Friday, January 30, 2009

Super Bowl Trivia Game

This is the best game ever!!! Clearly I have nothing to do at work. While we are here, I say Arizona wins and wins big. 34-17. Enjoy the game.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Roger had some issues beyond the 'roids

Just saw this post over at Bronx Banter. Roger was crazy and I guess this is just more evidence to that argument.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Interesting Super Bowl Article

Here is a good article by Joe Posnanski of SI.com. And no where does he mention why the teams have to treat it like any other game. It's good reading if you are bored at work or class. Enjoy.

Former Steeler Whisenhunt Has Advantage

One under reported storyline from this year's Super Bowl has to be Arizona coach, Ken Whisenhunt's connection to the Steelers. We all know what happened the last time a coach faced his former team in the Super Bowl; John Gruden's Buccaneers buried the Raiders 48-21. Understand, Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau are not as dumb as Bill Callahan was. LeBeau is constantly changing and tweaking his schemes whereas Callahan was using Gruden's playbook.

LeBeau certainly has some insight into Whisenhunt's tendencies from when they were together in Pittsburgh from 2004-2006. But I think that Whisenhunt has the advantage because not only does he know the Steeler defense intimately, but the Steelers also have much of the same personell from the 2005 Super Bowl team. Whisenhunt has a familiarity with the Steelers players that the Steelers don't have with the Cardinals. It will be an interesting chess match.

If I may bitch for a moment... I am tired of hearing radio squawkers and the like complaining that this Super Bowl has no sizzle. Do you really want Dallas, New York, and New England there every freakin' season? The teams that get to the big game are the best (flaws in the system aside for now). And if it's storylines you want, I've just given you one. Not to mention Kurt Warner's resurrection, Larry Fitzgerald's coming out party, and the Steelers working on a mini-dynasty of two championships in four seasons. Why does it have to be the big markets all the time? Really it's all about winning and have marquee players. Would anyone care about the Colt's if Peyton Manning wasn't the QB. Indy is definitely one of your smaller media markets. Other examples include Adrian Peterson in Minnesota or LT is San Diego. It's about winning and stars, not the size of the market.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Torre is only tarnishing himself

I'm sure everyone has read something about the new collaboration between Joe Torre and Tom Verducci that is supposed to blow the lid off of all the despicable things going on in Yankeeland during the final years of Torre's tenure with the team.

I guess what Verducci and Torre don't realize is that there is nothing new in their book. People don't like A-Rod? Wow, how insightful, I never would have seen that coming. What's this you say? Cashman didn't throw a tantrum when the Steinbrenners forced you out? No way.

I was never a huge Torre fan. I always thought that he was a poor game manager and was awful at running a bullpen. But I always respected Torre for his ability to manage a clubhouse and to handle his teams through rough waters. It saddens me to see him try to make a quick buck by selling old stories with Tom Verducci.

It is also a big hit on his character and that of Verducci's that they both refuse to take any responsibility for what the book says. Well you know what: too bad. The two names on the cover of the book are Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. They have a responsibility to stand behind what they put their names on.

*****

In other news Andy Pettitte is back and the rotation is all but complete. The deal only guarantees Pettitte $5.5 million for one year with the possibility of earning another $6.5 million in incentives.

Bringing Pettitte back, while unnecessary, makes the Yankees rotation one of the best in baseball. From front to back it looks something like this:

CC Sabathia
A.J. Burnett
Chein-Ming Wang
Andy Pettitte
Joba Chamberlain

That's pretty formidable and the Yanks can sleep a little easier knowing that on paper they will have plenty of innings coming from their front five. There is also a lot less pressure on Joba to perform and to eat up innings, plus any injuries that befall the rotation will not necessarily be devastating since the Yanks will still have Hughes, Kennedy and Aceves waiting to fill in.

I was all for letting the kids try to fill the back end of the rotation again but I do understand Cashman's concern about having forty percent of your rotation be young kids who may not be ready to handle a full season. The one good thing about bring in Pettitte and not someone else is that Andy is still on a one year deal and will not be blocking any kids for an extended period of time.

