about their introduction was “Bittersweet Symphony” by the verve.

(Sorry, my mom called during the pre game here so I had to take a break. Just a note for all of the mothers out there who may read this, call with plenty of time to spare before any game, otherwise the conversation is going to be rushed and neither of you will get much out of it.)

So it’s 5:23pm now and let’s catch up…

I know that Pittsburgh wants to win this game for Jerome Bettis, but if they lose, does that mean that each player is going to tell Jerome they lost it for him? And, since Jerome just sprinted in about 40 yards, don’t expect to see him in the game until the latter part of the second quarter at the earliest. Can we please get the National Anthem singers to just sing the words and not add on any notes while they are singing? That’s nice that Motown was represented in the beginning of the game, but how can the NFL screw up something as easy as having a Motown act perform at halftime of the Super Bowl in Detroit? Why is this allowed to happen? So out of the 52 man roster for the Steelers, how many people weren’t captains, 4, 5, could we get more people out there? Seattle wins the toss thrown by Tom Brady, Pittsburgh still can’t beat him, good thing they self-destructed (and the referees didn’t know simple physics) in Denver. It took Al Michaels approximately 3 minutes to mention Troy Polamalu’s hair; the next count will be when Madden mentions Brett Favre’s name.

5:27pm
15:00 first quarter

Kickoff, and Pittsburgh is hitting hard already.

5:31pm
12:24 first quarter

Seattle’s first drive stalls at the 40 and the punt goes into the end zone for a touchback. They did an okay job moving the ball there, but Hasselbeck became a little wild and the drive ended on a sack. Here come the commercials!

5:37pm
10:10 first quarter

Pittsburgh now has to punt after 2 false start penalties, that isn’t supposed to happen to “home” teams. This game is starting out just as excitingly as Super Bowl 38 and 39; maybe I’ll be asleep by halftime if this keeps up. If I had to put money on it right now, I’d say Seattle will score first, just based on the first drive.

5:45pm
5:48 first quarter

What would have been a first down on 3rd and 6 turns into an almost interception because of a holding call. So far the penalties have played the biggest part in this game, which means it has been boring. Could we be headed straight for a scoreless first quarter? Wouldn’t that be great?

5:51pm
4:01 first quarter

Peter Warrick had a pretty nice return to help set up Seattle at midfield. That’s about the most exciting thing which has happened in this game so far. I am not going to write again until something actually happens, so I may not be back for a while.

5:58pm
:22 first quarter

3-0 Seattle, yeah there was a huge pass interference call, but there wasn’t a score, and the score was only a field goal. Still, nothing really exciting has happened in this game so far. Fox is now running back-to-back 90 minute blocks of the Simpsons and Family Guy, so I may have to mute John and Al occasionally.

6:04pm
End of first quarter

Let me sum it up for everyone, penalties, penalties, more penalties, Roethlisberger being shakey, me yawning, 3-0 Seattle.

6:14pm
12:08 second quarter

Jerome Bettis makes his first appearance in the game and Pittsburgh comes into this quarter looking for their 1st first down and are only the third team in the history of this game to go through the first quarter without a first down. Super job Steelers, super job.

6:16pm
11:12 second qurter

There it is, first time the Steelers have gotten a first down in this game and it come on a great effort by Antwan Randle-El, and Hines Ward then takes a reverse and picks up 16 yards for their 2nd first down. An injury time out leads us to another commercial break, which is slowing down what has to be the fastest first half in Super Bowl history.

6:20pm
10:10 second quarter

Roethisberger under throws a ball horribly leading to a Seattle interception at their own 17, and it looked llike the Steelers were starting to get a little bit of rhythm going.

6:24pm
8:34 second quarter

It’s now 4th and inches from their own 26 and Madden and Michaels are talking about how the Seahawks may go for it and how “easy” it is to say go for it. Really? Up 3-0 it’s easy to say “let’s go for a 4th and inches from our own 26 in the second quarter, basically garaunteeing three points for the other team if we don’t get it?” Really, that’s easy? Also, on the punt, after Randel-El’s hit, it will be amazing to me if he plays again, lower back pain is horrible, and I don’t know how anyone would be able to play football with it.

6:35pm
3:09 second quarter

Time out Pittsburgh, and they have first and goal on the Seattle 3 yard line after a ridiculous scramble and throw by Roethlisberger, I don’t know how he didn’t pass the line of scrimmage, but eventually found Hines Ward down field and Pittsburgh is primed to take the lead right before halftime. Do you think Bettis is going to keep both hands on the ball this time? Me too.

6:37pm
2:00 second quarter

2 minute warning, 3rd and goal now from the 2 yard line, I’d give it to Bettis again, and tell him that if he doesn’t get in, they won’t feed him any food after the game. That would get him motivated to get in the end zone.

6:40pm
1:55 second quarter

Roethlisberger gets in according to the line judge, but after the replay, I don’t know if the ball gets to the line, it looks like it just got there, actually, so it should stand. Michaels mentions that Holmgren should review it, and then quickly realizes it is under 2 minutes so the replay official has to initiate the review, which he does. So, we’ll see what happens, I think it will stand, barely, the ball just touched the line, I think. ABC puts up the stat the Bill Levy, the official has the lowest rate of overturning calls on the field out of any official at 22%, these are things we should always be aware of, and true to form, the call stands. So, it’s 7-3 Steelers, I’m happy because I picked the Steelers, but I’m still down ½ point in my for entertainment purposes only bet.

By the way, Napoleon Dynamite is on right now on HBO West, that’s regular HBO to those on the West Coast.

