Who will win Super Bowl XLIII?
By Kurt Wagner, Brian Watson, Matthew Cucuzza, Gabe Taylor, Justin Phan
Arizona
People have written off the Cardinals for weeks.
You can ignore the fact that they are the hottest team in the NFL.
You can bring up the point that, until the playoff stretch, Arizona's running game spent 2008 under the witness protection program.
You can even pretend that 37-year-old Kurt Warner is too old to hoist up the Vince Lombardi trophy.
But the Cardinals are for real, and come Sunday, they'll be Super Bowl champions.
A successful team needs a successful leader; look no further than Warner.
He has big-game experience, leading the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl title in 2000, taking home the game's MVP award.
Warner has won the league MVP award twice in his career, and threw an astonishing 30 touchdowns while completing 67 percent of his passes this season. He's the real deal.
Warner's favorite target, Larry Fitzgerald, may very well be the most dangerous player in the NFL, having already set the record for receiving yards in a single postseason with one game to go, including 5 touchdown receptions in three games.
Projection: Cardinals 24-17
MVP: Larry Fitzgerald
--Kurt Wagner
Arizona
After watching the Cardinals beat Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia, I became a believer.
The Cardinals will be raising the Lombardi trophy come Sunday, Feb. 1.
Just as the NBA's Boston Celtics have their big three, Arizona's big three will continue to dominate.
Larry Fitzgerald has been unstoppable with 419 receiving yards through the playoffs, surpassing one of the Bay Area's own greats, Jerry Rice's 409 yards in 1988.
Pittsburgh will try to contain Fitzgerald, but he is going to be no match for the Steelers' defense, and the wide receiver will still get his receptions.
With Pittsburgh's best defensive backs concentrated on Fitzgerald, look to his teammate Anquan Boldin to have a big game.
Boldin will play with extra motivation after the postgame drama that happened last game.
Then there is Kurt Warner.
Waner continues to improve in every playoff game this season.
He threw for 770 total yards and 8 touchdowns.
It is quite easy to see that the Cardinals are a team of destiny and will prove that it's all about getting hot at the right time.
Projection: Cardinals 30-24
MVP: Kurt Warner
--Brian Watson
America
The same team wins the Super Bowl every year - us.
And Super Bowl XLIII will be no different.
Every year, during the rather dismal weather of late January and early Februa ry, the Super Bowl digs us out from under all the papers, midterms and jobs and reminds us all what is truly important about life: football, friends and food.
The e xcitement of the Super Bowl brings the country to a halt. Almost everyone devotes this Sunday to good old American couch-potatoing.
Even for non-sports fans, the spectacle of the Super Bowl is a truly national event, and that is enough to draw them to a friend's house to watch the bonanza, even if all they watch are commercials and The Boss performing at halftime.
The colossal amount of potential clients (upward of 100 million will watch on Sunday) has advertisers running in circles to entertain us.
PepsiCo has collaborated with DreamWorks Animation, Intel Corp. and NBC to produce a 90-second 3-D spot that will include the SoBe lizards and promote the upcoming film "Monsters vs. Aliens."
Grab the beer, chips, chicken wings, bean dip, nachos, hot dogs and burgers and find a seat. The game is on.
Projection: Win-win for America
MVP: You!
--Matthew Cucuzza
Pittsburgh I'm going to be a little unorthodox in my decision for who will be crowned the 2009 Super Bowl champions.
In my mind, football starts and ends with the quarterback. Instead of comparing statistics and such of Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and Arizona's Kurt Warner (yawn), I simply watched several interviews of both to see which quarterback is best prepared for Sunday.
In Warner's interview, you could see that his mind was in constant motion. Every answer was thought out, every statement lasted a lifetime.
He was sure of himself, but he was trying too hard to please the media and pinpoint every last detail.
Each word was equivalent to more stress on Warner's back.
Hey, it has been seven years since his last trip to the Super Bowl, so I should cut him some slack. He's been out of it for a little while.
Big Ben on the other hand, looked like he knew what he was doing. He's a pro.
On multiple occasions, he stated that he knew how to deal with all this playoff hype, including the media and the game itself.
His answers were concise and to the point, and from my observations, he had the essence of a winner. After all, he's only two years out of practice.
Projection: Steelers 24-20
MVP: Ben Roethlisberger
--Gabe Taylor
Pittsburgh
Just ask 23 of the last 25 Super Bowl champions what they have in common, and they'll tell you that their defense ranked in the top 10 in points allowed.
But the New York Giants won the Super Bowl last year with a defense that ranked 17th in points allowed, so why can't the Cardinals do the same?
It's simple. The Cardinals have nowhere near as good a running game as the Giants had back in 2007.
Edgerrin James has only rushed for 203 yards in the playoffs, good for a measly 3.9 yard per carry average.
You simply can't expect to live and die through the air against the league's best defense without the threat of a running game and without the ability to sustain drives, even if you have the league's best receiver in Larry Fitzergald at your disposal.
Give me the devastating twosome of James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley, who have combined for 27.5 sacks.
Give me the league's best safety in Troy Polamalu.
And give me Big Ben, who has proven he can shoulder the load when the game is put in his hands by going 7-2 in games where has had to throw 30 or more passes.
Prediction: Steelers 27-17
MVP: Ben Roethlisberger
--Justin Phan