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Super Bowl Preview
After two weeks of hype, it's time for the big game. On paper, this seems like a great matchup for the Steelers. Super Bowl teams with explosive offenses have not fared well historically against Super Bowl teams with dominate defenses. However, there are two factors that really benefit the Cardinals. One of the familiarity advantage that Ken Whisnehunt and his staff have over the Steelers. The second is the fact that the Arizona offense features some amazing talent and is led by a guy who will be starting his third Super Bowl. The big matchup in this game will be Ike Taylor on Larry Fitzgerald. Taylor has been shadowing the other team's best receiver (and doing it well) all season. Now he will go up against the NFL's best of the best. Last season Fitzgerald torched Pittsburgh for 123 yards on 11 catches, although the secondary was hampered greatly when Troy Polamalu had to leave that game with an abdominal injury. The other big matchup will be the Steelers pass rush vs. Kurt Warner. Conventional wisdom would dictate that the Steelers rush Warner, who is old and immobile. However, Warner is great under pressure. He had a 103.1 QB rating this season in blitz situations, and he will take a hit in order to make a good throw. It will be interesting to see what LeBeau does. In the Ravens game, he surprisingly backed off of pressuring Joe Flacco, and for the most part, it worked (the two pass interference penalties ended up being Baltimore's two best offensive plays). Does he back off Warner or try to rattle him? Tough call. The physicality of this game will also be key. The Steelers are coming off of one of the fiercest, hardest-hitting games of this decade. Will they try to smash the Cardinals in the mouth, and if they do, how will the Cardinals respond? While Arizona is by no means a "black and blue" type of team, they are not all finesse either. Remember, these are Steelers guys coaching them. On offense for the Steelers, it all starts and ends with the QB. I think Ben wants redemption from his poor performance in Super Bowl XL. I always felt that was unfortunate because people seem to remember that Ben was somehow not really that important to that championship. Nevermind the fact that he carried us through the other three post-season games that year. Nevermind the fact that he still made one of the biggest plays of that game (the 3rd and forever pass to Ward). He likely carries a chip on his shoulder from that unfair perception, which should make for good motivation. The running game is as always a huge question mark. In the first playoff game, FWP racked up a ton of yards and looked like an all-pro again. In the second playoff game, he averaged about 2 yards per carry and fumbled once. Granted, Baltimore's defense was largely responsible for that, but it's still anyone's guess as to how well the Steelers will be able to establish a running attack against the Cardinals. This much is certain: they will really try to do so, if for no other reason than to keep the ball out of Warner's hands. Arizona's defense reminds me of the Cincinnati defense the year they won our division - not that good but able to compensate for deficiencies by being opportunistic. The Cardinals defense has created turnovers at key times throughout these playoffs, so the Steelers must be careful with the football. They also have weaknesses. They are not good at getting off the field on 3rd downs. If Hines Ward can play - even at 80-90% - then this will be an advantage for Pittsburgh. The Cardinals are on fire, especially on offense, but the Steelers have handled the similar situations so well this year. When they went to Washington in November, the Redskins had won six of their past seven games and QB Jason Campbell had not thrown an interception all year. The defense picked him off twice that night and kept the Redskins out of the endzone. When Pittsburgh took on New England in December, QB Matt Cassel was coming off of back-to-back 400 yard games. The defense forced Cassel to make four turnovers en route to a huge win. When the Steelers played San Diego in the playoffs, QB Philip Rivers had the best QB rating in the league and RB Darren Sproles was coming off of an all-world effort the previous week. The defense held both guys in check. So if you think that Fitzgerald and Warner - as good as they have been in the past three games - scare Dick LeBeau and this defense, think again. Here are some additional game notes:
The Bottom Line: I've had this nagging feeling that the Steelers still have not played their best game yet. The Ravens game was way closer than it should have been, and even in the Chargers game, the Steelers trailed for almost the entire first half. It's been a while since this team put together a complete, start-to-finish performance like the one they had against Houston way back on opening day. It would be fitting for the Steelers to finish the season the same way it started. It won't be easy, but if Pittsburgh can execute for 60 minutes like it is capable of doing and Whisenhunt doesn't stonewall us at every turn, then we will see a historical sixth Super Bowl win on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the NFL Playoffs: N/A
All-Time Series: Steelers lead 32-23-3
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