In the storied history of the Super Bowl, no quarterback under 24 years old had ever led his team to a victory...until now.
Ben Roethlisberger, the youthful quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a month short of his 24th birthday, helped lead his team to a 21-10 victory over the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks. Although the score would indicate otherwise, the stats were hardly in favor of the Steelers. The game was filled with controversy, lots of huge penalties, and tons of missed opportunities.
The game started out slow, with both opening possessions ending in punts. On the Pittsburgh possession, the team committed two false starts, but would have only one penalty the rest of the game.
Facing third-and-six on the Pittsburgh 41, Matt Hasselbeck of Seattle completed an 18-yard pass down to the 23, only to see the play called back for a holding penalty. The team punted on the drive.
With 2:08 left in the opening quarter, a 16-yard TD pass to Darrell Jackson for Seattle was taken away because Jackson was flagged for offensive pass interference in the end zone. Seattle settled for a 47-yard Josh Brown field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Pittsburgh was out gained 60-7 in the first quarter, and Roethlisberger had only one yard passing. Despite only seven yards, Pittsburgh only trailed by three.
The first play of the second quarter saw the third big play for Seattle that was called back for a penalty. Due to a holding penalty, a huge 34-yard punt return by receiver Peter Warrick to Pittsburgh's 46 was wiped out.
The first big mistake for Pittsburgh came with 10:19 to go in the first half. Roethlisberger was intercepted by safety Michael Boulware, who jumped in the air to make the circus catch at the Seattle 17. Seattle got no points on the following drive, but stopped Pittsburgh's momentum- for a brief time.
With 3:58 to go, Pittsburgh faced a nearly impossible situation: third down and 28 yards to go from Seattle's 40. The safe situation was to get a few yards and put themselves in field goal range. Pittsburgh threw caution to the wind. On what seemed to be a busted play, Roethlisberger scrambled out of the pocket and, making sure not to cross the line of scrimmage, hit Hines Ward for a 37-yard gain down to Seattle's three yard line. Three plays later, Roethlisberger dove in for a one-yard touchdown run. It was ruled a touchdown on the field, and replays proved to be inconclusive. The Steelers held a 7-3 lead two minutes before halftime.
The ensuing possession for Seattle was brimming with mistakes: their 16-yard kickoff return was called back for a holding penalty; two passes to Jackson, including a 40-yarder that would have been a touchdown, were caught out of bounds; and the 54-yard field goal attempt by Brown sailed wide. In one of the lowest scoring first halves in Super Bowl history, the Steelers held a four-point edge.
If any team was going to put momentum in their favor, they would need to come up with a huge play. Leave it to undrafted rookie free-agent signee Willie Parker of Pittsburgh to burst into the spotlight and into the record books. Receiving the handoff at his 25, Parker took off for the longest touchdown run in Super Bowl history, 75 yards, breaking Marcus Allen's record by one yard. Two plays into the second half, the Steelers led 14-3.
Brown failed in an attempt to bring Seattle closer, when he missed a 50-yarder three minutes after Parker's touchdown.
On third-and-six from Seattle's seven and on the verge of a 21-3 advantage with 7:52 to go in the third quarter, Roethlisberger made a critical error. Corner Kelly Herndon of Seattle intercepted a pass and returned it 76 yards to the Pittsburgh 20, marking the longest interception ever in a Super Bowl. Seattle would get its only touchdown of the day on that drive. Hasselbeck completed the TD pass (16 yards) to tight end Jerramy Stevens. With 6:45 to go in the third, Pittsburgh's lead was down to four again (14-10).
With 13 minutes to play in the game, Hasselbeck completed an 18-yard pass to Stevens down to the Pittsburgh one-yard line. The play was called back for a holding penalty, and what would have been first down at the one became first-and-20 at the 28. The next three plays basically summed up the day for Seattle: five-yard loss on a sack; seven-yard run by Shaun Alexander; and an interception that was returned 25 yards, only to be aided by a 15-yard low block penalty against Hasselbeck.
The Steelers would take a 21-10 lead four plays later on a 43-yard touchdown pass that involved three quarterbacks: one current one (Roethlisberger) and two former ones (Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El). Taking the handoff from center, Roethlisberger dropped back to pass, tossed the ball to Randle El, and Randle El threw the TD pass to Ward. Randle El (Indiana) and Ward (Georgia) were both quarterbacks in college, but converted to wide receiver in the pros.
