As you, very accurately, noted, AZ’s passing attack doesn’t mean much if Warner is eating turf.  We know this; they know this, too.  In fact, Warner has recently stated that he welcomes the blitz b/c he knows he’ll have an open receiver down field.  That assumes, of course, that one of our DBs is coming up through the middle or off the edge.  However, Warner has had a number of missteps in recent weeks, nearly falling to the turf of his own accord.

And we have a very good Nose Tackle.

It’s my opinion that, defensively, this game may very well hinge on the kind of pressure we can get up the middle, regardless of our blitz packages.  Now I’m very aware that AZ has, no doubt, dedicated some practice time to sorting out the difficulties between their line and their QB and they may have things fixed.  I’m also aware that we’ve seen Casey Hampton create some chaos w/O-lines that haven’t had this issue to worry about.  Couple that w/our Ds overall speed, and I think that we might have a defensive opportunity.

So, I expect to see a lot of emphasis on collapsing the center of AZ’s line and shoving it back into Warner’s lap.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see a fairly high percentage of blitzes coming right up the middle as well.  As far as I can see, that’s pretty much the way to stop Warner.

On a somewhat different note, let us all pray that none of the players taking the field is seriously injured today, regardless of the colors he wears.  I may not have a lot of time for a certain mayor and team mascot, but I bear no ill will to any of the Cardinals’ players and certainly don’t want to see any of them carted off.  I have always believed that one of the hallmarks of greatness is to be gracious in victory, defeat or in the heat of battle.  If Steeler Nation expects to have greatness in our team, we’d damn well better have some in ourselves.

Here we go, Steelers, HERE WE GO!!