News and Notes

A Steeler Victory May Be in the Cards

1/31/2009
Michael J. Kotts

Face it, midway through the 2008 season, Pittsburgh's offensive performance had a lot to be desired. This was not the same offensive Juggernaut who lit up the scoreboard in 2005. They did not do much better in the back half of this season either. Frankly Offensive mistakes cost them at least two victories against the Giants and Colts. Big Ben was not on the mark to challenge any passing records, the running game, thanks to injuries, seemed like it was in the slow lane at times. Yet when the offense needed the big plays to eek out close games they found a way to make them. No one said a win has to be pretty. That's half the reason they are in the Superbowl There are no style points for victories in the NFL. Yet, the real reason the Steelers are one win away from their 6th NFL championship is their defense. Frankly the solid defensive play is what allowed the Steelers offense to pull out the games they did, mainly because the Steelers did not even need to score 20 points to win games. When you can win games scoring 18, 14, or less, well you have something going for you. Perhaps that is the reason the Steelers should edge the Cards on Superbowl Sunday. Face it the Cardinals are no offensive juggernaut in their own right. Granted Kurt Warner was the ringmaster of the greatest show on Turf with the Rams earlier in his career. Those Ram teams were offensive juggernauts.

If Marshall Faulk did not rack up the yards, then the Rams receivers did. The only problem here, though, is the Cards are not like the Rams. They have good receivers, but not ones that can kill you. Edgerin James, well again he is good, but he is no Emmit Smith either. Yet football is a team sport, not an individual one, and the Cardinals are playing as a great team. Well a great NFC team anyway. Face it, next to the Chicago Cubs; the Cardinals have the longest championship drought of any pro sports team. Next to the Detroit Lions, they have been, for the most part, a laughing stock. Granted they did win their Division (with only a 9-7 record) this year, but it was the worst in the NFL next to the AFC west. So the fact they made it to the big, while perhaps a fluke in itself, may be due to the fact the NFC was just a bad conference this year. Face it, the giants probably should have went back to the Superbowl, yet collapsed late in the season thanks to ex-Steeler Plaxico Burress, whose personal life seemed to implode at the time he was shot. He apparently took the Giants with him. Of course, take away a few offensive mistakes, and the Steelers beat them, so how good were they really anyway. Carolina perhaps was the team that should have gone to the Superbowl this year, kind of like the Colts should have went to the Superbowl in 2005.

Their problem? The curse of the playoff Bye week. The playoff bye week is a strange creature. It generally hurts (though not always) the strong healthy team who does not really need a bye week by forcing them to take off extra time before they play another game. It hurt Carolina and the Giants (though they were probably doomed even if they had no bye week) and Tennessee. It hurt the Colts in 2005, and it even has hurt the Steelers a few times. The list of teams hurt by the Bye week is quite extensive to name them all; the fact is it does happen. Some times I cringe when Pittsburgh sets stuck with the bye week. This year, it seemed to work in reverse for the Steelers. Big Ben had a concussion in the Final week, so he had the benefit of the extra week. It helped Willie Parker get healthy. In short, the Steelers needed that extra bye week to get healthy. In short the playoff bye week works both ways. Nevertheless, Carolina's bad fortunes put the Cardinals against the Eagles, who quite frankly in 2008, were not much better than the Cardinals, and were lucky to even make a playoff spot. So the fact the cards upset Philly was not a huge upset in any sense of the word. While the Steelers hold an edge based on conferences, the Steelers do have one week spot, which may, ironically, work to their advantage. Ken Wiesenhunt, the head coach of Arizona, was the former offensive coordinator of Pittsburgh. SO he is familiar, perhaps too familiar, with Ben Roethlisberger. Hence the reason the Cards beat Pittsburgh in the 2007 regular season. That was last year though. The Steelers struggled to make it to the playoffs, and had the daunting task of facing Jacksonville in the first round. A recipe for disaster. This year they defense in number one in the NFL, and should shut down Kurt Warner. Just because you once coached a team, does not mean you have the personnel to beat them.

All the Steelers need to do is force Arizona's offense out of their game plan, and they might be in trouble. Yet Weisenhunt's familiarity with Big Ben poses the bigger problem. He knows his tendencies, may be able to anticipate snap counts, and knows what to expect in certain situations. Hence the Steelers will need to dig deep into their bag of tricks to keep Weisenhunt off guard, and do things he would not expect. Given the fact the Steelers have had a lethargic offense most of the season, it probably does not matter if Weisenhunt is able to predict Big Bens every move, they will only need about 2 TD's and 1 or 2 field goals to win the game. Hence, as long as the Steelers defense rises to the occasion, the Steelers offense only needs to make 2 or 3 big plays for points all game, and they probably edge the Cards. In the end though it should be the Steelers standing victorious. Final score Pittsburgh 24- Arizona 10!

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