A short pass to Holmes picked up another first down. He’d go back to Miller on a middle screen for a first down, then Parker ran for nine yards off the right side. He bought just enough time to find Miller for a first down. Ben then went to his classic sandbox play by buying a ton of time and avoiding a sack multiple times. He then went for the long bomb, but defensive back Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie broke up what would have been a touchdown pass. The Cardinals were forced to punt, and Holmes took it back to his own 31.īen started the drive with a 25-yard pass to Holmes. Warner then fumbled an exchange to James, which James recovered for a loss. It was an early sign of a flag-filled game called by referee Terry McAuley’s crew. The Cardinals got a first down on a pass from Warner to Breaston, but then they got called for holding. He made an 18-yard field goal, and the Steelers led, 3-0. With fourth-and-goal from the 1, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin played it safe and called for kicker Jeff Reed. It was originally ruled a touchdown, but the Cardinals challenged it and got it overturned. Parker took it down to the 1, but on third down, Ben got tackled just shy of the goal line. He then hit tight end, Heath Miller, for 21 yards down the middle of the field. Ben found a wide-open Ward for 38 yards on the second play. The Steelers then marched right down the field on the opening drive. It was a new rule that allowed teams to do so starting in this 2008 season. There wasn’t much surprise that the Cardinals came into this game as six-and-half point underdogs to the Steelers.Īrizona became the first team in Super Bowl history to win the opening coin toss and defer their option to the second half. They gave up 426 points, which was worse than all but four teams. Their defense wasn’t all that good, though. They couldn’t run the ball – Edgerrin James led the team with just 514 yards – but their passing offense was on fire. Three Arizona receivers had over 1,000 yards receiving – Larry Fitzgerald with over 1,400 and 12 touchdowns, Anquan Boldin with 11 touchdowns, and Steve Breaston. Quarterback Kurt Warner threw for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns. If you looked at Arizona’s offensive numbers, you’d wonder why they only won nine regular-season games. They beat Atlanta 30-24 in the first round, destroyed #2-seeded Carolina 33-13, and escaped the Eagles 32-25 to reach their first Super Bowl in franchise history. But the Cardinals caught fire at the right time. They wouldn’t have had a winning record if they hadn’t blocked a punt in overtime against Dallas early in the season, or if they hadn’t won their season finale over Seattle. They only barely made the playoffs, winning the NFC West at 9-7 despite losing four of their last six games. On the other side of the ledger were the Arizona Cardinals. So, while the Steelers were lucky in some ways, they were also up there in greatness with any Super Bowl team in the 2000s. Polamalu had seven interceptions during the regular season. LaMarr Woodley joined him with 11 and a half sacks. Linebacker James Harrison was the Defensive Player of the Year with 16 sacks. The Steelers’ only real weakness on offense was their offensive line, but running back Willie Parker still managed to rush for almost 800 yards. Ward caught 81 passes for 1,043 yards and seven touchdowns, with his sidekick Santonio Holmes catching 55 for 821 and five scores.

He was almost impossible to sack, and he’d often buy five or more seconds to wait for someone like receiver Hines Ward to break wide open for a big gain. His numbers didn’t look that impressive, as he threw 15 interceptions, but that’s ignoring everything he did behind center. The Steelers were led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who threw for over 3,300 yards and 17 touchdowns. They were on to their seventh Super Bowl. The Steelers beat Baltimore for the third time, this time 23-14 thanks to a Troy Polamalu pick-six. The Steelers then crushed the Chargers 35-24 in a game that wasn’t really that close, before a rematch against the Ravens. That included a dramatic 13-9 win over Baltimore to put away the AFC North title. Aside from those four losses, the Steelers won 12 games, including a five-game winning streak late in the season. The Steelers lucked out in avoiding all three of them.īut those three losses were all but one of their losses! Their only other loss came to the NFC #1-seeded New York Giants. Then the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Steelers 15-6, lost to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game. The Tennessee Titans beat Pittsburgh 31-14 in the regular season they lost in the divisional round to Baltimore, sending the AFC Championship Game to Pittsburgh instead of Nashville.

Steelers vs cardinals super bowl score