Are the Steelers the luckiest team ever?

They were certainly outplayed and still won. If not for that stupid interception before the end of the first half, the game goes to AZ. It also appeared they owned the zebras as well, picking up over 50 yards in penalties on one drive alone. Yes, most of the calls were legit, but you can call holding on nearly any play, and they weren't calling it much against Pittsburgh. When Fitzgerald scored the go-ahead TD, I knew it was too soon as there was over 2 minutes remaining, and my instincts were correct.

The Cardinals should have won this one. Period.

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Originally Posted by Swish

They were certainly outplayed and still won. If not for that stupid interception before the end of the first half, the game goes to AZ. It also appeared they owned the zebras as well, picking up over 50 yards in penalties on one drive alone. Yes, most of the calls were legit, but you can call holding on nearly any play, and they weren't calling it much against Pittsburgh. When Fitzgerald scored the go-ahead TD, I knew it was too soon as there was over 2 minutes remaining, and my instincts were correct.

The Cardinals should have won this one. Period.

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Muckety muck muck Iggles muck no muckety muck good muckety muck muck muck...< sob >

...at least the Flyers looked good against a powerhouse Blues team.

Yes they are. I know this sounds like sour grapes, but save for one Super Bowl game, they have been the darlings of the officials in their entire post season history - the immaculate reception was the beginning. They had advanced to at least two other SBs via controversial, dubious officiating (against Denver and Houston) back in the '70s. And of course there's that Seahawks game. Yes, there was that Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions about ten years ago, where the refs screwed up the coin toss in overtime, but by and large, the Steelers seem to get the calls, or non-calls, when it benfits them most. And they do seem to get the lucky bounces as well. Its the third Super Bowl in which they were out played and still came out on top, but if AZ comes up with just one stop on Pittsburg's last drive.... I knew AZ scored too soon as well. If any team was going to be lucky enough to do it, its Pittsburg.

Yes, that interception at the end of the first half was flukey, but it was a well designed defensive scheme, and it fooled Warner. Its boneheaded plays like this that gave the Cardinals their 9-7 regular season record, and its plays like this that keeps doubts about Warner alive.

The Cardinals played much better than that against better teams in the playoffs, but then again, this is the same team that got blown out of 4 or 5 games this year. They did at least give Pittsburg all they could handle, and stayed in the game when it started to look hopeless, when they usually folded like a cheap tent in the regular season. Put AZ in any other division this year and they don't even make the playoffs. They barely won their own pathetic division, and they got beat by nearly every decent team they played against this year, save for the playoffs.

It was at least, an entertaining Super Bowl. The halftime show was vintage Springsteen, and I do mean vintage...boy did he and the E-St Band look old. I'd love to see an act that was more vital, more modern and relevent, but if it isn't someone like the Stones or Springsteen, its going to be someone like Aguillera, Spears or Beyonce and the like, or worse yet, the Jonas Bros or some American Idol act. It will never be someone like Modest Mouse or Wilco. Its just a matter of time until these '70s/'80s AOR acts are too old to perform. I'm sure we'll start seeing country acts pretty soon.

PS - I wonder how much Springsteen got payed for his Disneyland shout out, considering he's sooo blue collar and anti-corporate :nonod:

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Originally Posted by 3-LockBox

Yes they are. I know this sounds like sour grapes, but save for one Super Bowl game, they have been the darlings of the officials in their entire post season history - the immaculate reception was the beginning. They had advanced to at least two other SBs via controversial, dubious officiating (against Denver and Houston) back in the '70s. And of course there's that Seahawks game. Yes, there was that Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions about ten years ago, where the refs screwed up the coin toss in overtime, but by and large, the Steelers seem to get the calls, or non-calls, when it benfits them most. And they do seem to get the lucky bounces as well. Its the third Super Bowl in which they were out played and still came out on top, but if AZ comes up with just one stop on Pittsburg's last drive.... I knew AZ scored too soon as well. If any team was going to be lucky enough to do it, its Pittsburg.

Yes, that interception at the end of the first half was flukey, but it was a well designed defensive scheme, and it fooled Warner. Its boneheaded plays like this that gave the Cardinals their 9-7 regular season record, and its plays like this that keeps doubts about Warner alive.

The Cardinals played much better than that against better teams in the playoffs, but then again, this is the same team that got blown out of 4 or 5 games this year. They did at least give Pittsburg all they could handle, and stayed in the game when it started to look hopeless, when they usually folded like a cheap tent in the regular season. Put AZ in any other division this year and they don't even make the playoffs. They barely won their own pathetic division, and they got beat by nearly every decent team they played against this year, save for the playoffs.

