The Pittsburgh Steelers came back with less than 2:00 minutes in the fourth quarter to beat the Arizona Cardinals by the score of 27-23 in Super Bowl XLIII. Ben Roethlisberger connected with Santonio Holmes, the Super Bowl MVP, on a 7 yard TD pass to secure the win. 

The Arizona Cardinals owned the fourth quarter, up until the 2:00 minute warning, taking the lead on a touchdown pass from Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald with 2:47 seconds left to play to give the Cardinals a lead of 23-20.

The other big highlight for the Pittsburgh Steelers was a 100 yard interception return by linebacker James Harrison with 18 seconds left in the second quarter with the Arizona Cardinals on the Pittsburgh Steeler 2 yard line.  With no timeouts left, and the score Pittsburgh 10 and Arizona 7, the Cardinal quarterback, Kurt Warner, threw a pass across the middle.  But Harrison, seeing that Warner was going to pass, backed up and stepped in front of the Arizona Cardinal receiver.   That began a 100 yard romp to the End zone that ended the first half scoring with the Steelers ahead 17 to 7. It was the longest play in Superbowl history.

But again, the first 13 minutes of the fourth quarter belonged to the Arizona Cardinals.  QB Kurt Warner hooked up with Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald for a one yard TD pass with 7:41 left to play. The Steeler took the next kickoff and turned it right back to the Cardinals.  The Cardinals got the punt and started their drive on their own 25 yard line.  A critical 15 yard penalty by Pittsburgh Steeler defensive back Taylor cost the Steelers 15 yards but the Cardinals could not finish the drive and ended up punting the ball away.

On the punt, the Cardinals downed the ball on the Steelers 3 yard line.  After a holding penalty on the Steelers and a loss on the run, the Steelers were facing a third and 11 from the 1 yard line.  Then a holding penalty on the Steelers in the endzone resulted in a Safety to make the score 20-16.

Then after the punt back to Arizona, Kurt Warner hooked up with Larry Fitzgerald for a touchdown pass to give the Cardinals a 23-20 lead.

Then Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense drove down the field and scored on a 7 yard Touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes.
Scoring Recap
1st Quarter
FG Jeff Reed, 18 yd field goal , 09:50. Drive: 9 plays, 71 yards in 5:15  Pittsburgh 3, Arizona 0

2nd Quarter
TD Gary Russell, 1 yd run (Jeff Reed kick is good), 14:09. Drive: 11 plays, 69 yards in 7:12  Pittsburgh 10, Arizona 0
TD Ben Patrick, 1 yd pass from Kurt Warner (Neil Rackers kick is good), 08:43. Drive: 9 plays, 83 yards in 5:27 Pittsburgh 10, Arizona 7
TD James Harrison, 100 yd interception return (Jeff Reed kick is good), 00:18.  Pittsburgh 17, Arizona 7

3rd Quarter
FG Jeff Reed, 21 yd field goal , 02:16. Drive: 16 plays, 79 yards in 8:39 Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 7

4th Quarter
TD Larry Fitzgerald, 1 yd pass from Kurt Warner (Neil Rackers kick is good), 07:41. Drive: 8 plays, 87 yards in 3:57 Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 14
 S Penalty on J.Hartwig enforced in end zone for a Safety, 03:04. Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 16
TD Larry Fitzgerald, 64 yd pass from Kurt Warner (Neil Rackers kick is good), 02:47. Drive: 2 plays, 64 yards in 0:21 Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 23
TD Santonio Holmes, 6 yd pass from Ben Roethlisberger , 00:42. Drive: 8 plays, 78 yards in 2:02 Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23

The Philadelphia Eagles are destined to join their baseball counterparts, the Philadelphia Phillies, and add another championship to the city of brother love. On Sunday, January 18, 2009, the Eagles will dominate the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship game and head to the Super Bowl XLIII. 

The Eagles convincingly defeated their NFC rival, New York Giants, last week to advance the NFC Championship. 

Tomorrow, expect the Eagles defense to be in the face of the Cardinals QB, Kurt Warner and hold one of the most explosive passing games in the NFL to single digit points.  The Eagles QB, Donovan McNabb and running back Brian Westbrook will do enough to take them to the Super Bowl.

GAME INFO

Date: Sunday, January 18, 2009 3:00 PM EST
Location: U of Phoenix, Glendale, AZ    TV: FOX

THE SPREAD
The Eagles are the favorite by 4 points. Over/Under is 49 1/2 points.

GAME PREVIEW AND TRENDS
In the last meeting between the two teams, the Eagles dominated on Thanksgiving Day 48-20.That victory provided a spark for the Eagles, as they won four of their last five regular season games, outscoring opponents by an average of 23.0 points in those wins.

Philadelphia still needed help in Week 17 to make the playoffs, and it has taken full advantage of its opportunity.

The Eagles trounced Dallas 44-6 in their regular-season finale to clinch the No. 6 seed, then beat Minnesota 26-14 in a wild-card game before defeating the New York Giants 23-11 in last Sunday’s divisional game.

While that Thanksgiving win got Philadelphia’s season back on track, Arizona’s loss led to an awful late-season finish for what is historically one of the league’s worst franchises.

The Cardinals dropped four of their last six regular season games. Their only wins in that span came against St. Louis and Seattle - teams which combined for a 6-26 record - and they were outscored by an average of 24.3 points in those losses.

Although it won the weak NFC West and had won only two playoff games in their history prior to this season, the Cardinals have been at their best in this postseason and now become the first No. 4 seed to host a conference championship game.

They had been the only NFC team not to play in one since the 1970 merger before pulling off a win few saw coming. Arizona traveled to Carolina for last Sunday’s divisional game as a 10-point underdog, but raced to a 27-7 halftime lead en route to a 33-13 win over the Panthers, the league’s only unbeaten team at home in the regular season.

