Super Bowl Studs and Duds: Santonio Holmes Was Huge

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's a special Super Bowl XLIII edition of Studs and Duds.

Studs

Santonio Holmes, WR Pittsburgh (9 catches, 131 yards, 1 TD) -- If playing Hines Ward was meant to take some of the Arizona secondary's attention away from other receivers, it was a fantastic game plan. Holmes seemed to be open the entire game, and his incredibly nimble toes put the Steelers up for good at the end. You wanted Was this David Tyree for 2009? Those tippy-toes to stay inbounds for the touchdown might have been it. His performance was one for the ages, and it elevated him from "respectable receiver who once sent pictures of his male region to a female" to Super Bowl MVP and talk of the Terrible Towel town.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR Arizona (7 catches, 127 yards, 2 TDs) -- A friend of mine in Las Vegas bet all the prop bets involving receivers on the Cardinals not named Larry Fitzgerald. His theory was very simple -- "The Steelers will not allow Fitzgerald to beat them." What my friend (and myself, and most anyone else in the country) didn't realize is that Fitzgerald cannot be stopped. With the help of Kurt Warner, Sticky Fitz trashed a slow start by making a superstar play to put the Cards up 23-20 with just 2:37 left. If it wasn't for the man above, Fitz would be holding that MVP trophy.

Duds

The Replay Booth -- Really, you aren't going to replay a fumble/incompletion in that juncture of the f-ing Super Bowl?!?! Warner admitted that with five seconds to go in the biggest game of his life, his arm was moving forward when LaMarr Woodley knocked it free, contradicting the fumble call on the field. After the game, vice president of officiating Mike Pereira said it was conclusively reviewed as a fumble in the booth. No matter if it was the most obvious fumble in the world, you review that. It is the Super Bowl. Review a controversial play at the end of the Super Bowl. Should we all repeat that together? If nothing else, it would have allowed NBC a chance to show a couple extra commercials.

Arizona Cardinals Rushing Attack -- In big games, your weakness is always exposed, and that statement couldn't be more clear than with the Arizona running backs. Three guys carried the ball 11 times for 33 yards, never establishing anything on the ground and putting more and more pressure on the offensive line and Warner. Maybe the dud is the coaching here, but you have to get something on the ground if you want any chance in the air. The Cards almost won the game with just one side working, but ask golfer Charley Hoffman how "almost" feels today.

Near Studly -- Kurt Warner, Ben Roethlisberger, and James Harrison.

Near Dudly -- Cardinals offensive line and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie