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Superbowl Spread: Cardinals vs. Steelers

Point spread, pick and prediction for the 2009 Superbowl clash between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers plus the betting spreads, and betting trends for nfl football gambling…

Super Bowl XLIII – And the Winner is…..

The biggest sports betting event of the year takes place this Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals meet on the grid-iron to determine the winner of the 2008-2009 Super Bowl.

The Cardinals are the surprise team after garnering a 9 and 7 straight-up record during the regular season.The Pittsburgh Steelers, my pre-season pick to win the Super Bowl at the BetUS online sportsbook betting odds of 20 to 1 in the pre-season, quickly solidified themselves as a contender after the first month of the season.

Both teams fought hard to get here but only one team will be crowned the best in the NFL.

Let’s take an in depth look at the against the spread line in this game as well as analyze each team’s particular strengths and weaknesses.

BetUS online betting odds:

Pittsburgh Steelers -6 ½, -115 vs. Arizona Cardinals +6 ½, -105.

Steelers’ offense vs. Cardinals’ defense: The Steelers are a terrific offensive team with Big Ben Roethlisberger, who already has a Super Bowl victory under his belt, having a plethora of weapons to throw to. Hines Ward might be too hurt to be effective in this game but it shouldn’t hurt Big Ben who can toss the pig skin to Santonio Holmes, tight-end Heath Miller, Nate Washington or Limas Sweed. Ben can also hand the ball off to Mewelde Moore and the brilliant Willie Parker. With so many weapons the Cardinals defense is going to have to really get to Ben in order to slow that Steelers’ offense down. There’s no chance of that, though, because Pittsburgh’s offensive line is absolutely fantastic.

The Cardinals’ D is good but not great. Pitt has already shown the ability to beat-up a great defense. They beat the Ravens three times this season. The Cardinals D has no chance.

Edge: Steelers

Cardinals’ offense vs. Steelers’ defense: The Cardinals’ offense is exceptional with future hall-of-famer Kurt Warner playing in his third Super Bowl. Warner rarely makes a mistake and can do some fantastic things against the blitz. He’s a mind reader out there and always, always makes the right throw. Both Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are masters at the wide receiver position and Fitzgerald is arguably the best wide receiver in the league. Tim Hightower has become a very, very good running back.

But as good as the Cardinals’ offense is, the Steelers’ D is better. With James Harrison coming off the edge or up the middle on blitzes, and Troy Polamalu roaming the middle of the field, Warner is facing the toughest defense he has faced all season. The Cardinals did play the Steelers tough early on during the regular season but this Steelers’ D has gotten better. The Steelers’ defense is playing at too high of a level for the Cardinals to overcome.

Edge: Steelers

Special Teams: The Steelers have a huge, make that a massive, advantage in this department with Santonio Holmes returning punts. How massive? Holmes could easily turn this game around, hell, bury the Cardinals with one or two good run backs. 

Because Holmes is so adept at returning punts that NFL betting fans might as well give up on the idea of the Cardinals winning the field position battle. This is another category where the Steelers’ have an edge.

Edge: Steelers

Coach: Mike Tomlin has to be congratulated for taking his team to a Super Bowl at the age of 37. The man is very good at allowing his coordinators to do their jobs. He’s an excellent manager who delegates and uses his people skills to get his players to work at an optimum level every time they step onto the field. Ken Wisenhunt for the Cardinals worked as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator and pretty much created Ben Roethlisberger. Wisenhunt knows what Ben does on the offensive side of the ball. That gives the Cardinals a slight edge in this category, but it might not be enough.

Edge: Cardinals

Final Analysis: That sound you hear coming through your computer screen? That’s me running, not jogging, running to the BetUS online sportsbook betting window to throw a bunch of money down on the Pittsburgh Steelers!

The ½ point swing that just occurred this morning, the Steelers were at -7 just yesterday, makes me giddy. It’s a huge ½ point in this game. I just don’t see how the Cardinals don’t lose by at least a touchdown in this game.

Defenses win Super Bowls. The Pittsburgh Steelers have that.

Furthermore, the Cardinals meltdown in the second half of the NFC Championship game, they gave up 19 straight points to the Philadelphia Eagles, tells me that Big Ben and the Steelers’ offense could rack up tons of points.

The Steelers have been impressive all season long while the Cardinals got hot in the playoffs. Arizona has had two weeks to ponder how good the Steelers are while Pittsburgh knows they are good.

I’m going with the confident, experienced, better team in this game. That’s Pittsburgh.

Super Bowl Pick: Pittsburgh at -6 ½ in the BetUS online sportsbook.

Good Luck!