There are several big holidays every year around the world. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and New Year’s Day are some to name. Then again, there are several “unofficial” days that people around the planet celebrate with utmost happiness. One of those unofficial holidays draws the biggest attention of any holiday besides Christmas. This holiday is called Super Bowl Sunday, and it’s shaping up to be a heck of a good one this year. No, there are no gifts to unwrap or turkeys to stuff, but there are soft drinks to drink and potato chips to eat. So on February the 5th, sit back and relax, let the Steelers and Seahawks do all the work. Trust me; it will be a heavy workload for them.Super Bowl XL is now set to go. It seems to be that the NFL has a matchup just as good as this year’s Rose Bowl game. It’s a game between two excellent teams with a lot of prestige as of late. Last Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the team I chose for my dark horse, the Carolina Panthers. The reason they won so handily (34-14) was because they were able to stop the best receiver in football. Steve Smith (Carolina) was held to just five catches and 33 yards. In the playoffs leading up to Sunday’s game against the Seahawks he had averaged at or around 117 yards a game receiving, which is an NFL record. It was actually pretty simple, since the Seahawks were able to put one defensive back on him and drop a linebacker to cover him at the key moment. This defensive setup led to 3 interceptions by Panther’s QB Jake Delhomme.
As for the other NFL game, the Denver Broncos took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in what was predicted to be a tough defensive game. Both teams depend on running the ball, and both teams play hard nose, smash mouth defense. The Broncos had one major problem, though. They used Quarterback Jake Plummer a little bit too much. He threw two costly interceptions and lost two fumbles. He really didn’t have any time in the pocket, and he just kept getting hurried and rushed, even being sacked 3 times by the tough Steeler defense. The real story, actually, was the Steeler defense. They forced four turnovers, and only allowed 308 total yards to the Bronco offense. Strangely enough, the Steelers were able to win while not rushing for 100 yards or more. They finished with just 90 yards, and their leading rusher was Jerome Bettis with 39 yards on the ground.
My super bowl prediction isn’t what all of my readers would expect. In one of my past columns I stated that the Seahawks would win the Super Bowl. I’ve seen some things to prove my prediction wrong. The Pittsburgh Steelers are just too good, and their defense is out of this world. They manage to turn quarterbacks that were amazing during the regular season into inconsistent over-throwers. They stop the run with a great defensive line, and their defensive backs are more than enough to stuff the runner if he breaks into the open field. On offense, Ben Roethlisberger is a man among boys; he has come into his own in the past year. He knows what to change at the line of scrimmage before the snap to prevent a costly turnover or a broken play. He knows whether to just hand the ball off or throw to one of his great receivers in Hines Ward or Antwaan Randel Ell. He runs that Steeler offense to perfection, and makes Bill Cowher look like a genius. Then again, Cowher is a pretty darn good coach.
Here’s my prediction for Super Bowl 40. It’s going against my preseason pick in the Seahawks, but right now the Steelers are just too good a team with a bigger drive to win it all. Roethlisberger will throw for two and Bettis will rush for a buck fifty in a Steelers win, 28-17.