Hello fellow football fans and thanks for reading my thoughts on the NFL. I just want to say up front that although I am an NFL analyst, I am also a fan, a fanatic is more like it, which means that I have many opinions and often play the armchair quarterback position to a tee. There is no right or wrong answers in this blog, I rarely bring up stats and I will try my best not to be too biased towards the Giants, because above all I am a football fan. I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts and opinions on the league and your views on the Giants, Jets and all of the teams in the NFL during the year.

Okay, now that the official stuff is out of the way, we move on Sunday and say goodbye to another NFL season (c’mon do you really count the Pro Bowl as a real game?). Two teams with very different histories will compete for the Lombardi trophy. It’s not the David and Goliath matchup that we had last year, but it does have a Cinderella story feel to it because these teams had two very different paths to the big game, so here are a few thoughts on the game.

The Arizona Cardinals came into the season as the favorite to win their division, but let’s face it folks, that really is not saying much when you have the Rams, Seahawks and the 49ers (total of 13 wins collectively). The Cardinals went on to win all of their divisional games and clinch their division in November, something never before seen in Arizona. You could tell that they really didn’t know how to handle the success; if you were watching any of their games down the stretch, you would have thought they were preseason games.

Look, did anyone out there really think that when the playoffs started the Cardinals were going to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl? I didn’t even think they were going to win their first playoff game at home versus the Falcons. Better yet, I thought that the matchup versus the Panthers was the most lopsided of the divisional weekend. Boy was I wrong. The Cardinals then went on to beat the Eagles and capture their first NFC championship.

It was an impressive playoff run for Cardinals and it opened my eyes to of a couple of things.

A) Why am I surprised that’s the same Kurt Warner, who was a league and Super Bowl MVP, looking very comfortable in the playoffs and looking like he is still wearing the horns on the side of his helmet?

B) Larry Fitzgerald is flat-out the best receiver in football… has all of the physical tools and no one goes up and gets a ball like him.

C) The defense is legit. They bottled the Falcons and the Panthers running backs and made Jake Delhomme look like he was playing junior varsity ball.

D) Oh yeah, they remembered that Edgerrin James was still on the team and he can still be effective.

On the opposite side of the field are the Pittsburgh Steelers; just hearing their name evokes memories of John Facenda’s voice as he narrates the old the NFL Films Super Bowl memories. They are no strangers to this game and are hoping to become the first team to capture their sixth title.

Unlike the Cardinals, the Steelers had the highest of expectations entering the season. They played one of the hardest schedules ever drawn up and they have the best defense in the league, hands down. James Harrison and Troy Polamalu are the difference makers for the Steelers much like Aquan Boldin and Fitzgerald are for the Cards. Pittsburgh’s weakness lies with its offensive line and it will be interesting to see if Ben Roethlisberger tries to do too much because of his poor performance in the last Super Bowl.

The greatest intangible in this game will be the Ken Wisenhunt-Russ Grimm connection to their former team; both were considered to be top contenders for the head coaching job until Mike Tomlin went in and blew away the Steelers in his interview. I do think that the Steelers are the better team and I expect them to win the game. Then again, I thought that the Panthers were as close to a sure thing there is and as we all know, there is no such thing as a sure thing in football.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.