Super Bowl 43, I mean XXXXIII, is set. The Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers won their respective conference championships Sunday to earn the trip to Tampa. Let the media circus begin...
This is a classic battle of Offense vs. Defense. The high-powered passing attack of the Arizona Cardinals is led by Kurt Warner. But the most important part of the Cardinals offense, besides the obvious importance of the offensive line, is Larry Fitzgerald. Does he have a nickname? According to the all-knowing entity that is The Google Search, nothing came up. I hope Chris Berman doesn't take it upon himself to dub him something lame...please have mercy.
The defense is clearly the backbone of the Steelers team, and has been for the last decade or so. They will certainly be challenged by the Cardinals.
The teams played in the 2007 regular season and the Cardinals came out on top 21-14. I would venture that both coaching staffs are rewatching that game as teams don't change that much from year to year, especially ones with the same coaching staff in place.
I learned a long time ago that when a coach goes against the last team he coached for, it is wise to take notice. This situation isn't exactly the same, as Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt didn't coach under or with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. HOWEVA...current Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was the wide receivers coach under Ken Whisenhunt when Whisehunt was offensive coordinator for the Steelers under Bill Cowher. Are you following? The point is, Whisenhunt probably spent a lot of time teaching Arians. Which would lead me to believe that he has a fairly good understanding of what the Steelers want to do on offense, and what Arians would like to try and accomplish. This philosophy can obviously go both ways, as Arians certainly knows a lot of the ins and outs of Whisenhunt's offense. Advantage? Anyone who followed the last paragraph.
More to come as the game nears.
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