Thursday, February 02, 2006

Your 2006 Super Bowl Champs...

Over the last year and a half I've been criticizing the Steelers and the NFC. So do I decide to finally respect the NFC or Pittsburgh? Since Pittsburgh is the favorite, I'll examine why they're considered favorites:

1. They're in the AFC: I've been bashing the NFC for years, but this wasn't the strongest year for the AFC. Just look at who the Steelers beat to get to the playoffs. Cincinnati had no defense and no starting quarterback; the Colts had no momentum going into the offseason, are not known for their defense, and displayed their usual choking tendencies; and the Broncos gave up over 400 yards to a mistake-prone Patriot team and their quarterback is Jake Plummer.

In other words, the Steelers looked very impressive in the playoffs, but their competition was flawed.
2. The Seahawks are in the NFC. True, but the Seahawks looked so good against Carolina. The balance of league power has to change some time.

My anti-Steeler bias is affecting my prediction, but I was really impressed with the Seahawks. Great pass rush, good corners, good quarterback, great running back, and the offensive lineman in football. The Seahawks will be better than any of the Steelers' previous playoff opponents.

This is why the Seahawks will win 30-17.

Two more thoughts:
  • The Seahawks have struggled against the 3-4, and that does concern me. Therefore I will not gamble more than a nickel on this game.
  • Both quarterbacks are known to have hyper personalities. It will be interesting to see the Super Bowl hype affects them.

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