Monday, January 19, 2009

That's More Like It

Two for two this weekend, the scores were pretty close to being spot on, and the comments weren't bad either. OK, I feel better now.

The Kurt Warner comeback story is a great one, but right now I prefer the Larry Fitzgerald ascension story. We knew he was a great receiver, but in this playoff season he has raised his game to a level that no receiver has ever reached. I imagine there will be many meetings in the next two weeks where the Steelers' defensive brain trust watches film and tries to figure out ways to derail the express. The Eagles gave them a pretty good blueprint in the second half of yesterday's game, when the blitz finally threw Warner out of his rhythm and slowed the Cardinals offense to a crawl. But even with that, Arizona managed to put together one last drive - the most important one, as it turned out.

I think it will be a good Super Bowl. It's too much to ask for a repeat of last year's classic, but the matchups in this one are going to be fun, and it could be a classic "irresistable force vs. immovable object" kind of game. Right now, logic dictates that the Steelers win (and I will probably predict them to do so), but logic has played but a fleeting role in this year's postseason.

And in the toot your own horn department, I can't resist reminding people about something I wrote on December 29:

With the lack of patience demonstrated by most team owners, you really have to wonder when Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden are going to wear out their welcome in Denver and Tampa Bay. Sure, they both led their respective teams to Super Bowl championships, but that was a long time ago, and neither team has shown any ability to win a key game after Thanksgiving for a long time. I'm sure they're both safe for one more year, but absent deep playoff runs next year, you really have to wonder.

As it turned out Pat Bowlen and the Grazers weren't quite as patient as I expected.

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