Believe that although the Cardinals have been dubbed as one of the worst teams in post-season history,  they made it to the Super Bowl and deserve to be in the most watched U.S. television broadcast of the year.While the Cardinals closed the regular season with just two wins in its final six games and allowed at least 35 points in each of these losses,  they turned it up during the playoffs with 11 take aways in only three games.  In addition, Arizona actually forced one more regular season turnover than Pittsburgh’s historically strong defense.

The Arizona Cardinals are only the second team with only nine regular season wins to ever reach the Super Bowl.  The Cardinals have never even come close to playing in the Super Bowl and are considered the underdog in their first appearance.On the flipside,  the Pittsburgh Steelers could be the first franchise to ever win six Super Bowl titles and are the seven point favorite in Super Bowl XLIII.  Only three seasons ago,  the Steelers won their fifth Super Bowl.  20 players from that championship team are on the current squad,  including Ben Roethlesberger.  The Cardinals have only five players with Super Bowl experience but of those five players,  quarterback Kurt Warner is a former Super Bowl MVP and two time Super Bowl quarterback.

The belief that anything can happen in Super Bowl XLIII is a reality after analyzing some of the strengths and weaknesses of both teams.  The Pittsburgh Steelers do not give up big offensive plays and they have the league’s second best run defense.  If the Steelers can establish their running defense,  the Cardinals’ ability to make big plays in the air will be severely limited.  When they make a concerted effort,  the Steelers move the ball on the ground effectively.  Pittsburgh does not need to dominate play on the ground,  they simply have to run well enough to provide balance to their defensive game.

One of the biggest advantages that the Pittsburgh Steelers have over the Arizona Cardinals is the edge in the coaching staff.  Although both Mike Tomlin and Ken Whisenhunt are both second year coaches,  Pittsburgh’s coaching staff is superior with Dick LeBeau on their side. Le Beau’s defense coaching genius is generally too much for any opposing offense.

Lucky for Arizona that they are equipped with some inside information.  The Cardinals’ coach,  Ken Whisenhunt and assistant coach/offensive line coach,  Russ Grimm came to Arizona from Pittsburgh.  As a result,  both coaches are aware of a number of individual strengths and weaknesses of many of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In addition,  Cardinals’ wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald already has a post-season record of 419 receiving yards and that is prior to playing in the Super Bowl.  Fitzgerald’s ability to gain yards after making the catch despite taking big shots is what sets him apart.

The question is,  can Fitzgerald compensate for all of the potential injured players that may affect Arizona’a chance to win the Super Bowl?  Cardinals’ running back,  J.J. Arrington was sidelined with a knee injury on January 22, 2009 as Arizona practiced for the first time since winning the NFC.  Also,  linebacker,  Travis LaBoy  (biceps),  defensive end Antonio Smith  (knee)  and punter Ben Graham  (left groin)  were all limited in practice as well.

The only injury that the Pittsburgh Steelers may have to contend with is the Steelers’ career receiving leader,  Hines Ward, who sprained a medical collateral ligament while making a catch in the first quarter of the AFC championship game against the Baltimore Ravens.  However,  Ward says that he will play in the Super Bowl and not to worry about his knee,  it will be fine.  Hines Ward has played in every Steelers game from 2001-2004 and has only missed six games in the last four seasons,  none of the missed games being this season.  Based on Ward’s track record, you can believe that he will not miss a moment to shine again in Super Bowl XLIII.

Who has the edge in Super Bowl XLIII?  That remains to be seen.  Motivation is not the issue.  Both the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers want to win the Super Bowl.  Both teams will be at their emotional best.  Believe It Now.

LAST YEARS SUPERBOWL PREDICTION

The Giants meanwhile are as close as you could get to being the Cinderella team in this years Super Bowl. Only a Washington victory at Seattle and Green Bay and then a win over their divisional rivals the Giants would have been a more impressive comeback than the Giants have posted. Having missed the last chance of the season to ruin the Patriots winning streak and keep them from an unbeaten regular season in Week 17, the Giants now have another crack at the Patriots and are the last obstacle to a perfect New England season from start to finish. New York comes in to this matchup with a barrel full of confidence.