It was at least, an entertaining Super Bowl. The halftime show was vintage Springsteen, and I do mean vintage...boy did he and the E-St Band look old. I'd love to see an act that was more vital, more modern and relevent, but if it isn't someone like the Stones or Springsteen, its going to be someone like Aguillera, Spears or Beyonce and the like, or worse yet, the Jonas Bros or some American Idol act. It will never be someone like Modest Mouse or Wilco. Its just a matter of time until these '70s/'80s AOR acts are too old to perform. I'm sure we'll start seeing country acts pretty soon.

PS - I wonder how much Springsteen got payed for his Disneyland shout out, considering he's sooo blue collar and anti-corporate :nonod:

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Springsteen is so off-putting to me at this point, that I avoid him like the plague.

I'm not saying the INT and 100 return wasn't a great defensive play, just that it was the least likely outcome of a team having a first and goal at the one or whatever. You can pretty much mark it up as a TD or a FG at the very least. Turnovers do happen in the red zone, but to be returned for a TD with no time left on the clock? Gimme a break!

The Cards, as I mentioned, outplayed the Steelers (400+ net yards versus about 300 yards), and they even had a better rushing attack if you can believe it, although neither team ran very well.

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Originally Posted by bobsticks

...at least the Flyers looked good against a powerhouse Blues team.

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...can bite me! :ciappa:

and why oh why did the Cardinals take so long to go to the no-huddle, and then not stick with the no-huddle when it was working so well form them. They are built for that style of offense, Warner thrives in it, and a team like Pittsburg, whose defense relies on situational substitution, can look rather mediocre against it. In that last AZ drive of the first half, they used it, with great success, and then Pittsburg called a time out. Warner shoulda known that the Steelers were going to show one thing and do another...it was a bush league mistake on Warner's part.

Pittsburgh got lucky for sure...but I just don't care enough to complain about it.

Honestly, the Cards should have been in a position to withstand a few big unlucky plays, but instead they contributed to them happening so I guess they engineered their own demise. But they covered so yaaayy. :)

Take away the stats - it wasn't like one team really outplayed the other. I never got the sense that Arizona was a real threat to win until Fitzgerald's TD, and pretty much everyone at our party looked at the clock and just accepted that Pittsburgh was at least sending it to OT with the time that was left. It felt like it was Pittsburgh's game all night.

Wonder what the Cardinals were wearing for cleats, a lot of DB's lost their footing it seemed.

Madden has got to go.

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Originally Posted by kexodusc

Pittsburgh got lucky for sure...but I just don't care enough to complain about it.

Honestly, the Cards should have been in a position to withstand a few big unlucky plays, but instead they contributed to them happening so I guess they engineered their own demise. But they covered so yaaayy. :)

Take away the stats - it wasn't like one team really outplayed the other. I never got the sense that Arizona was a real threat to win until Fitzgerald's TD, and pretty much everyone at our party looked at the clock and just accepted that Pittsburgh was at least sending it to OT with the time that was left. It felt like it was Pittsburgh's game all night.

Wonder what the Cardinals were wearing for cleats, a lot of DB's lost their footing it seemed.

Madden has got to go.

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...but my complaints about him usually fall on deaf ears. He repeats himself over and over and treats the viewers as though they/we know nothing about football. The only announcer worse than him is Brent Musberger. Every time he says 'folks' I want to lunge at the TV screen.

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Originally Posted by Swish

...but my complaints about him usually fall on deaf ears. He repeats himself over and over and treats the viewers as though they/we know nothing about football. The only announcer worse than him is Brent Musberger. Every time he says 'folks' I want to lunge at the TV screen.

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I can put up with Brent, but Madden has got to go. For years he's been telling us things like, "This is the perfect down to run it up the middle. If they do anything other than run it up the middle then they don't know football." (they run it up the middle for no gain) "I knew they should have thrown the ball. See this? BAM! That means the receiver is going to be in man-to-man coverage and will be open. etc etc etc...." FRICKIN' JERK!

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Originally Posted by kexodusc

Wonder what the Cardinals were wearing for cleats, a lot of DB's lost their footing it seemed.

Madden has got to go.

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I saw that too, and wondered why they couldn't keep their feet under them. Saw both running backs slip as well.

