XLIII Set

Super bowl forty three has two willing teams ready to do battle for the championship of pro football. One team you could have predicted six weeks ago while the other would be a good team to have place a bet on in Vegas. I'm sure you could have gotten 1000 to 1 odds.

The Pittsburgh Steelers who until the merger of the old AFL with the NFL was the laughing stock of the NFL. Since the merger in 1970 when they transferred to the AFC they will now be going to the Super Bowl for the seventh time.

The Arizona Cardinals who had never won a playoff game until two weeks ago will be sunning in Tampa over the next two weeks.

The top three defensive teams in the AFC all year have been Baltimore, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh. Of those three the one with the best offense was the Steelers and they will play one more game this year.

Ben Roethisberger had two passes that covered over forty yards each and that proved to be the difference as the Steelers out hit the Ravens 23-14.

In the last few minutes this games was marred by having to stop play as Willis McGahee had a helmet to helmet hit knocking both players out. This is becoming an all to frequent experience in the NFL and they need to do something with the helmets to stop the use of helmets for weapons. In this case neither player lead with the helmet but both collided with McGahee carted off the field

Rookie Joe Flacco had a rookie day throwing three ints but with four minutes to play his team had the ball down only 17-14 before the Steeler defense could get their third int which was run back for six.

Mean while in the Arizona Desert:

The Arizona Cardinals played a flawless first half racing out to a 24-6 lead. Kurt Warner tossed three touchdowns to Larry Fitzgerald and the Cardinals continue to play the same as they did against the Carolina Panthers.

Fortunately for the Eagles they had a chance to sit down for a minute at the half after the whirlwind first half and stormed back to take a 25-24 lead only to see Kurt Warner methodically lead the cardinals on the game winning drive and throw the winning score to Hightower to Win 32-25.

It is the first Super Bowl appearance by any team named the Cardinals. The Cardinals go all the way back to Chicago and then St Louis before retiring to the Desert of Arizona.

Kurt Warner wins his third NFC championship in three tries while Donavan McNabb playing in his fifth NFC championship in eight years loses for the fourth time.

So far in the playoffs I am 7-3 including getting both right Sunday. I favor the Steelers but I reserve the right to make my final pick next Monday the 26th.