Having laid waste to the league’s upstart bad boys and a longtime rival respectively, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers are now set to compete for the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas on the NFL schedule. With two storied franchises slated to contend, legacy will be a proud topic as kickoff draws closer. The Steelers have won the most Super Bowls in league history with 6 while Green Bay is the all-time leader in original NFL championships with 9. Pittsburgh Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s second trip to the big game before turning 40 will be a living testament to Steelers’ owner Art Rooney’s successful campaign on behalf of African American coaching candidates, the Packers aim to win the trophy dubbed after their legendary coach and godfather; Lombardi, the league’s most revered name. So, with those classic logos and colors swirling amid the debauchery of the Dallas night, two players long departed from Starr and Bradshaw will compete for a place in history. Aaron Rodgers and Ben

Roethlisberger are the latest names in the hallowed records of their teams but their impact as players is unavoidable. Roethlisberger has staked his claim to becoming one of the best players, let alone Steelers, ever with his third trip to the Super Bowl, having won the previous two, while Rodgers is entering the prime of his career as one of the league’s premier quarterbacks and the torchbearer of this resurgent era for Green Bay. Both are supremely talented and iconic in their own way – dichotomous leaders of the NFL’s golden teams, battling for possession of the trophy.

Roethlisberger’s talents and accomplishments as a player are generally summed up by stating that he is the game’s premier “big game”, “crunch time” quarterback. With two league titles to his name, a 10-2 record in playoff games and too many improvisational late-game heroics to count, such an attribution would seem fitting. Big Ben will never be looked to as an example of pivoting perfection – he has never put up mind-bendingly efficient and grand statistics nor does he appear on the field like a football robot designed to execute each play without a flaw. It is Roethlisberger’s imperfections that have come to identify him. Things never appear easy for the quarterback – the score is tight, the pressure is heavy, he’s halfway to the ground, but Roethlisberger has a way of inevitably rising to the occasion and winning ugly. No quarterback in the league is better at converting a broken play into production other than perhaps Michael Vick. When it’s cold outside and the chips are down, Big Ben finds a way. The sealing play against New York in the AFC Championship is definitive of Roethlisberger’s style – as three Jets broke free to chase him, Roethlisberger rolled right, using his athleticism and size to ward off the defenders and complete a running throw to his receiver past the first down marker. Where other quarterbacks might have been sacked or forced into an incompletion, Big Ben coolly delivered victory. Roethlisberger’s 6’5 frame, mobility and arm strength are his tools for evading defeat but it is confident demeanor as a team leader which allows him to do it with such ease.

While Big Ben is the unlikely hero, a lucky leviathan who wears cold mud with pride, Aaron Rodgers is the pure bred pivot. Rodgers operates under center with a fluidity that comes from honed skills and dedicated preparation. The quarterback is seemingly adept in all phases of playing the position; he is sharp at recognizing defenses, expedient in his drop back and throwing motion and swift in adaptation should the initial plan be affected. Rodgers has the accuracy of a Soviet sniper at Stalingrad, a guiding hand that allows his quartet of speedy receivers the best possible positioning when the ball reaches their hands, and also possesses a great awareness of the chasers that surround him as he prepares to loft another perfect spiral. The combination of mindset, precision passing and elusiveness makes Rodgers a text book example of quarterbacking and his playoff numbers certainly back up that notion. In three games, Rodgers has completed %71 of his passes for six scores and nearly 800 yards. There is a sense that Rodgers’ streak of strong play might be all the Packers need to walk away with the trophy after New Orleans’ Drew Brees proved last year that a quarterback playing insanely well can carry a team to a championship. Rodgers seems to have completely mastered his offense and gained a firm understanding of the opposition’s methods for stopping it. With the quarterback operating at the level he is now, halting the Packers’ production might be impossible.

