Were the two TD drives by the Cardinals in the 4th Quarter enough to cement Kurt Warner as a HOF QB, in spite of the fact that they lost?

Up 'til that point, I'd say he had lost some of his HOF luster/cache'. But after the last score, he was looking like he belongs.

P.S. My rooting interest here is pretty thin. I'm still pissed off the Rams left the Coliseum...but since Warner came of age with a team named the Rams, and did so in a city that once housed the Cardinals, he kind of seems interesting to me.

The Steelers deserved the win, but...when I look at the Card's last play, I see Warner's arm going forward with the ball. I'm puzzled that everyone else seems to see it the other way. I wonder why there was no booth review of this play.

The Steelers got their sixth ring and won this one in a convincing fashion (as opposed to that duck of a game in Detroit, where it came down to which team played worse rather than which played better). The Cardinals played a historic franchise to within an inch of their life and almost pulled off an all time upset. If there was any doubt that they are a legitimate team, it's gone now - anyone who knows anything about football knows that when a game is that close, the ending pretty much comes down to luck (in this case, Harrison's lucky interception & return for the touchdown). Also a great game for the viewers - couldn't have asked for a more thrilling ending.

I was surprised that last fumble by Warner wasn't reviewed - I felt like it probably would have been upheld as a fumble, and even if not the odds were pretty good that Arizona still would have lost, but as a Steeler's fan I would have preferred to see it reviewed, just to remove all doubt that some kind of fix was in (I got sick and tired of hearing that after the game in Detroit). Considering how many critical penalties went against Pittsburgh during the 4th quarter, I don't think anyone can say the refs were biased, but I guess you can still say they were incompetent.

Finally - what is up with holding in the end zone leading to a safety? Is there any other penalty in the game that leads to an automatic score? I see the justification (I played offensive line at one point in my life, I know how tempting it is to hold when you're overmatched), but still...if that's a safety, then why isn't defensive pass interference in the end zone a touchdown? Just set the ball up on the one-inch line after a holding in the end zone penalty - that should serve as deterrent enough.

In his 3 Super Bowls Warner has the 3 highest individual passing yardage totals in Super Bowl history, averaging 384 yards in the 3 games. Yet his team have scored a grand total of 63 points. Minus the defensive safety score last night we get 61. And counting the intereception return for a TD in the 20-17 loss to the Patriots, and the int-TD in the 27-23 loss to the Steelers there are offensive touchdowns being erased. In yesterdays case, not only an offensive touchdown that was scored being negated, but almost another sure 3 or 7 points they would have had from the opponent 1 yard line, instead of the 7 given up. So the two pick-sixes make it 61 minus 14 for 47 net points in the 3 Super Bowls or 15.67 points per game. That's with 1,153 total yards passing---414, 362, and 377.

just want to point out that i called the spread, if not the score, in your last column. but i never expected a game like this!

imagine what might've been had the steelers not scored that strange touchdown at the end of the 1st half -- that's a minimum 10-pt, potentially 14-pt swing. the cards actually outplayed the steelers badly on offense.

and warner for the HOF? why not. he's done everything humanly possible in the three superbowls he's played in. all three have been classics. i say let him in.

What, nothing about James Harrison holding an opposing player down and punching him in the back, all 25 yards from the ball, and being penalized a grand total of 8 inches for it? He figured out how to have a consequence-free personal foul. Shoulda been thrown out of the game for that.

If Arizona Wins Or loses By Less Than 10

I'll commit Hari-kari, tape it, and send it in to the Salon Video thread.

-- The Notorious W.E.S.

When will I learn to bet against every prediction Wes makes?

There was a booth review. It happend real quick but Al Michaels announced it that call came from upstairs that the play stood as called on the field.

The way I saw it, was Warner's arm was going forward, Woodley caught it and pulled it back, and then what looked like Warner's arm going forward again, was merely Warner trying to free his arm from Woodley. It looked that way to me because Warner's arm goes forward and down and then inward as if he's trying to shrug Woodley off as opposed to passing.

The interception return for a td is the reason the Steelers won. How do you not throw a jump ball to Fitzgerald in the back corner in that situation. Trying to squeeze in a low pass into traffic right at the goal line is just asking for exactly what happened. Warner's great play helped keep them in the game, but that bad decision is what cost them the game.

I was actually rooting for the Steelers this game, but the horrible refereeing changed my tune.

How can you write a recap without mentioning the most egregious bad calls of the game?

- The called "roughing the passer" against the Cards on a play that happens all the time in touch football?

- The unnecessary roughness on the field goal that was clearly not unnecessary roughness? (taking at least 2 minutes off the clock?)

- The no call illegal celebration penalty on the Steelers touchdown (when Bodin used the ball as a prop to imitate Lebron James's "chalk move")?

The Play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYDVUu1VjrY (see time 2:12)

The Chalk Move

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SiQKxja79M

- Or the lack of booth review on the game winning play?

Without those BS penalties the Cardinals would have had the ball on the Steelers 15 (after assessing the illegal celebration on the kickoff) with 2 minutes at 5 seconds left.

Hardly unwinnable.

What a great game, it's a shame we have to wonder what would have happened because of bad reffing.

BTW @cestmoi123 - completely agree. That jerk needed to be kicked out.