• Pitt points Avg: 29
• Cards Point Avg: 32

• Pitt pass yds: 218
• Card Pass Yds: 257

• Pitt Rush Yds: 106
• Card Rush Yds: 114

• Pitt Turnovers: +2.5
• Card Turnovers: +3

Quarterbacks Kurt Warner vs. Ben Roethlisberger

Believe it or not, I am not a Big Ben fan. I particularly like his write up here. There are some interesting similarities here. Both QB's will force the pass, both when pressured make some terrible decisions. Ben has been lucky this offseason throwing a couple passes that were up for grabs. The D made bad decisions and the media claims Ben is the second coming. Warner has experience being the underdog and unlike Ben, he can be counted on to win a game when the pressure is on. I think he actually plays his best football when the Cardinals are behind.
Edge: Cardinals

Running backs Edgerrin James, Tim Hightower, J.J. Arrington vs. Willie Parker, Mewelde Moore

At first glance it looks like the Edge would have to fall to the Steelers. However, James and Hightower have had to carry the load early in the Cards playoff run. The numbers they put up have crushed the numbers that Parker has for the Steelers. While the Steelers D is probably the best the Cards have faced, on a neutral field I like the Cards backfield.
Edge: Cardinals

Wide receiver
Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston vs. Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Nate Washington, Limas Sweed

No comparison here, the Cardinals have probably the best team of receivers in the NFL. The Steelers are made up of a smiling cheap shot artist, a criminal with 99 kids and a receiver that fakes injury when he can't catch the ball. Boldin and Fitzgerald are going to be the difference in this game.
Edge: Cardinals

Tight end Leonard Pope vs. Heath Miller

Heath Miller is a tough tight end who is clutch on third down. He has a knack of knowing when to roll off his blocks and scramble to get open for Ben.
Edge: Steelers

Offensive line Arizona’s vs. Pittsburgh’s

This will be the difference in this game. If the Cards line can give Warner the time he needs to throw the ball the cards will be in control. The Steeler line is a weakness but has been playing much better than the beginning of the season.
Edge: Cardinals

Defensive line Arizona’s vs. Pittsburgh’s

While the Cardinals seem to dominate on the offensive side of the ball, the Steelers have the best defense in football. It is going to be a big challenge all day for the Cardinals offensive line to keep the Steelers lineman from pounding on Warner.
Edge: Steelers

Linebackers Karlos Dansby, Gerald Hayes, Chike Okeafor vs. Lamarr Woodley, James Farrior, Larry Foote, James Harrison

As a unit the Steelers have the edge, however, I think Karlos Dansby will make his presence known on Sunday. I expect Warner to exploit the defense when the Steelers LB's fall back into coverage. When they blitz however, Warner better begin to pray.
Edge: Steelers

Secondary Roderick Hood, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Adrian Wilson, Antrel Rolle vs. Ike Taylor, Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Bryant McFadden

The Cardinals secondary came up big against Carolina. They will need a game like that to easily win this Super Bowl. Oh yeah, apparently the Steelers have some good safety who needs a haircut.
Edge: Steelers

Special teams Neil Rackers vs. Jeff Reed
There may not be two people I can't stand more in the NFL than these two. Both are great kickers with good range that are questionable in the clutch.
Edge: Even

My Pick: Cardinals 34 vs. Steelers 30


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Chick Ludwig of the daily news had a great article today about how the Bengals are one of the only terrible teams in the league that has not made a single move. After going 4 and 11 and having the worst offense in the NFL. The Bengals front office sends out season ticket renewal letters stating that the Bengals will have a better season next year.

This is based on the fact that Carson Palmer will be returning next year and Bill Cowher predicted the Bengals might have an outside shot at the playoffs. (Even though both AFC championship teams happen to reside in the division.)

The longer the offseason goes without Soul Patch getting fired, the less likely it is to happen. I, like Chick, am hoping after this senior bowl hooplah is over, Big Bob is sent packing.

please.

