More Bradshaw than Plunkett right now

With a thrilling 78 yard-two minutes left drive, Ben Roethlisberger certainly etched his name into football lore with a great comeback victory in Super Bowl XLIII. He is the second youngest to win two titles, and at age 26 he seems like he can certainly win another title or two in his career. He has a strong team, stable coach and the body to absorb enough hits for another title to come his way.
I said yesterday on the air that this game was going to come down to Roethlisberger. I said that "we know what Kurt Warner will give you: 25-40 (I was close), 300+ with 3 and 1 (I didn't think he'd fumble and his one INT turned into 6 the other way when it should have been 6 for his team). The key though is Roethlisberger (NOT BEN as NBC and 680 continue to call him. he isn't a preschooler!). Will he go out and throw 3 INTs or fumble 4 times, OR will he go out and play his butt off?" (Prior to the playoffs, Pittsburgh had only gone 3-4 in the regular season v playoff teams. Hardest schedule, MY BUTT!)
Roethlisberger certainly played well in the first quarter, but until that last drive, he was OUTPLAYED by Kurt Warner. Of his 189 yards heading into the final drive, 150 were from the first quarter. But he led the team down the field (Thanks to #47 for Arizona who should be cut IMMEDIATELY) and threw a PERFECT pass to win the game. Perfect throw.
He played much better in this game than four years ago and for that I will say because of that last drive, he is more Bradshaw than Plunkett right now. I'd still take Brady over BR right now, but Roethlisberger certainly showed grit. Hey, add one more ring to Roethlisberger's hand and I might have to reconsider that last sentence.

Otherwise, Kurt Warner and the Cardinals, I thought they were going to pull it off. Despite the early defensive struggles, the team SHOULD have taken the lead right at halftime but instead of going into the lockerroom (with the ball coming to them after intermission) tied 10-10 or even leading 14-10, or at WORST, trailing 10-7, Warner threw a BAD pick that James "Tyson" Harrison picked off and rumbled 100 yards for a 17-7 Steelers lead.

But Warner and the Cards came back, thanks to LARRY FREAKING FITZGERALD aka the BEST player on the field last night. Fitz made that jump and ripped the ball away the Steeler defender for a 20-14 deficit. THEN after a great situation where Whisenhunt gambled to punt and the ball landed on the one, the team got a HUGE safety with a holding call after Roethlisberger seemingly completed a big 3rd down conversion. 20-16 and then Fitzgerald took a little crossing pattern and OUTRAN EVERYONE! Forget Santonio Holmes, LARRY FITZGERALD was the Most Valuable Player out there. He was bottled up for 3 quarters, THEN EXPLODED! Couldn't be stopped in the fourth quarter. Holmes had 9 catches, but Fitzgerald's two TDs were amazing.

Finally, Warner cemented his stop in Canton. And he probably got some company in Roethlisberger. And Warner has now been involved in my top three Super Bowls all-time. (Atlanta with the Rams v Titans, Last night and Pats over Rams-post 9/11) Last night's game was WAY better than last season's (a really boring game, despite the helmet catch. whatever) and anyone that says otherwise is a Giants fan. I hope Warner comes back and the Cardinals make another run at it next season because Warner to Fitzgerald is fun to watch.

PS and the commercials sucked btw....