Spring Break
Pro Side: Super Bowl Edition
The best of the week in sports, beyond Storrs
Mike Northup
Issue date: 2/2/09 Section: Sports
Game of the Week: Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23 (Super Bowl XLIII, Sunday) - Three quarters of relatively mundane football (save for James Harrison's 100-yard interception returned for a touchdown) was made up with one of the most exciting finishes in Super Bowl history.
Both teams marched up the field for touchdowns in the game's final three minutes, but ultimately it was the Steelers, winning their second Super Bowl in four years, who got in the finishing blow with Santonio Holmes' incredible six-yard touchdown catch.
Key Performance: Santonio Holmes (Steelers WR, Super Bowl MVP) - Holmes found a way to show up Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald's 127-yard, two-touchdown performance with his own performance on the Steelers' game-winning drive. Holmes had four catches for 76 of his game-high 131 receiving yards and the game-winning score, an acrobatic catch where, in triple coverage, the fully-extended Holmes dragged both toes inbounds before falling out of right side of the endzone with 35 seconds left.
Big Letdown: Arizona Cardinals defense - After Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown catch with 2:37 left, all the Cardinals had to do was keep the Steelers from scoring one last time. Thanks to an offensive holding penalty, the Cardinals had the Steelers backed up to their own 12 yard line with 2:24 left, and had the Steelers at 3rd-and-6 with 1:56 left. Two more stops would have sealed up the game for the Cardinals. Instead, Ben Roethlisberger led a career-defining, game-winning touchdown drive and the rest was history.
Wish We Were There: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla. - Who'd pass up a chance to see one of the more exciting Super Bowl finishes in person?
Number of the Week: 6 - The NFL record for most Super Bowl titles, now owned solely by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Both teams marched up the field for touchdowns in the game's final three minutes, but ultimately it was the Steelers, winning their second Super Bowl in four years, who got in the finishing blow with Santonio Holmes' incredible six-yard touchdown catch.
Key Performance: Santonio Holmes (Steelers WR, Super Bowl MVP) - Holmes found a way to show up Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald's 127-yard, two-touchdown performance with his own performance on the Steelers' game-winning drive. Holmes had four catches for 76 of his game-high 131 receiving yards and the game-winning score, an acrobatic catch where, in triple coverage, the fully-extended Holmes dragged both toes inbounds before falling out of right side of the endzone with 35 seconds left.
Big Letdown: Arizona Cardinals defense - After Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown catch with 2:37 left, all the Cardinals had to do was keep the Steelers from scoring one last time. Thanks to an offensive holding penalty, the Cardinals had the Steelers backed up to their own 12 yard line with 2:24 left, and had the Steelers at 3rd-and-6 with 1:56 left. Two more stops would have sealed up the game for the Cardinals. Instead, Ben Roethlisberger led a career-defining, game-winning touchdown drive and the rest was history.
Wish We Were There: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla. - Who'd pass up a chance to see one of the more exciting Super Bowl finishes in person?
Number of the Week: 6 - The NFL record for most Super Bowl titles, now owned solely by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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