TAMPA // The classic paradox in logic is the debate over what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. Logically, those two things cannot exist, as the Arizona Cardinals may find out. The Cardinals are the classic irresistible force in American football, a team backed by an explosive attack that is led by two-time league MVP Kurt Warner at quarterback, and the game's most exciting wide receiver, Larry Fitzgerald.
Staring back at them is the league's stingiest defence, the edgy and ill-tempered Pittsburgh Steelers who all season have led the league in nearly every significant defensive category. Something will have to give. Fitzgerald is complemented by fellow receivers, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston, who also gained more than 1,000 yards receiving this year. They are a force to be reckoned with. Fitzgerald, whose dark dreadlocks flow out of his helmet and well down his back as his long strides that seem to eat up the field, finished fourth in the league in receptions with 96, gaining 1,431 yards and 12 touchdowns in the process.
The tough-minded Boldin, who is returning from having his face put back together with titanium screws after he was knocked out in a collision with a New York Jets' defensive back earlier this season while scoring a touchdown, is not far behind with 89 catches for 1,038 and 11 scores. Add Breaston's 77 for 1,006 and three touchdowns and you have a prominent problem with which the Steelers will have to deal with.
Fitzgerald is the key. Arizona are the first team to finish 9-7 in the regular season and still manage to reach the Super Bowl. They got here primarily because of the speed and leaping ability of Fitzgerald, who leads all play-off receivers with 23 catches for 419 yards and a remarkable five touchdowns. All season Arizona have struggled to run the ball, finishing last in the league in that statistic, although fading star Edgerrin James has rallied in the play-offs since being freed from the bench to lead all post-season rushers with 203 yards in three games after gaining only 514 yards on the ground all season.
But despite all their attacking talent, Phoenix face a defence that is daunting and dangerous. Pittsburgh, who are chasing a record sixth Super Bowl victory, have always been like the city they represent - hard as steel and basing their success on the most reliable thing in sport, a rock-solid defence. There is no question that the Cardinals' receivers are, as a group, more talented than the Steelers secondary that must cover them. The question is: can Phoenix's offensive line give Warner enough time to find those receivers before he is flat on his back?
What Pittsburgh will hope to do is control the ball and the time of possession with their running game, thus keeping Arizona's offence on the sideline. If Pittsburgh can run the ball successfully it will also make the Arizona cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Roderick Hood vulnerable. The pair who allowed the most touchdown passes (16) of any set of cornerbacks in the league this season.
Do not be surprised if the Steelers try to hit the Cardinals deep early to get a lead and then try to mount a stiff running attack on offence and a stern run defence that consistently puts Warner in third-and-long passing situations that would make Arizona's offense one-dimensional and far easier to defend. Historically, these kind of matches are often dominated more by the defence than attack. History is long, and savagely one-sided in match-ups of this ilk, with the top defence almost always undressing the high scoring offence, as Tampa did in Super Bowl XXXVII when they beat the Oakland Raiders and their top-rated offence 48-21 by forcing quarterback Rich Gannon to throw five interceptions, returning three for touchdowns.
While offence is fun to watch, in American football it is generally defence that wins championships and the Steelers have the more savage and more withering one. Perhaps they will be moved by the resurrection of Edgerrin James, whose running may hold the key to Arizona's fortunes, but that is a tall order for a Cinderella team who seem likely to hear the clock strike midnight before they can find the glass slipper or the Lombardi Trophy.
rborges@thenational.ae
