All Eyes On 'Zona And That's Just Fine
by Michael Bean on Jan 19, 2009 2:54 PM EST
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PrintA quick thought from me that I'd love to hear your take on...
When the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa Bay two Sundays from now, the only spectators cheering for Pittsburgh will be those that make up the Steelers fanbase. Granted, the Steelers fanbase is big. Real big in fact, and far larger than the Cardinals'. That still leaves the fanbases of the 30 non-participating teams rooting for the Cardinals though. Same goes for the tens of millions of other viewers who will tune in just for cultural tradition's sake. Count all those folks with no dog in this fight as likely to be in the Cardinals corner. Our country always cheers for the underdog and Arizona is most certainly that in this game.
Throw in Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald - two easy to like stars - and the Cardinals barren history as well compared to Pittsburgh's previous dates with glory, and we have all the ingredients for a massively one-sided affair in terms of fan support. Kind of like last year when everyone outside of the Pats fanbase cheered on New York in their attempt to slay the mighty and cheating Patriots*.
Not convinced? Check out this outpouring of support. It's but a small sample size, but look at all those folks that offered up their well wishes to Cardinals fans following their victory over the Eagles on Sunday. Outside of a few fine souls who came by to wish Pittsburgh's fans good luck, not much in terms of support and excitement for the Black & Gold's 7th trip to the Big Game.
Does this matter? Not necessarily in terms of crowd noise or anything like that related to the actual game itself. What about in preparations leading up to the game? Here we may be on to something. Perhaps the question is - how will Mike Tomlin use this to his team's advantage?
For the first time this playoffs, Mike Tomlin can play the 'nobody respects us' or wants us here' card. Arizona had it all playoffs. San Diego had it to start the playoffs, etc. Now Arizona must deal with everyone telling them how great they are and how special a story their playoff push has been. All the while, Mike Tomlin can quietly go about getting his team ready to play their very best game of the year to cap a truly remarkable but not yet finished 2008 season.
I have no idea how Tomlin will put his own unique spin on motivating the team and having them prepared and hungry to play one last time. But I do know he will. Just another reason why the stars have aligned unbelievably for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year. Who would have thought we could come into this game edgy and feeling like underdogs? Well, we will, and that's pretty remarkable considering we won 12 games in one of the league's more brutal schedules ever, compared to just 9 wins for them in a cup-cake NFC West division.
If you even consider the possibility of Pittsburgh not taking the Cardinals seriously, you're way off base in my opinion. It will be the exact opposite. Tomlin will have them playing with a huge 'Us Against The World!' chip on their shoulder. I have no doubt about it.
Go Steelers!
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From a Giants Fan
Congratulations and good luck. I think you guys better get ready for Lombardi trophy #6.
ooh
I stand corrected :) Some support!
Seems to be all from NYG fans though, who I think just want to make sure Dallas has one less thing to brag about!
Thanks John for stopping by. I think somebody at team headquarters better find a spot for #6 as well. We’ll see though.
by Michael Bean on Jan 19, 2009 3:12 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, It's pretty much a home game for the Cardinals..
..both officially and in terms of environment and fan support. Hard to say how that will play out, but the Cardinals have been severely underrated all year long. They pretty much had the Division locked up by the midway mark of the season, and Whiz let off the gas. That is benefitting the team at this point, I think. They seem very fresh emotionally, and not too banged up physically. But the talent was always there, and has been since Whisenhunt took over the team. They are just starting to put it all together. The talent goes beyond Warner and the wideouts as well. A lot of observers seem to overlook that.
Right? Why even bother to show up...
… when Kurt is so pretty with his hair gel and their helmets are so shiny. Whatever can we do? Now that you mention it Robert Ethan, it occurs to me that our boys don’t even really seem to want a 6th Lombardi. Did you see Tomlin tell the fans he loves us? He was practically asleep at the podium. And the complacency of Woodley, and Clark, and Troy, and Deebo, they’ll likely let Kurt throw all over them. I doubt I’ll even watch the game.
Robert...
After reading what you posted on the Cardinals sight, can we now assume that you are a Cardinal fan from here on out?
He's firmly on the fence.
That’s what I have assumed.
All doubt removed.
You are truly the least insightful and mornic person to post on BTSC. No way there are more Cardinal fans in Tampa than Steeler fans. And no matter how many fans are at home “rooting” for the underdogs, they won’t make much of a difference in crowd noise. Never once have you ever heard of “the Cardinal” nation. Your analysis is laughable.
"Whaddya' mean all the beer is gone..?