As for Madden, I'm niether here nor there, but who's better? Not that many of them are great and all are full of cliches. And I want to know who the hell thinks we need to hear anything Matt Millen has to say. He was a poor man's Madden when he was a color commentator, and he was a joke as GM. What's NBC thinking?

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Originally Posted by Swish

...but my complaints about him usually fall on deaf ears. He repeats himself over and over and treats the viewers as though they/we know nothing about football. The only announcer worse than him is Brent Musberger. Every time he says 'folks' I want to lunge at the TV screen.

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Well then you need to kick those guys in the nuts. He rambles on incoherrently about the most obvious observations.

This guy is epic stupid at times. I think he's just old and losing his faculties so I'll cut him some slack as a human being, but as a broadcaster he's retarded.

One play this year he was talking about some player who wore glasses and said "now here's a guy that wears glasses, and you have to understand - he wears them so he can see better". He said it like he was cracking the Da Vinci Code or something for us.

NO ****! Why else would he wear them? To look European?

Some other favs of mine...


"When you lose your best cornerback and your punt returner, I'd say that's a double loss."

"The team that scores more points than the other team usually wins."



I can save NBC hundreds of thousands by saying more profound and interesting things for a mere half of his pay...

Y'know...the Cardinals got conservative, the way teams do. They brought the pressure and it worked. On the last drive, they played it conservative...trying not to give up the big play. You gotta dance with them what brung you.

Are the Steelers the luckiest team ever?

Yes. There is no god.

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Originally Posted by Swish

...can bite me! :ciappa:

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I would imagine you'll be saying that again around Cup time...or maybe several weeks before.

Lucky doesn't win the Super Bowl for you six times....................

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Originally Posted by jvc

Lucky doesn't win the Super Bowl for you six times....................

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Sorry, too many questionable calls and fluke plays, in the last 2 SBs, especially.

How do you win 6 superbowels with lackluster sad sacks like Bradshaw and Ben R throwing for you? Luck, baby, luck.

And yeah, Madden is beyond done for me too. He's a parody of himself.

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Originally Posted by jvc

Lucky doesn't win the Super Bowl for you six times....................

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Lucky won them 2 of 6. In the first 4 they were just good.

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

Lucky won them 2 of 6. In the first 4 they were just good.

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Like I stated earlier, dubious officiating got them into two AFC title games. Besides the immaculate reseption (which only lead to an AFC appearence), they shoulda lost to the Oilers in the 1980 AFC Championship - as per Wiki:

With the Steelers leading 17-10, the controversial play occurred during the last seconds of the third quarter after the Oilers advanced to the Pittsburgh 6-yard line. Quarterback Dan Pastorini threw a pass to Mike Renfro at the back of the end zone, and Renfro appeared to have caught it for a touchdown with both feet in bounds before he fell out of the end zone. However, the officials ruled the pass incomplete, saying that he did not have complete control of the ball before going out of bounds. The Houston Oilers then had to settle for a 23-yard field goal.

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Originally Posted by 3-LockBox

Like I stated earlier, dubious officiating got them into two AFC title games. Besides the immaculate reseption (which only lead to an AFC appearence), they shoulda lost to the Oilers in the 1980 AFC Championship - as per Wiki:

With the Steelers leading 17-10, the controversial play occurred during the last seconds of the third quarter after the Oilers advanced to the Pittsburgh 6-yard line. Quarterback Dan Pastorini threw a pass to Mike Renfro at the back of the end zone, and Renfro appeared to have caught it for a touchdown with both feet in bounds before he fell out of the end zone. However, the officials ruled the pass incomplete, saying that he did not have complete control of the ball before going out of bounds. The Houston Oilers then had to settle for a 23-yard field goal.

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That quote doesn't tell me the Steelers should've lost. It tells me the Oilers didn't quite get it done.

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

That quote doesn't tell me the Steelers should've lost. It tells me the Oilers didn't quite get it done.

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It illustrates a bias in favor of the Steelers that's been there since the '70s. It existed for Dallas as well. In order to beat either of these teams, especially in the post season, you had to beat them by a wide margin, because if it was close, they'd most likely have the favorable ofiiciating down the stretch. The Steelers have certainly put talented players on the field throughout the last few decades, but since watching them as kid, I've envied the officiating they seem to enjoy in big games.

I saw the game but I don't remember it. I come from a family of Oilers fans. I'll have to ask the old-timers in the family about that play. Come to think of it...I'm sure I know what they'll have to say.