With eight seconds to play, Hasselbeck's pass to Stevens on fourth down at Pittsburgh's 23 was dropped. It was the fourth drop of the game for Stevens, and capped off the ugly day for Seattle. Six times Seattle got to Pittsburgh's 32-yard line or closer, only to come away with a total of ten points.
For Pittsburgh, Ward was named MVP of Super Bowl XL, hauling in five passes for 123 yards and a touchdown; Jerome Bettis, who announced his retirement after the game, rushed 14 times for 43 yards; Roethlisberger completed nine of 21 passes for 123 yards and two interceptions, rushed seven times for 25 yards and a touchdown, and had the lowest passer rating ever (22.6) for a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
For Seattle, Hasselbeck completed 26 of 49 for 273 yards, one touchdown and an interception; regular season MVP Alexander rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries; Stevens caught three for 25 yards and a touchdown.
Seattle became the 13th different team in a row to lose a Super Bowl.
Pittsburgh's Super Bowl win was their fifth in six attempts, and their first since 1979. In seven of the last nine seasons, the Super Bowl has been won by an AFC team (New England-three times; Denver- two times; Baltimore and Pittsburgh each once).
When the playoff brackets became official, it was hard to envision such an illogical end result: the highest ranked playoff team from the NFC, the 15-3 Seattle Seahawks, going against the lowest ranked playoff team from the AFC, the 14-5 Pittsburgh Steelers, for the NFL's biggest prize.
The AFC featured powerhouses across the board; Indianapolis, the #1 seed, started the year 13-0; Denver, the #2 seed, overpowered its opponents en route to a 8-0 home record and a 13-3 overall record; Cincinnati, in its first playoff appearance in 15 years, won the AFC North at 11-5 and had one of the NFL's best offenses and a killer defense that picked off 31 passes and forced 44 turnovers; then you have the fourth-seeded New England Patriots, winners of three of the past four Super Bowls and 10 straight playoff games; who could forget the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were the fifth seed despite a 12-4 record? With all this talent in the conference, the 11-5 Steelers, who snuck into the postseason by winning its last four games, got overlooked and the rest of the AFC paid the price for it. In the NFL, it's not how you start, it's how you finish, and the Steelers have won seven games in a row, including road wins over the three tops seeds in the AFC. No team had ever won over the top three seeds in its conference on the road to make it to a Super Bowl, so Pittsburgh is now in a class by themselves.
The road to Super Bowl glory for the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks was a lot less bumpy. First off, the team finished at 13-3, good enough for the #1 seed and home-field advantage in the playoffs. Seattle was 8-0 at home in the regular season, so this was a huge plus for them. In round one, both lower seeds, the fifth-seeded Carolina Panthers and sixth-seeded Washington Redskins won out over two-seeded New York and three-seeded Tampa Bay, respectively. The final four NFC teams vying for a Super Bowl berth were Seattle, Chicago (the two seed), Carolina and Washington. Seattle's first postseason game was against Washington, and despite MVP runner Shaun Alexander getting knocked out in the first quarter, the team rushed 33 times for 119 yards. When Chicago, the NFL's stingiest defense in 2005, fell to Carolina, they got to play fifth-seed Carolina in a home game for the NFC title. They responded by relying on their ground game again, with 51 carries for 190 yards in a 34-14 rout. The win gave Seattle the first NFC title in its 30-year history.
The Pittsburgh Steelers (14-5): AFC Champion
In 2004, the Steelers lived and died by their power running attack, leading the NFC with over 600 carries, and rushing 63% of the time. The reason they rushed so much was they didn't want the success or failure of the offense to fall on the shoulders of rookie passer Ben Roethlisberger. In 2005, they loosened the reigns, and they owe a large amount of their success to putting their trust in Roethlisberger. He missed a few games to injuries this season, but he went 11-3 in 14 starts this year and is an NFL-best 26-4 over his two-year career. His quarterback skills are very impressive considering the fact that he's one of the youngest NFL starters (23 years old), and should Pittsburgh win Super Bowl XL, he'll be the youngest QB ever to win a title.
