Warner leads comeback that falls just short

There was only one Lombardi Trophy to award Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium, but two teams were championship worthy in a scintillating Super Bowl XLIII.

The Pittsburgh Steelers had to fight the underdog Arizona Cardinals to the final minute to escape with a 27-23 victory.

It was a record sixth Super Bowl championship for the Steelers, who broke a tie with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers for most Lombardi Trophies won by a franchise.

The Cardinals were making their first Super Bowl appearance and were in position to pull a dramatic upset after quarterback Kurt Warner completed a 64-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald with two minutes, 37 seconds remaining.

That completed a comeback from 13 points behind and gave the Cardinals a 23-20 lead.

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But after being held to only three points in the second half by Arizona's defense, Pittsburgh's offense came to life when anything less would have resulted in defeat.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had what teammate Hines Ward called the defining drive of his career. It was sparked by a 40-yard pass to receiver Santonio Holmes to move the ball to the Cardinals 6.

From there, Roethlisberger threw into the left corner of the end zone to Holmes, but the ball went threw Holmes' hands.

On the next play, Roethlisberger threw to the right corner to Holmes, who was covered by three Arizona defenders.

Holmes caught the pass and got both feet down within inches of the out-of-bounds line to score a touchdown with 35 seconds remaining that turned out to be the game-winner.

Warner slung a towel on the Arizona sidelines and television cameras caught a wide-eyed Fitzgerald saying "no, no, no, no."

The Cardinals got the ball back at their 23 and got to the Pittsburgh 44 - still with hopes of pulling out a win_until Steelers' linebacker LaMarr Woodley ended the game by forcing a Warner fumble with five seconds remaining that the Steelers recovered.

Warner sparkled in defeat, almost certainly helping his chances of someday being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Warner completed 31 of 43 passes for 377 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Warner became the first quarterback with three 300-yard passing performances in Super Bowls. He also was the first player to throw for 300 yards against the Steelers' top-ranked defense this season.

But, ultimately, the night belonged to the Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin, 34, who became the youngest coach and the second African American coach to win a Super Bowl.

Tomlin said when he saw Fitzgerald racing for Arizona's go-ahead touchdown, he thought it was good that the Cardinals scored quickly because it left the Steelers time to rally.

"Steeler football is 60 minutes," said Tomlin. "It's never going to be pretty. Throw style points out the window. These guys fight to the end."

The Cardinals, did too.

NFL teams aren't supposed to be able to survive the kind of trauma they endured at the end of the first half.

Warner's lone interception could've destroyed his confidence, and that of his teammates.

With 18 seconds remaining in the first half and Pittsburgh leading 10-7, the Cardinals were at the Steelers' 1 and were on the verge of taking the lead.

Warner had completed four consecutive passes and already had thrown a 1-yard touchdown pass earlier in the second quarter.

With the crowd at Raymond James Stadium roaring, Warner tried a short pass over the middle to receiver Anquan Boldin in the end zone.

Warner apparently expected Steelers linebacker James Harrison to blitz, but instead Harrison dropped into coverage and was in perfect position to steal the pass_and the game_from the Cardinals.

Harrison intercepted the ball and started running down the right sidelines, hotly pursued by stunned and desperate Arizona players trying to prevent the play from turning into an all-out Cardinals disaster.

They failed.

Fitzgerald, a former high school linebacker, grabbed Harrison inside the 5-yard line and came within inches of tackling him just short of the goal line.

Instead, Harrison had a 100-yard touchdown return, the longest play in Super Bowl history.

"Those last couple of yards were probably tougher than anything in my life, but it was probably more gratifying than anything that has happened to me in football," said Harrison.

In those 18 remarkable seconds, the entire game changed. Instead of possibly leading Pittsburgh 14-10 at halftime, the Cardinals trailed 17-7.

This was no ordinary game, it was the Super Bowl, with its super-long halftime break, which gave Arizona players lots of time to think and re-think about what had happened.

But the Cardinals didn't fold.

They fell behind 20-7 in the third quarter, but fought back gallantly in the final quarter.

Fitzgerald's two touchdown receptions in the fourth quarter gave him seven in the postseason, breaking Jerry Rice's record for most scores in a postseason.

Warner's 11 touchdown passes in the postseason also tied a record set by Joe Montana in 1989.