* Was there some kind of vote that I missed that said we can no longer have boring Super Bowls!?

* I thought the Cardinals were dumb for running the ball at the beginning of the game. You need to get Fitz and Boldin involved early, not Edge.

* Warner looked off early. Maybe it was the pass rush, but he was way off on three early short passes.

* There isn’t one Niners fan out there that didn’t think “that is Jerry Rice” when Larry Fitzgerald split the safeties and ran for the touchdown in the fourth quarter.

* Speaking of Fitzgerald, throw him the damn ball! One reception in the first half is not acceptable. Yes, he was double covered most of the time, so what? He's built to beat double teams with his size and hands.

* Various experts claimed that the regular season would mean nothing if the Cardinals won. I think they did not take it far enough. Ben Roethlisberger might not even bother to play in the regular season anymore. He can just let the defense lead them to 10 wins and he can play just good enough to get them to the Super Bowl.

* It's a hard argument to make when they were down 13 points, but the Cardinals blew that game. Waaaay too many penalties at bad times. Pitt had two penalties in the second half, at least before the last drive, one was a declined def holding and the other was the Harrison Unnecessary Roughness on the punt that cost them only a yard.

*If you're the Cardinals, how do you let Holmes go single coverage at the end of the game? On the winning TD, how was there nobody behind him? Three Cardinals in front of him? With the new rule change regarding push outs, DBs should be practicing pushing guys OB in the end zone, not that it would have made a difference in this game.

* Rodgers-Cromartie has to make that interception early in the game. The Steelers ended up getting a touchdown on that drive.

* The Cardinals punter was horrendous.

* Holmes earned the MVP with his performance on the last drive and tremendous TD catch, but I thought the Harrison TAINT was the MVP play. Sure, it happened at the end of the first half and a lot of other things happened in the second half, but that play was the game. If the Cardinals score there, even a FG, the Steelers are in trouble. Even with the INT, if Harrison gets tackled it's either zero or three points instead of seven for the Steelers.

* It is amazing how bad the Warriors can be and then pull a shocker in New Orleans on Friday. They are a hard team to read sometimes.

* However, they are a very easy team to read other times as they were guaranteed to lose big in Houston the next night.

* We now enter the worst part of the year in sports – no football, no baseball, too much college basketball and the continuation of another dismal Warriors season.

* Until next time.

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The Road to Tampa:
The NFC West champs beat Atlanta (+66 scoring diff.) to earn the franchise’s first home playoff victory in 60 years. Experts wrote off the win to rookie-QB-on-the-road-itis and said Atlanta didn’t really have a good defense, anyways. Next, the Cardinals went to Carolina (+85 scoring diff.) and pounced on the Panthers, breaking Jake Delhomme’s career in the process. This victory was also written off to Delhomme’s poor performance and again, Carolina didn’t really have that good a defense. The Cardinals hosted the Eagles (+127 scoring diff.) for the NFC Championship. The game was over in the second quarter, but the refs muffed a kickoff call that would have given the Cardinals the ball inside the Eagles 30 with a 21-6 lead. Sure, the Eagles made a miraculous comeback to take the lead, but the Cardinals closed the deal at the end of the game. This game was written off to the Eagles not covering Larry Fitzgerald and a 4th down non-PI call on incidental contact. The bottom line is, the Cardinals have beaten three good teams to get to the Super Bowl…and they will beat the Steelers.

How it goes down:

Steelers on offense: Hines Ward will be playing, if at all, with a brace on his knee. The Steelers offensive line is made up of turnstiles and there are rumors this week that Big Ben’s back is aching. The Cardinals defense has already contained three better running backs than Willie Parker (Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams, Brian Westbrook) this post season. Rodgers-Cromartie and Aaron Francisco can cover Santonio Holmes, while Rod Hood blankets a gimpy Ward. Clancy Pedergast (remember that name if your team needs a new head coach in a couple years) will concoct a scheme that contains Willie “Sometimes I am Fast” Parker and puts Big Ben on his back. Byron Leftwich, anyone?

