Well, this Sunday, the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers play in Super Bowl XLIII. The wise guys in Las Vegas say Pittsburgh is the favorite, but I'm not so sure. While I concede that I am always a sucker when it comes to underdogs, I don't care. I'm picking the Cardinals.
Let's get the superlatives regarding the Steelers out of the way first. Their defense is excellent, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger already has the experience of leading Pittsburgh to one Super Bowl title. Still, I'm going with the Cardinals.
Arizona's offense gets most of the headlines. Quarterback Kurt Warner has enjoyed a remarkable comeback season. Throwing to wide receivers like Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston doesn't hurt, but the Cards running game has been helping in the playoffs, too. During the regular season, running back Edgerrin James looked washed up. However, he has found a spark in the last three games. He hasn't been great, but he's been good enough to force defenses to respect the run.
However, the Cardinals' defense is the key to the game. During the regular season, they were wildly inconsistent, giving up more than 40 points in games against the Jets and Patriots. In the playoffs, the unit has found its stride. In the first round, the Cards shut down the Atlanta Falcons potent running game led by Michael Turner. In the next game against the Carolina Panthers, they embarrassed quarterback Jake Delhomme, who committed six turnovers. Against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game, they played a good first half then did just enough to pull out the win.
I've watched a lot of NFL games over the years, but I've never typed the following words: The Arizona Cardinals are going to be Super Bowl champion.
The pick: Arizona 27 Pittsburgh 20
My picks two weeks ago: 1-3 (.250), Overall: 62-37 (.626)
3 comments:
I hope it's a good game. When the playoffs played out the way they did I lost interest but I'm optimistic that with a high-powered offense playing a high powered-defense, maybe it will be a good game instead of a 13-7 snoozer.
I don't agree. The Steelers are going to blitz the daylights out of Warner. He'll be on his back most of the day. Steelers by double digits.
Steelers 27 Cardinals 23. Great game. However, the Titans have to be eating their hearts out. They beat the Steelers by 17 points in the regular season, but have to watch them win it all. Of course, there is no guarantee they would have beaten them in a playoff re-match, but it still has to be tough.
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