Super Bowl Countdown: On The Road To Tampa

[Editor's Note: With the Super Bowl only a few days away, SportsJudge wants to give you the inside scoop on the big game. Today's preview is from Mike Colligan, author of SportsJudge's "In Between the Tackles" column. It's the first in series of varying perspectives which will appear each afternoon at 1pm ET, concluding with Chris Carmona's usual in-depth look on Saturday.]

Quick. What current NFL player owns the record for sacking Ben Roethlisberger the most times in a single game? No guess? Come on, think of some of the best linebackers in the game. It's not Brian Urlacher. Not Zach Thomas. If you guessed Ray Lewis...you're in the right division. Give up? How about James Harrison. Yes, that James Harrison...of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In his final college game at Kent State, Harrison brought Big Ben down 5 times and single-handedly took Roethlisberger and Miami (Oh.) out of field-goal range on what would have been the game's game-winning drive.

Now I'm not telling you this to set the stage for a lecture on how good AP defensive player of the year James Harrison is. If you've had access to your TV or computer or football-obsessed coworker in the cubicle next to yours over the past seven days, you know ALL about that. I want to dig a little deeper and go "In Between the Tackles."

The 2008-09 version of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been fairly predictable this season in my mind. In their losses to the Eagles, Giants, Colts and Titans, Roethlisberger was absolutely harassed. The Steelers offensive line was shredded, and the rest of the offense was out of sync. Luckily, two weeks off at the end of the season (playoff bye and a 'game' against the Cleveland Browns) allowed them to come in well-rested and wear out a Baltimore Ravens squad that hadn't had a break since their unscheduled Week 2 bye. I didn't expect many problems against the Ravens and San Diego the week before, but I will admit this game makes me a little nervous.

Arizona has proven they can score with anyone in the league when they're hot. Their secondary, led by Adrian Wilson (the best safety in the game in my opinion), have become football-hungry vultures with 11 takeaways in three playoff games. The Steelers haven't proven they can run the ball with any consistency. If they have any weakness on defense, it's probably the slow and aging inside linebacker James Farrior, which could mean a big receiving day for JJ Arrington and Tim Hightower out of the backfield.

All of this being said, I still think the Steelers are definitely the better team. As I mentioned above, all of the attention is being heaped upon James Harrison, on and off the field. For that reason, I think that means Ken Whisenhunt and company will make sure that Harrison doesn't beat them. Double teams, triple teams, even a few holding penalties...whatever it takes to keep Harrison from touching Kurt Warner.

The player on defense who will benefit from this attention will be the underrated second-year linebacker out of Michigan, LaMarr Woodley. Woodley finished the season with 11.5 sacks, mostly due to the fact that he ends up in one-on-one matchups with blocking backs. I don't see the Cardinals attempting to establish much of a running game, so expect to see lots of Tim Hightower. Keep in mind Hightower is a rookie and rookies often struggle to pass-block in pressure situations. On Sunday, he has the responsibility of picking up deceiving blitzes from Harrison, Woodley and even Troy Polamalu...maybe all at once. Throw in Kurt Warner's total lack of mobility in the pocket and well-documented fumbling tendencies, and I think Woodley has a field day.

On the other side of the ball, it would be easy to predict a big game out of Hines Ward or Santonio Holmes, but my pick for the game-changer is tight end Heath Miller. Despite failing to appear in two games this season with an ankle injury, Miller reeled in a career high 48 passes in the regular season. In fact, over the past four weeks, Miller has 220 yards receiving. If you had a chance to watch the Cardinals and Eagles last week, you probably noticed that Philadelphia tight end Brent Celek became Donovan McNabb's target-of-choice and finished the game with 10 catches and two touchdowns. Keep in mind Celek only had 27 catches all season. With Ward battling a knee injury, I think Miller steps up and has a huge day against an Arizona secondary that gives up big plays and lacks depth.

Prediction: In the end, the Steelers dominating defense will be too much for Warner's aerial attack and Pittsburgh leaves Tampa with their sixth Super Bowl title and a 31-17 win.

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