In anticipation of Cardinals-Steelers, FanHouse takes a look back at some forgotten storylines from past Super Bowls.Much was made about Ben Roethlisberger's first half touchdown and Darrell Jackson's offensive pass interference -- which negated a touchdown -- in the aftermath of the Steelers victory over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. Those who follow the Zebra Report know that I refuse to ever claim the officials cost any team a game, however, there was one call in this game that cost the Seahawks a lot more than the above well-publicized calls.
With 12:35 left in the game, the Seahawks trailed 14-10, but they were driving. Matt Hasselbeck threw a bullet down to Jerramy Stevens, who made the falling catch at the one yard-line. It appeared as though the Seahawks would have a first-and-goal from the one. Remember, this was when Shaun Alexander was a beast -- he accrued 1,880 yards and 27 touchdowns on the ground during the regular season. I know it's hard to put yourself in that mindset, considering how poorly his carcass plays nowadays when given the rare chance. Still, was there any chance the Steelers were going to keep him out of the end-zone from the one?
Instead, Sean Locklear was called for holding. The Seahawks were faced with a first and 20 from the 34, and Hasselbeck threw an interception two plays later. On the Steelers' fourth play of their ensuing possession, Antwaan Randle-El took the reverse and threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward. All of a sudden it was 21-10 Steelers, and the entire complexion of the game was changed.
The worst part about this? The holding call on Locklear was marginal at best, and horrifying at worst. He appeared to hook his man ever-so-slightly for about a split-second, and then let go. Considering holding is a discretionary call most of the time, this is something that should have drawn a no-call in my inexperienced eyes. There are a myriad of plays where much more egregious holding takes place and is allowed.
This play is different than others we've viewed in our retrospectives. We can't really say the historical impact of this play per se, because -- had the Seahawks scored a touchdown and taken a 17-14 lead -- we still can't say the outcome would have been different.
You could say the Seahawks had all the momentum and would have kept it with a touchdown. This would have led to an eventual championship, and we all know those are hard to come by in Seattle. If this happened, Roethlisberger would have a few more questions hanging over his head this week, and Bill Cowher wouldn't be quite as sought after for head coaching vacancies -- if he even walked away from the Steelers in the first place.
On the other hand, you could argue the Steelers would have come back and won the game anyway, as they were the better football team. They also had the whole, "hey, we're winning this thing for Bus" theme running. He's from Detroit, where the game was played, in case you didn't know (the media didn't really publicize this information much leading up to the game).
I'm not sure which one I'd choose, but one thing is for sure: The real losers in this situation were the unbiased football fans who just wanted to see a good game. The majority of the fourth quarter was boring in this game. Had the holding not been called on Locklear, we could have been in for one of the greatest Super Bowl endings of all-time. Instead, we'll never know.
