Super Bowl Recap

Can’t say enough about the character, coaching and big play execution of the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

To bad the pre and post-game analyses seldom match the on field excellence very often witnessed in Super Bowls.

PRE-GAME BLATHER

Why do all the experts so often miss the mark? What made any of them think Edgerrin James would have success running the ball?

Arizona has been one-dimensional on offense all year. Fortunately for the Red Birds, that dimension was in its own twilight zone with Warner giving the league Fitz like no tandem since Montana and Rice.

All it took was LeBeau and the Steeler defense to back off on the gas in the fourth quarter and Warner put his pedal to the medal and damn near crushed the Black and Gold’s Adam’s apple in the process.

95% of the time, Super Bowl teams will find success by doing what they have done all year.

When they don’t, very bad things usually happen.

Great defense?

For three and a half quarters Pittsburgh held Fitzgerald in check. They doubled him off the line and the safety(ies) rotated toward him most of the game.

Then LeBeau almost LeBlows it going into the Cover Two shell that opened the middle up to Warner. That defense is designed to minimize the big play and keep game breakers in front of the safeties. The only weakness is that it leaves the middle seam straining to be ripped apart–especially by seasoned vets like Warner and Fitzgerald.

It’s a perfect example of the Steelers not doing what they did to the passing attacks of Baltimore, the Giants, New England, and Dallas. You don’t play a hybrid attack defense all year, then play a lame Cover 2 in the last quarter of the Super Bowl. Trust who you are or pay a price.

Pittsburgh almost paid it in the divisional round. The previous time Tomlin allowed Lebeau to employ this useless–too often disastrous–defense was during a 35-17 lead over the Chargers. Even with the Steelers rushing only four defenders, Darren Sproles found the same seam Fitzgerald did and scored.

Great offense?

The Cardinals’ first touchdown pass was caught by tight end Ben Patrick in the midst of two defenders. Perfect coverage, brilliant catch.

Warner tossed the second Cardinal TD almost blindly over a blitzing Ryan Clark; Fitzgerald snatched the flying pig out of the stratosphere despite textbook blanket coverage by Ike Taylor. Both player’s 2008 M.O.s.

But as Big Ben had done all year, he led the Steelers on the game winning drive with seconds to go.

When teams are successful in the Super Bowl, they usually make the big plays they’ve been making all year.

The pundits, punjabs, and prognosticators have to fill time on the blogs, so they subject the ignorant public to a tired parade of clichés.

Let’s review, shall we?

“It’s going to be a chess match, Bert.”

(No it ain’t Bert, it’s a frigging football game. There are 11 players, not eight. And any queens are in a very big closet the league wants to keep them in.)

“Defense wins championships, Chuck.”

(Chuck, he’s an idiot. Franco Harris, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, and Bart Starr, along with 35 other OFFENSIVE players, have been named Super Bowl MVP. Great players–and occasionally ordinary ones–make great offensive and defensive plays when those plays need to be made. That more than any other factor, Chuck, wins championships.)

“I just don’t think_____can defend_____; he’s just too good, Dick.”

(Well, Dick, Larry Fitzgerald had one catch and 12 yards in three quarters which probably didn’t have anything to do with the Steeler defense. Perhaps Fitz was busy getting a pedicure?)

Unfortunately, things get even worse during the…

POST GAME CHATTER

I’ll admit upfront, if the Steelers had lost I would have cried vodka-laced tears and the Cardinals would have shot to the top of my revenge list. Today, I might have excoriated LeBeau’s 4th quarter strategy and genuinely marveled at Fitzgerald’s hands and Warner’s execution.

I just don’t understand why, after every momentous sporting event, some know-it-small will say, “this game, Rich, was probably the greatest of all time.”

Well, Rich, the truth is, there have been many memorable Super Bowls, about twice as many mediocre ones, and quite a few that were eminently forgettable. You see, Rich, sports attracts the viewer, on the visceral level, because each game can be seen as a microcosm of individual existence.

Usually we watch talented, hard working people doing something important, contributing to society–we see ourselves that way, Rich–they very often overcome adversity, or even do some great things. At the end of the day, they enjoy the outcome and even if they are disappointed, they go back to work tomorrow and try it again.

Isn’t there a certain nobility and grace in just knowing we can do whatever we choose–and sometimes do it well? Why isn’t it simply good enough to watch two extremely talented, superbly coached teams played hard for 60 minutes?

• February 4, 2009 -- Super Bowl Penalty Flags (6)
• February 1, 2009 -- The Big Question (0)
• February 1, 2009 -- Fierce And Nerdy: Super Bowl Preview (0)
• January 30, 2009 -- Super Bowl 43: Punditry Schmunditry (3)
• February 3, 2009 -- Medi-acrity (11)