Why we'll win

[43Hitman]

I'll tell ya why we will win. We are the better team period. Now everyone is starting to jump on the Tards bandwagon and I love that. Let them all take the Tards. This guy Rick Stroud just said that Ben is bad at 3rd and long situations...LMAO! This guy is a complete tool! Our defense is watching everyone down play our defense and offense...gonna be good!

[Vincent]

I think a quick reflection by the Cards on the last game the Steelers played should give them the cheery news that they're about to enter a brutal contest, the likes of which they've not seen.

If our heroes play the game they played against the rats, its curtains. We have no reason to think they won't.

[steelreserve]

Originally Posted by westcoastransplant

Cards fans like to say that our D didn't play any high powered offenses like Baltimore, Cinci and Cleveland. They say that this pads their stats. Nevermind our D face 4 of the top 10 and 7 of the top 15.

But the arguement can be swung the other way. Their offense faced the #28th and 30th ranked defennse twice a piece in St. Louis and San Fransisco. And San Francisco was 20th against the pass. This can be argued as padding the offensive stats of the Cards.

To look at it another way: The Cardinals were 3-7 this year against opponents that weren't pieces of shit.

Also, they were outscored 315-216 against anyone not from the NFC West. That's ... not very good.

[revefsreleets]

The reality is the Cards shouldn't even be on the same field as the Steelers Sunday. The refs will toss them a few calls to keep it close, but this one is gonna be ugly.

The NFC had a little juice last year but it's getting to be kind of jokey again...

[Kipper]

Originally Posted by steelpride12

There defense though has stepped up and all together they are a much better team now then they were in the regular season. Warner will get time to pass due to the great play of the OL in the playoffs even with the 31st ranked rushing attack in the regular season, the playoffs brought a much different and better Arizona team and the game will be better and more challenging that we all think.

Not true at all. Their Defense has done ONE thing better in the playoffs and that's create turnovers. Outside of that, they are allowing more passing yards per game than they allowed in the regular season. they are allowing 4.1 yards per carry in the playoffs, which is worswe than the 4.0 ypc they allowed in the regular season. Sure their rushing yards per game numbers are down but when a team like Carolina that was gaining 5 yards per clip has to ditch their running game to overcome deficits that their QB put them in, it tells you an entirely different story.

The Cardinals still can't tackle well on defense, they are pretty crappy at defending the middle fo the field, even in the playoffs, and their defense has only looked better simply because they are creating turnovers, capitlizing on them with their offense and making teams become one-dimensional (which could or could not inflate the passing yards against number ).

The Cardinals defense isn't any better. They aren't stopping the run any better and aren't stopping the pass any better. They are Baltimore without being able to stop the run or pass. Balhawking.

Their run game still stinks as well regardless of what Cardinals fans might try to tell you. Carolina and Atlanta's run defenses stink. The Cardinals are gaining more yards per game but they are running the ball on average 12 more times per game. Their rushing yards per average is actually LOWER in the post season than it was in the regular season 3.3 vs 3.5.


My take?

Everyone keeps talking about the Cardinals offense vs. the Steelers defense. I think the key to the game is going to be the Steelers offense vs. the Cardinals defense.

If you look at similar teams that we faced this year to the Cardinals defense in terms of ranks, we've had great games on offense. This offense has struggled this year due to playing 8 games against Top 10 pass offenses and 6 games against Top 10 defenses. When you get past those games, this offense has been really good. the Cardinals defense is nowhere near a Top 10 defense. I think we'll be able to control the clock, drive the ball and put points on the board against Arizona without turning the ball over.

Here's a question and something to think about...

What was the last 3-4 defense that Kurt Warner faced this season?

when you figure out that answer it should make you feel good, because Warner didn't make it through the whole game

Bringing Home NUMBER SIX!