Agreed +1
There is no way the Superbowl will be anything other than a Steeler home game ! Do you remember the last SB, man if I was a Seahawks fan I’d have been embarrassed, it was looking like Heinz Field, Black & Gold and Towels everywhere ..
Unfortunately you are right
Hell our home games are typically half black and gold in the stands. Steelers football is synonymous with wining and you have a lot of fans everywhere because of that.
I respect your team for their hard nosed approach to the game and their collective spirit and I’m glad to see that same cohesion taking coming from our NFC Champoin Cardinals (still hasn’t sank in).
Yeah, Whiz is the man!
I wouldn’t say that I am surprised at our performance. Our team does have , and i would say has had all of the talent to be where they are today. Their has just always been this dark cloud of failure that has seemed in a way to haunt this organization.
Whiz is a very good HC
and your welcome to him, but can we please have Coach Grimm back?
Towels travel
The last SB was sort of an anomaly. Detroit simply isn’t that far from Pittsburgh on a map. Even so, Florida is where people from the Northeast go to retire. Folks from Arizona don’t head over there. Plus Pittsburgh natives will see heading to Tampa as a welcome warm-weather vacation as if the SB wasn’t a big enough draw.
As for the Cardinals, they’ve got some very talented individuals on the roster. This year, they added some depth and I’m sure Whis has been ‘building a brand’ in the locker room. Barring any unfortunate drops, mistakes, or other unlucky moments, I don’t see the Cardinals pulling this one out. But I do expect to see them in the postseason next year. They’re on the upswing.
Week off
I think this week off prior to the big game will benefit us. We have some banged up guys in Clark and Hines plus it could be a momentum stopper for the cards. This scenario with Boldin being unhappy with the OC could be very dangerous for them, causing some unnecessary distractions and divisions in the locker room. It also gives time for the media to hype the cardinal’s cinderella story and let us work under the radar in a way.
I actually think that we’re gonna have a decent fan base down in Tampa. Our fans travel well, as we saw in the last super bowl, though that coulda been more of the Bettis home town factor. I also found it curious that in the ESPN poll on who will win the super bowl it was divided by the West and East, the East supporting the Steelers, except for New Hampshire for some reason going with the Cards. With Tampa being in the East, we might have that homefield feeling.
All in all, i think it’ll be a great game down in Tampa where i hope we’ll get our NFL leading 6th Super Bowl Ring
I agree about the fan base.
I think the Steeler nation will show up in force and make this a home game like the last Super Bowl.
A side note for Blitz: Did you catch that commercial about fantasy fotball? You know the one where they show a fan sad and put up the name of the fantisy team and their record. did you notice one of them was “Behind The Steel Curtain”? I thought of Blitz and Maryrose when I saw that.
lol
yes i like that commercial; no im not bald and no i dont bang my head against the tiles of my shower in frustration about losing fantasy football :)
by Michael Bean on Jan 19, 2009 5:25 PM EST up reply actions
Let them talk about the Cards...
They will have plenty of time to talk about us AFTER we hoist the trophy.
On a side note Blitz, thanks for all you do. This site is the cream of the crop and your hard work is a major reason for that. In the story you did earlier last week (Credit Bruce Arians For Development of Quick Hitting Passing Attack), I saw the exact same play dissected on ESPN’s match-up show. I was like, ya guys I know about all that, I read BTSC.
Blitz for Pres!!
thanks Deuce! Definitely been a long and tiresome couple of weeks.
Glad you’ve been enjoying it. Those breakdowns were fun. Going to do some more of them soon.
by Michael Bean on Jan 19, 2009 5:24 PM EST up reply actions
Cardinals have only won one game on the east coast this year...
granted it was against carolina in the playoffs. I know it doesnt mean anything, but its an interesting nugget.
Super Bowl 43!
by bradyquinnsclipboard on Jan 19, 2009 4:21 PM EST reply actions
Steelers Nation
The media can talk all they want, the Steelers Nation is too big. They have too much influence on too many friends of another teams colors to see “Everyone else” root for The Cardinals. I know that all of my friends that have seen their team fall are now supporting my team as I would for them.
hehe
well yeah, sure, my friends and acquaintences are for them b/c they know i do this in my free time but sadly I think I only have like 200 or so friends on Facebook :) That can’t quite compete with the ~50-100 million football fans that I don’t know!
Secretly, once the game starts, everyone will be for the Cards, if not sooner. Give the national media a bit of time to get the attention on Warner and Fitzgerald – two guys that are hard to not like. We’ll see! That said, I expect the stadium to be black and gold filled! No way that wont be a reality. I’d guess somewhere in the 6:1 range Steelers fans to Cards fans? Should be nice little home field advantage in the stadium.
by Michael Bean on Jan 19, 2009 5:22 PM EST up reply actions
Multiply...
the number of friends that you have by the number in the Steelers Nation and what do you get? I think you understimate the draw of The Steelers. Secretly, a lot of people will be rooting for The Steelers instead of the Cinderella, first time, old veteran Cardinals.
jersey info?