The summer is going to be very interesting and it will be fun to watch these three teams battle it out.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Hall of Fame Requirements

Here is my opinion of the Hall of Fame in any sport in light of the discussions of McNabb, Warner, Rice, and Kent in recent weeks. If you watch a sport regularly, (for me that only includes baseball and football) and you saw the majority of player's career, and you don't say hall of famer in 30 seconds, then maybe that player was just good or even really good, but not hall of fame.

Let's try this together.

Is Jeff Kent a Hall of Famer? (waiting 30 seconds...thinking...thinking...)

Jeff Kent is not a hall of famer. Never have I thought Jeff Kent was one of the best ever and factor in his best year was at the height of the steroid era (2002) he was good, but not great. McNabb good, not great. (But his career is not over) Warner good, but if he is a key piece in two Super Bowl Championship teams I would say great. If you have to think for more than 30 seconds then you shouldn't vote for a player.

I am too young to remember Jim Rice, but how do you not get in for 14 years and then all of a sudden, Rice is in. He was great. Did he hit 45 HRS last year and I missed it? I am happy that Rice got in but logically I don't get it.

Try this litmus test. Name a player or coach in your own era, think, then vote. It is amazing how something so simple has gotten so complicated.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

We are nearing the end of the most interminable week in sports. The off week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. I for one grow pretty tired of the speculation, the interviews, the minutiae. Why do we have to wait two weeks? I guess the league wants the teams to be as close to full strength as possible, to allow all the wounds to heal, and to have players, like Hines Ward, recover in time for the game.

The interesting thing is that the one Super Bowl with a one week layoff instead of two ended up as the closest Super Bowl ever. That would be Super Bowl XXV; Giants 20, Bills 19.

Anyhow, I can't wait for ESPN to start running those NFL Films half hour docs on Super Bowls of the past. It's amazing the details you forget in the games that you clearly remember watching. When those shows are on I can sit there for hours watching one right after another.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

WBC Rosters Released

The preliminary rosters for the World Baseball Classic have been released and some of these teams are down right ridiculous. The U.S. infield is stacked with the likes of Dustin Pedroia, Jimmy Rollins, Evan Longoria and Derrek Lee. Not to mention the bullpen which will be loaded with closers. Innings limits on starters won't be a problem for the U.S. this go around when they are trotting out J.J. Putz, George Sherrill and Joe Nathan to close games.

But as always the Dominican Republic will have tons of bats and the Japanese and the Cubans always have solid teams that play well in the tournament format. The team to watch, though, has to be Canada. Their lineup is deeper with Russell Martin, Justin Morneau, Joey Votto and Jason Bay. They beat the U.S. the last time around and could definitely put together a solid showing in this year's tournament.

I'm actually excited for the WBC this time around. I was pretty skeptical of the inaugural tournament, but after watching a few games I will admit that I started to get sucked in. I still wish there was a way to get more players in as some of the best still sit out for a variety of reasons. Also, it is still a joke to include teams like Italy, China and The Netherlands. I understand the idea of trying to spread the game to these new markets, but I doubt anyone in Italy is inspired to pick up a baseball after Nick Punto gets an infield hit off of Jair Jurrjens. That is, if they even realize that Italy fielded a baseball team in a tournament halfway across the globe.

Kurt Warner and the Hall of Fame

This topic has been addressed on several media outlets over the past few days, so I may as well weigh in. Is Kurt Warner a Hall of Famer? My short answer is, no. Before I explain this, I'd like to extol the virtues of Warner a bit since I have a tremendous amount of respect for the man. First, his meteoric rise to MVP and Super Bowl Champion is the stuff of cheesy, movie-of-the-week schlock. You can't make this stuff up. That speaks to his resolve as a person and his work ethic. Second, he is one of the most accurate passers I've ever seen. He ranks number two all time in completion percentage. He is also first all time in yards per game. Peyton Manning is second. He's always had a knack for playing well in big games and possesses a mental and physical toughness that I love. Not to mention he is one of the great people of the game. His charity work is well documented.

My favorite story about Warner is about a little tradition his family has when out for their pre-game meal on Saturday nights. The Warner family scans the restaurant for another family having dinner. Once they pick out this family at random, they anonymously pay for their meal. He says he does it to remind his kids how fortunate they are and to instill the value of generosity in them.

