Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals


Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals

Steelers:  If you've taken my advice and stuck with all Steelers, you're in pretty good shape for the Super Bowl, fantasy wise.  I mean, let's face it, if you come out of the regular season 12-4 when you had the toughest schedule in the league, its pretty doubtful that whoever you meet in the playoffs is going to be able to knock you off.  What's even more impressive is that the Steelers look even better now than they did during their great regular season run.  Parker looked great against San Diego, Holmes has re-emerged as a great receiver once again and Ben looks as good as he did during the 2005 playoff run.  If it wasn't for the infamous Sweed drop, Roethlisberger would have thrown for over 300 yards and 2 TD's against the 2nd best defense in football in the Ravens.  Defense wins championships and the Steelers have, by far, the best defense in the league. 

Warner, Fitzgerald and Boldin do pose a serious threat but they can be stopped.  The Cardinals won the NFC West title.  That's like winning an election without opposition.  The NFC West is dreadful, to say the least.  The second place team was the 49ers at 7-9.  The NFC champion Cardinals were only two wins better at 9-7.  As for the unstoppable Fitzgerald, the Niners shut him down both times they played each other.  If the 49ers can do it, so can the Steelers.

Cardinals:  The red hot Cardinals streak into Tampa with a chance to shock the world... sorta.  Most of the media appears to be focusing on the Steelers deficiencies and not the fact that the Cards are a 9-7 team that blew a big lead at home to the 6th seeded Eagles.  So it may not be much of a shock to some people to see the Cardinals come out on top.  To me, it just doesn't add up.  The Cardinals have a great offense and I rode it for much of the year in fantasy football, but if I had seen the Steelers on their schedule, I wouldn't hopped off for a week.  The defense has gotten better in the post season, but this team lives and dies with their offense.  They're not going to win the Super Bowl with their defense.  Their offense needs to win it and going up against the number one ranked defense in football, doesn't bode well.  Warner and Fitzgerald will make plays, but not enough to help his team to victory.

Fantasy Factors:  Ben Roethlisberger (9), Anquan Boldin (8)

Posted Jan 28 2009, 10:47 AM by Nick Fruscello
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Comments

oldman Steeler fan wrote re: Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals
on Mon, Feb 2 2009 9:08 AM

Well I'm so surprised that this thing was even close. Kudos to the Cards. They wanted it bad... just not bad enough heh heh.

I just wanted to comment that Fitzgeralds touchdown in the corner of the endzone...WAS defended (as in no catch) by Ike watch the replay; the ball hit the top of Larry's helmet, he fought to control it and when he came down the nose of the ball HIT the ground. That is no catch. Tomlin didn't challenge and since it wasn't a Steeler receiver no one questioned the catch. Or as it was in this situation a no catch. BUT water under the bridge as it were. Ben gets MVP at the next one. Peyton? Tom? Eli ? WHOOOO dey?

Nick Fruscello wrote re: Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals
on Mon, Feb 2 2009 10:01 AM

Yeah, I really didn't pay too much attention to where the ball was and if it hit the ground, I was more upset that they scored and the less I saw that play the better.  

It should have never been as close as it was.  The Steelers went into their prevent defense and the point of that defensive scheme is to prevent the other team from scoring quickly.  Well when the Cardinals score in 3 minutes, its not working and its time to go back to what was working.  It was a lot closer than it should have been, but the right team won and that's all that matters.  Plus, we have all these great memories of the greatest Steelers Super Bowl win ever!