Any word on whether the steelers will have the choice of jersey?
the home team gets to pick
which jerseys they will wear. if the cards pick their red jerseys, we wear white. if they choose their white jerseys, we wear black. my guess is that we will be wearing white.
...die trying
http://www.agentorangerecords.blogspot.com
Let them natter about the Cards til they are blue in the face.
Won’t hurt us any, and won’t help them a bit. After all, the press never could stop talking about every breath and eyeblink of the Cowboys all season long, and I didn’t see them in the playoffs, let alone the SuperBowl this year.
I think the piece that Maryrose posted after this pretty much sums up how the team will use the press and everyone else lining up against them to their advantage: they’re a band of brothers, and they will hold together to prevail while everyone else is against them. Hell, if you want the example par excellence for using adversity (perceived or otherwise) as motivation, you need look no further than Hines Ward. That guy has built a spectacular career on proving wrong those who underestimate him, and I meant that in a good way.
And finally, as far as the Cardinals being underrated…. I don’t know about that. A team whose record is 9-7 regular season isn’t so much underrated as damn lucky to find themselves where they are on this Monday morning. Now I didn’t watch their games, and maybe every one of those losses was a heartbreaker, and but for a play here or an officiating call there, they’d be 13-3 or something. But I can look at their record and opponents and see their wins — and some of their losses — came from teams that clearly were not championship caliber; teams that were not, in sum, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who’ve played championship opponents, and championship football, all season long.
I know they are playing great right now, and that is the reason we won’t underestimate them in Tampa. But I really do think (and while I’m no Robert Ethan, I’m no naturally sunny optimist either) that we are the better team, and the game is ours if we play it at the level we have consistently maintained all year.
Right. So anyway, all that’s a long-winded way of saying: I agree. All eyes are on AZ, and that is just fine with me…
by DistrictSteelerFan on Jan 19, 2009 6:24 PM EST reply actions
let ESPN talk up the Cardinals as much as they want
The national sports media is going to hype this game the only way they know how: by creating simplistic “storylines” that they can discuss and write about nonstop for the next 2 weeks. There’s no way the Steelers won’t be favored going into the game, so it’s reasonable to guess that “Can the huge underdog prevail?” will be one of the storylines, in addition to Kurt Warner’s resurgence and Larry Fitzgerald’s play. The Steelers, by contrast, don’t have flashy stars or prima donna players creating locker-room drama, so it’s harder to write the same sort of simplistic narratives about them.
What the Steelers offer for a narrative isn’t something that works well on Around the Horn, but it’s something that I think all real football fans connect with and appreciate. While many of our players are undeniably stars, this is basically a blue-collar team that works harder than anyone else, that excels at what they do because of that hard work, and that defines themselves by their excellence rather than their celebrity.
The game itself? I think, as they’ve done all season, that the Steelers will come out confident but not overconfident, and that they’ll be well-prepared and intense when they take the field in Tampa. Unlike last year’s Super Bowl, when the Patriots played flat and looked overconfident after winning so many blowout games earlier in the year, Pittsburgh should come out knowing that they can be beaten in this game, and that they’ll need their A game regardless of the opponent. Assuming that they play their best, I kind of think it’ll be a lot like their game against San Diego a couple weekends ago. That is, I think AZ will have major troubles running the ball, which will put lots of pressure on Warner and the passing game, and I think the Pittsburgh offense will be able to move the ball well, creating situations like the 3rd quarter of the SD game. In other words, Warner and Fitzgerald can’t do damage from the bench.
P is for Latrobe.
I think the "storylines" are great...
…otherwise you’d be waiting around for two weeks (or 6 months depending on your perspective) for a couple hours of game action. The athletes, coaches, and support staff make big bucks for the entertainment they provide on the field, and countless journalists and media hacks of every stripe make a good living embellishing and enhancing what happens on the field.
I think the big storyline will be Whisenhunt (and Grimm, Haggans, and a few others) as the prodigal sons. I don’t know the circumstances of Whiz’s departure, he may well have seen the Arizona job as a better opportunity than the Pittsburgh job, but certainly Russ Grimm got stiffed by the Rooney’s to some degree. Now, (as Mike Golic mentioned today), hiring obscure 30 something assistants from outside the organization for plum head coaching roles has become the “flavor of the day” in the NFL.