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

Lucky won them 2 of 6. In the first 4 they were just good.

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Don't kid yourself. They were lucky in a couple of those first 4 as well.

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Originally Posted by GMichael

Don't kid yourself. They were lucky in a couple of those first 4 as well.

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Looks like I'm outnumbered. :yesnod: You can go back through the big games and find lucky breaks for all the great teams, though. Luck or not, the Steelers put on an fairly impressive display in the 70's.

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

That quote doesn't tell me the Steelers should've lost. It tells me the Oilers didn't quite get it done.

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That game (and play, specifically) is often cited as the reason instant replay was finally implemented, years later.

Hey, kex, do ya think Musberger and the last prez are kin?

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Originally Posted by Troy

That game (and play, specifically) is often cited as the reason instant replay was finally implemented, years later.

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You're right.

I know there are other, earlier instances where replay came, but that game (and specifically that play) was the first time the media at large dove headlong into the discussion.

Just so as to not completely blame Pittsburg, there was a game in the mid-to-late '70s, where the (then) St.Louis Cardinals were playing Dallas (at Texas Stadium) and the game, and ultimately the Cardinals' season, came down to a third down play in which the Cards tried a run for the first down and when the pile was seperated, the refs huddled, then determined that the ball be placed in a manner that reflected the way the holder was carrying it (their explanation later), and that was sideways...yes, the refs actually placed the ball with it pointy ends sideline to sideline, instead of the way its normally spotted, where the ball came up a couple of inches short of a first down. The Cards were trying get within fieldgoal range to win the game. The Cards were enraged, and instantly flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. It was fourth down and they had to punt. The loss factored in knocking the Cards out of contention for the playoffs because of a tie-breaker for wild card (with Washington). The Cards finished the season 10-4 (Dallas was 11-3 and was Division champs).

And while Michael Vick is reviled for his involvment in dog fighting, Miami, Dallas, Oakland, and Pittsburg were known to use tackling bags full of live kittens and puppies.

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Originally Posted by 3-LockBox

And while Michael Vick is reviled for his involvment in dog fighting, Miami, Dallas, Oakland, and Pittsburg were known to use tackling bags full of live kittens and puppies.

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As much as I hate Dallas, Oakland, and Sh<a>ittsburgh, I don't believe that ever happened. This is the first I'm hearing it too, so I'm wondering where the heck you heard something this despicable? Please tell me you were joking.

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Originally Posted by Swish

As much as I hate Dallas, Oakland, and Sh<a>ittsburgh, I don't believe that ever happened. This is the first I'm hearing it too, so I'm wondering where the heck you heard something this despicable? Please tell me you were joking.

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They used to drink the blood of virgins too.

1. Why weren't the steelers penalized 15 yards on the kick off after the holmes touchdown? Holmes clearly used the ball as a prop after the score.

2. why wasnt the very last play of the game reviewed? Warner's arm was clearly going forward, should have been an incomplete pass.

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Originally Posted by Swish

Please tell me you were joking

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notice the lack of any emoticon?

I am COMPLETELY SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Duds

1. Why weren't the steelers penalized 15 yards on the kick off after the holmes touchdown? Holmes clearly used the ball as a prop after the score.

2. why wasnt the very last play of the game reviewed? Warner's arm was clearly going forward, should have been an incomplete pass.

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1. Yes
and
2. Yes.

Especially 2 - though I'm not quite as sure that his arm was going forward - still a review was definitely called for. Imagine if they reverse the call and with the objectionable conduct penalty (someone on the Steelers removed his helmet) of 15 yards, that puts the ball on the Steelers 30 with 7-seconds. Could have been very interesting.

And regarding your first point - the Steelers would have been kicking off from the 20 for that last series.

Damn, I hate when the refs screw with the outcome of a game.

Just saw this morning that an NFL representative came out and said Holmes should have been penalized....lot of good it does now.

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Originally Posted by Ex Lion Tamer

1. Yes
and
2. Yes.

Especially 2 - though I'm not quite as sure that his arm was going forward - still a review was definitely called for. Imagine if they reverse the call and with the objectionable conduct penalty (someone on the Steelers removed his helmet) of 15 yards, that puts the ball on the Steelers 30 with 7-seconds. Could have been very interesting.

And regarding your first point - the Steelers would have been kicking off from the 20 for that last series.

Damn, I hate when the refs screw with the outcome of a game.

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