Steelers WR Hines Ward was the MVP in their last Super Bowl and will play despite his injury this year.

The Arizona Cardinals may be the team on a bigger roll with a more innovative offense, but they haven’t played in a Super Bowl. Cardnals quarterback Kurt Warner has won a Super Bowl, but so has Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger…along with over half of the players on the Steelers roster. While this is the Cardinals first Super Bowl, the Steelers have won five. There is no question that when it comes to experience in this big game, the Steelers are leaps and bounds ahead of the Cardinals. Luckily for the Cardinals, experience isn’t all that matters,

When the Steelers won Super Bowl XL, they were playing for Bill Cowher, their head coach in his last year. Roethlisberger had the worst game a quarterback had ever had in a Super Bowl with a quarterback rating just over 22, but he won and became the second youngest quareterback ever to win the big game.  Also, the Steelers were outgained, lost the turnover battle, and were benefactors of a lot of questionable calls. One more thing to be noted is the Steelers offensive coordinator in that Super Bowl, Ken Whisenhunt, the current coach of the Cardinals. Don’t think that Cardinals won’t know a thing or two about what to expect from the Steelers.

Much like every other game in the playoffs so far, this game really is a toss-up. The Steelers and Cardinals could not be any more opposite. The Cardinals rank in the top five on offense and are one of the worst ranked defenses. The Steelers are one of the worst offenses but the number one defense. Most would tend to think that in a big game, the defense is usually the one to stand up and that the offenses are the ones that sputter. The Steelers have been steadily mediocre on offense throughout the playoffs and consistently stellar on defense. The Cardinals have carried their same offensive power into the playoffs, but have also shown some tremendous improvements on the defensive side of the ball. Roethlisberger will be the wild-card in this game, if he can step up and make some plays then the Cardinals will be on their heels the whole game. Don’t expect the Cardinals high octane offense to run so smooth if they are constantly playing from behind. Their really isn’t much more analysis that needs to be done on this game, they just need to go out and play the game. Let’s all hope that some businesses not going under will have enough money to give us some entertaining commercials.

Tags: NFL

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