Golic doesn’t like it, and neither do I, so it’s up to Whiz and Grimm to deliver a wakeup call.
by robert ethan on Jan 19, 2009 8:31 PM EST up reply actions
dear r.e. dickulous,
you are so right. that was a bad move by the rooney family. what a terrible call! i mean, look at how its turned out for them…two straight years of playoff football and a trip to the superbowl in his second year. what were they thinking? you are right: whiz and grimm really need to deliver a wakeup call to the steelers for their awful decisions.
oh, and more thing. just a little life lesson here to someone who apparently needs more than a few of those: never, ever listen to mike golic. he’s paid to be a clown.
...die trying
http://www.agentorangerecords.blogspot.com
Yup,
That’s the Ronneys for ya. Always doing whatever “the flavor of the day dictates.” Also, you’re right about Golic. He is much closer to clown than expert.
So experience, success, and service mean nothing...
I hope that’s the case in your line of work as well,
Maybe they’ll bring in some 18 year old illegal to take over the menial tasks you perform, since he will work for less and probably has a more pleasant disposition.
by robert ethan on Jan 20, 2009 2:44 AM EST up reply actions
like mike golic, you sir, are a baffoon.
and i will send the memo to tomlin that he is like “some 18 year old illegal,” taking over the job that whis or grimm had “earned.” i wonder what he would have to say about that.
thanks for the laughs, r.e. dickulous.
...die trying
http://www.agentorangerecords.blogspot.com
I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in saying that your welcome here has worn through. Your paper-thin veil covering the bitterness behind your comments is not appreciated. Your opinions are designed to stir trouble and not to evoke conversation and I believe you to be a racist and a xenophobe and I would prefer it if you just went away.
Dear God, just go away.
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
by BostonWahoo on Jan 20, 2009 10:15 AM EST up reply actions
Tu madre es ilegal.
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
by BostonWahoo on Jan 20, 2009 10:29 AM EST up reply actions
By the way.
If I could frame my post, and your response, I would do so and hang it on my fabric-covered sweatshop walls here.
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
by BostonWahoo on Jan 20, 2009 10:30 AM EST up reply actions
LOL, BlockedWazoo...
Seems to me like the “bitterness” is incoming from my p.ov. Without the benefit of even a “paper-thin veil”. Half the replies to my posts are personal attacks without even passing reference to the topic at hand. Like yours for instance.
Now everyone is dumping on Mike Golic.
One of two reasons that I can see….
1. Golic knows more about professional football than all of the cyber heros here combined…..or…
2. Mike has a SENSE OF HUMOR.
Both qualities seem to cause this entire message board to recoil in horror when confronted by them.
by robert ethan on Jan 20, 2009 4:31 PM EST up reply actions
Yes, experience, success, and service mean something.
So does talent. What Rooney saw in Tomlin was talent. Tomlin is a gifted young guy who has started out very good and is likely to get even better with experience, success, and service. This is his second year and he’s in the SB. Imagine what he’ll be like after he’s been in the organization as long as Whis.
Yeah obviously Ken Whisenhunt has no "talent"..
..sheer luck bringing one of the bottom feeders of the league to the Super Bowl in two years.
Same with Russ Grimm, got by for years on luck as an NFL lineman, then as a coach. Both of them were outrageously lucky to be part of the coaching staff one of the most successful teams in the league over the time they coached there.
Nothing to compare with a guy who had one season as a top assistant on a losing team.
by robert ethan on Jan 20, 2009 4:06 PM EST up reply actions
..I assume Cowher hired them out of pity or something. Maybe they were out of work and having trouble meeting their mortgage payments at the time. Or maybe their kids knew his kids in school….who knows.
by robert ethan on Jan 20, 2009 4:24 PM EST up reply actions
One more time...
Unlike most on this site, I’m going to treat you like a respectable person one more time. Keep tossing out BS wise-cracks and you’ll get the same in return. So, here we go.. plain and simple…
I never said Whisenhunt lacks talent. I pointed out that talent is one additional criterion you did not mention.
Picture yourself in the position of having to chose between Bledsoe and Brady. One has experience, talent, and has served the team well. The other is new, unproven, young, yet shows tremendous aptitude. A person with your focus on experience and resume analysis would take Bledsoe. That would be a mistake.
See, Whisenhunt does have talent. He’s also had more time in the NFL to build that talent into something significant. By all accounts, Tomlin has started building something significant without the benefit of all that time and experience. Tomlin got to the same level as Whisenhunt, but Tomlin is 10 years younger and achieved as much in far less time.