6:50pm
:48 second quarter

A defensive timeout after an almost touchdown from Hasselbeck to Darrel Jackson, except Jackson’s right foot went out of bounds. If I were Seattle, I’d keep going long, Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to defend the deep ball all game. I’ll just add this here, that was pretty interesting how Seattle ran the ball and then wasted a lot of time at the line on 3rd and 6 to take the clock down to :13 before Pittsburgh called a time out to save them. I don’t know why the Steelers took that timeout, but oh well.

6:53pm
:07 second quarter

Now it’s 4th and 6 and Josh Brown is going to attempt a 54 yard field goal. With 7 seconds, I would have just done for it and thrown it into the end zone. Either way, Pittsburgh gets another shot at a long pass. That was quite peculiar.

6:54pm
Halftime

Everyone enjoy the Rolling Stones at Halftime, only 1 hour and 25 minutes for the first half of the Super Bowl, incredible. I am not going to watch Berman and the gang because I HATE Chris Berman. I’ll be back in 30 minutes when the second half starts.

7:30pm
Start of the third quarter

Funny thing happened, I went to a rock concert and a football game broke out. I thought McCartney was better last year, and U2 is still the best halftime show I have ever seen in Super Bowl 36 in 2002. I did like Jagger's comment about how they could have done this for the first Super Bowl, though. Hey, only 36 minutes after halftime started, we are underway in the second half.

7:32pm
14:38 third quarter very big play by Willie Parker to make it 14-3 Steelers. That is now the longest rushing play in the history of the Super Bowl, 75 yards without being touched, he got a seam and he was gone. Seattle is in trouble if they do not score on this possession. One thing Seattle has going for them is that their return teams are doing very well. They may score on a return before the game is over and I wouldn’t be surprised.

7:41pm
11:40 third quarter

It is officially danger time for the Seahawks. First, the Steelers bust off a 75 yard run to go up 14-3, then they miss a 50 yard field goal, and now Pittsburgh takes over at their own 40. If Pittsburgh scores, it’s over.

7:49pm
7:52 third quarter

Pittsburgh calls their first time out of the second half, and it really didn’t appear to be for any particular reason. Maybe they really want to make sure they have the right play to score on. If the Steelers score a touchdown, it’s over.

7:52pm
7:38 third quarter

That was a horrible throw, badly under thrown, completely terrible effort by Roethlisberger and now Seattle is back in business at the 20 yard line.

7:54pm
6:45 third quarter

Well, 3 plays later, Jarramy Stevens is wide open and catches the ball in the end zone to make it 14-10 Pittsburgh, we have a game, and I am down ½ point again.

8:14pm
End of third quarter

Um, yeah, so I guess it’s a good game and is leading towards a really good ending, but I’m not that into it. It’s like last year’s super bowl so far. Seattle has started this drive on their own 2 and are to midfield now, so they are obviously moving the ball well, we’ll see if it continues and turns into a Seattle lead.

8:22pm
10:46 fourth quarter

Thank you Ike Taylor. Just as Seattle was looking to at least kick a field goal, Hasselbeck throws one up and it is picked off by Pittsburgh. It is critical that Pittsburgh has a good drive, even if they don’t score, they need to take 4-5 minutes off of the clock to keep this momentum going a little bit.

8:27pm
8:56 fourth quarter

Randel-El throws a touchdown to Hines Ward on a great play called by the Steelers. 21-10 right now and Pittsburgh has all of the momentum. This would be a great time for Seattle to have that return I’ve been talking about.

8:33pm
8:26 fourth quarter

Well, I don’t really have to write how important this challenge is, so I won’t. What I will say is that I don’t think the “ground can’t cause a fumble rule” especially in this case, it should have been a fumble. This is for a whole other column, though. The call is overturned, though and Seattle still has a shot in this game.

8:42pm
6:15 fourth quarter

So, Pittsburgh holds Seattle again and are up 11 with the ball right now. It’s 2nd and 12 from their own 18. I wonder if they will throw the ball again in this game? I would just give it to Fatty McGee for the rest of the game and try and hold the lead.

8:46pm
4:34 fourth quarter

At this point I feel comfortable in saying congratulations to your 2006 World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers after a completion and first down for Antwan Randel-El, who is also going to be congratulated as the 2006 Super Bowl MVP.

8:51pm
3:40 fourth quarter

Another first down and this game is now officially over in my book. Seattle can only stop the clock with one more timeout and the two minute warning and they just called a time out.

8:53pm
2:00 warning

Bettis looked like he may have gotten that first down if he hadn’t run into one of his offensive linemen. Now Seattle will get the ball back without the ability to stop the clock, I would go long downfield 4 times in a row, Pittsburgh hasn’t exactly been covering well down the field and you could possibly get a flag, so I say go vertical for the rest of the game, although the Steelers will probably drop more guys back, so that plan probably won’t work.

9:03 pm
End of the game

Well, Pittsburgh wins 21-10, I was a little off, but they won, I won, and hopefully Randel-El is named the MVP. ABC should try and get a camera closer to Cowher’s face. It was an enjoyable time bringing the game to my readers for the third straight year.

I’m not going to write about the post game, but I hope everyone enjoyed it.

Alright, I had to chime back in because Hines Ward won the MVP award with 5 catches 120 some odd yards, and a touchdown, but I still think Randel-El had more to do with the win than Ward. He had some nice returns and had the throw to Ward that really put the game away. Sure, Ward had a 16 yard run, the touchdown, and the catch on 3rd down after Roethlisberger's scramble that set up the first touchdown, but, Randel-El had some nice cathces as well and also had the big catch late in the fourth the extend the drive. I would have voted for Randel-El.

(It's now 11:02pm right now and I just looked at the stats from the game... and based on the stats, Ward was the correct choice for MVP.)

-Until next time…