SPORTS> World Events
|
SPORTS> World Events
|
|
Raising Arizona: Cardinals want revenge
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-14 11:41 NEW YORK -- Sunday's championship finals to decide the Super Bowl combatants could produce contrasting games when defensive-minded Pittsburgh hosts Baltimore and Philadelphia visits high-scoring Arizona.
The second-seeded Steelers (13-4) beat the Ravens (13-5) 23-20 in overtime at home in September before muscling their way to a 13-9 victory in Baltimore in December.
"It just happens to be the AFC championship game." The sixth-seeded Ravens advanced with a 13-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans, the AFC top seed. Philadelphia guaranteed the NFL would crown a new champion by ousting last year's Super Bowl-winning New York Giants 23-11 in a National Football Conference (NFC) playoff. The sixth-seeded Eagles (11-6-1), in their fifth NFC title game in eight years, take on fourth-seeded West division champion Arizona Cardinals (11-7). The Cardinals, who upset the Carolina Panthers 33-13, have scored more points this season than all but two teams and have an attack featuring experienced quarterback Kurt Warner and receiver Larry Fitzgerald. "We're playing against a team that doesn't have any problem scoring points," said quarterback Donovan McNabb after his Eagles defense kept the top-seeded Giants from scoring a single touchdown. Dig deep "We're going to have to dig deep on offense and be able to come up with touchdowns."
Philadelphia was walloped 36-7 by the Ravens in Baltimore in a game that sent a jolt through its squad, with coach Andy Reid benching McNabb at halftime. Four days later in a Thanksgiving Day game in Philadelphia, McNabb threw four touchdown passes to lead the Eagles past the Cardinals and begin a run of six wins in seven games. "After the Baltimore game we all talked as a team," said McNabb, whose Eagles also beat the Steelers 15-6 in the third week of the regular season. "We got away from guys flying around and making plays. We're a much better team when we're loose." Steelers coach Mike Tomlin shrugged off suggestions the odds were stacked against his players beating a quality team like the Ravens three times in a season. "I personally don't subscribe to that hocus-pocus," said Tomlin. "What happened in the other two games will have no bearing on the outcome of this game." Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is expecting a classic confrontation. "It's going to be a battle," he said. "It's going to be one for the ages, I have a feeling." Agencies
|