Big Ben didn’t have much experience, but he won games. FWP didn’t have much experience when he led the league in rushing. Deebo and Woodley are both new, but they’re the best pass rush combo in the league. Sure, experience is important. So is being gifted.
R.E.dickulous
“Now, (as Mike Golic mentioned today), hiring obscure 30 something assistants from outside the organization for plum head coaching roles has become the "flavor of the day" in the NFL.”
You don’t think the Rooney’s success with Noll, Cowher, and Tomlin had anything to do with that do you? The Steelers aren’t emulating the rest of the league, the rest of the league is emulating the Steelers.
Tomlin's resume wasn't substantial enough to serve as a book mark..
..in the resume’s of Cowher and Noll when they were hired.
by robert ethan on Jan 20, 2009 4:22 PM EST up reply actions
Um No.
Tomlin never played in the NFL, so his coaching career actually was longer than Knoll’s at the time they were hired for their first head coaching gig.
In 2002 and 2005, the Buccaneers led the NFL in total defense (fewest yards allowed per game)—during Tomlin’s tenure, the defense never ranked worse than sixth overall. When the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003, the team recorded five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns.
".._during Tomlin's tenure.."????
LOL, the guy was holding towels and handing out water bottles at T. Bay.
by robert ethan on Jan 20, 2009 4:43 PM EST up reply actions
BTW, what professional football team do you work for? And which coaches did you hire?
Because you must have some track record for hiring young hall-of-fame coaches that I am failing to acknowledge here.
by Rougue_Behaviorist on Jan 20, 2009 4:48 PM EST up reply actions
Your lack of knowledge on the subject is astounding. So in essence the secondary coach carries towels? So what does the O-line coach do? Carry tackling dummies? Furthermore, Whiz skyrocketed through the Steelers system due to Mike Malarky’s success as an assistant and then his departure. The guy went from TE coach to OC to head coach in what? 5 years? Not the stellar resume you seem to think it is. Grimm was a great O-line coach, but he clearly wasn’t winning any HC jobs in the league so the Steelers made him the Assistant head coach so he could get some experience. I think its been about 4 years of assistant coaching for Grimm yet still no one comes calling. But, I guess you know more than 32 NFL GMs.
retarded
“.._during Tomlin’s tenure..”????
LOL, the guy was holding towels and handing out water bottles at T. Bay.
I guess you didn’t pick up on the fact that Tomlin has already earned a Superbowl Ring. Yep, they give those out to everyone, even the towel boys!
That’s who I want leading the troops down here in Tampa,
COACH TOMLIN, a battle-tested veteran of The Big Game.
…
I understand the Whiz has a ring too, but that’s beside the point.
"It was an attrition football game and you know we like that."
I wonder if Robert Ethan will continue with this crap now?
For two years he has been dismissing Tomlin as a lightweight who should have never been hired…
I wonder if now — after a Coach of the year award, and a Super Bowl Ring, he will continue with this strange line if attack…
I agree
The lack of loyalty that the Roony’s showed for Grimm really disappointed me. I also am not so sure that Steeler fans will feel the same way about Tomlin in five years, after LeBeau and Cowher’s players are gone. He reminds me of Gruden who won a Superbowl with the team that Tony Dungy built and hasn’t done anything since.
by MI Steeler Fan on Jan 20, 2009 9:23 PM EST up reply actions
lol
So Mewelde Moore, Keyaron Fox, Patrick Bailey – they had nothing to do with our success this year?
Oh by the way, Coach Cowher didnt select our players. They’re not ‘his guys’. Kevin Colbert and the front office is largely in control of personnel decisions. Not the coach.
Your point makes no sense at all given how the Steelers organization is structured. Neither Cowher or Tomlin has GM duties.
by Michael Bean on Jan 20, 2009 11:35 PM EST up reply actions
Timmons and Woodley
were picked by the Steelers under Tomlin. Blitz is right..they aren’t “Cowher’s” or "Tomlin’s"guys. Furthermore, it seems to me that the hiring of someone outside the organization was the breath of fresh air the team needed. And before we elevate the “Chin” to deity status, we need to remember that he had chances for many more championships and failed (for whatever the reasons) to bring home more than one Lombardi trophy. And regarding lack of loyalty…think of it this way, if they had hired Grimm and the team stunk, you would be calling for his head and claiming the Rooneys “owe” it to the fans to hire a winner etc etc etc..The Rooney’s are the best owners in the NFL, period.
"Whaddya' mean all the beer is gone..?
