Super Bowl winner Santonio Holmes sat on the grass alongside the end zone — legs outstretched, head bowed, arms wrapped tightly around the ball.
He’d come too far to let go.
The kid who once sold drugs on a street corner had grown up to become Most Valuable Player (MVP) of a most remarkable Super Bowl.
PHOTO: AFP
Holmes, who overcame his gritty childhood in rural south Florida, made a brilliant touchdown catch with 35 seconds left to give the Pittsburgh Steelers their record sixth Super Bowl title, a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
“I dared the team,” Holmes said. “Just give me the ball, give me the chance to make plays and I will do it for you.”
He was true to his word on the 6-yard winner.
After a pass to the left corner went through Holmes’ hands, Ben Roethlisberger lofted the ball toward the right corner, over the hands of not one, not two, but three Arizona defenders. Holmes leaped to get it — and somehow managed to drag both feet in bounds, his toes barely scraping the grass before he tumbled out of bounds.
The official threw up both arms — touchdown! — and Holmes sat out of bounds for several seconds, looking down at a ball he didn’t want to give up. His teammates piled on top of him, celebrating a game that will go down as one of the greatest in Super Bowl history.
The referee took a look at the replay to make sure Holmes had control of the ball and got both feet down. The third-year receiver never had any doubt.
“I knew it was a touchdown 100 percent,” he said. “My feet never left the ground. All I did was stand on my toes and extend my hands.”
Amazingly, Holmes’ catch came at exactly the same point — 35 seconds remaining — as Plaxico Burress’ 13-yard touchdown catch in last year’s Super Bowl, giving the New York Giants their upset of the unbeaten New England Patriots.
That finish was a classic. This one was even better.
“The first read was the running back in the flat, but he wasn’t open,” Roethlisberger said.
“Then I was going to try to bang it to Hines [Ward, MVP of the 2006 Super Bowl], but someone was closing in on it and I was a little nervous about it. It wouldn’t have been a touchdown. I looked back, scrambled a little bit and saw ‘Ton’ in the corner. I tried to throw it high so he was going to catch it, or no one was,” Roethlisberger said. “Luckily, he made a heck of a play.”
Holmes was so good — nine catches for 131 yards, four of them on the winning 78-yard drive — that he actually managed to outshine teammate James Harrison, who seemed to be a shoo-in for the MVP award through three quarters.
Earlier in the week, Holmes used the Super Bowl stage to acknowledge selling drugs in Belle Glade, Florida, hoping his story would persuade other youngsters growing up in tough surroundings to turn their life around, just as he did.
Now, he’s given them another compelling reason to follow his path.
“This is a wonderful blessing,” Holmes said. “I would like to thank the Lord for helping me overcome all the things I overcame, the coaches for sticking with me, the organization for being behind me and believing in me, and my quarterback for giving me this opportunity to make plays for him all season.”
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS