Revisiting Super Bowl XLIII: Cardinals’ Two Cruelest Plays Rank Among NFL’s Most Iconic
The Arizona Cardinals have never won a Super Bowl, and a new ranking from FanSided is a reminder of just how close — and how painful — their one shot at it really was. Writer Cody Williams recently published a countdown of the 50 most iconic plays in NFL history, and Arizona shows up twice in the top 10 — for two of the worst moments in franchise history.
Both plays came from the same game: Super Bowl XLIII, a 27-23 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on February 1, 2009, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It remains the Cardinals’ only Super Bowl appearance.
Santonio Holmes’ game-winning catch
Ranked No. 10 on the list is Santonio Holmes’ toe-tapping touchdown grab in the back corner of the end zone, a 6-yard strike from Ben Roethlisberger that put Pittsburgh ahead for good with 35 seconds left on the clock.
Williams called it a play where the build-up and the stakes made the catch itself astounding, one that left tens of millions of viewers stunned as the Steelers pulled away with the Lombardi Trophy. Roethlisberger threaded the throw past three Cardinals defenders. Holmes somehow got two feet down in bounds. Arizona had no answer.
The Immaculate Interception
Two spots higher, at No. 8, sits the play that arguably decided the game before that fourth quarter even happened: James Harrison’s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown as time expired in the first half.
With the Cardinals sitting first-and-goal at the Pittsburgh 1-yard line and 18 seconds on the clock, Kurt Warner tried to fit a quick pass to Anquan Boldin at the goal line. Harrison read it, stepped in front of the throw, and turned upfield. What followed is still, to this day, the longest interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl history, and the longest play from scrimmage the game has ever seen.
It nearly didn’t happen. Larry Fitzgerald chased Harrison the length of the field and nearly caught him at the goal line. Harrison, gassed, stretched the ball across the plane as time ran out, turning a potential Cardinals touchdown — or at worst a field goal — into a 14-point swing that gave Pittsburgh a 17-7 halftime lead. He needed help getting up afterward, sucking oxygen on the Steelers sideline in an image that’s outlasted the play itself in NFL highlight reels.
Williams put it plainly in his write-up, noting that the image of Harrison on the sideline gasping for air is burned into the memory of Steelers fans and most NFL fans generally, calling the pick-six one of the most impressive defensive plays the league has produced.
| Play | Rank (FanSided Top 50) | Time Remaining | Score Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santonio Holmes TD catch | No. 10 | 0:35 left in Q4 | Steelers 27, Cardinals 23 |
| James Harrison pick-six | No. 8 | 0:00 left in Q2 | Steelers 17, Cardinals 7 (halftime) |
Why it still stings in Arizona
The Cardinals actually clawed back into that fourth quarter. Down 20-7 to start it, Arizona scored 16 unanswered points — including a Larry Fitzgerald touchdown — to briefly take the lead with 2:37 remaining, before Pittsburgh answered with the Holmes score. Two plays, on opposite ends of the same game, wiped out what should have been Arizona’s signature championship moment.
It’s not the only iconic play with Cardinals fingerprints. Arizona has its own moment of pure chaos to hang its hat on: Kyler Murray’s 43-yard “Hail Murray” touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins to beat the Buffalo Bills in 2020, a play Williams ranked No. 47 on the same list. Murray is no longer on Arizona’s roster — the team moved on from him this offseason — but the throw remains one of the wildest finishes in recent NFL memory.
Between those two Super Bowl XLIII plays and the Hail Murray, the Cardinals have a strange distinction: three plays inside the top 50 most iconic in league history, and only one of them ends with Arizona actually winning.