20 Players
According what I’ve seen, only 20 players on the Steelers’ roster have SB experience. That means the other 33 were either drafted in 2006, or after Cowher left. There really are not the kind of similarities that you’re talking about between Gruden and Tomlin.
by WolfpackSteelersFan on Jan 21, 2009 10:38 AM EST up reply actions
22 have rings, according to the PPG this morning:
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
by BostonWahoo on Jan 21, 2009 11:04 AM EST up reply actions
Ok
Thanks for the correction.
Pretty sure that NFLN and ESPN have been showing 20 for Pittsburgh and 5 for Arizona with SB experience. Anyway, still over 50% turnover in the roster from 2005. Which means that this team is likely about 60% players that have played for Cowher, and less than 50% that played for him more than a year. The most important key players are still on the team, but there has been considerable change in just two years with Tomlin.
by WolfpackSteelersFan on Jan 21, 2009 12:10 PM EST up reply actions
With Marvelous Marvel and Kendall on IR, that may explain the difference.
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
by BostonWahoo on Jan 21, 2009 12:54 PM EST up reply actions
clarification
BTW, in the 1st paragraph of my comment, I wasn’t trying to disparage Warner or Fitzgerald: both are, by all appearances, class acts rather than prima donnas. I guess I was thinking of that team in Dallas that the national media can’t stop writing about, and just the general tendency of ESPN/SI writers to try to turn sports analysis into TMZ.com.
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Jan 20, 2009 10:06 AM EST up reply actions
SB
I was at our last SB in Detroit and it was basically a Steeler home game…90% Steeler fans.
I expect the same turn out in Tampa. Most Card fans will not travel from the West Coast and they don’t have that big of a national following (Cardinal nation??? Nah.) Blitz, I agree, a lot of casual observers will be rooting for the under-dog Cardinals…and that’s exactly how we want it. But, as far as fans actually at the game, I expect another 90% Steeler turnout.
I do however, respect them and feel it will be a good game.
I hope were in our black jerseys.
For sure it should be at least 3-1 Steelers fans.
There are more Steeler fans that have never even been to Pittsburgh than there are Cardinal fans total.
A year ago, there were probably more Steeler fans in Tampa than Cards fans total. Now, not so much (a playoff win or two can change things pretty quickly), but I see Steeler Nation showing up full force. Hell, even I’m thinking about heading over there to chill in Tampa for the game. Unfortunately common sense won’t let me pull that off (finances wouldn’t allow it), but it’s certainly a thought that’s stewing in my head.
Brandona
by PrimantisStillersNAt on Jan 20, 2009 2:07 AM EST up reply actions
im going to do that
Chances are tiny I’ll get in the game, but going to go to Tampa to party.
by Michael Bean on Jan 20, 2009 2:37 AM EST up reply actions
What people are
forgetting is that at the end of the day, this Cardinal team is the same Cardinals that got drubbed by the Patriots at the end of the season and lost something like 4 of their last 5 at the end of the season. They are still just the Cardinals! Just like when the Turds won some games last year and everybody wanted to hand them the AFC North crown, we were just motivated to go out and prove everybody wrong.
It doesnt really matter that the Cardinals are the feel good story of the playoffs outside of Steeler Nation, real football fans respect and appreciate the way our team plays football! I predict the Cardinals fairytale season comes crashing to an end as soon as we start hitting them in the teeth in two weeks.
I cant w8!
exactly
Flashy offense is what gets you onto SportsCenter, and the Cardinals have no shortage of that. But if I’ve learned 1 thing watching football all these years, it’s that it’s much easier to disrupt and shut down a great offense than it is to light up a great defense.
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Jan 20, 2009 10:12 AM EST up reply actions
not to be a downer but,
this is also the same (or very close to the same) Cardinals team that beat us last year. That is not to say that I don’t like our chance, or that we are doomed to repeat that performance, but it is risky (and foolish) to underestimate this team. I remember trying all of last year to justify our loss to them by saying: “they are really a much better team than their record would indicate,” only to hear Patriots fans gloat about being undefeated, etc, etc.
Only the myopic or memory impaired would suggest that this team has come out of nowhere. Every year for the past 3 or 4 years, the Cardinals have been every pundints sleeper pick at the beggining of the year only to disappoint, and frankly I am a bit surprised the media has largerly chosen to incredulity to I-told-you-so.
by Rougue_Behaviorist on Jan 20, 2009 1:37 PM EST up reply actions
I had similar thoughts. Are they a “sleeper” if half of the talking heads pick them in 3/4 years?
