Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Former Steeler Whisenhunt Has Advantage

One under reported storyline from this year's Super Bowl has to be Arizona coach, Ken Whisenhunt's connection to the Steelers. We all know what happened the last time a coach faced his former team in the Super Bowl; John Gruden's Buccaneers buried the Raiders 48-21. Understand, Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau are not as dumb as Bill Callahan was. LeBeau is constantly changing and tweaking his schemes whereas Callahan was using Gruden's playbook.

LeBeau certainly has some insight into Whisenhunt's tendencies from when they were together in Pittsburgh from 2004-2006. But I think that Whisenhunt has the advantage because not only does he know the Steeler defense intimately, but the Steelers also have much of the same personell from the 2005 Super Bowl team. Whisenhunt has a familiarity with the Steelers players that the Steelers don't have with the Cardinals. It will be an interesting chess match.

If I may bitch for a moment... I am tired of hearing radio squawkers and the like complaining that this Super Bowl has no sizzle. Do you really want Dallas, New York, and New England there every freakin' season? The teams that get to the big game are the best (flaws in the system aside for now). And if it's storylines you want, I've just given you one. Not to mention Kurt Warner's resurrection, Larry Fitzgerald's coming out party, and the Steelers working on a mini-dynasty of two championships in four seasons. Why does it have to be the big markets all the time? Really it's all about winning and have marquee players. Would anyone care about the Colt's if Peyton Manning wasn't the QB. Indy is definitely one of your smaller media markets. Other examples include Adrian Peterson in Minnesota or LT is San Diego. It's about winning and stars, not the size of the market.

No comments: