Super Bowl 43 Notes

Just some random musings on yesterday's Super Bowl.

* For the first time in recent memory, I didn’t have a bet on the game. Not even a square. Yes, I am disappointed in myself.

* Tomlin electing to kick the field goal at 4th and goal from the one foot line was a bad decision. Even worse was Madden saying that he was playing the percentages, and Tomlin was right. I beg to differ. The expected value of a field goal try is near 3.0 pts. The expected value of going for the TD is debatable, but for all things to be equal, Pitt would have to have a success percentage of 43%. I would hazard a guess that even the worst teams can succeed in this play 60% of the time, and a great team like Pitt is probably damn near 80%. This doesn’t even take into account that if you do fail, having the ball at your own 1 yard line has got to have a negative expected value.

* Larry Fitzgerald is a beast.

* The number of close replays that there were was unbelievable. Fortunately, I feel the referee made the right decision on every replay.

*I can’t say the same for the rest of the officiating. While I was happy that there were no phantom pass interference calls (hard to be when almost every pass is complete), the holding calls were dis-proportionate against Arizona. The roughing the passer call was just plain bad on Zona as well.

* That being said about replays, I can't believe they didn't take the time to closely review the final play for the Cardinals, when Warner was sacked and fumbled. It was at least close enough to an incomplete pass to warrant a second look, especially given how important it was. But the NFL never ceases to amaze.

* The holding in the end zone which caused the safety was bad in my opinion. I almost felt bad for Pitt when Zona was ahead, as I hate to see a team lose a game no less a championship on a bad call, but then I remembered that the Steelers were completely handed Super Bowl 40 here in Detroit. This was the game I had my biggest gambling loss ever on, and will never get over how much bullshit there was. I am now recognizing Pittsburgh as having 5 Super Bowls, and not the 6 that everyone else recognizes. I also recognize Seattle as having one “moral” championship for their “victory” that day.

* I was also hoping that the game would go to OT, and the team winning the flip would march down the field and score, forcing more outrage at the NFL overtime rules. Yes, I am a cynical bastard.

* It always blows my mind that teams with awesome passing attacks like Arizona don’t run no-huddle almost all of the time. They got into such a rhythm with it, and were unstoppable. Coaches are such pussies because it exposes your defense, but when your offense has such an edge, and your defense is anywhere near adequate, you want to exploit that edge as much as possible, even if it creates a deficiency elsewhere.

* The INT at the end of the half was an unbelievable play in terms of it’s impact. It’s hard to think of a bigger single play, happening in such a critical moment of a Championship game.