Super Bowl Sunday

Well, the big game is this Sunday and most of the experts are picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy.  This blogger, on the other hand, is picking the upset for the second year in a row and going with the Arizona Cardinals.  So what if the Pittsburgh Steelers look better on paper in every facet of the game aside from the passing game?  There’s just something magical about this Cardinals squad.  Every week people have been expecting them to lose, and every week they’ve pulled out the victory.  Think about it, weren’t you more confident that the Panthers were going to beat the Cards than you are about the Steelers taking them down?

The Cardinals are not going to be able to run the ball, which is not good, but they can air it out with the best of them.  Larry Fitzgerald has proven that he’s the most skilled receiver in all of football and he’s sure to be a major factor in this game.  The key for the Cardinals will be stopping Pittsburgh running back Willie Parker.  If they can accomplish that, the Steelers won’t be able to keep the ball out of the hands of Arizona’s high powered offense.  This game will come down to who can make more big, game-changing plays.  So it might be a long shot, but where’s the fun in picking the overwhelming favorite?  Cardinals 24 Steelers 17.

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Raiders Keeping Cable

ESPN’s Michael Smith has reported that the Oakland Raiders will keep interim coach Tom Cable on as the team’s official head coach.  One has to wonder if the Raiders didn’t get a positive response to the job opening because of team owner Al Davis’ controlling ways.  This blogger has heard people call the Raiders head coaching job the only bad one of its kind in the league.  It’s understandable that some people would think that after the Lane Kiffin fiasco, but I still don’t think that any head coaching position in the NFL can be a bad job.

From a talent standpoint, the Oakland job is far from repelling.  Young quarterback JaMarcus Russell showed significant signs of development toward the end of last season, a season which was essentially his rookie campaign thanks to a 2007 holdout.  The team has a trio of talented running back and one of the best tight ends in the league in Zach Miller.  Nnamdi Asomugha is the best cornerback in the entire league.  The defense is still coming along, and the team has a serious dearth at the wide receiver position, but this club seems to be on the rise.  If Cable can coexist with Davis, there’s no reason to think that this team will not improve in 2009.

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Pats’ Brady Should Be Ready For 2009 Season

Word is that Tom Brady’s rehab is going well and he should be ready for the start of the 2009 season.  “Based on anybody else doing an ACL rehab, he’s going right along,” a source told the Boston Globe. “He had a shaky start, but he’s caught up.”  There was a report earlier this season that Brady’s rehab was not going well and there was doubt that the three-time Super Bowl winner would even play in 2009.  It appears that much of that speculation was false, and the offense that set records in 2007 should be back intact for 2009.

This must be music to the Patriots’ ears.  This blogger still expects the team to franchise Matt Cassel regardless of this news, providing an insurance policy for Brady for the remainder of his rehab.  Cassel has stated that he’s willing to return to his backup role in 2009 should Brady return.  The former USC Trojan will turn into a fantastic trading chip when Brady is completely healthy.  If Brady does play the entire 2009 season, there’s no reason to think that the New England offense won’t return to being one of the best in the entire league.  While Cassel did a great job filling in, he’s still no Tom Brady.

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Media Day Stories

Today is media day in Tampa where Super Bowl XLIII is set for Sunday.  Here you can follow the frenzy on ESPN.com’s media day blog.  This blogger has been wondering what the most interesting storyline of this Super Bowl is.  We’re hearing a lot about Ken Whisenhunt’s opportunity for revenge on a franchise that gave the job he wanted to now-Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin three years ago after Whisenhunt helped the team to the Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator.  We’ve heard a lot of about how dismal Ben Roethlisberger’s performance was in the Super Bowl against the Seahawks, bad enough to be considered the worst among any winning quarterback in the big game, and his chance for redemption.

How about Larry Fitzgerald emerging as the best wide receiver in the game during the playoffs, and how he went to Pittsburgh and was an icon in the Steel City just a half a decade ago?  I personally prefer to focus on Kurt Warner, a guy of the highest character, who is one step away from claiming the highest honor in this league after being basically cast aside by two different franchises.  Kurt came into the season as the ultimate underdog and he finds himself as the underdog in this game.  It’s hard not to root for the guy.

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Titans Want Collins Back

Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher has indicated to Kerry Collins that he wants Collins back as the team’s starting quarterback for the 2009 NFL season.  Collins is a free agent, but it looks like both sides want to get a new deal done.  Collins had a resurgent season in 2008 after being relegated to a backup since 2006.  Collins was named to the Pro Bowl roster when it was found that New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre would sit out the game with an injury.  The 36-year-old signal caller led the team to a league-best 13-3 record this season, though the Titans lost their first playoff game to Baltimore.

It wasn’t Collins’ numbers that made him so good this season, it was his leadership and game management that helped the Titans to the NFL’s best record.  Should Collins return as the starter next season, it should be interesting to see how things go with the team’s quarterback of the future, Vince Young.  Young was benched in favor of Collins early in the season and reportedly has had some trouble handling the situation.  The team will certainly be monitoring this situation closely as the offseason progresses.  Collins, though, gives the Titans the best chance to win right now, and that’s what matters most.

