The Stairway to Seven
As they face off against the Tennessee Titans tonight, the Steelers embark on an NFL record 6th title defense. To kick things off, I’m reliving the 7 best moments of last season and adding in some predictions for the rest of the year.
Playoff Predictions
Last season I was 7/12 in predicting the playoff teams. You can read last season’s AFC predictions and NFC predictions if you want to verify that stat. Here are my playoff predictions for 2009:
AFC Division Winners
- Steelers
- Jaguars
- Chargers
- Patriots
AFC Wildcard
- Ravens
- Jets
NFC Division Winners
- Packers
- Saints
- 49ers
- Eagles
NFC Wildcard
- Redskins
- Bears
The 7 Best Moments of the 2008 Steelers
7. Roethlisberger to Santonio Against the Titans
This one is a sentimental pick. I had a somewhat large group of people over to watch this game, and during it there were many arguments concerning Roethlisberger as one of the league’s best quarterbacks. This play sparked controversy because those against Roethlisberger (surprisingly many for a group watching in Pittsburgh) said that the throw was terrible and Holmes made a great catch. Are they letting blind hatred for Big Ben cloud their speech? Is Roethlisberger one of the league’s top 3 quarterbacks? Is it still a fantastic catch? Absolutely.
6. Townsend’s Pick 6 to Beat the ‘Boys
I actually know Dallas fans who think Romo is a better quarterback than Roethlisberger. Ben has more rings than Romo has playoff victories, so let’s not get too carried away.
5. Holmes’ Playoff Punt Return
I absolutely love the punter’s stat at the beginning of this clip. I was in the kitchen getting the nacho cheese that had just finished cooking when I hear my roommate Jesse start screaming. I throw the cheese on the counter and jump the couch to start jumping up and down with him in excitement and anticipation. After Santonio scored the touch I am pretty sure we annihilated the nachos in celebration.
4. Polamalu’s Playoff Pick 6
“Watch out. Ed Reed is hungry.” – John, a friend of mine (who happens to be a Patriots fan) speaking before the AFC Championship. In the battle of the league’s two best safeties, I think this round had a clear winner.
3. Polamalu’s One-Handed Interception
Where does this fit into the most athletic plays in NFL history? Top 25? Top 10? Polamalu’s fingertip interception is just incredible.
2. Roethlisberger to Holmes for Super Bowl XLIII
When this happened real time I think I cried. Then I screamed at the pitch of an 12-year-old female soprano along with several other fully-grown men and women. I am having trouble even thinking about the next part of this article to write (Gasp! He writes out of order!) because I cannot get the grin induced by this clip off my face.
1. The Single Greatest Play in Super Bowl History
Easily contends for my all-time favorite piece of video. And please hear me, I love the Roethlisberger to Santonio touchdown catch. It capped off one of the great Super Bowl drives in history, and that is without getting into the triple-coverage-beating perfect pass and toe-tapping, jaw-dropping catch that inspired this run-on, hyphen-happy sentence. However, we will see game-winning touchdown drives again. Super Bowl XLIII will not be the last time someone wins with a late touchdown pass.
We will never see anything, anything, like what James Harrision accomplished on February 1, 2009 at Raymond James Stadium. A 6 foot, 242 pound linebacker intercepting the ball in the end zone and taking it back 100 yards for a touchdown with no time left in the half in a game decided by 4 points? The interception alone stopped the Cardinals from going into halftime with the lead. Adding on a touchdown is not only implausible considering the circumstances, it defies all reason. One could argue it was just as important as the final game-winning drive, because without Harrison the drive cannot happen. This play will go down as one of the greatest feats in the history of the Super Bowl, and for my money it is number 1.
