Championship recap and Superbowl XLIII preview

Jan 22

After I failed to do a Divisional Playoffs review together with Championship Games predictions, at least I want to review the Championship Games and also do a preview of SuperBowl XLIII…

The NFC Championship Game in Phoenix:

Philadelphia Eagles 25 at Arizona Cardinals 32

Well, first of all Donovan McNabb had definitively his worst performance since his benching in Week 12 vs the Baltimore Ravens, and that despite his 375 yards passing, which were 137 yards above the average of the 7 games in between. But being unable to finish just one drive in the first half with a touchdown – 3 Field Goal attempts and only 6 Points – the Eagles had dug themselves into a deep hole by halftime, because on the other side the Eagles Defense could stop the Cardinals Offense just once allowing 3 Touchdowns and one Field Goal with time expiring in the first half.

In the second half McNabb turned the ball over by fumbling the ball while being sacked by Adrian Wilson. But then the Eagles Defense stiffened not allowing a first down in the 3rd Quarter. And McNabb and his offense responded as well scoring 3 consecutive Touchdowns. After the 2nd Touchdown the Eagles decided not to go for the 2-pt Conversion to cut the Cardinals lead to 3 but attempted to kick the regular Extrapoint, but David Akers missed to the right. And after their third Touchdown the Eagles now decided attempt a 2-pt Conversion to extend their one point lead to a 3 point lead, but failed again.

This time the Cardinals Offense responded with a well designed and executed touchdown drive taking almost 8 minutes off the clock and contrary to the Eagles were able to convert their 2-pt attempt stretching the lead back to 7, leaving the Eagles less than 3 minutes to come back once more.

Now with 2:53 to go the Eagles totally abandoned the running game putting the load completely on McNabb from the shotgun. At first he succeeded moving the Ball into Cardinals territory (47 yardline) within 44 seconds. But then he misfired 4 times turning the ball over on downs. The Defense could stop the Cardinals Offense on third and 1, but with only 1 timeout left the Cardinals were able to let the clock run down to 15 seconds to go before punting. Punter Graham punts the ball out of bounds on the 7 and the final razzle dazzle play of the Eagles ended in a fumble…

All in all the great 3rd quarter of the Eagles wasn’t enough to overcome the inablities in the 1st half and the final 4th Quarter drive when it counted.

Giving credit to the Cardinals Defense who mixed it up between rushing just 3 and putting 8 into coverage and blitzing McNabb – constantly keeping him out of rhythm, led to letting McNabb misfiring more often than usually…

The AFC Championship Game in Phoenix:

Baltimore Ravens 14 at Pittsburgh Steelers 23

It was the defensive battle as expected. But the Steelers were able to get the ball into field goal range in their opening drive. Their second field goal in the first Quarter resulted from an interception which put them almost into field goal range to begin the drive. Early in the 2nd quarter the Steelers managed to score their only offensive TD on a big play: Santonio Holmes rushing for 49 yards after catching a Roethlisberger 16 yards pass. Later in the 2nd Quarter the Ravens took advantage of a 45 yard M. Berger punt return by J. Leonhard to the Steelers 17 and a pass interferece penalty on 3 and 9. The only substantial drive by both teams in the 3rd Quarter led to the third Steelers field goal.

Finally in the 4th Quarter Joe Flacco was able to lead the Ravens across the field (again assisted by a defensive pass interference) to cut the Steelers lead down to 2.

The Ravens Defense could stop the Steelers without a first down, getting the ball back on their own 14 yard line with almost 7 minutes left in the game. But after a gaining a first down after a 20 yard pass, the Ravens went backwards and on third and 13 Flacco tried to force it and was intercepted by no other than Troy Polamalu who returned it 40 yards for a Touchdown.

And even though the Steelers weren’t able to make a single first down in the fourth quarter the Ravens couldn’t take advantage of it turning the ball over in their last 3 possessions of the game…

In the end the Steelers defense was too much for Joe Flacco to handle.

So and now the outlook for the Superbowl XLIII:

It’s not that easy to predict. It depends a lot on how the Cardinals Defense will be able to stop Roethlisberger and his offense and so far the Cardinals coaching staff has been able to create great defensive game plans vs the Falcons, the Panthers and the Eagles. But to win the game the Cardinals have to do more than “just” control Roethlisberger and his offense, the Ravens did that – but it wasn’t enough.

If the Cardinals will be able to score first and take the lead in my eyes they have a fair chance to beat the Steelers. But if they are behind and have to play catch up and not being able to keep the Steelers Defense guessing if the next play will be a run or a pass, the Steelers Defense will dominate and win the game and a second SuperBowl for Roethlisberger.