Off to Tampa for the Super Bowl, Steelers will face the Cardinals

Boy was the AFC championship game a hard hitting, rough & tumble, defensive type of game. If you have any questions, go back to the hit that Ravens RB Willis MaGahee took from Ryan Clark that was so hard & ferocious – both players were down for awhile. McGhee had to be taken out on a stretcher, ouch – he turned out to be ok (just a very very sore neck). Game was tight in the 4^th & I know I was a bit nervous as Steelers held on to a small 16-14 lead until superman Mr. Troy Polamalu did his thing (yes, it wasn’t Ed Reed who did it) & intercepted a pass & ran it back for a 40 yard TD which sealed the game at 23-14. Thanks to rookie QB Joe Flacco who threw 3 interceptions, previous 2 playoff games he was turnover free. Steeler D was up to the challenge again by scoring a TD & allowing the Ravens to less than 200 yards of offense – crazy.

This leads us to the present, Super Bowl XLIII (43) against the Arizona Cardinals led by QB Kurt Warner & star Wide out Larry Fitzgerald. Stars need to shine for the Steelers to win, assuming the Steelers Defense has a way to shut down Larry Fitzgerald & I think they do – as Steeler Defensive Coordinator Dick Lebaue, who’s been in the league for many many years, will find a scheme to shut him down & Anquan Boldin if need be. Then we’ll have Kurt Warner only throwing short passes to running backs & non-playmaker wide receivers.

Stars for each team that have to play well for their respective teams to have a chance of winning are: Steelers – Big Ben Roethlisberger, Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes, Heath Miller, Hines Ward, James Farrior, James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Aaron Smith, LaMarr Woodley, Casey Hampton. Cards – Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston, Karlos Dansby, Antrel Rolle, Adrian Wilson, Darnell Dockett, Bertrand Berry. 2 Players in particular (I think) must play well offensively for the Steelers to win this game – Big Ben & Santonio Holmes. Big Ben, for obvious reasons – playing the position where he touches the ball all the time. Mr. Holmes, he’s a big time playmaker who can hit a home run play on short/long passes as well as kick returns or punt returns. The X factor is Limas Sweed, who dropped a sure TD in the latter part of the 2^nd Quarter against the Ravens – as he might be needed if Hines Ward isn’t 100%. Big question mark is will Hines Ward play (knee injury in the Ravens game) & if so, how well/effectively. This is assuming the Steelers Defense which was superb throughout the whole year, keeps it going for 1 more game. Essentially a high scoring offense vs. #1 ranked Defense in the league – who wins out.

Steelers win the Game & therefore become the 1^st team in the NFL with 6 Super Bowl rings. That leaves us with 1 additional question – will this go on the ring finger of the other hand (being they already have 5 for 1 hand)? Nice problem to have. We’ll know next Sunday.

Steeler great Hines Ward below in healthier times.  Hines suffered a knee injury in last weeks victory against the Baltimore Ravens.  Will he or won’t he play? If he does, will he play effectively? Tune in to the Super Bowl to find out.