One of the teams that the Steelers knocked out of the playoffs on their way to the Super Bowl was the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens lost and deserved to lose. They had their moments, but were eliminated by a pile of missed opportunities. A fumbled snap by Joe Flacco. A holding penalty on a punt return touchdown. Giving up a 58-yard bomb on 3rd-and-19. A goal-line hold by a defensive lineman. And, of course, the now-famous drop by T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
The entire game was one big clump of missed opportunities by both teams, really. It's just that the Steelers' mistakes came in the first half and the Ravens' came in the second. Ballgame.
After Housh's drop, I threw up my hands and admitted to myself that the Steelers had made fewer mistakes and had played better when it mattered. They deserved to advance.
And then I thought of all the people who had said the same thing about my Seahawks five years past, and I wondered to myself...Is this how some other fans saw Super Bowl XL?
