COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

STEELERS 27 CARDINALS 23 Instant classic! In a game that is at the pinnacle of its sport, Super Bowl XLIII did not disappoint, featuring both jubiliation and the gut-wrenching pain of defeat. For a game that was quite dull for the first three quarters with the Steelers holding a commanding 20-7 lead, the fourth quarter captured the attention of America. The Arizona Cardinals roared back to take a 23-20 lead with 2:58 to go in the game. Yes, the Arizona Cardinals were that close to winning their first ever Super Bowl. With 11:30 to go, the Cards finally put it together. Kurt Warner shook the ice off his arm, and Larry Fitzgerald put on his running shoes for this dramatic finish . On first down, Warner hit Steve Breaston for a 13 yard gain to the Cards 26 yard line. On the next play, Warner connected with tight end Jeremy Urban for 18 yards to move the ball to the 44 yard line. Later, Warner hit running back J.J. Arington for 22 yards, and the back scooted to the Pittsbrugh 28 yard lin...

PITTSBURGH STEELERS (14-4) vs. ARIZONA CARDINALS (12-7) 6:30 NBC : Enough with all the pomp and circumstance. Enough with all the media analysis on TV, the Internet and in the papers. Enough with all the sad personal stories; these players are multi-millionaires; they don't deserve our sympathy. Enough with the over-hyped commercials, and the over-hyped pre-game ceremonies. Enough already! It is time to strap on those chinstraps and get ready to smack someone's head off. Finally, Super Bowl XLIII is 48 hours away. ( Look at Arizona stats ). ( Look at Pittsburgh stats ). All the talk over the past two weeks focuses on the miracle season for the Arizona Cardinals. They have exorcised the demons of 61 years of bad memories and a rather mediocre 9-7 regular season to put together an improbable playoff run. Quarterback Kurt Warner has been excellent; running back Edgerin James has done a decent job on the ground, and receiver Larry Fitzgerald has had an historic postseason. That be...

There are only three days left until Super Bowl XLIII, a fitting end to a wacky 2008 season, as the old guard Pittsburgh Steelers take on the surprising Arizona Cardinals. Whenever Super Bowl time comes up, it is really a frustrating holiday for true die hard fans of the NFL. For starters, the NFL tries its best to pander to the casual fans, who know virtually nothing about football, so they, and various other companies, can score big in TV ratings. The die hard's are left out in the cold, forced to listen to people at Super Bowl parties make remarks like "Wow, there is a team named the Cardinals? How many Super Bowl's have they won?" Or, "I hate those Steeler uniforms; why don't they try nicer colors?" Or, "Hey! How about that commercial with Burt Reynolds and Peter Griffin from Family Guy ?" It's enough to make a genuine football fan want to run out of the room screaming! If it were up to me, a true football fan, the Super Bowl would kic...

With Super Bowl winning coaches like Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Mike Holmgren and Tony Dungy all likely to take a year off in 2009, it is now clear that the NFL is entering a new era for head coaches. For the past 20 plus years, fans and pundits alike have considered the names above, as well as the old guards of Bill Parcells, Dick Vermil, Dan Reeves and Jimmy Johnson to be the best coaches in the league. Now neither will be coaching a game in 2009. Thus, the winner of Super Bowl XLIII will be the welcomed in as the next great head coach. This new generation of head coach is younger, more fit, more hip to modern technology, and a player coach who still maintains enough discipline and commands enough respect from his ball club. Mike Tomlin and Ken Whisenhunt are about to enter this fraternity. Tomlin, after taking over for Cowher after the 2006 season as a virtual unknown from Jon Gruden's Tampa Bay coaching staff, has lit a fire under the Steelers. Tomlin's strong...

Usually when faced with a David vs. Goliath type match-up in the NFL either in the regular season or postseason, most consider the pressure to be squarely on the shoulders of the favorite. Last year the pressure was on an undefeated New England Patriots squad that was looking to become the first ever 19-0 team. A loss in the Super Bowl would be devastating to the Pats, who were perfect for so long. Well, that loss did happen, and a year and Tom Brady's gimp knee later, the Patriots were out of the postseason party in 2008. This year, however, all of the pressure is on the David: the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals are coming into Super Sunday with a huge fanfare. The little engine that could never get up that steep hill has finally made it, and everyone wants to meet and greet them. A franchise once believed to be a doormat to the NFL is now one step away from immortality. How these young red birds handle the pressure of Super Bowl week will go a long way toward determing how the...

A week from today, America will brace for its annual TV sports spectacle, the Super Bowl, for the XLIII straight year, and, unlike previous Super Bowls that usually carry with it heavy storylines and dramatic subplots, this one that features the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, could easily be the worst matchup in Super Bowl history. In one corner is a perennial winner in the Steelers, owners of five world titles and one of the best run franchises in football. In the other corner is the Cardinals: perennial losers and the NFL's oldest franchise, who's only championship came 61 years ago. During that 61 year drought the Cards have become the NFL's biggest laughing stock next to the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, but it is only now that the Cards have exorcised the demons to get to this game. Sure,the Cardinals history is a great storyline. The matchup of two Super Bowl winning quarterbacks is another, and the fact that Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, who u...