Cardinals on offense: This is going to be tough for the Cardinals offense. Todd Haley, Arizona’s offensive coordinator, is hotter than steam and could be headed to Kansa City after this game to coach the Chiefs. He will have the offense ready for the pressure the Steelers will bring. Remember when everyone said stopping Larry Fitzgerald is the key to shutting down the Cardinals offense? Remember when Anquan Boldin went all T.O. during the NFC Championship? Anquan Boldin will get the ball a lot in the first quarter on Sunday. I would not be surprised to see him run, catch and throw the ball all in the first 15 minutes – prop bet? When the Steelers have to honor Boldin over the middle and Larry Fitzgerald deep, Edgerrin James will get some cheap yards running delays and draw plays. Kurt Warner’s quick release will keep him upright long enough to find the open receiver. Last, but not least, Ike Taylor cannot cover Larry Fitzgerald.

Prediction
Oh, NO! If the Cardinals win the Super Bowl, the NFL regular season no longer means anything! The non-Best regular season teams aren’t supposed to win so many championships! Woe is me! It’s the apocalypse!
The Reality is that if the Cardinals win, it means its sports. In sports anything can happen, that’s why we love sports. “Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports! Bart gets to ride upfront because he’s good at sports.” The Arizona Cardinals’ strength on offense (passing game) is the Steelers defense’s weakness (not really a weakness, but not as awesome as the rush defense). The Cardinals can basically abandon the weakest part of their offense (running game) early and force the Steelers’ offense to beat them.

Super Bowl Champion Arizona Cardinals. Get used to it.

Arizona 24 – Pittsburgh 17

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RT is 5-0 against the spread in the playoffs so I would listen to him

It could not have been much easier for the Steelers in the playoffs. They did not have to play the Colts or the Titans and both of their games were at home. Unlike their road to victory in Super Bowl XL, which required three straight road games, the Steelers barely had to break a sweat this time around. The only real news to speak of was the injury to Super Bowl XL MVP Hines Ward but he is still going to play on Sunday. The Steelers playoff run has been nothing short of a walk in the park but on Sunday they will face their toughest test.

Nope.

How is it going to go down?

The Cardinals on Offense: At this point, we all know the story of the playoffs for the Cardinals. Larry Fitzgerald. Sure, Edgerrin James cares again and Tim Hightower is running with a purpose but it begins and ends with Larry Fitzgerald. He has been nothing short of unstoppable in the playoffs and he has set the tone early in all three games. So what happens if he gets shut down early? The Cardinals are in big trouble. The Steelers have been as good as it gets on defense throughout the season and into the post season. Dick LeBeau will come up with a new scheme to shut down Fitzgerald. Kurt Warner has enjoyed the luxury of just throwing the ball into double coverage and having Fitzgerald make an incredibly difficult catch. Once that “play” is no longer available, the Cardinals will be forced to go to the ground. Once the Cardinals are grounded, they are finished.

The Steelers on Offense: The Steelers offense is good enough to win. Unfortunately, that’s the best compliment I can come up with. In addition, the offensive line struggles to keep Ben Roethlisberger upright. Hines Ward is a great possession receiver and blocker but is far from a sexy playmaker and Santonio Holmes is a serviceable deep threat at best. You never know which Willie Parker is going to show up – the one that ran all over the Chargers or the one that seemed content to fall down anytime Ray Lewis came near him.

How can the Steelers offense be expected to score enough points to win? Simple. The Cardinals defense is mediocre at best. They beat the Falcons at home with a rookie quarterback, the Panthers with a gun-slinging quarterback who was shooting blanks and the Eagles with a one legged Brian Westbrook. Big Ben will need to pull a Delhomme (you have to love that as a term for a quarterback who blows his team’s chances of going to the Super Bowl single-handedly) for the Cardinals to even have a chance. The Steelers will play a wonderful game of keep away and provide the defense with the rest they need to shut down the Cardinals.

Prediction

Anyone looking for the Cardinals to be this year’s Giants might want to reevaluate their grip on reality. Big upsets don’t happen very often and to think they happen in back to back years is just wishful thinking. The fact of the matter is that the Steelers have a better defense and an offense that stays on the field long enough to keep the ball away from the Cardinals’ offense. Furthermore, the Steelers are a much better team than any of the teams the Cardinals have faced up to this point in the playoffs. The Steelers win an uneventful and downright boring Super Bowl.

Trivia Question during the post-game on Sunday

Question: What Super Bowl Champion had the easiest road to the World Championship?

Answer: 2008 Steelers

Steelers 27 - Cardinals 14

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