Detroit – Seattle was tricked.
Tricked into thinking winning the opening coin toss and employing quick huddles and quick counts would beat Pittsburgh.
Tricked by sloppy, costly dropped passes (tight end Jerramy Stevens bungled at least a trio of them). Tricked by an assortment of penalties that negated huge gains and even an early touchdown.
Tricked on a third-and-28 second-quarter pass of 37 yards to Hines Ward that set up Pittsburgh’s only first-half points in Super Bowl XL.
Tricked on a Josh Brown field-goal attempt of 54 yards that went wide right in the first half and one of 50 yards that went wide left in the second half.
Tricked after driving from its 2-yard line to the Pittsburgh 27 early in the fourth quarter trailing 14-10 and ready to pounce for the lead. But that ended in disaster, too, when quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was duped by the Steelers’ layered zone defense and threw the ball squarely into the hands of Pittsburgh cornerback Ike Taylor.
Then came the trick of all tricks, the caper of the night, the con.
The Antwaan Randle El reverse and toss of 43 yards to Super Bowl XL MVP Ward.
It came with 8:56 left in the game and made the final score Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10.
That made the Steelers Super Bowl champions.
It made the Seahawks look silly.
It was Seattle middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, when asked early last week about Pittsburgh’s penchant for trick plays, who said: “We don’t get tricked. We’ve handled all kind of gadget plays this season. That’s not a concern.”
Sorry, Seattle. You have just been tricked.
Tricked into thinking the NFC could end the AFC’s mesmerizing run of big plays, bigger players, sweeter moments and, yes, foolery.
Because this game was a swindle for Pittsburgh from the start.
There is no way the Steelers should have been ahead 7-3 at halftime. They did not gain a first down until 11:13 was left in the second quarter.
Ben Roethlisberger gained 1 passing yard in the first quarter. He posted a first-half passer rating of 29.2. Yet, there was Roethlisberger diving and barely scoring at the goal line 1:55 before halftime and spiking the ball in the end zone afterward. He should have raised and walked humbly to his bench because his first-half play was putrid and his play overall was barely enough to beat the Seahawks.
There were reasons the Steelers went to a receiver to throw the game-clinching pass.
By game’s end, Roethlisberger’s passer rating was 22.6.
The Steelers rushed for 181 yards and 75 of it came on an early second-half play in which Seattle safety Michael Boulware was tricked. He guessed wrong, took the wrong angle, wound up in the wrong hole and allowed running back Willie Parker to break free for a Super Bowl record-long 75-yard scoring run.
It was amazing the game was as close as it was because Seattle’s offense shrunk and seemed consumed by the stage. Its inability to complete so many plays put the onus on the Seattle defense. And the defense held up as long as it could. Finally, its back was broken on a trick play.
“You can’t make the mistakes we made and win this kind of game,” Hasselbeck said. “It got to the point where I started taking chances and I kind of got fooled by the moves they made.”
On Stevens, who made a third-quarter touchdown catch that cut the Pittsburgh lead to 14-10 but who killed his team with critical dropped passes sprinkled throughout the game, Hasselbeck said: “I’m sure he would like to have some of those plays back.”
Yeah, and some of his fat lip that makes him look the silliest of the Seahawks. It was Stevens who said the Jerome Bettis return home story was a feel-good one that would turn sour when Seattle wins the game. Stevens should serve as a model for all future young and dumb Super Bowl participants. Before the game, when it comes to predictions and visions, just shut up.
“They were frustrated all around,” Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu said of the Seahawks. “They had the flow of the game going their way.”
Seattle led 3-0. It intercepted Roethlisberger early in the second quarter. With 8:27 left before halftime it completed a pass for 2 yards that fell 2 inches short of a first down. It punted. And Pittsburgh drove 59 yards for a touchdown and halftime lead. The Steelers converted two third downs on that drive, including the third-and-28.
From that moment forward, every step Seattle took forward, it was followed by a couple of more backward.
Its failure to finish plays was astonishing. It played the game as if it thought it might have been good enough, but with doubt.
“We kind of got caught on our heels,” Seahawks cornerback Kelly Herndon said of the game- clinching Pittsburgh trick play.
It may be a while before you ever see a Super Bowl again in which a team mixes so many confident plays with so many other ones lacking confidence and execution.
Pittsburgh is the champion, no doubt, but the way the Seahawks tripped over themselves in a game in which they won in plays (77-56), total yards (396-339), first downs (20-14), passing yards (259-158), return yardage (103-56), possession time (33:02-26:58) and turnovers (2-1) was unreal.
The Seahawks were tricked.
They jumped into a box and sawed themselves in half.
Pittsburgh was happy to kick around the pieces.
Staff writer Thomas Georgecan be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
