This weekend is Super Bowl weekend, which means chips & dip, parties & gatherings, commercials & halftime shows, wings and… cold beverages. Oh yeah, there’s a game on, too.
This year’s matchup is between the Pittsburgh Steelers of the AFC, who are making a run at their sixth Super Bowl ring, and the Arizona Cardinals from the NFC—a franchise that before this season hadn’t won a playoff game in over 60 years. But the pedigree of the teams is not the only thing that separates the two clubs; it is also the style of play.
Pittsburgh, headlined by Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison, boasts the NFL’s best defense this year both in terms of yards and points per game. The hard-hitting Pittsburgh D is known for their unique blitzing attack, in which they will send only four or five rushers to attack 
the quarterback. The thing about their defense, though, they will almost never send the four or five rushers the defense will expect. The Pittsburgh offense has struggled this season, only averaging 21.7 points per game (good for 20th in the league). That number is skewed; it should be much lower. They put up a combined 96 points in three of their four games against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. Even more alarming for the Steelers is the knee injury to Hines Ward, something you will be sure to hear about during Sunday’s telecast. Ward is quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s best target, especially on third downs. Pittsburgh’s strength lies with their running game, which with all of the talk about Roethlisberger during media week, is the most underreported part of this game. If the Steelers win, it’s because of “Fast” Willie Parker, the Steelers running back with an incredibly unimaginative nickname. Pittsburgh needs to control the clock with their running game, in order to keep the Cards’ offense off the field.
Arizona, on the other hand, is an offensive juggernaut. Kurt Warner, who is making his third Super Bowl appearance, has formed quite a forceful offensive attack with receivers Larry Fitzgerald, Aquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston. Fitzgerald has already broken records for receiving yards in the 
playoffs, and had three touchdowns in the first half of the NFC Championship against Philadelphia. The Cards’ running game is decent, though will certainly have their work cut out for them against the Steelers staunch run defense. What remains to be seen is, if the Steelers double team Boldin and Fitzgerald, will Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower (the Cards’ running tandem) be able to chip away at the seven or so remaining Steelers defenders. The Arizona defense has been sort of “Jekyll & Hyde” this season—one week they shut down the Dallas Cowboys, then they go to New England and get absolutely destroyed. If the game comes down to the two teams’ weaknesses (Arizona’s defense and the Steelers’ offense), then this game will be very, very boring to watch.
But if it is not, the game will be like last year’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Giants, it is again the Unstoppable Force versus the Immovable Object. Last year, the Immovable Object won, this year…?
Prediction: The Arizona Cardinals will win Super Bowl 43. Before this year, the Cards have been a historically inept franchise. Before this year, the Cardinals have been to one playoff game, as a wild card, in my 22 years on earth. Before this year, you would have said, “Nah, it’s the Cards, you’ve got to be kidding me.” But that was all before this year. This year, the Cards have played great when it counts, they have Larry Fitzgerald playing at a level that I haven’t seen for a wide receiver since Randy Moss circa 1999, and they have a veteran quarterback who already has a Super Bowl MVP on his mantle.
You may say Kurt Warner is old, because in football terms, he is. But he is also the type of quarterback the blitzing Steelers fear- someone who can accurately and quickly put the ball in the hands of his stellar receiving core. Be prepared to see Warner’s line look something like 30-39, 280 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT. The Cards throw a lot of 4-5 yards completions to Boldin and Breaston, and a few bombs to Fitzgerald. I can’t stress this enough, the Steelers can’t stop the 6’5 Fitzgerald catching lobs from Warner.
But that’s enough analyzing. Sit back, enjoy the game, and enjoy all that comes with it.
Additional Things You Will Hear About or Should Know About During The Big Game:
- Larry Fitzgerald's dad is a reporter, apparently.
- Ben Roethisberger gets hurt, alot.
- Aquan Boldin yelled at his coach in the NFC Championship Game.
- Pittsburgh Head Coach Mike Tomlin was brought it to replace Bill Cower. Cower's assistants at the time were Arizona Head Coach Ken Wisenhunt and Defensive Coordinator Russ Grimm.
- ESPN's Bill Simmons' Kurt Warner-God-Puppy Theory
- Ryan Clark DESTROYED Willis McGahee in the AFC Championship Game.