Tuesday Morning Running Back Super Bowl Editon: Super Steelers Win Their Sixth

It was deja vu all over again.

Other writers, both on this website and in newspapers have chosen to take several angles to explain why the Cardinals lost the game.

Some say the penalties killed them, others thought their defense was too worn out by the time the Steelers got the ball back to stop them from scoring on the final drive.

I am choosing to take two angles that few have taken. They has a little something to do with recent history regarding the Super Bowl, and the defensive genius on the Pittsburgh sideline.

First, if this decade's Super Bowls have taught us anything it's that if you give a quarterback enough time to win the game, he will most certainly come through.

We've seen Tom Brady do it twice, and Eli Manning victimize Brady's team last year with a last-second touchdown pass.

So if anything, the Cardinals did not play conservatively enough on their final drive and left enough time on the clock for big Ben Roethlisberger to work his magic.

Now, that doesn't mean that I blame Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley for going for the gutso when he had a wide open Larry Fitzgerald over the middle.

But somehow I can't help but think that Steelers defensive guru Dick LeBeau, who had assigned a safety to cover Fitzgerald all day, intentionally left him open to ensure that his team would get the ball back.

Even so, Haley could have been a bit more conservative by calling a couple more running plays and then going for the the big pass.

But maybe the seam left open over the middle was too enticing for Haley to pass up at that time.

Or maybe it was the product of a brilliant scheme by Dick LeBeau to give the Cardinals a touchdown, and entrust his offense to bring home the game. After all, he didn't coordinate the best defensive unit in the NFL or last 50 years in the game for nothing.

And so, Todd Haley's conservative approach, and Dick Lebeau's defensive wizardry, led to a familiar ending and gave the Steelers their record 6th Super Bowl title.

Now for some idle thoughts regarding the game, the broadcast, and the halftime show.

• Memo to NBC: Too many pre-game analysts means two many short statements. By the time Chris Collinsworth made his point, I had totally forgotten what Matt Millen had said.
• Speaking of Millen, I do think he's an honest and savvy broadcaster. I grew up with him and Howard David doing the radio Broadcast of Monday Night Football, and miss them both terribly. However, his sabbatical away from the booth as GM of the Lions ruined his credibility as an analyst, so he really should not have been there.
• If I had to pick which former coach gets a job with NBC next season it would be Mike Holmgren. Tony Dungy was a little too dry for my taste.
• Kudos to Jennifer Hudson. Even though she lip-synched the national anthem, it still took a lot of courage for her to do what she did considering the tragedy she went through.
•  Kudos should also go to the NFL for honoring Captain Sully and his courageous crew, a group of true American heroes.
• You would have thought that the way Ben Roethlisberger came out throwing the ball, it was going to be a long day for the Cardinals.
• Ken Whisenhunt proved he was gutsy by challenging the Steelers first touchdown. Had he lost, the Cardinals would have definitely been out of the game early.
• You've got to love the game James Harrison had. At first, he was a hero, lumbering 100 yards for a touchdown when had happened to be in the right place at the right time at the end of the first half. On the other hand, he could have been the goat for taking an unnecessary roughness penalty late in the game that led to the Cardinal's go-ahead touchdown. I personally think that he should have been ejected from the game for his actions, but it all worked out.
•  Another potential goat could have been the Cardinals Mike Gandy. How do you get whistled for three penalties in one game?
• Let me preface this by saying I am in no way a fan of Bruce Springsteen, but boy does he know how to put on a show! That was the best halftime show I've ever seen.
• The no huddle offense is a surefire way to fix any offensive problems, it certainly worked for the Cardinals in the second half.
• For the amount of penalties the Cardinals received on Sunday, I half-expected the color of the flag to turn from yellow to red.
• Credit Cardinal defensive tackle Gabe Watson for stopping Roethlisberger on the 2-yard-line and forcing the Steelers to settle for another field goal. He kept his team in the game for that.
• The commercials this year were very good and taught me a lot of lessons. Among the things I learned were never keep an ostrich as a pet, never throw a crystal ball at your boss, be sure to send those talking flowers from the Teleflora ad to your ex-girlfriend, and Conan O'Brien is a stud in Sweden.
• One more thing on the ads, I think I'm in for a change because no one respects me, and I sit next to the half-naked guy in the Career Builder ad in one of my classes.
• Santonio Holmes's catch was as  beautiful an acrobatic catch as you'll ever see. I'd bet the image is going to go on a lot of walls in downtown Pittsburgh. He also helped win the game.
  
• The bottom line here is that the Steelers were able to control the clock, and tire out the Cardinals defense, that's why they won the game.
• I know the loss hurts for most Cardinals fans, but it could get even worse, with Kurt Warner contemplating retirement, and Todd Haley likely going to be the next head coach of the Chiefs. Pray that it doesn't happen.
• As a Patriots fan, I should be angry that one of my team's hated rivals won the game, but I must say that the entire Steeler organization handled themselves with class and dignity, and they deserved to win. All I can do is tip my cap to them.
• And so ends another NFL season and the second year of Tuesday Morning Running Back. In closing, I would like to make a few acknowledgements.
• To my Dad, thanks for your support, and I hope the fireworks in Pittsburgh didn't scare you the other night.
• To Ryan Droege, Gem Jefferson, and all my regular editors, I'm grateful that you took the time to read, but even more grateful that you took the time to edit and make these columns the best they can be.
• To Ron and Josh Mailoux, my new biggest fans. I will write professionally someday and my brother is lucky to have such great in-laws as you.
• To NBC's Football Night in America thanks for providing me with the highlights so I didn't have to rely on newspaper accounts of the games. And whoever invented the DVR, thank you too.
• To my brother Devin, I didn't try to beat up on the Redskins every weeks, but you always made me feel guilty when I did.
• To Johnny Mathis and his fans, it was nothing personal, may you sell out and support every concert from now on.
• To my Facebook friends, thank you for your support and friendship.
• Lastly, thank you to the fans and community of Bleacher Report, It was worth moving this column over from Blogger because I tripled my audience and gained a fanbase from all over the country. May this website thrive for years to come.
• Look for me to write a lot on baseball in the upcoming months. Have a nice offseason, and I'll see you in September!