Here are two viedos created by myself on NFL.com highlighting the road to Super Bowl XLIII for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. Keep posted with Cohen's Corner Sports at http://cohenscornersports.blogspot.com/ for more Super Bowl analysis in the coming days. The Steelers highlight viedo covers three crucial games for Pittsburgh, that includes both the divisional playoff game against San Diego and the AFC title game against Baltimore. The Steelers controversial win in Baltimore on December 14 is also covered in the film. WATCH VIEDO NOW ! Make sure you have the sound on on your computer to listen to the music that goes along with the film. The Cardinals highlight viedo covers all three Arizona playoff games against the Falcons, Panthers and Eagles. It was a great run for Arizona and after watching the film, you might begin to think that this year's Super Bowl could be a close one. WATCH VIEDO NOW !

CARDINALS 32 EAGLES 25 If it seems unseasonably cold around where you live it is because Hell has frozen over, and the planets have realigned. The Arizona Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl! That's right; this is not a typo; the Arizona Cardinals are going to Super Bowl XLIII. BOXSCORE . The Cards are indeed the Cinderlla story of 2008-2009 after a come-from-behind 32-25 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at University of Phenoix Stadium in Glendale Arizona. The Cards showed great heart after blowing a 24-6 halftime lead only to see Donovan McNabb light it up in the second half to take a 25-24 lead lat e in the fourth quarter. Most teams would crawl under the benches when a better team like the Eagles makes a great comeback, but not this version of the Cardinals. Kurt Warner, who was brilliant all day, completing 21 of 28 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns, engineered a 14 play 72 yard drive for the winning touchdown. On second and 10 from the Arizona 27, Warner hit Larr...

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (11-6-1) @ ARIZONA CARDINALS (11-7) If someone came up to me on Thanksgiving night, November 27, and told me that the prime time game between the Eagles and Cardinals would be a preview of the NFC Championship game some two months later, I would consider this person insane. But it is true the Cards and Eagles are here and have earned it every step of the way. After stumbling down the stretch and finishing at 9-7, noone expected much noise from the Cardinals in the postseason. They failed to win games on the east coast, failed to run the football effectively and failed to stop any opposing offense during the regular season. Something changed in the playoffs. The Cards discovered a ground attack with Edgerin James rushing for 73 yards on Atlanta in the wild card playoffs. Kurt Warner was decent in the game, completing 19 of 32 passes and throwing two touchdowns as Arizona outlasted the Falcons 30-24. However, it was their performance against the Panthers that is the b...

CARDINALS 33 PANTHERS 13 Every year a team seemingly comes out of nowhere, that nobody talks about, finds a way to not only win in the postseason but make histroy by doing it. The Cardinals, who are the NFL's oldest franchise and one of six teams to have never played in a Super Bowl will be going to the NFC Championship Game for the first time ever. The Cardinals dominated the Carolina Panthers 33-13, as they tormented Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme, picking off the quarterback five times and stripping him for a fumble. As a result, the Cards scored 23 points off Carolina turnovers on the evening and look like world beaters after everyone counted them out before the playoffs started. If you need to know how much the Cards were expected to lose today, in the New York Post the paper listed the betting lines to win the Super Bowl for each of the remaining eight teams; the Cardinals were 35-1! After a quick start by Carolina, the Cardinals settled down and set the tone. The Cards a...

Some consider divisional weekend in the NFL playoffs the best week of football since it pits the so- called top seeds against some red hot wild card winners from the week before. This is the week people start to look for upsets. Which top seed will go down? Which wild card team will run the table? These questions and more will be asked in this weekend, as the NFL paints the pitcure for the final four. RAVENS (12-5) @ TITANS (13-3): Eight years ago the Ravens were in a very familiar position. After winning their wild card game against the Denver Broncos that year, the Ravens traveled to Tennessee to take on the defending AFC champion Titans. Everyone expected Tennessee to run all over the Ravens; instead, the lasting image from that divisional playoff game is Ray Lewis running back a Steve McNair interception for a touchdown as Baltimore romped Tennessee en route to their first ever Super Bowl title. This year, Baltimore is hoping for similar magic. The Ravens defense is as n asty as t...

2009 is now here and so is the NFL postseason. It doesn't matter how the 12 survivors for the run at the Lombardi Trophy got to this point, they are here. Unlike past years where the Patriots and Colts dominated the AFC, the conference is wide open in 2008-2009. The Patriots are not in the postseason, in their place is the suprising Miami Dolphins led by rookie coach Tony Sparano and Jets cast away Chad Pennington. Pennington was named Comeback Player of the Year and came in second in the MVP voting this year. He deserves it. After being kicked to the curb by the New York Jets, Pennington took a 1-15 Miami team and made them into division champs. The Colts are still in the postseason, but as a wild card. The Tennessee Titans have made it to the playoffs as AFC South champs with very little in the way of offense, and a punishing defense. Meanwhile, in the NFC, the defending champion New York Giants are still the best in the conference. They own 12 wins, and the number one seed. If t...