WhoDey


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In a game the magnitude of the Super Bowl I think the winner should be predicted on talent alone. Based on extensive research done by the WhoDeyFans research department I have come up with the following reasons the Cardinals should win the Super Bowl.

1. The talent in Arizona is much better than the talent in Pittsburgh...


2. The quarterbacks of each team and their respective girls...


3. While Ben Roethlisberger is loved by fat guys with guitars, the lord loves him some Kurt Warner...


Bonus:
A little known fact about Brenda Warner, when Kurt was struggling to make his way as a quarterback / grocery bagger, Brenda took up acting. You may have seen her in her role starring opposite of Sylvester Stallone in Rocky 4 as the juiced up Russian with the big heart.




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For me it is a no brainer who to root for in this years super bowl. On the one hand you have the Arizona Cardinals. This is a team that no one really gave a chance and usually those circumstances would have me going nuts rooting for the underdog. However, the AZ Cards and I have a little bit of history. One of my good friends is a cards fan. He is the type of fan that when he talks about his team it sounds like finger nails on a chalk board. The one tolerable thing about his fanhood though was the fact the Cards have always been as pathetic as the Cincinnati Bengals. The second piece of history was several years ago I made the trip to Arizona to see the aforementioned friend and catch the Cards vs. Bengals game. After paying some boy scout five dollars to see the game with the other 800 fans in attendance. Kitna handed the game to the cards and I felt as if I was kicked in the nuts in the desert.

So, Number 1 fan, you are rooting for the Steelers?

Not so fast, if there is one thing that would be worth taking a thousand kicks in the nuts in the desert. It would be watching the Steelers lose to the Cardinals this Feb 1. To watch Kurt (Lazarus) Warner geriatricaly maneuver his team down the field by throwing the ball in the air and watching Larry Fitzgerald pluck it from the sky over Palamalu and his flowing locks would be awesome. I will smile every time the Edge gets a first down and I see the shine from his platinum teeth.

I don't think I could handle listening to the Steeler fans talk about winning another championship. The "One for the thumb" talk was bad enough.

WhoDeyFans will be whole heartedly throwing its support behind the Arizona Cardinals this super bowl.

WhoDey


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The Cincinnati Bengals have the opportunity to show the fans that they understand how bad of a season on offense they had this past year. There are rumors flying that Hugh Jackson (a favorite of CJ 85) may be interested in the Offensive coordinator position for the Bengals.

Hugh Jackson has earned his spot as an offensive coordinator in this league. After recruiting Carson Palmer at USC when he was there, then spending time with Chad and Tj turning them into two of the best wide receivers in the league. Last year he was quarterbacks coach in Baltimore where he took a rookie from Delaware and had him ready to pull his team to the AFC championship game. I would be happy to have him here and this alone would convince me to renew my season tickets.

Mike, please, do the right thing. Lets drop soul patch, his time here is over and bring in Hugh.

please.


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Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has unofficially changed his name to Steelerstahl. As the Steeler fans rejoice, I want to point out that stahl is German for steel. So he has effectively changed his name to Steelersteel.

I was going to cheer for the Ravens during Sunday's game anyway, but because of this guy, I think I'm going to do it loud and obnoxiously now.


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I am of the opinion that it is still a little early to talk about the draft. I do enjoy reading some of the mocks and some of the predictions but there is a whole offseason around the corner where the Bengals have the opportunity to focus on free agents. Without getting to much into the salary cap I am going to outline some of the free agents that will (may) be available this offseason and how they could help improve the Bengals.

QB
With Carson Palmer healthy the Bengals still have one of the best quarterbacks in the game. However as we have seen from this past season, the depth behind Palmer is thin. I think that it would be to much of a stretch for the Bengals to go after a QB like Cassel, Collins, Warner or Garcia as these players are all going to want starting jobs next season. The Bengals could fill in nicely with a guy like Rex Grossman, Kyle Boller or JP Losman. In a pinch all of them have been starters and could probably handle the offense better than Crazy Legs.

