Super Bowl XL recap

Well, I picked the game right, as did many others, and I didn't do bad in my parallel concept -- how Super Bowl XL resembled Super Bowl XV. But this game had so much bad that its few great plays will be long overshadowed. Biggest thing The Monk predicted DURING the game = Seattle's regret at dominating the first 20+ minutes and racking up all of a 3-0 lead.

Herewith, the good-bad-ugly of Super Bowl XL:

The Good: four great plays, (1) Roethlisberger's 3rd-and-28 fling to Ward for a first down at the Seahawks' 3, (2) Willie Parker's 75-yard race (The Monk likes long runs more than long passes), (3) Kelly Herndon's 76-yard interception return, (4) Randle-El to Ward on the reverse option bomb. And Hines Ward -- The Monk likes Hines (he's been on three of my fantasy football teams) because he's the "athlete" type who wouldn't make it in the NFL as a QB, which he played in his final season in college, but reverted to his prior position and became an all-Pro and potential Hall of Famer.

More good? There isn't much. OK, Al and John were solid in the TV calls but the game kinda stunk -- which is no shock considering that this was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl since the Steelers beat the Vikings in SB IX, 16-6.

The Steelers played tight -- the three big plays netted 155 of their 339 total yards. They didn't run effectively other than Parker's sprint; they didn't pass effectively other than the two long tosses to Ward. The Seahawks showed offensive skill at times (nearly 400 total yards), but were inept when confronted with key situations. Which leads us to . . .

The Bad: A lot here to choose from. First, the chokes: (a) Jerramy Stevens' dropped passes, (b) Seattle's abandonment of the run (the run-pass ratio was about 50-50 during the regular season, 35-65 pass heavy in the game), (c) Seattle's clock mismanagement, (d) Seattle's missed field goals, (e) Roethlisberger's awful pass that Herndon picked off, (f) scoreless Shaun Alexander (27 TDs rushing in the regular season), (g) Pittsburgh's listless defense.

Second, the refs.

There were three key calls that swung the game: (1) the called-back Hasselbeck-Jackson TD in the first quarter -- the "push" by Jackson would need to be MORE violent to be called a touch foul. This was low-end stuff -- wussy soccer players get away with more than that. (2) The mystery hold -- Seattle driving and a Hasselbeck completion got the S'hawks to the Pittsburgh 1 early in the 4th . . . but NO! The refs call holding, which could not be seen with human eyes on replay. Take away the completion, move the Shawks back to the Pitt 29 and sack, interception, drive over. (3) Hasselbeck goes low to tackle Ike Taylor after the pick and gets flagged for . . . going below the knees. WHAT? A completely blown call that gave the Steelers an additional 15 yards of field position. Four plays later, Pitt's in great position to run a trick play and does so for the TD.

No, the Roethlisberger mystery TD run doesn't even count -- after all, it would have been 4th-and-an-inch at the Seattle goal line and Big Ben is 6-foot-5 = easy sneak.

The Ugly: Seattle's hurry-up offense that lacked any hurry-up; Pitt's short yardage running (so much for beating up the smaller Seattle defenders); the Shawks' decision to go for the 50-yard FG down 14-3 on 4th-and-5 at the Pittsburgh 32 early third quarter after kicker Josh Brown had already honked from 54 -- have some stones and go for it. Pitt got the ball at its 40 after Brown whiffed again, had a fine drive going and would have been up 17-3 or 21-3 if Roethlisberger hadn't tossed the sick floater right to Herndon.

More ugly: Tom Rouen's punting -- THREE touchbacks on three opportunities to completely pin the Steelers in their own end in the first half. Mike Holmgren's coaching -- once again outcoached on the big day by his counterpart, leading to a loss to an inferior opponent.

All told, the "genius" of Mike Holmgren is more myth than reality. He won a Super Bowl with a vastly superior team in a game that would have been very close but for Desmond Howard's KO returns. He lost the next Super Bowl to an inferior team. He lost this Super Bowl with bad calls, bad game management and a team that went away from what it does best (run Alexander, have Hasselbeck throw downfield). Bad job.