Unfortunately, Warner hasn't had enough good seasons and hasn't stayed healthy enough to be HOF worthy in my eyes. In his eleven years in the NFL, he's had five good ones. The interesting part is that four of the five have been transcendentally good netting two MVP's and three Super Bowl appearances with one win to this point. In 1999, he produced the third 40 TD pass season in history. In 2001, he threw for the second highest yardage total in NFL history at that point (that season now ranks third).

However, the other six seasons were curtailed by injury and ineffectiveness. A future Hall of Fame QB is not a journeyman who is constantly looking over his shoulder and fighting for his job. In 2002, he was benched for Marc Bulger after throwing 3 TD's and 11 int's in seven games. In 2004, he was benched for rookie, Eli Manning. This season was the first season he's played 16 games since 2001.

If Warner wins the Super Bowl in two weeks, I think he will most likely be elected to the HOF eventually. (He would be the first QB with Super Bowl wins with two different teams). The Football HOF places too much emphasis on rings the way that the Baseball HOF places too much emphasis on statistical benchmarks. If Warner had a more consistent career and had been perennially good instead of possessing a handful of brilliant moments, I think he would be a slam dunk Hall of Famer. That said, I wouldn't complain if he got in. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Championship Sunday Round Up

  • I usually know who to cheer for come Super Bowl time. But there are a lot of reasons to like both Arizona and Pittsburgh. Not least of which is that Warner and Roethlisberger are two of my favorite QB's.
  • Roethlisberger can be maddening at times, the way he holds the ball ...and holds the ball. But yesterday he was at his slippery best without turning it over. His receivers, including Santonio Holmes in particular, did an awesome job of getting open once the play was busted. It was like sandlot football out there.
  • People forget that in Kurt Warner's St. Louis days the running game was there to keep teams honest. They threw a lot obviously, but they also got huge chunks of yards on the ground and often had a team average of over 4.5 yards per carry. When Warner has that to help him, he's even more deadly. As opposed to Big Ben, he gets the ball out quick and is one of the most accurate passers in the game.
  • This just in: Larry Fitzgerald is a monster. He's like Randy Moss without the baggage. Plus, as a bonus, he breaks tackles like Jerome Bettis. He is deceptively strong.
  • It took Arizona this long to find a consistent winning formula. I don't know how, but the defense is playing much better. These certainly doesn't look like the same squad that surrendered 426 points this season. I kept waiting for an opponent to run all over them. It never happened. That combined with a commitment to the rush themselves are the reasons for their success.
  • I can't help but feel bad for Donovan McNabb. The right thing to do is blow it all up now in Philly and get something in a trade for McNabb and even Westbrook. I can see a 5-11 season next year easily.
  • I can envision McNabb having a lot of success on a team where he doesn't have to be the man. Minnesota would be perfect.
  • Joe Flacco's inaccuracy finally caught up with him. As I said before, it was pretty remarkable how he was able to avoid turnovers with the way he sprays the ball all over the field.
  • My thoughts and prayers are with Willis McGahee, who suffered a devastating hit yesterday. He was carted off the field on a stretcher. Fortunately, preliminary medical reports are that he is in good condition, but he will remain in the hospital for observations.
  • I guess I have to stick with my pre-playoff Super Bowl Pick. Things didn't pan out exactly as I thought, but the Steelers seem poised to win their second championship in four seasons and their record setting sixth as a franchise. I think it will be a very close game with the Steeler defense making the one play they need. Steelers 24, Cardinals 17.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Conference Championship QB's

So it is down to this; three birds and a 'burgh. The most interesting part of the upcoming conference title games is that three of the four quarterbacks have major experience on this type of stage and one is a rookie. I've always thought that experience is a little overrated. After all those with experience had to do it the first time once, but let's take a look at the four quarterbacks' resumes.

Donovan McNabb: This is his fifth NFC title game. How does this compare with some of the great QB's of the Super Bowl area? Joe Montana played in six. Troy Aikman, four. The difference between these two men and McNabb is obviously the rings. So how does the experience of losing 3 of 4 of these games and the failure in the Super Bowl affect him? Does it make him loose or tight? Confident or doubtful? The truth will be in the performance.

