Superbowl XLIII Breakdown

Well one thing is for sure in this Superbowl: Arizona will try and win the game with offense while Pittsburgh will try to win the game with defense. Arizona had one of the top offenses in the league before they found their running game and now that they have that going, they may just have the best offense in the NFL. The complete opposite can be said of the Steelers – their game is entirely premised on defense as they had the top ranked defense in overall yardage, against the pass and scoring. They were second best against the run. The more interesting matchup in this game will definitely be when the Cardinals have the ball and the Steelers are on defense.

All in all, I think the Steelers will get the better of that matchup. As I said before the NFC Championship game, Kurt Warner is at his best when he has time to throw and feels no pressure. I believe that the Eagles were completely spent after the Giants game so they were unable to get any consistent pressure against Warner and it showed. He was completely comfortable as was Larry Fitzgerald. Unlike the Eagles, I expect the Steelers will try and jam Fitzgerald at the line to disrupt the timing between him and Warner. Teams routinely ride a running back or quarterback through a playoff run. It is rare that a team rides a wide receiver, but that is what the Cardinals are doing. The Steelers have to get in his face and make him work for his yardage. They won’t be able to shut him down, but they can eliminate his big play potential.

The interesting thing about these games where one side of the matchup gets all the attention is that many times the other matchup ends up playing a much larger role in the game than people realize. So what can we say about Pittsburgh’s offense v. Arizona’s defense? For the Steelers, its all about the running game and Willie Parker. The interesting thing about the Cardinals playoff run is that they were playing with the lead for most of it. In fact the Cardinals were leading in over 80% of the time of possession in their three playoff games, and in all three games they had leads of more than 10 points in the first half. This meant teams were playing from behind. This caused their opponents to get away from running the ball. The Steelers will not abandon the run, even if they do get in an early hole.

The only reservation I have in picking the Steelers is Kurt Warner. In the game against the Eagles, I think he proved that he is a future Hall of Famer. In his career he has now reached the Superbowl with two different teams, including one that hasn’t won anything in over 60 years. I also keep going back to the drive he orchestrated against us in the 4th quarter which took 14 plays, went 72 yards drive and took 7 minutes 52 seconds off the clock. Like I said, that was a drive that champions make and Kurt Warner proved he is a champion. While I think Ben Roethlisberger is a good quarterback, the Cardinals clearly have the advantage at quarterback and that is usually a big deal in Superbowls.

Kurt Warner aside, I still have to give the edge to the Steelers. When in doubt, go with the defense. I think the Steelers defense will find a way to disrupt the Cardinals passing game and Willie Parker, Ben Roethlisberger and Hines Ward will make just enough plays on offense to win much like they did in Superbowl XL. My prediction: Steelers 24, Cardinals 14.

Countdown to Sunday’s Big Event

Well it is 5 days to the big event. It is the day that Donovan McLabb (my dog for those who don’t know) waits for all year long. The one event that even my wife Jen will take time from her busy schedule to watch. Even people who don’t like sports will tune in for this once in a year event, because once you start watching, I guarantee you won’t be able to stop.

That event is, of course, Puppy Bowl V. What did you think I was going to say?

For those who don’t know, it airs on Animal Planet and starts at 3 PM. It features cute puppies playing with each other & comes complete with instant replays, puppy penalties and play-by-play from the Phillies own Harry Kalas. It is perfect counter programming for those of you who don’t want to watch 5 hours of pre-game analysis for one game. I’m a huge football fan and I can’t watch that much analysis for one game. In fact, the first year of the Puppy Bowl was the same year the Eagles made it to the Superbowl and I found it to be the perfect distraction before the game.

I will provide one warning to watching the Puppy Bowl. There are a lot of commercials promoting pet adoption, so watching it may cause you to develop the desire to go out and rescue a dog from a shelter, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

As you get ready to watch the game on Sunday, tune in and check it out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. As for Sunday’s real big event, check back later this week for my analysis and prediction.

Worst Sunday of the Year

As I sit here on the Sunday afternoon before the Superbowl, I am struck by how this is the worst Sunday of the year for sports. Think about it – from September through January, we have NFL football every week, then there is a week off until the Superbowl. In February, you can watch the Pro-Bowl and the NBA All-Star Game, baseball spring training starts and if you’re into it, NASCAR starts its season. March of course brings us college basketball’s March Madness. April, May and June is filled with the beginning of the baseball season and the conclusion of the NBA & NHL seasons and their playoffs. Baseball continues in July and August, plus the weather’s beautiful any way. That gets us back to September and the start of the NFL season. It is this one week that just sticks out. Sure, there are some basketball games on and there is the NHL All-Star game, but it’s just not the same, especially when you are coming off the NFL conference championships and you’re leading into the premier sporting event of the year – the Superbowl.

This got me to thinking: there is an easy solution for this if the NCAA would get its act together. This could be the week of the NCAA football championship. If they had a playoff system, this could be the week that the final game is played. With an eight team playoff, they could have the quarter final games played during the traditional bowl games on New Years Day. They could use the big four bowl games that are currently part of the BCS – the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. The semi-finals could then be played the Saturday of the NFL conference championships and the Championship game could be this week. If it were this year, the schedule would be as follows:

Quarter-finals: January 1-2
Semi-finals: January 17
Finals: January 25

Seems like a simple solution, doesn’t it? Which begs the question, why can’t the NCAA figure this out? Eventually, I think they will come up with some system, but until then, we’ll just have to sit here on the worst Sunday in sports and wonder when they’ll get their act together.