Before I talk football, I want to vent about the Blues a bit. Prior to the All-Star break, the club managed to win at Chicago and mount a ridiculous comeback to win at Boston. If not for a horrible missed call by the refs (this isn't just about me being a homer, if a guy catches the puck in his glove and the entire catching portion of the glove is across the goal line, it's pretty obvious that so is the puck) in the home game against the Blackhawks, the Blues easily could've been riding a four-game winning streak heading into the break. So with seven points in their last four games, how do the Blues come back from the break? By blowing a home game against one of the worst teams in the Eastern (and in my opinion weaker) Conference. It was 1-1 with two minutes left and we allowed a goal when they were outnumbered 4-2 in our zone.
I'm starting to think that my baseball team has started lacing up skates. Every time the Cardinals would gain momentum, they would lose some stupid game that there's no way they should lose. If the Cardinals converted half of their blown saves in 2008, they not only make the playoffs, but they have home field advantage until the World Series. The Blues can't close out games either. If they could, they should only have one regulation loss in January, which was their first game of the month. They were outplayed in that game by Carolina and lost 2-1. They completely dominated the Oilers in Edmonton for two periods and went into the third tied at 1-1. They blew that one. The next game against the Flames was another 1-1 tie, this time with four minutes left in the third. They took a bad penalty and ended up losing 3-1, allowing two goals in under a minute. The other two losses are the goal-that-wasn't game against Chicago and Thursday's 3-1 loss to Ottawa. I'm aware that this is a very young team, but they need to start learning how to close out games if they want to maintain any hope of making the playoffs.
The Steelers give me great relief. Unlike the Cards and Blues in recent years, Pittsburgh doesn't fold under pressure. They thrive in crunch-time. The Steelers were 6-2 this year in games that were decided by less than a touchdown. The only losses game to the Giants, when our long snapper got hurt and James Harrison snapped it out of our own end zone for a safety and to the Colts who we would've blown out had Ben Roethlisberger not gotten interception happy. Also, that wasn't a shot at Harrison. He failed in a role that he never plays in but volunteered for in an attempt to help the team.
This is why I really like my team's chances going into Sunday. They play as a team, for the team, and don't crack when it's close late. More importantly, they've been here before. Ben has a ring. Troy Polamalu has a ring. Hines Ward has a Super Bowl MVP and with his toughness, I don't see his knee being much of an issue. The Cardinals are not a dirty team like the Ravens, so I doubt they would try and take his knee out on purpose. And just to get this out there before I receive a backlash, Ryan Clark's hit on Willis Mcgahee was clean. He hits like Scott Stevens did in hockey. He looks for a guy with his head down who has the puck, or in Clark's case the ball, and he nails him. He didn't lead with his helmet, he led with his shoulder and the helmet-to-helmet contact was incidental. It was a sweet tackle and since McGahee is expected to make a full recovery, I don't even feel bad about it. I was worried about his health when it happened, but he's fine, so he'll move on and so should everyone else. This is one reason why I'm not quite as worried about Larry Fitzgerald as all the pundits say I should be. Running routs across the middle against Clark will force him to me more conscious of his surroundings. He's a tough player, but Clark's presence will force him to look around if he doesn't want to go off on a stretcher.
With that said, I believe quarterback play will be the difference in this game. If Kurt Warner has all day to sit in the pocket, he'll act like it's his office and will dish out passes to Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston like they're memos about TPS reports. Linebackers James Harrison, James Farrior, Larry Foote, and LaMarr Woodley have to get penetration early and often (That's what she said?). Warner can be rattled, but once he's into a rhythm, he's pretty tough to stop. He can pick apart even the best of secondaries, while throwing wobbly long balls for scores. If the linebackers can get to him, they could force fumbles and picks. Since Week 11, he's only had two interception-free games and with Troy Polamalu on the prowl, there's a pretty decent chance for more on Sunday.
As for Roethlisberger, he should be fine as long as he doesn't try and do too much. Sure, the scramble against the Ravens that ended up as a huge touchdown pass to Santionio Holmes was probably the play of the game, but those are the types of plays that end up as interceptions or sacks for big losses more often than not. If he can avoid those types of errors, he should be fine. Our defense is the best in the league, so if anyone can slow down Warner, they can. I respect and admire Warner, so if the Steelers were to lose, it won't be the end of the world. But I will be wearing about as much Steelers' gear as possible with a shirt, jersey, jacket, and cap to support them while waiving a yellow-stocking cap in lieu of a Terrible Towel, which I'm yet to acquire in all of my years of Steelers fandom. For one final note, I'm glad that the Cardinal' mascot and Phoenix's mayor decided to disrespect the towel last week. That turned out really well for the Bengals, didn't it Carson Palmer? As for the Titans? They didn't make it far enough for that to become an issue. We can avenge that next year. The Cardinals are going down. Sorry Mr. Warner.
Steelers 30 - Cardinals 21