RB
I like Cedric Benson as the Bengals running back for 2009. I think he showed enough this past season for another shot with the Bengals. If however we lose him for a big deal to another team there may be the opportunity to fill in with some other RB's. Brandon Jacobs of the Giants, Darren Sproles of the Chargers, Derrick Ward of the Giants, Dominic Rhodes of the Colts are all running backs facing free agency this offseason. I think any of these guys have enough of an upside to take a chance on if needed this offseason.

WR
The free agent market for wide receivers is led by Bengals current wide out TJ Houshmandzadeh. Two other receivers who may be worth a shot with the Bengals are Bobby Engram for his experience in the league and Devery Henderson who could perform well as a Chad Johnson replacement. Engram makes me nervous because of his injury history and the fact that the Bengals training staff has no clue what they are doing with regards to injuries. Henderson is a great deep threat and would probably love catching the deep ball from Palmer.

OL
A Center should be top on the Bengals list here. Matt Birk is by far the class of this list but may be tough to pull him away from the Vikings. Not far behind is Jeff Saturday, again, it will be hard tearing him away from the Colts.


P
It is no secret my feelings about Kyle Larson, he is the worst punter in the NFL. I think the Bengals best bet is to sign an undrafted punter to camp or use a late round pick on a good leg. Since this article is about free agents, I think the best punter available would be Shane Lechler. He averaged 42.5 yards per punt in his worst season. Otherwise has never averaged less than 45.7 per kick. His 49.1 yards per punt average during ’07 was 10 yds per punt more than Larson and he averaged 48.8 yards per punt this season.

DL
It would be a hard swallow for the Bengals to use more money on another D lineman but it could improve the defense immensely. There is a good crop of free agents on the D line led by Julius Peppers and Albert Haynesworth. I think matching Odom up with Haynesworth again would be huge for the d line pressure next season. Another very interesting option is the Hybrid LB/End Terell Suggs. A player with his dynamic abilities would be a huge boost to this defense.

LB
I would be happy to sign another veteran LB to our crew. I think the free agent I would focus on would be Karlos Dansby from the Cardinals. He has a lot of playing time left and would bring some intensity to the LB core.


DB
First let me say I think the Bengals should be set at DB. barring injury the youth and fire I see from the corners and safety's give me hope. I think this unit looks a ton better if the D line can force some pressure on the QB. I would love to have Nnamdi Asomugha as an addition to this core. Not only is he an incredible player, his name is freaking awesome.


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I hope that someday I have the type of job security that Mike Brown gives his employees. Bob Bratkowski is still employed even though he is probably the worst offensive coordinator in the NFL.

"But Number 1 Fan, he didn't have Carson Palmer"

Right you are. However there were 19 other teams that also had QB issues this year. The Chiefs and Lions both had 4 different QB's start this year. All 19 of those teams finished better in offense than the bengals. 6 of them made the playoffs and 1 more went 11 and 5.

The Bengals finished with 204 points this season. 12.8 per game. The next closest team scored 232. The 0 and 16 Lions scored 268. The Cincinnati Bengals would need 5 more games (21 total) to score what the Lions did in 16. Did I mention the Lions did not win a game?

The Bengals averaged 245 yds a game. Also Last in the NFL.

However, the Bengals were first in one thing. They had more punts than any other NFL team with an even 100. Leave it to the Bengals however to also offer up the worst punt average in the NFL with 39.1 per punt.

Bob has demonstrated that he does not know how to run an offense. There are going to be injuries in the NFL every year. Bob does not know how to adjust an offense with scheme or personnel. He has a playbook from 2003 and refuses to change his thinking. I am disgusted that we are going to have to sit and watch another season of the run > run > pass offense. Occasionally there will be a shovel pass or a 3rd and long screen that will make it seem like Bob is trying to be creative.

Please, Mike, think about what you are doing. Give the Bengals a chance to win next year.


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Josh over at CincyJungle.com had the great idea to bring the Bengals bloggers together to get their thoughts on this years Bengals heading into the offseason.

Check the article out here

WhoDeyFans was represented as well as WhoDeyRevolution, StripeHype, Bengals zone and of course CincyJungle.

WhoDey


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