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
i agree with you
The Steelers would be very foolish to take this Cards team lightly. I still believe that Pittsburgh has the better team, and that they’ll win if they bring their A game, but you’re right, if they bring less than their A game then the Cards will definitely have a chance. But given how ready they’ve been for both playoff games this year, I have a hard time imagining them being overconfident or unprepared. And I’d still rather have a great defense than a great offense; ask any Giants fan about last year’s SB, or (God forbid) any Ravens fan about their 2000 team, and I’m sure they’ll say the same.
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Jan 20, 2009 2:08 PM EST up reply actions
no doubt,
I would take a great defense over a great offense any day; moreover I think we would be remiss to bestow the mantle of “greatness” on this Arizona offense just yet. In other words, I still like the match-up. I just think it is a bit cavalier to suggest that the Cardinals post-season accomplishments are all smoke and mirrors – they did just put up 32 points on the 3rd best defense in the league.
With that being said, a couple of points:
1) The Steelers do not rely on the blitz anywhere near as much as Philidelphia does to get pressure on the QB. I think that I saw that the Steelers blitzed (ie brought 5 or more guys on the pass rush) only 6 times the entire game against Baltimore. So despite our reputation, we are actually quite content to rush 4 or less and drop back in coverage.
2) My guess is that much like we did against Baltimore, we will dare the Cardinals to rush the ball by not bringing a safety into the box. In other words we will like content ourselves to win the battles up front, man to man, allowing ourselves that extra man in pass coverage.
3) (which is really an extension of the previous 2 points) The Steelers have had the uncanny ability to limit the production of the other teams best wide reciever all season (eg Moss, Owens, Burress, who admittedly was injured, and even Wayne, except for the INT that went through Taylor’s hands). Clearly, this will be imperative if the Steelers D wishes to shut down the Az passing attack that is predicated on getting Fitzgerald the ball down the field. This of course still leaves Boldin and Breaston to contend with but I like our chances if they have to dink and dunk us down the field. Eventually, one would hope, the pass rush will find its taget and as great as Warner is (and has been) he has never performed terribly well when getting hit regularly.
by Rougue_Behaviorist on Jan 20, 2009 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
have to disagree with you blitz
as rare as that is
I think the steelers are a popular team- possibly the most popular nfl team, and while there are many pittsburghers that travel to games, there are also local steeler fans that come to the game when the steelers are in town. Many steeler fans at most every away game. I would expect that to be the same as tampa.
And as for the no respect card, espn is one thing, but the spread is a full touchdown- which is fairly significant. It’s hard to say no one respects you when you are a heavy favorite, loved by your fanbase around the country and will probably have most talking heads pick you to win once it gets close to gameday.
if anything, I think the steelers have to stay levelheaded and not get overconfident rather than think about which team gets more respect.
I am reminded of Troy Polamalu's quote,
which strangely enough I believe was brought up by Phil Simms.
To paraphrase: when asked about the difference between this years team and the 05 Super Bowel team, Polamalu said, “in 05 it was us against the world; we went out to prove all the doubter wrong and show that we were in fact a great team. This year, this team, we don’t care what anybody else thinks.”
I loved that and I think that is the most distilled and refined illustration of the coaching differences between Cowher and Tomlin, and the best indication (to me) that this is truely Mike Tomlin’s team.
(I love you, too, Mike Tomlin!)
by Rougue_Behaviorist on Jan 20, 2009 1:45 PM EST up reply actions
Questioning Steelers Preperation
I think enough motivation is the fact that win #6 would put the Steelers organization on another level. A lot of the key players are still here from the last Super Bowl victory. They will be hungry, no need to worry about that! Stan Savran and Tunch Ilkin made good points last night on Sportsbeat about the Steelers and their preperation. A lot of the garbage on TV is just to “stir the pot”. We are going to find out on February 1st. I have to think that this years Steeler team is just that… there is no “I” on this team. With injuries to key players throughout the season I had to wonder how we got to where we are. That is easy… the coach and staff. I just watched an episode of America’s Game last night on the NFL network on the 1974 and 1975 Steelers. In the one episode the players talk about how Chuck Knoll left the players “blow off steam” in New Orleans prior to the game against the Vikings. Brilliant! The Defense is going to handle Arizona and the offense will do it’s job….hopefully better than against Seattle in the last one!
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a patriotic act"
the garbage on TV
Is just the national sports media being upset that an AFC East team isn’t playing an NFC East team in the Super Bowl. Considering that these folks don’t believe sports are played west of I-95, it must be quite a letdown for them.
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Jan 20, 2009 12:27 PM EST up reply actions
hopefully the Steelers come out and blow off some steam in Ybor City!
that place will be ROCKIN the next two weekends!
"It was an attrition football game and you know we like that."
More Cardinals Fans??? No Way?