There is no “right” way to play quarterback though Rodgers and Roethlisberger make compelling arguments for their style with every game. Both pivots have led their teams to the upper echelon of the NFL standings, both put up impressive numbers and both are supported mightily by their squads. At this point Roethlisberger has two trophies in his favor but if the Packers win this year’s, Rodgers will be near equal based on the fact that this is his team, while Ben’s first championship came as a game-managing youth. Arguing the championship credentials of the quarterbacks gets at a larger point; that so many factors go into the successes and failures of a pivot. Beyond Rodgers’ laser tosses for 400 yards and Roethlisberger’s 4^th quarter scrambles are hard-working rosters, inspiring coaches, dedicated owners and deep, proud histories.

The Baltimore Ravens left Arrowhead Stadium victorious on Sunday but they seemed to be carrying a feeling of anticipation rather than satisfaction.Beating the Kansas City Chiefs, champions of the lowly AFC West division in the NFL standings, was simply a passage game to the Ravens’ real test; a battle royal with the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field this Saturday. Pittsburgh and Baltimore have been rumbling for the better part of the past decade, fighting for control of the AFC North during the regular season and routinely meeting in the harsh weather conditions of the playoffs. With the Steelers ahead by one win in the overall series since 2003, Baltimore will be playing for pride as much as passage to the next round.

What makes the Ravens-Steelers rivalry so compelling is the structural similarities between the two teams. Both squads’ strength lies in their defense and their ability to run the ball; smash mouth football, a philosophy that has long been Pittsburgh’s identity and which was carried over to Baltimore by former Steelers assistant coach Marvin Lewis, who was the defensive coordinator for the Ravens’ Super Bowl win in 2001 and defensive back Rod Woodson, who had been a Steeler for the bulk of his career before signing with the Ravens in 1998. With Lewis and Woodson long departed, Baltimore has maintained their position as the Steelers’ mirror image, though Pittsburgh has clearly had the upper hand over the past 10 years, winning 6 division titles and two Super Bowls. Both teams are led by fiery young coaches; Baltimore by John Harbaugh and Pittsburgh by Mike Tomlin, leaders who revel in their team’s physical style of play. The excitement of the clubs’ coaches was not the spark for the rivalry but rather the gas poured on top of an already raging blaze.

The defensive playmakers involved in this game are innumerable. Baltimore is led by their furious and vocal middle linebacker Ray Lewis, a force of nature on the field whose presence is felt by opposing players and fans alike. Behind Lewis in the secondary is safety Ed Reed, the NFL’s leader in interceptions since his entrance to the league in 2002. Reed is a spectacular playmaker as evidenced by his league-leading 8 interceptions this year despite missing the first six games of the season due to injury. The former Defensive Player of the Year will be playing with heavy thoughts on Saturday – Reed’s brother is missing after escaping from the Police in Louisiana. In addition to its leading University of Miami conglomerate, the Ravens also boast Terrelle Suggs and Haloti Ngata; two players who live in the opponent’s backfield. Suggs is an outside linebacker with an impressive motor, totaling 11 sacks this year as the Ravens’ top pass rusher, while Ngata is one of the NFL’s best space eaters – a massive lineman who routinely blows up offensive plays for a loss of yards. Pittsburgh matches the Ravens’ petrifying personnel with their own clan of headhunters, led by Samoan safety Troy Polamalu. Polamalu has become one of the league’s most recognizable players due to his long mane of unruly black hair, which falls out of the back of his helmet and flaps as he flies around the field. Beyond appearance, Polamalu has earned a reputation as maybe the NFL’s best player on the defensive side, constantly making crucial tackles and creating turnovers in crunch time for Pittsburgh. The safety is often the beneficiary of the pressure his front seven applies on the opposition. The Steelers’ 3-4 defense, crafted and directed by coordinator Dick LeBeau, is a unit that is feared league wide for its ability to halt the running game and crush quarterbacks. Doing the latter, mostly, for the Steelers is their pair of outside linebackers LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison. Woodley has demonstrated sharp instincts in his four years out of Michigan, even proving to be capable in pass coverage whole Harrison has used his intensely aggressive style of pursuit and punish to earn a Defensive Player of the Year award and several fines for dangerous hits.