If you are not excited for the 2009 Steelers at this point (which, based on these clips, is impossible) let me bring up a few points. The Steelers are returning 9 of 11 starters on an all-time defense still coached by Dick LeBeau. Their first round pick running back and second round receiver from two drafts back are ready to contribute on the offensive side of the ball. Their quarterback has the record for most wins in his first five seasons as a starter, and already has two Super Bowl rings (and somehow, is still trying to silence doubters). Two words: Mike. Tomlin. Sadly the Steelers are also bringing back the exact same offensive line. Regardless, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for this year. And no matter what happens I am going to cheer my heart out and wave my Terrible Towel like it’s the last chance I will ever have.
Go Pittsburgh. Go Steelers.
8 Comments
Seriously so pumped for this game and season. Awesome picks by jbomb for last season highlights. I forgot how awesome the Holmes diving catch was as well as his punt return.
Also the music during the Harrison play is glorious.
Go Steelers!
For me, none of these is the most memorable moment of the Steelers’ 2008 season. Don’t get me wrong – these are all great… awesome… best ever.
But for me the most memorable moment was watching my then nine-year-old son come back downstairs with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
You see, five minutes earlier, moments after Larry Fitzgerald scored that go-ahead touchdown, he ascended the stairs, looking pretty much the same, but without the smile.
He thought the game was over and nothing could convince him otherwise. It took the uproarious cheering that followed the Holmes catch to get him back.
It was a great illustration of “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.”
i could make many comments on this post, but i will leave it at this.
my number one play of the week is seeing tomlin’s puffy coat in the first couple videos. literally could one single person be any sicker.
@Bounce: I also love the music in the Harrison video.
@Mr.I: That is an amazing story. The sentiment (though on a much smaller scale) could be applied to last night’s game against the Titans. The Steelers just had to keep battling to show that “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.”
@Mark: I watched the season recap America’s Game before last night’s season opener, and everything Tomlin said just made me want to play for him. He is a great leader and also as you mentioned, a fashionable coach.
steelers DEFENSE won the superbowl, as illustrated by the #1 video. that being said, #2 was a good pass, but roethlisberger is seriously not a good passer. the catch was ridiculous (even though he didnt get both feet down) and charlie batch is a better passer than roethlisberger. also, watch the welker video again where he gets cheap shotted by clark. welker seriously puts his head down and is almost stopped running before the dirty player (claiming that his head was already down to make the tackle and “the ball was tipped”) crushed him. of course the NFL would come out and say that it was a clean play, but the referees in the game called a penalty and called it a late hit on a defenseless player. the ball was nowhere within 10 yards of welker, more than enough time for clark to stop running. if you pause the video at the 24 second mark you see welker stop running, put his hands down, AND RYAN CLARK NOT EVEN ON THE SCREEN!!! more than 6 or 7 yards away from him. 1 second later, clark appears with his head up. 2 seconds later, he puts his head down and levels welker. this is absurd. seriously, watch it frame by frame and youll see how atrocious the hit really is. not only that in the meantime, you see that steelers defense #23 STOPS RUNNING AS WELL because that play was dead. in no way was the play alive AT ALL. no matter what i say about the steelers and roethlisberger, anyone who looks at this objectively will see what i see and say that this is seriously a dirty play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyNy-TkDGB0 link to dirty play.
All of these plays are awesome. Superb defensive interceptions (Polamalu, Harrison) excite me very much.
Having seen 5 of these 7 plays in person, I respectfully disagree with your order. I understand you have to put what happened in the Super Bowl at the top (even though I would put the catch above the interception… both are great plays, but after what had happened in that game, to see us score at the end was unreal).
For me, Polamalu’s interception in the AFC Championship was the best. I saw the Steelers lose an AFC Championship in 1997 in person and of course the Patriots disasters of the 2000’s. So seeing Polamalu make that pick and the crowd reaction (of which I have truly never heard a louder crowd at any sporting event) makes that play number one. I just remember running around and screaming when I saw him go in the endzone and then just getting mobbed by fans. Truly an awesome game. I understand SB43 goes above all else, but for me that pick was the best.
And Clark the Decleater put a clean hit on Welker. The ball was tipped. The NFL even said it was clean.
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