Andy Richardson
Cardinals-Steelers is the game, and it comes as a result of a pair of pretty good games yesterday. Let's get right to it....
Cardinals 32, Eagles 25. Somebody, a lot of us somebodies, owes Kurt Warner an apology. The guy had an even better postseason than he did regular season -- nobody thought he'd play as well against the Eagles pass rush as he did. He made every throw, did it under pressure, and didn't make any costly mistakes -- only even came close to making one or two poor throws. It helps having a wideout like Larry Fitzgerald on his side, but Warner wasn't forcing it to him when the play wasn't there; he did that only once the entire postseason, as well. Full credit to his coaching staff for getting the best out of Warner and not the worst. Now the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl, the same team I personally saw get lit up by the Jets in week 4, and I'm not about to underestimate them. They'll face the best defense they've seen all year and we know for a fact they won't be able to run the ball, but can anybody really cover Fitzgerald? Can the Cardinals defense get at least a little heat on Ben Roethlisberger? Don't write the Cardinals off. Fantasy impact for next season: Anquan Boldin got into an arguing match with his offensive coordinator on the sideline. Considering the guy called a great game and is a large part of why the team is going to the Super Bowl, seems like Boldin is out of line. Will the Cards make him happy this offseason, or ship him out? The playoffs suggest they can win without him, so maybe they'll try. Those of us who own Tim Hightower in dynasty leagues are feeling OK right now; he showed a lot more the last couple of weeks while back in his backup role than he did as a starter the second half of the season. Edgerrin James will be gone and J.J. Arrington only has value in passing situations (and even then not much), so Hightower has a good shot of at least being half of a committee next season, including the goal-line guy. As for the Eagles, well, another big-game loss for Donovan McNabb. Will the Eagles bring him back? Tough to say. Certainly Brent Celek will be the No. 1 tight end, and DeSean Jackson (who made a heady play to force a fumble following a McNabb interception) and Kevin Curtis (who probably should have caught that fourth-down pass, although I can allow that he was probably interfered with) will be the top wideouts, but aside from that there are a lot of questions on this offense. Are all the miles and injuries catching up with Westbrook -- will he be next year's Tomlinson? And who will be throwing them passes? Whenever a fairly old team loses in the conference title game, you can expect some changes.
Steelers 23, Ravens 14. So much for my "both home teams won't win" theory. I guess I wanted to believe a little too much in that "team of destiny" thing with the Ravens D. They made a game of it, but the Steelers were too good and made too many plays on both sides of the ball. Amazing throw and catch from Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes for the big play. Another big-game big play from Troy Polamalu, who seems to come up with one each postseason. And the clock struck midnight for rookie quarterback Joe Flacco, whose interceptions were just bad throws -- shouldn't have been made, had very little chance of being completed. Hines Ward's injury doesn't sound too bad; he should be OK for the Super Bowl. Willis McGahee is also OK. Fantasy impact for next season: The assumption is that McGahee will be gone for Baltimore, and it's probably accurate -- we should get that LeRon McClain-Ray Rice tandem. McGahee, though, still has plenty of talent, so don't rule out him surfacing as a quality fantasy starter elsewhere, and maybe even staying in Baltimore -- if it's possible financially, which it may not be, but running backs do get hurt. Baltimore needs to get another wideout; Mark Clayton is just OK. That receiving corps, as much as Flacco's inexperience, was a factor in Baltimore not getting past the Steelers this year. As for Pittsburgh, the big question is Rashard Mendenhall. Good young running back? If so, they're in great shape for next year. If they have their doubts, they may already need to think about adding another one, not to mention getting some help for that offensive line -- which I think might be a problem against the Cardinals in the Super Bowl.
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