“Not many people had very nice things to say about us and didn’t give us a chance,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “We believe in ourselves. I like being the underdog, and we’re going to continue to be the underdog.”

Arizona will be the underdog again, as oddsmakers made the Eagles as 4 point favorites.

The Cardinals are 7-2 at home this season, including a 30-24 win over Atlanta in the wild-card round, but Philadelphia is not going to be intimidated.

After winning just three road games during the regular season, the Eagles have had no trouble playing away from Philadelphia in the postseason. They’ve already won at the Metrodome, where the Vikings were 6-2 during the regular season, and at Giants Stadium, where New York was 7-1.

Philadelphia had success at Minnesota and against the Giants thanks to a swarming, suffocating defense.

The Eagles have forced five turnovers and allowed 322 passing yards in the postseason. Philadelphia had the league’s third-ranked defense during the regular season (274.3 yards per game), and has allowed just four TDs in the past six games.

“We’re going to be close in every game because we aren’t going to give up those type of big plays and hopefully that gives the offense confidence to make whatever call they want whenever they want to call it because they trust us not to give up a lot of points,” Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins said.

Shutting down Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald may not be as easy.

The Cardinals thrive on big plays behind Kurt Warner and Fitzgerald. They hooked up for a 42-yard touchdown in Arizona’s wild-card win and a 29-yard TD last week.

The Eagles, though, did a solid job of slowing down Warner and Fitzgerald in their Thanksgiving meeting. Warner threw for three touchdowns but also had three interceptions, while Fitzgerald was held to five catches for 65 yards, though he did score twice.

Last week, Fitzgerald set a team playoff record with 166 yards receiving even though Warner was missing one of his deep threats in wide receiver Anquan Boldin.

Boldin, nursing a strained left hamstring, returned to practice this week and said he will play Sunday.

While Arizona relies on its high-scoring offense, the Cardinals defense has surprisingly stepped up in the playoffs. Arizona was 19th in total defense during the regular season (331.5 ypg), but has limited its two playoff opponents to an average of 259.5 yards.

The Cardinals held Atlanta’s Michael Turner, the No. 2 rusher in the regular season, to 42 yards and Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams, the league’s No. 3 rusher, to 63 yards. Arizona also intercepted Jake Delhomme five times last week, and has forced nine turnovers in the playoffs.

“We feel like we’re a solid defense,” Cardinals defensive end Bertrand Berry said. “We have some guys out here who can make plays. It’s just a matter of putting it all together for 60 minutes on Sunday. If we can do that, the sky’s the limit.”

Arizona had no answer for Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook on Thanksgiving, though, as the versatile running back rushed for 110 yards on 22 carries and scored a career-high four touchdowns - two rushing and two receiving.

Westbrook hasn’t been much of a factor on the ground in the playoffs, as he has rushed for just 74 yards on 38 carries. He did come up with a big play in the fourth quarter of the wild-card win, though, scoring a 71-yard touchdown off a screen pass.

GAME PREDICTION
Philadelphia Eagles 21  Arizona Cardinals 3

sources: nfl.com, espn.com, thespread.com, fox.com

GAME INFO:

Atlanta Falcons vs. Arizona Cardinals
Game Date/Time:  Sat, Jan 3, 2009 4:30 pm EST : University of Phoenix Stadium, Arizona
TV: NBC

THE TEAMS AGAINST THE SPREAD
The Falcons are 8-8 ATS overall, 5-3 ATS away, 1-0 as the favorite and 0-0 as the away favorite

The Cardinals are 9-7 ATS overall, 5-3 ATS at home, 7-3 as the underdog and 3-0 as a home underdog

THE LINE (subject to change)
Atlanta is the favorite by 2 points. The Over/Under is 51 1/2 points

THE PREVIEW
The Falcons played well down the stretch winning 3 of their last 4, but the one negative was Matt Ryan throwing 5 interceptions in his final 4 games. He had just 6 in his first 12 games. The Cardinals do not have a good pass defense and he is forecasted for a strong game with 250 passing yards and a rating of 91 in simulations. However, there is a 52 percent chance he throws 1 or more interceptions and the Falcons win just 35 percent of these simulations. If Ryan throws no interceptions the Falcons have a 58 percent chance of winning. Michael Turner was phenomenal at home this year averaging 129 yards on over 5 ypc, but on the road he averaged just 83 yards on 3.9 ypc. He is forecasted for a good, but not great game with nearly 90 yards. If Turner can dominate on the road like he were at home and have 100+ rushing yards the Falcons have a 68 percent chance of winning. The Cardinals are getting a great 300+ yard, 2 TD performance form Kurt Warner. Both Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin are averaging over 90 receiving yards in simulations and there is a 42 percent chance that both have at least 75 yards.

The Arizona Cardinals 5-5 in their last 10 games - losing to playoff teams.  In that stretch they have only beaten the Seahawks and Rams twice and San Francisco once. They lost to New England, Philadelphia and Carolina on the road and to the Giants and Vikings at home.  The Falcons are 7-3 in their last 10 games but have beaten teams like Carolina, San Diego and Minnesota. 

THE PREDICTION
Arizona Cardinals 28  Atlanta Falcons Falcons 24

Expect Kurt Warner to have the game of his life. And the Cardinals will prevail to an overperforming Atlanta Falcons team. Remember, the Cardinals are 7-3 as ATS underdogs and 3-0 ATS as underdog at home during the 2008 regular season.
The Atlanta Falcons are 0-8 ATS after two or more consecutive wins over the last three years.

Take the Cardinals and the 2 points - and take the over in the parlay bet