Decent Day

48 hours removed from Super Bowl XLIII The Sports Verdict finds a decent day of predictions...

Got the winner, but missed on the spread. Not being on the right side of the point spread means basically a loser (my Sportsbook.com online account is evidence), however...

I was remarkably prophetic on a few things...

1. Predicted the half time score at 17-10 Pitt- ended up being 17-7 Pitt.

2. Called for at least one big play from WR Santonio Holmes, he not only caught the winning TD pass, he was named the MVP

3. Accurately said Big Ben would use his feet to escape the rush, he did several times, including the 1st and 20 play on the decisive drive

4. Not going to claim to be a genius for saying the Cards running game would be shut down, but I said under 60 yards and they finished with 33.

5. Predicted a long touchdown catch by Fitzgerald, thought it would come earlier in the game than it did.

Where I missed badly was in the second half, I wrote before the game and wagered at halftime that Pittsburgh would pull away. Pittsburgh's opening third quarter possession was a thing of beauty until it sputtered inside the Cards 5.
Pitt's next 3 drives earned zero first downs and netted -2 yards. Not going to pull away playing that kind of offense.

In total, the fourth quarter was perhaps the best Super Bowl fourth quarter ever. Even better than last year.

I thought the first three quarters, save for James Harrison's INT return, were only moderately interesting.

The Boss, as always, was the real McCoy.

Quick picks for next year...

Arizona fails to make the playoffs... almost all Super Bowl losing teams do not rebound with successful seasons. The weak NFC West may be their savior.

Pittsburgh returns to playoffs but loses before the Super Bowl. The Steelers are a very good team but only GREAT ones repeat. This Pittsburgh crew is not great.