NFL Conference Championship Round Wrapup and Super Bowl Outlook

Well, the Steelers pulled it off.

Big time effort.

Troy Polamalu is a man.

The early game was the NFC Championship, and it was a game that Philadelphia was supposed to win. Unfortunately for them, the Cardinals showed up in a big way, jumping out to a huge early lead. The Eagles would battle back in the second half and take the lead on a bomb to Desean Jackson, 25-24. But, the Cardinals would answer by marching down the field and scoring a late touchdown to give them the lead, 32-25 after the 2-point conversion. The Cardinals defense did the rest, flustering Mcnabb and getting a turnover on downs to secure the win. The Cardinals advanced to their first ever Super Bowl.


But, it was the later came that I cared about. Steelers... Ravens. We knew it would be a slugfest, a heavyweight battle, and it did not disappoint. Both teams came out swinging, but it was the Steelers who would take the lead into half, despite some questionable officiating, a dropped touchdown and poor clock management. The Steelers would extend their lead to 16-7, but a pass interference call on Ike Taylor would lead to another Ravens touchdown, cutting the lead to 2. The Steelers would then lose the momentum, going 3-and out and having to punt the ball away. With just under 5 minutes to go, the play of the century was made, as Troy Polamalu intercepted Joe Flacco and returned it for a pick-6, making it 23-14. After Willis McGahee would get decapitated by Ryan Clark, the Steelers would take over. The Ravens had one more shot late but it was too much in a short amount of time, and a Tyrone Carter interception would end it, sending the Steelers to their 7th Super Bowl.

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Well, last week I was 1-1 with my picks. Obviously you know who I am picking this week. Maybe I have a bias, but I do think the Steelers are a better team, and I expect them to win. I'm not going to go into things completely because I plan on devoting a whole post to the Super Bowl, but an early prediction for the game is necessary.

-Steelers-26, Cardinals-17

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