They have 10 consecutive road victories including three in the playoffs. Dismissing criticisms about the lack of competent opponents in the Giants schedule, two of those three postseason wins were against the number one and number two seeds in the NFC.It’s difficult to draw conclusions based on rankings in the post season, but there certainly seem to be some developments worth mentioning.

The first and most important is that the Giants defense has been standing tall in the playoffs. Ranked 7th overall during the regular season they have maintained the same level of play in their quest for the conference title, and even performed a bit better. They shaved about 15 yards per game off the amount of real estate they were allowing, but even more importantly they have allowed their last three opponents only 17 points a game on average. That’s nearly 5 points per game less than they were allowing in the regular season, and a figure that would have been good enough for top honors in the NFL through sixteen games.

For their part, New England has given up some but not too much of the mystique that kept most of the league in awe of them for the first two thirds of the season. At that time, when playing the Patriots you had to assume that Brady was going to take the ball down the field and continue to score on every single drive. You had to take every opportunity to get your shots in against them because to do anything less was to roll out a red carpet to the end zone. With the first near defeat in Baltimore, the Patriots seemingly invulnerable mantle began to crack.

Over the last five games of the season it became increasingly clear that pressure on Brady could change the game dramatically.For now, the sense is that the Patriots are not a superhuman team, just a very versatile one with a lot of depth who, to coin an overused cliché, always find a way to win.

It’s an accomplishment that’s owed to the coaching staff as well as the players. Brady threw three interceptions in the conference championship against the Chargers but New England’s offensive coordinators changed their tune after halftime by concentrating on dominating the line of scrimmage and running the ball. Like Cowboys Marion Barber, Pats running back Laurence Maroney has had the bad luck (if you want to call it that) of being on a team that throws first and runs only when the passing game gets interrupted. Had Maroney played for a team like Kansas City he would probably have been in hot pursuit of a rushing title.

Nevertheless, Maroney has gotten his chance in the playoffs, rushing for 244 yards in two games on 47 carries. That’s more chances to run the rock than he has had any two games he has played all of the regular season.For the Giants to have any shot at a world championship it all starts in the trenches. The Giants must rush the passer better and pressure Brady, but more importantly get some sacks on him as well. New York’s defense, who led the NFL in sacks this year by a wide margin managed to drop Brady for a loss only once in the season finale. Giants DE Michael Strahan is the only one on the New York defense who has played in a Super Bowl before, and he’s the one who will need to lead the front seven in the attack against the Patriots pocket.

He’ll have a lot of help from fellow defensive ends Osi Umenyiora who led the Giants with 13 sacks, and Justin Tuck who recorded 10 sacks of his own.All told the Giants powerful defensive line is probably better equipped than any other team in the NFL to stop the Patriots. They have the ability to pressure Brady in the pocket and they can shut down Maroney on the ground. The Chargers couldn’t stop Maroney and held New England to 21 points.

The Giants ought to be able to control New England on the ground, but that advantage will probably be lessened by their lack of speed in the secondary. They can certainly put two defenders on Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss but need a safety with a lot of quickness which the Giants don’t have. If New York can hit Moss at the line they can control him, but the Pats are starting to move Moss around to avoid having him blocked at the beginning of his routes.As always, the real unknown in the game is which Eli Manning will show up – the confident field general who didn’t turn the ball over once in the playoffs, or the wet behind the ears kid who is still learning what to do with the ball when all his receivers are covered.

My guess is that Manning will play a relatively mistake free game. Whether he can score touchdowns from the red zone remains to be seen but he’s done it before against the Patriots and there’s no reason to believe he can’t do it again. The spread was about 12 points last I looked in favor of the Patriots. If I had to bet the money line there’s no way I would take New York in this game, at least not with any serious cash. But with the defensive tools the Giants have and with the lackluster performance Brady is coming off against San Diego I don’t see New England covering the point spread on this one. Recommendation – bet the Giants +12.