Ben Roethlisberger: This is title game number three for Roethlisberger. He has one win and one loss, but he does have the super hardware. I believe that will make him much looser than McNabb, but no less hungry. He has mixed results in important spots like this. Though he won a Super Bowl with the Steelers, he did not play great. Will we get Big Ben or Bad Ben vs. the Ravens? I think he needs to play conservatively against the Baltimore D. He should pick his spots to go down field, but if he has to take a sack, he should take it and not risk the fumbles that he too often gives up.

Kurt Warner: This is Warner's third title game. His record in the previous two is 2-0. He has two Super Bowl appearances with one win. I've always kind of thought of him as Brett Favre lite. He is a high risk high reward type of player although he's always been way more accurate than Favre. Also, his tendency is fumbles, not int's like Favre. Still somehow he's the guy I trust most out of all of the QB's playing Sunday. It helps that he has the best targets, but he just seems the most unflappable to me.

Joe Flacco: The intriguing thing about Flacco is that although he hasn't been very accurate or thrown for a boatload of yards, but he hasn't had one negative play in playoffs, not one. No fumbles, no int's, no sacks. And in spite of his relative inaccuracy, when he has needed to stick a throw, he sticks it. Think of his TD pass last against the Titans and the third down conversion that led to the game winning field goal. We'll see if he can be protected against the Pittsburgh blitz and make those throws again.

Finally, here is a great article that articulates exactly what I've been thinking about the problem with the NFL playoff system in a way I never figured out how to do.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Congratulations to Jim Rice


Jim Rice was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame after a 15 year wait.  This was Rice's last year on the regular ballot.  The argument against his induction was that his good years, while very good, were too few.  He also failed to amass any of the statistical benchmarks that Hall voters love so much.  However, there were a number of compelling reasons to vote him in.

It was no surprise that Rickey Henderson was accepted in his first try.   How did he not get 100% of the vote?  It must be these dunderheads that don't vote for anyone on the first ballot.  Anyhow, I can't wait to hear his speech.

A Message to Eli Manning

My Brothers and I would like to announce you played like a high school quarterback yesterday.

My Brothers and I would like to announce you are the second coming of Phil Simms.

My Brothers and I would like to announce you just gave up a home game to the Arizona Cardinals in the middle of January to go to the Super Bowl.

My Brothers and I would like to announce you need to lay off the DSO. (That's double stuffed oreos for those of you not hip with it.)

Thank you,

Bitter Giants Fan

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ravens and Cardinals Move into Final Four

The Ravens and Cardinals moved into their Conference Championship games yesterday. I watched most of the Ravens game and they were completely outplayed. The scary Ravens defense was pushed around by the Titans offense line, but the Titans 3 turnovers, 2 in the red zone, were the difference. Another game changing event was the injury of Chris Johnson. The star  back did not play in the second half because of an ankle injury. This exposed the Titans biggest weakness, lack of an offensive playmaker. This should be their number 1 priority in the offseason. 

The Cardinals shocked everyone by crushing the Panthers 33-13 in Carolina. The Cardinal defense stepped up and had 6 takeaways. Jake Delhomme was awful throwing 5 picks to a slightly above average secondary. All the pundits thought Arizona didn't have a chance and it seems the Cardinals used that as very effective bulletin board material. 

The interesting aspect of the NFC playoffs is today's game Eagles v. Giants. If the Giants win, Arizona has to come East for the second week in a row and play in the unpredictable winds in the Meadowlands. The Giants would be the clear favorite. However, if the Eagles win, Arizona gets a home game against an Eagle team that will probably be beaten up considering the physical play expected in today's 1 pm game. Needless to say, the entire state of  Arizona has just become members of the D. McNabb fanclub. Expect a tough game, but the G-men are rested and playing at home. New York 20 Philly 13.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Sox Sign Smoltz

Say it three times fast. Another low-risk/high-reward signing for the Red Sox as they are calling them. Future HOFer John Smoltz joins the pitching staff as Rocco Baldelli signs on to replace Coco Crisp as the fourth outfielder. Badelli's condition probably won't be an issue since he won't have to play everyday and seems to have found a way to manage his fatigue. But while he is in the line up he will bust his hump for you, and I like that.

As for the Smoltz signing, stock piling pitchers is not a bad idea. Especially since the Sox are recruiting folks who should be average at the very worst. The Sox still have plenty of run scoring ability so after you get past Beckett, Dice-K, and Lester they should be able to platoon pitch well enough to win a bunch of those games.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Odds and Ends

It has been awhile since we have mentioned any baseball news on the site and I think enough things have happened that we should catch up a bit.