Then, there's that vaunted running game, which is one of the most feared in the NFL, boasting three quality runners; Willie Parker, who rushed for over 1000 yards in his first year as a starter; Jerome Bettis, who rushed for over 300 yards and had a team-high six rushing touchdowns; and Duce Staley, who had 148 yards rushing. Roethlisberger is also good at scrambling, rushing for 64 yards and two touchdowns. Bettis is playing in the final game of his 13-year career, and will have a shot at his first championship. Better yet, the game will be in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan.
There are many quality wide outs capable of intimidation. Mainstay Hines Ward, who caught 68 passes for 935 yards and 11 touchdowns; rookie tight end Heath Miller caught 36 passes for 397 yards and six touchdowns; Antwaan Randle-El had 545 yards receiving, 72 yards rushing, 385 return yards and five total touchdowns. Cedrick Wilson had 451 receiving yards.
The Steelers also have a fearsome defense, spear-headed by hard-hitting safety Troy Polamalu (97 tackles, three sacks, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries, one TD; 19 tackles in three playoff games), trash-talking linebacker Joey Porter (72 tackles, 11 sacks, two interceptions, one fumble recovery), linebacker Clark Haggans (75 tackles, nine sacks), and linebacker James Farrior (155 tackles, one sack, one fumble recovery). The defense has allowed only 85 points during the seven-game win streak.
If the Steelers can have a balanced offense, meanwhile creating turnovers and holding the Seahawks to field goals instead of touchdowns, the Steelers should prevail.
The Seattle Seahawks (15-3): NFC Champion
The Seattle Seahawks flew under the radar; after all, four games into the season, they were 2-2. Now, they're winners of 13 of the past 14 games and are the #1 seed from the NFC, but are going against the #6 seed in the AFC as four-point underdogs. Seems strange, doesn't it? Well, Seattle is an underdog for two simple reasons; (1) Pittsburgh is on a roll, having won seven straight, and (2) they've been on the grand stage before, emerging with a win in four of their five Super Bowl appearances. The 2005 Seahawks seem a lot like the 2001 Patriots, who won their final nine games after starting the season 5-5.
The Seahawks have one main headline player on offense, running back Shaun Alexander, who in the regular season and playoffs has 2090 total yards and 30 touchdowns. They also have a lot of young players on offense and defense making their presence known.
Matt Hasselbeck, one of the most underrated quarterbacks, had over 3000 yards passing, 24 TD passes and nine interceptions.
Five receivers had two or more TD catches. Joe Jurevicius had 55 catches for 694 yards and a team-high 10 TD catches. Bobby Engram had 778 yards and three touchdowns. Tight end Jerramy Stevens, who has all but guaranteed a victory for his team, had 45 catches for 554 yards and five touchdowns. Darrell Jackson, a deep threat, had 38 catches for 482 yards and three touchdowns. Up-and-comer D.J. Hackett caught 28 for 400 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson has 228 yards combined in the two playoff games for Seattle, second only to Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers (335 yards).
The defense had an NFL-high 50 sacks. Leading the way for the imposing defense are safety Michael Boulware (73 tackles, two sacks, four interceptions), who is doing great in his second year after being a linebacker in college; linebacker Lofa Tatupu (104 tackles, four sacks, fumble recovery, three interceptions, one touchdown); and defensive tackle Rocky Bernard (52 tackles, eight and a half sacks, two fumble recoveries).
The biggest advantage for the 2005 Seahawks has been their home stadium. In front of their home crowd this year, they're 10-0. Away from home, which they'll be on Sunday, they're 5-3.
How The Game Will Go
"This one's for Jerome!" That will be the Steelers' battle cry, and the will to win for him will carry the team to victory and their fifth Super Bowl title. Both teams will try and establish their running games in order to have lengthy drives that wear out the opposition, but likely only the Steelers will be able to switch between running and passing with ease. When Shaun Alexander rushes for 100 yards or more in a playoff game, Seattle is 1-0. When he doesn't, they're 1-4. Is Seattle wants to win, they'll need to rush Alexander early and often. Pittsburgh knows that, and they'll be geared to stop him. Tight end Jerramy Stevens of Seattle has all but guaranteed victory. On Sunday, Pittsburgh will try and make him eat his words.
