The super bowl has been both a success and a pain on several occasions, winning six titles and losing twice. In super bowl xiii, the arizona cardinals won a thrilling come-from-behind victory, which is probably the most memorable of all them. Santonio holmes was behind the incredible play that sealed pittsburgh’s championship, but it was almost impossible. On an unforgettable play, steelers’ holmes almost fell apart. super bowl xliii was packed with jaw-dropping moments, whether it was james harrison’s interception return to close out the first half or holmes’ spectacular touchdown catch.
What makes those kinds of plays so special is that a million little things must be done right for the end product to be as brilliant as it was. Holmes appeared on the 3 point conversion podcast the week before super bowl lviii, and he talked about how close that remarkable catch was to not having a chance. Ben roethlisberger was dissatisfied with holmes when he missed his first chance at a touchdown. “bruh, it was about confidence.” Bro, he f***ing stared at me so hard when ben walked into the huddle and looked at me in my face.
I felt something, and i couldn’t even look at him, but i was side-eying the hell out of him, boy, but he was staring at me so hard i don’t even want to look at him. he put his head down and called the game, ‘oh s***, he’s throwing it at me.’ He’s throwing it at me,’ he says. “i kept looking at the corner of the f***ing end zone the entire time as we broke the huddle, because i knew where he was throwing the football.” Holmes continued to talk about the famous play. “i stood up in the front, man, that…linebacker walked out there on me and he f***ed at me and faked, and i was so afraid and i almost fell off the track!” In the crowd, all i see is him point and he just freaking threw it, and all i did was just watch the ball fly into the air.”
Had holmes fallen on the play rather than making it to the corner of the endzone, the game’s miracle ending may have been realized in a moment. That wasn’t the case, though, and the moment is still considered to be one of the best in super bowl history.
