Steelers make statement with victory
February 2
Pittsburgh Tribune Review columnist John Harris
"A new NFL era has begun.
And it starts with Mike Tomlin.
There's a Hall of Fame quarterback on the horizon.
His name is Ben Roethlisberger.
Please desist with any more comparisons to Tomlin's predecessor. Bill Cowher needed 14 seasons to accomplish what Tomlin has done in only two.
And enough with the what-could-have-beens regarding Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt, the man who might have become Cowher's successor.
Tomlin, 36, became the youngest coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl, as the Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals, 27-23, on Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium in the most miraculous of finishes.
So much for Whisenhunt knowing what's going on in the head of Roethlisberger, his former pupil.
Roethlisberger guided the Steelers on an incredible 78-yard, John Elway-like march, taking possession with 2:37 remaining and capping the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds remaining. The catch thrust Holmes into a MVP Award.
"That's how our season has gone - 60 minutes," Tomlin said later. "It's never pretty, but these guys fight to the end."
Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls at the age of 26, solidifying a reputation as one of the NFL's most clutch players.
Sometime between the end of the NFC Championship Game and the start of the Super Bowl, the Cardinals awoke amid the pomp and circumstance and realized, "Oops, what are we doing here?"
The Cardinals caught a bad case of the jitters.
Yet the Cardinals came to their senses in time to stage a frantic fourth-quarter comeback.
And that only set the stage for the dramatics engineered by Roethlisberger and punctuated by Holmes stunning catch.
"We're going down in history with one of the greatest games ever played in the Super Bowl," Holmes said. "We finished it up the way we needed to and brought another championship back to Pittsburgh.""
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