Final: Pittsburgh 28, Seattle 24
MVP: Jerome Bettis
Adam Nelson
Adam's articles for past weeks:
"Pittsburgh Upsets Denver For Seventh Straight Win; Wins AFC Title" AFC Championship
"Seattle Rushes 51 Times; Wins NFC Title" NFC Championship
"Alexander Knocked Out; 'Hawks Win Anyway" Divisional Playoffs
"Patriots Score Only Baker's Dozen, Thanks To Plethora Of Turnovers" Divisional Playoffs
"Colts Upset At Home By "The Bus" And "Big Ben"" Divisional Playoffs
"Mr. Smith Going To Washington" Divisional Playoffs
"Redskins Romp To Sixth Win In A Row" Wildcard Playoffs
"Jaguars Offense Frozen In Foxborough" Wildcard Playoffs
"One Manning Wrecked Crew" Wildcard Playoffs
"Carson Collapses Early; Bengals Stumble Late" Wildcard Playoffs
"Coach Vermeil Goes Out In Style" week 17 1/1/06
"It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Teams" week17 1/1/06
"Panthers Throttle Falcons; Secure #5 Seed" week17 1/1/06
"Terrence McGee Sparks Bills In Upset Of Bengals" week16 12/25/05
"Redskins Get Giant Win, But Suffer Giant Loss" week16 12/24/05
"ABC's Monday Night Football Ends In A Rush" week16 12/26/05
"San Diego Sizzles Past Perfect Colts" week15 12/18/05
"Bengals Wrap Up AFC North A Week Before Christmas" week15 12/18/05
"Barber Cuts Up KC For 220 Yards" week15 12/18/05
"How 'Bout Them Cowboys? Bledsoe and Barber Lead Late Rally" week14 12/11/05
"Bears Can't Cut The Mustard At Heinz Field" week14 12/11/05
"Patriots Roll Up 494 Yards, Team-Record 32 First Downs" week14 12/11/05
"Panthers Claw Up Hated Rival" week13 12/4/05
"Rolling Plunder" week13 12/4/05
"Bengals Steal One In Steel City" week13 12/4/05
"Tomlinson Runs Over the Competition" week12 11/27/05
"Over-Enthusiasm, Missed Field Goals Cost Giants" week12 11/27/05
"Boulevard of Broken QB's" week12 11/27/05
"Colts 17th team to go 10-0" week11 11/20/05
"Denver Shuts Down Jets" week11 11/20/05
"Penalties Play Big Factor in Dallas Win" week11 11/20/05
"Many Happy Returns" week10 11/13/05
"Jaguars Score 30 For First Time in 59 Games" week10 11/13/05
"Bears Battle Brutal Breezes And Offense-Deprived 49'ers" week10 11/13/05
"Eagles Falter Without T.O.; Drop Into Last Place" week9 11/6/05
"Chiefs Leap To Victory On Game's Final Play" week9 11/6/05
"Road Warriors" week9 11/6/05
"Bucs Done In By A Kicker" week8 10/30/05
"Houston Gets First Win" week8 10/30/05
"Bruschi Leaves Bills Slightly Chilled" week8 10/30/05
"Tomlinson Swarmed By Eagle Defense" week7 10/23/05
"Vikings Cruise to Much-Needed Win" week7 10/23/05
"Giants Claim Victory in Final Seconds" week7 10/23/05
"Colts Stay Perfect" week6 10/16/05
"Carolina Chalks up Win, Thanks to Unlikely Hero" week6 10/16/05
"Alexander and Seahawks Run Wild, 42-10" week6 10/16/05
"Patriots Prevail" week5 10/9/05
"Pittsburgh Pushes Past Powder-Blues" week5 10/10/05
"Browns Snatch Victory In Closing Minutes" week5 10/9/05
"There's No Place Like Road" week4 10/2/05
"NFL Gets Some International Flavor" week4 10/2/05
"Rams Done In By Lack Of Running Game" week4 10/2/05
"Kickin' It, Philly Style" week3 9/25/05
"Tomlinson Electrifies The Charger Faithful" week3 9/25/05
"Buc-Ing The Trend" week3 9/25/05
"Vikings Plundered by Bengals" week2 9/18/05
"Quoth the Ravens, NeverScore" week2 9/18/05
"Brunell and Moss Lead Redskins Past Cowboys" week2 9/19/05
"A True Fall From Grace" week1 9/11/05
"Parker Helps Steelers Roll, 34-7" week1 9/11/05
"Broncos Busted" week1 9/11/05
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