First thing first, Mark Teixeira was a officially made a Yankee on Tuesday. The Yankees had to revamp their pitching but Teixeira fills a gap that has been vacant since the days of Tino Martinez. His glove is probably more important for the Yankees than his bat ever could be.

The Yankees former first baseman, Jason Giambi also has a job again. The Giambino will be traveling back to his original franchise the Oakland A's. I give all my best to Giambi. Though he was a steriod user, he is one of the few who actually manned up and admitted that what he did was wrong.

Speaking off former Yankees, Carl Pavano actually convinced another major league team to give him a contract. What possessed Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro to sign that train wreck of humanity I don't know.

What I do know is that I can't stand the fact that every time his bio is given they say he is from New Britain, Conn. Since all three authors on this blog are originally from New Britain, I would like to set the record straight: the man was only born in New Britain and did not have the privilege of actually living in Hard Hittin' New Britain. He grew up a couple of towns over Southington, Conn. We of New Britain lament his association with the city and would like you to look at our more upstanding athletes like Tebucky Jones of the New England Patriots, Ricky Bottalico of the Philadelphia Phillies or even Walter Camp the inventor of modern day football.

Another piece of news belongs to the Minnesota Twins. Their owner Carl Pohlad passed away on Monday at the age of 93. Pohlad saw the Twins win two championships in his day, the first in 1987 and the second in 1991. Most recently his ownership came under fire for what many deemed as a lack of desire to spend parts of his own billionaire fortune to retain some of baseball's best players. It's easy to bash Pohlad for being cheap, but the twins were mostly successful under his ownership and those two championships are a lot more than a lot of teams have seen in the past 25 years.

One other thing I would like to say is kudos to Boston College. If you don't pay attention to college football I can't blame you, I don't pay it much mind either. But I will say that over the years I have been disgusted with easy and frequency collegiate coaches have bailed out of million dollar contracts to go coach at another school or even professionally. I'm all for people getting paid, hell I am a Yankee fan after all, but the schools that sign these large contracts withe the coaches have to fulfill their end of the bargain if they fire the coach so why shouldn't the coaches be held to the same standard?

When BC fired head coach Jeff Jagodzinski for interviewing with the Jets after they explicitly warned him not too, they sent a clear and resounding message that I hope the rest of college sports heard.

Also Adam "Pacman" Jones was released by the Cowboys today. One word for that: Awesome.

NFL Divisional Playoffs

I gave you all my thoughts on Giants vs. Eagles and Titans vs. Ravens in my last post. Now for the other two games, which I think are a lot easier to predict. First of all they feature my two Super Bowl teams that I picked at the start of the playoffs. Secondly these second seeds have much more favorable match ups as the Steelers and Panthers face a couple of fraud divisional winners in the Chargers and Cardinals respectively.

Both the Chargers and Cardinals have explosive capabities on offense. San Diego has been rejuvinated by Darren Sproles and the Cardinals passing game has its swagger back. (If I can digress for one minute, it appears that LT is nearing the end of the line. He is banged up and probably won't play Sunday, but beyond that his burst seems gone. I love LT as a player and person. He will probably end up in the HOF, but RB's sure to get old in a hurry once their time is up, don't they?) However, the playoffs are mostly about defense and the Steelers and Panthers have that in spades. They will find a way to make a stop, force a turnover, or get a sack at the right time to win these games.

The Steelers and Chargers played that Ed Hocchuli game early in the season and Pittsburgh won by a point. This will be a much talked about aspect of this weekend's game. Will it have any bearing on this playoff rematch? No, no, and no, so stop talking about it. The Chargers probably have as good a chance to pull an upset as anyone, but I just can't see it happening. I can see Phillip Rivers losing his mind after getting sacked for the fourth time though.

There is no way Arizona will be able to stop Carolina's running attack. If they hold Carolina under 140 yards, I will eat my hat. I know they corralled Michael Turner, but I can't envision them doing that two weeks in a row. Their body of work shows Arizona to be a poor defensive team. They allow 110 yard rushing per game, 16th in the NFL, and 426 points, 5th worst in the league and the worst of any team in the playoffs. One good game does not a season make.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Eagles, Ravens Vindicate Dan

Well, I was 50% on Wild Card Weekend thanks to wins by Baltimore and Philly. The Eagles had a clear advantage in QB play, which I thought would be the difference and it was. Minnesota's D helped them hang around, but once they got down two scores, it took AP out of the game plan, and the Vikings were toast.