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Cassel a Class Act

No matter what happens with Tom Brady’s recovery from his knee injury, there will be no quarterback controversy in New England, at least not in-house.  Matt Cassel said he will accept returning to the backup role once Brady is healthy.  “This is Tom’s team,” Cassel said yesterday on ESPNEWS.  “The Patriots have been Tom’s team.  He’s built that franchise up with his own two hands.  He’s the guy, and he was the MVP the year before.  I realize that.  He’s been such a mentor for me that I would say, ‘No, there is no quarterback competition.’  But I’ve learned so many things from Tom, and hopefully it’ll help me in my career.”

What a stand-up move by Cassel.  This guy has not only impressed this blogger on the football field, but also in his character and the way he carries himself.  His performance just days after his father passed away during this season was inspiring.  Cassel will make a great starting quarterback some day, but he’s content turning the reigns over a man who has helped him significantly in his development.  Cassel shows Brady the utmost respect, while some guys would let a solid season’s performance like Cassel’s go to his head.  Matt Cassel is a class act.

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Always Ahead of the Game

It seems like the New England Patriots are always holding an extra card in the poker game of the National Football League.  For example, in last year’s draft the Patriots were stripped of their own draft pick, but still had a top 10 pick from a trade with San Francisco, which they used to draft Defensive Rookie of the Year Jerod Mayo.  Now, the team could very well have two franchise quarterbacks that will be ready to play for the 2009 NFL season.

Tom Brady’s rehab seems to be going along much more smoothly than was rumored a few weeks ago.  Brady had what was probably the best statistical season a quarterback has ever had in 2007, and his knee injury opened the door for Matt Cassel, who in 2008 showed that he’s got the chops to be a starting quarterback in this league.  The Patriots will retain Cassel with the franchise tag as an insurance policy for Brady, in case the future hall-of-famer isn’t ready for the start of the season.  Once Brady proves he’s good to go, the Patriots will have a franchise quarterback on the trading block.  You’ve got to give it up to New England for drafting a guy of NFL starter quality who didn’t start a single game in college.  Sometimes, it almost seems unfair.

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Ryan to Coach Jets

Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan has agreed to coach the New York Jets.  Ryan coached one of the league’s best defenses this past season and has a solid track record as a coordinator.  He’ll replace the recently fired Eric Mangini.  Ryan will bring a defense first mentality to the Jets, something that seems to win championships.  The Jets job was one of the more sought-after positions this offseason, and the Jets certainly took their time perusing the many candidates.  In the end, Ryan makes sense in that he’s been a hot name and teams are always looking for that next great coordinator to make the transition to head coach.

Ryan takes over a team that collapsed toward the end of the 2008 season.  At one point the Jets were 8-3 and in prime position for at least a playoff berth.  The collapse was the central reason for the firing of Mangini.  The biggest question surrounding this team is whether Brett Favre will return for another season.  The Jets are getting a taste of what the Packers have been dealing with the past few years, Favre taking his time in making the decision.  This blogger understands Favre’s need for time to ponder such an important question, especially because it’s one he felt he got wrong last offseason, but it puts the team in a state of limbo that could hurt their offseason.

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A Little Respect

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner probably hasn’t had the kind of job security he deserves for more than half a decade now.  He lost his job to an unknown toward the end of his stint with the St. Louis Rams, the franchise to which he brought a Super Bowl victory.  In New York, he was merely a stopgap at the quarterback position until the franchise felt ready to insert number one pick Eli Manning into the lineup.  Warner lasted nine games as the starter for the Giants, in which he managed a winning record, but that wasn’t enough.  He was then picked up by the Arizona Cardinals, where he did not start all 16 games until this season.

Even just a few weeks before this season began, Matt Leinart was still ahead of him on the depth chart, despite Warner throwing 27 touchdown passes in 14 games last season.  Still, Warner did not complain and just let his play in practice and the preseason do the talking.  Fast forward five months and Warner is gearing up to play in his third Super Bowl, and he’s finally got the job security that he deserves.  Matt Leinart could still be the quarterback of the future for the Arizona Cardinals, but Kurt Warner is finally considered to one of the present.

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In the Cards

In the football equivalent to the Tampa Bay Rays making it to the World Series, the Arizona Cardinals have silenced all their doubters and will play in the Super Bowl on February 1st.  The Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 in a game that they almost gave away after carving out a cozy first half lead.  The offense that carried this team all season was what put the birds over the top in this contest, thanks to four touchdown passes from Kurt Warner, three of which went to Larry Fitzgerald.  Anyone who didn’t know how good Fitzgerald was going into these playoffs certainly is well aware of his abilities now.  The Pittsburgh product has been getting it done since he entered the league, though he hasn’t received the recognition for his play partly due to playing in the desert.

The Cardinals will face the Pittsburgh Steelers and their vaunted defense in the big game.  The Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens in a hard-fought game for the AFC Championship to earn the right to represent the conference.  Steelers safety Troy Polamalu iced the game with a late interception returned for a touchdown.  Ravens running back Willis McGahee suffered a scary injury after being hit hard on one of the game’s final plays.  Reports are saying that he has movement in all of his extremities but is experiencing significant neck pain.  Let’s all hope he makes a full recovery.

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