The Cardinals couldn’t sell out their 1st round playoff game and was almost a blackout (this would never happen in Pitt.), but SOLD OUT their NFC Championship game in 8 minutes. Just to give you an idea of the Cardinal fair weathered fan. They will not travel, and the casual football fan doesn’t watch ESPN and will no doubt side with the team that has a rich history, tradition and familiarity. Not the Cardinals.
For the record, I am a Jets fan living in South Florida, so i know fair weathered fans, Dolfans are the worst.
Hello Fellas..
Lets hope for a good game come Feb 1st. As far as the whole Tomlin trying to motivate the players with the “no repsect card”, Whisenhunt will probably beat him to it.
Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds
both teams can play that card, can't they?
To say that AZ has gotten no respect from the media until beating the Eagles is a huge understatement: I’m sure I saw the words “worst playoff team ever” as many times as you did.
But the Steelers are kind of in a similar boat: they got little to no respect from national media until they’d won 11 games, and were largely dismissed by the same people after the Titans loss. Even now it seems like there’s a huge gap between what the fans and the media feel about what the team has accomplished this year. I.e., we’re incredibly proud of our team and our coach, yet all the analysts talk about is how crappy our offense is (um, guys, we were playing Baltimore; lots of offenses look like crap against those guys).
Anyway, I think we can all agree that we can’t wait for this game.
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Jan 20, 2009 2:44 PM EST up reply actions
is it me
or have quite a few Steeler fans spent far more time this season dismissing this teams accomplishments (or at least giving them a back seat to) talking about how crappy our offense is.
by Rougue_Behaviorist on Jan 20, 2009 2:48 PM EST up reply actions
:)
No, it’s not just you. Rule #1 about Pittsburgh sports fans: we will worry about something going horribly wrong right up until the moment the clock turns 0:00 in a title-winning game.
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Jan 20, 2009 2:58 PM EST up reply actions
I see what you're saying..
I heard about how bad the offense is… OR how they started off a little slow at the start of the season and everyone was writing them off. But if you click that link I posted, saying the Cardinals are the “Worst team in super bowl” history is pretty harsh and im sure will motivate the players even more then they already are. Not to mention they are 7 point underdogs to your team.
Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds
Seems too soon to be even on the list
They might still win this one.
by WolfpackSteelersFan on Jan 20, 2009 5:05 PM EST up reply actions
no kidding
I don’t really think you can hand out that title until the game has been played. If the Cardinals have shown us anything over the past month, it’s that they aren’t going to roll over for anyone just because they’re underdogs: if that were going to happen it would have happened when the Panthers scored first on them in the Divisional round, and we all saw how that game turned out. I expect Pittsburgh to win, but AZ will come ready to play and to give the Steelers a real game; no doubt about that.
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Jan 21, 2009 9:14 AM EST up reply actions
I Disagree
I think that the casual fan’s sentiment will be “Oh those poor Cardinals should win one”. And if NFL public sentiment was set by people who thought the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants was a great movie — yeah… Arizona would be the fan favs…
But a lot of NFL fans resent the Cardinals being there. They just don’t think a 9-7 team should be in the show.
The Super Bowl will be another home game for the Steelers.
If they played the Super Bowl in Afghanastan, 50000 Steeler fans would show up. So, I don’t think it will matter much in crowd noise, either way.
And, Troy said recently that this team isn’t playing the “No Respect” card, and they don’t need it.
You know what the Defense is using for motivation? “We have a chance to be considered the best Defense ever. But to win that title, we need to win the Super Bowl”.
This is a proud bunch. That’s all the motivation they need.
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/show/428951-markjoel66s-blog
TEAM
the players are playing for each other.
I’m sure we’ve all heard Ben talk about that and if you’ve seen the TV series you understand what that means.
"It was an attrition football game and you know we like that."
Band of Brothers...
You should watch it sometime…
Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds
too bad you're the krauts in this analogy
Haha just messing around. I have no problem with the Cards or their fans right now. Good luck in Tampa!
It is war though. Make sure you understand the gravity of this situation. Your team is playing the Steelers in the Superbowl.
Hopefully you guys do a good job over at Revenge of the Birds. Oh wait, cgolden is an editor. I have to get over there and learn about the enemy!
"It was an attrition football game and you know we like that."
Coordinators playing against old teams
I don’t think this has been talked about enough yet, and i’m sure this will get looked into in depth as i think this will be the key to the game but, does anyone know what the percentages are when a coordinator or former coach plays against their old team?
Can’t help but remember the Gruden bowl. Most recent, and relevant, one that i remember would have to be the Vikings and Childress playing against his old team the Eagles. Hopefully we get the same results as that game.
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