Super Bowl XLIII: The Final Stop To Becoming The NFL's Undisputed #1 Franchise

This is a really late post but better than never, right?

The 12-7 Cardinals travel to Pittsburgh, I mean Tampa Bay, Florida for their first Super Bowl in team history.  The Steelers enter at 14-4, with an 8-2 home mark.  The Cardinals were 3-5 on the road before shocking the world and kicking the Panthers’ tails in Charlotte. 

The game is in Tampa Bay, technically a “neutral” field.  This will not be the case.  Weather may not affect either team more than the other; in fact, it may help Arizona if anything.  But crowd should.  The Steelers have the best fans in all of American sports and Raymond James will certainly have a majority of Terrible Towel wavers.  I could even see it being up to 70/30 Pittsburgh.

The Steelers allowed 203 less points than the Cardinals did during the regular season.  Arizona has since beefed up its defense but it is still nowhere close to Pittsburgh’s.  The Steelers only scored 80 less points than the juggernaut that is the Arizona Cardinals offense.  The Steelers scored 124 more points than they gave up.  Arizona scored one single point better than their defense allowed. 

The Steelers posted an improbable 12-4 record going through one of the most difficult and certainly challenging schedules of the past quarter-decade.  Winning the division may have even been surprising in a year in which Baltimore re-emerged and where the Cleveland Browns were supposed to contend for the North.

The small tension between Anquan Boldin and his coordinator may be a tiny factor, but will not affect his play or looks much.  But it is there.  How the best wide receiver duo in the league is defended will be crucial but that is obvious.  While the Cardinals are certainly scary on offense, the Steelers are that and more on defense.  Not only do they stop you, but they make plays.  They score, too.

Among the defense, there are other reasons why the game favors Pittsburgh.  Experience is one of them.  The Steelers are only two seasons removed from their last Super Bowl appearance, and they won that one with a lot of the same guys who have helped them reach XLIII. 

There have been some losses since then with Joey Porter and Jerome Bettis, and more notably head coach and offensive coordinator Bill Cowher and Ken Whisenhunt.  Of course, Whisenhunt now coaches the Cardinals. 

With him is Russ Grimm, the ex-assistant head coach/offensive line coach who worked with Whisenhunt under Cowher in Pittsburgh.  Whisenhunt will be a sleeper in the game, if a coach can be that.  He knows the Steelers better than anyone who is not in Pittsburgh that is still in the game, and he can use that to inform, motivate, and coach his team towards a victory.

It was not surprising that Arizona defeated Pittsburgh in Glendale last season 21-14.  Ben Roethlisberger threw two interceptions and the Cardinals’ turnovers were fumbles by Larry Fitzgerald and Kurt Warner.  Pittsburgh was much better than Arizona in 07/08 and Whisenhunt’s familiarity with Pittsburgh had a lot to do with his new team’s performance. 

However, when losing Cowher, Pittsburgh added someone who seems to be equal or greater in value and he is only growing in his already high level of maturity.  Mike Tomlin is a fantastic coach who gets the best out of his players with his hard but genuinely caring personality, and he is younger than a couple of his players. 

Tomlin will be the youngest person to coach in a SuperBowl at age 36, two years younger than the previous holder who you have probably guessed by now: Bill Cowher.  And in losing Porter, there was room for James Harrison to step up and he quickly became the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in just his second season as a starter.

In addition to a phenomenal defense, the Steelers offense is underrated.  They do not put up tons of points on the board, but they can.  If given the opportunity, and it is always there if their defense hands them good field position and it is before the fourth quarter, they certainly may succeed in doing so. 

When it is clutch time and they need a score, they usually come through.  For much of the game, the defense carries them and holds the opponent, and when the time comes to get that final/crucial score, they are efficient at getting the seven. 

I say that before the fourth quarter, the opportunity is there because if they have a lead, regardless of its size, they will hold the ball and keep possession as long as possible in the final period.  They could potentially try for insurance points, but I do not see it, and they have the utmost confidence in their defense to keep the lead; maybe even add to the point total.

It would not be surprising if Arizona wins, and not just because of how they have played in the post-season, but the fact that last year’s Super Bowl taught that “anything can happen.” 

But the Giants played defense and were hard-nosed.  It is also more of the matter that I just do not see Pittsburgh losing.  This team will not allow that to happen. 

It is plausible that they do not even allow the Cardinals to think of their possibility as winners and come out firing and make it out of reach early, as the Cardinals did to the Panthers.  No one expects the Steelers’ offense to do a whole lot. 

In addition, Ben Roethlisberger had a terrible performance three years ago (passer rating was less than his age) and he is motivated to perform much better and actually help his team win a SuperBowl game this go around.

My pick is Pittsburgh by at least 10 but no more than 17.  If they have a lead, and extend it, or overtake a deficit in the fourth quarter, they will run the ball and run the clock out. 

If I were a Cardinals fan and I saw the Steelers leading in the fourth, I would get ready for a boring finish or just turn my television set off altogether.  Maybe purchase a plane ticket to Hawaii or something because I would not be seeing my guys in a parade any time soon.  I will go with 27-14 Steelers.