Pittsburgh Steelers respond to Arizona Cardinals troll attempt

A tweet template about “red flags” went viral on Tuesday night, and the Arizona Cardinals joined in on the fun, but the Pittsburgh Steelers had a great response.

"Santonio's feet were definitely down" 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) October 12, 2021

The callout is a reference to Super Bowl XLIII, which occurred Feb. 1, 2009. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cardinals 27-23 after a game-winning touchdown catch by Pittsburgh, and former University of Pittsburgh, receiver Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds remaining in the game.

In other words, the Cardinals are cleverly claiming it is a big red flag if you meet someone who thinks Holmes’ catch was a touchdown. But the Steelers got the last laugh in this one, responding to Arizona with a clever take of their own. 

rent free https://t.co/MkW1UzXK3G

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 13, 2021

“Rent free” is the shortened way to say the memories of the famous Super Bowl are perpetually living in Arizona’s head. Given the red flag tweet was sent almost 13 years after the game, that appears to be at least somewhat true. 

The play was extremely controversial, as Holmes barely dragged his toes in the back of the end zone as he fell out of bounds. There was a claim that Holmes did not fully secure the ball with his feet in bounds. The 6-yard touchdown call was reviewed and stood, giving the Steelers the 4-point lead and ultimately their sixth Super Bowl in franchise history.

At the time, it was the most watched Super Bowl in history with 98.7 million viewers.

Since the 2009 matchup in Tampa, the teams have played three additional times. Pittsburgh has won each meeting.

Cardinals posting historic season thus far

While the Steelers got the best of Arizona in 2009, the Cardinals are currently on a roll. Arizona is the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL with five wins through five weeks, and they are 5-0 for the first time since 1974 when the team was in St. Louis.

The Cardinals have the fourth-best scoring offense in the NFL led by quarterback Kyler Murray, who is tied with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert atop the MVP odds list. On Sunday, Murray became just the third quarterback in NFL history with 1,500 passing yards plus a 75% completion percentage through the first five weeks of the season. 

In addition to a humming passing game, the Cardinals have a stout run game between Murray’s escapability and running backs Chase Edmonds and James Conner, who Arizona acquired from Pittsburgh this year. 

Of Arizona’s next five opponents, three of them are above .500, and while the 49ers are 2-3, the Cardinals’ matchup with them last week, which ended 17-10, demonstrates they are not to be written off.