Something that needs to be remembered that’s not shown in those stats is Whisenhunt’s familiarity with the Steelers and his ability to shred 3-4 defenses. I don’t think the Cardinals cared at all in that New England game, whether they played the starters or not. I saw almost every play the Cardinals ran this season, and they were not the same team that day.

I’d even guess that the Super Bowl may resemble the NFC championship game in terms of a steadily evaporating ARI lead that turns a laugher into a nail-biter.

This is my expectation (little confidence, of course). If I were to bet on any sort of game flow, I would bet on the Cardinals doing well early in the passing game, with great game planning against the 3-4 and with Warner excellently recognizing the blitz and hitting receivers downfield against a secondary that I have little (relative) respect for outside of one unreal safety. As the game goes along from there, though, I would expect (to a degree) the Steelers to continue to establish a successful ground attack, wear out the Cardinals’ defense a little, slowly open a little bit of a passing game and pull back in to the game with the speed of molasses before making it a close contest that can be decided on the most unpredictable and unrepeatable of events.

In that case, I would favor the Steelers for no other reason than because they’re the better team, and that’s why my pick is the Steelers by 7.

I’m pretty sure the biggest comeback in Super Bowl History (to win) is 10 points, as well, so I think we have a chance of seeing that surpassed tonight.