Miami's offense was just not able to challenge the Raven's defense at all. Joe Flacco, while he sprayed the football all over the field, didn't make the big mistakes and Chad Pennington did. Chad has a number of good qualities; intelligence, accuracy, leadership. But sometimes you just need a big gun. Chad doesn't have one. There was one deep ball he threw where he had a receiver open despite double coverage. Had he been able to get the ball out in front and toward the sideline, he may have completed it. Instead it was short and to the inside, easy pickings.

The results of the weekend festivities have created some unfavorable match ups for the top seeds in each conference (on account of the stupid seeding process placing division winners in a higher position than wild cards regardless of record). The Giants have to play division foe, Philadelphia, for the third time. The aggregate score from the two regular season meetings; Eagles 51, Giants 50. (Thanks Peter King.) They're probably the last team the Giants want to face.

Baltimore goes to Tennessee in the Ug Bowl. The first team to attempt a pass loses. It will result in an interception or a sack and fumble. Final score 3-0. Both teams rely on defense and getting lucky. The key to beating teams like these is to be patient and play mistake free. Even though I don't think much of Kerry Collins, I have to give the Titans the advantage at QB. Joe Flacco looked like Mitch Williams yesterday the way he was flinging it around.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Cardinals, Chargers make a fool of Dan

So far it's an inauspicious start for me and my playoff predictions.  I really thought that the Falcons would be able to run all over the Cardinals.  Instead Arizona held Michael Turner to 42 yards on 18 carries.  Their defense, whom I had bad-mouthed, even added a touchdown on top of it when they blew up a hand off in the third quarter and Antrelle Rolle returned the fumble all the way.  The Cardinals never relinquished the lead after that.

The MVP for the Chargers was arguably their punter, Mike Scifres, who consistently pinned the Colts in their own end.  The most impressive punt was the one that he boomed in the fourth with the Chargers down three that hit at the one and careened directly toward the sideline.  This put the Colts' backs against the wall for their last meaningful possession of the game and set up the Chargers with great field position to eventually get the tying field goal.  Then it was the Colts defense that killed them in overtime with penalties, allowing San Diego to drive deep in Indy territory.  Darren Sproles then atoned for an earlier red zone fumble with the winning TD run.  You can't say enough about what he meant in the absence of LT.  San Diego continues to have Indy's number as they have won four out the past five meetings. 


Friday, January 2, 2009

NFL Playoff Predictions

Just to show that I have the cajones, I'm going to predict the entire NFL playoffs as if I were filling out an NCAA tournament bracket. I'm just going to lay it all out there and see what the reaction is. First the AFC. As I've said all year, I just can't see the Titans making it to the Super Bowl. If Roethlisberger takes care of the ball, there is no team that will best the Steeler defense. Beware the red hot Colts, however.

Wild Card Round:
Colts 26, Chargers 17; Ravens 13, Dolphins 7
Divisional Round:
Steelers 24, Colts 17; Titans 14, Ravens 3
AFC Championship:
Steelers 31, Titans 17

Now the NFC. If the Eagles and Falcons win on Wild Card Weekend, it will create some unfavorable match ups for the top seeds. No one wants to see a divisional rival for the third time in the playoffs, especially the top seeds who gain virtually no advatange from homefield or the intimidation. That being said, I think the Giants and Panthers will find ways to win close games.

Wild Card Round:
Falcons 34, Cardinals 7; Eagles 17, Vikings 7
Divisional Round:
Giants 30, Eagles 24; Panthers 27, Falcons 21
NFC Championship:
Panthers 34, Giants 31

The Super Bowl will feature two teams that appeared in the big game on separate occasions a few years ago. Their experiences and the coaching will make it a hard fought well played game. Unfortunately, for Jake Delhomme and John Fox they will have their second Super Bowl loss in six seasons. The teams match up pretty evenly, but the Steelers have a clear advatage at the most important position, QB. Steelers 24, Panthers 10