Three Birds and a Hammer

Well, to say that I was wrong when it came to the football games would be something of an understatement. That Baltimore and Philadelphia won is not a huge shock, although it went against my picks, but Arizona winning was little short of amazing. Arizona was 9-7, having never won in the Eastern Time Zone this season (0-5). Carolina was the only team who was perfect at home. Arizona was missing one of their star receivers while having to go up against a two fisted running attack.

Yet the Cardinals won. One of the commentators mentioned that the Cardinals must have seen something on film when it came to Carolina’s passing game because they were stepping in front of receivers and jumping routes all over the place. Hat’s off to them for confounding the experts.

So we now have Baltimore at Pittsburgh in the AFC and Philadelphia at Arizona in the NFC. On the AFC side, this will be the third time the Steelers and Ravens have clashed this season. It’s hard to win three times in one season, but I still don’t trust Baltimore’s offense enough to suggest that they are going to put up enough points. Baltimore’s defense is good but Pittsburgh will find ways to drive the field for some points. Plus, Pittsburgh’s defense is good enough to score a few points off the Baltimore offense. I would expect Pittsburgh to win a close game, probably decided by a field goal or a pick-6.

I’d like to pick Arizona in the NFC championship game just to be different and because I remember Kurt Warner from the old St. Louis days. However, there is something about the way Philadelphia is playing that gives me pause. Arizona has been good at stopping the run and then running the ball themselves. If Arizona gets pass happy, Philadelphia will win in a walk as the Eagles defense will beat Warner senseless. But if the Cardinals can just pound the ball and only have a deep pass now and again to keep the Eagles from putting eight men in the box, they might be able to win. Arizona must neutralize Brian Westbrook to have any chance and that will force McNabb to throw a lot, giving the Cardinals chances to jump the routes just as they did with Carolina.

If Pittsburgh meets Philadelphia, we would have an all Pennsylvania Super Bowl and a pretty dirty trench fight as well.

An Arizona-Pittsburgh Super Bowl would be a Steelers reunion since the head coach of the Cardinals was the offensive coordinator for the Steelers for quite a long time.

I’m sure I could come up with other ties in case Baltimore wins the AFC, but given my opinion that I think that Pittsburgh will win, I’ll just wait and do the connection if Baltimore gets to the Super Bowl.