The early line in the Super Bowl is the Steelers (-120) at 6 1/2 point favorites. So you’ve got to put $120 down to win $100; or, in plainer terms, the money is being placed on Pittsburgh.
Does Arizona have a chance? Not likely. In fact, the line could be too low (for the Steelers). If there’s been one constant the entire season for Pittsburgh it’s been it’s defense. It ended up ranked #1 in the NFL and aside from their game vs. the Titans, were dominant against virtually every team they went against.
The offense, not so much; but they do just enough to eek out victories as evidenced by Troy Palumalu’s pick six last Sunday which gave the Steelers the win and the cover (of the spread). The Cardinals best shot to win this football game will be to stop the passing game. The Steelers running game is set up by the passing game, so by stopping Roethlisberger, you can contain Pittsburgh.
But it won’t be easy. The Cardinals success in each round of the playoffs has been predicated on stopping the opposing team’s running game and once they jumped out to a lead, they were able to feast on the passing game. I don’t think that will happen in this one. But we’ll see.
Crazier things have happened… I believe the 14-point dogs (NY Giants) beat the 18-0 Patriots in Super Bowl 42.
Regardless, there’s still eleven days until the big game and we’ll be sure to have much more in-depth analysis as we get closer to it.