Scores will be at a premium on Sunday with both teams aiming to control the clock and match the brutal cold with stingy defense. With two iron fists punching at one another’s knuckles, whichever team gets stronger play from the quarterback position will most likely win the game. The Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger has proven over the course of his career that he can put the offense on his shoulders and win big games while the Ravens’ Joe Flacco has yet to truly come into his own as a premier pivot. The two installments of this rivalry on the regular NFL schedule this year were decided by a combined six points with both teams winning on the other’s home field. Even without the constant hype and barbs traded by the organizations’ players and staff, this game should be anticipated because it is the definition of playoff football: cold, hard, angry war.

The AFC was as hard-hitting as we expected in this contest featuring the top two defenses in the NFL. Baltimore’s Joe Flacco finally showed his rookie inexperience, throwing three picks as the Pittsburgh Steelers advanced with a 23-14 victory, covering the 5.5-point NFL spread. Big plays also carried the Steelers to the Super Bowl, as Santonio Holmes caught a 65-yard touchdown pass, while Troy Polamalu’s 40-yard interception for a score late in the fourth quarter sealed the game for Pittsburgh.

Arizona overcame the NFL betting odds to beat Philadelphia 32-25 at home as 4-point underdogs, and the Cardinals are now headed to their first Super Bowl. The Arizona defense continued their improvement, forcing three turnovers from the Eagles, while Kurt Warner was amazing, going 21-of-28 for 279 yards and four touchdowns.

Super Bowl XLIII odds have come out, with the Steelers opening up as 7-point favorites to win their sixth Super Bowl, while Arizona are under no pressure at all as their fans are just ecstatic to be mentioned in the same sentence as “Super Bowl XLIII Betting“.

Although the Ravens vs Steelers matchup seems to be getting all of the attention, the game I’m excited about is the Eagles vs Cardinals matchup. It’s tough to beat a team twice in a year. See: the Ravens/Titans game last week, or the Chargers/Colts game the week before. So does that mean that the game-to-game adjustments benefit someone in this Eagles vs Cardinals matchup?

Nonetheless, let’s get to some picks:

Eagles vs Cardinals odds: Eagles -4

The Eagles vs Cardinals spread is a little strange for an NFC Conference Championship game: the road team is favored by more than a field goal. It’s pretty rare that at this point in the season we would see a road team favored by so much, but that’s the case since no one really believes in the Cardinals.

One thing to keep in mind for this Eagles vs Cardinals line, the Cards did get blown out in the previous meeting and the question is how will they adjust? The Eagles pass defense seems to be the kryptonite to the Cards passing game while the Cardinals welcoming pass defense figures to be a huge weakness against the Eagles pass-happy offense.

I’ll go with the experience in this matchup.

Eagles vs Cardinals pick: Eagles -4

Ravens vs Steelers odds: Steelers -5.5

I’ll keep it short and sweet in this contest. Bla, bla, bla…physical contest…bla, bla, bla…tight defensive tilt…bla, bla, bla…division rivalry.

Bottom: in the previous two Ravens vs Steelers matchup this season, neither contest was decided by more than this spread so I’ll take the points.

Ravens vs Steelers pick: Ravens +5.5

Ray Lewis has instilled the mantra of anybody, anytime and anywhere for the Baltimore Ravens but the one team they probably would have rather avoided was their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

Sportsbook odds have the Steelers favored by six points in the contest but you have to wonder how much the previous bye week will help the Steelers.

The two teams met up in Week 15 in which the Steelers won the game by controversial decision. But in winning the game, the Steelers ended up not only winning the division, but also securing a bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs against anyone in the AFC except for the Tennessee Titans.

In this Ravens vs Steelers matchup, you know it’s going to be another physical contest. If that’s the case, it’s hard not to side with the team that should be more fresh.

The Ravens have played football for 17 straight Northbet.com betting weeks, which will be taxing on the body. If you recall, the Ravens were supposed to have a Week 10 bye but it was bumped up to Week 2 because of Hurricane Ike in Houston, where the Ravens were supposed to play.

Online betting handicappers know that the Steelers are similarly a very smash mouth team but they had a second by week two weeks ago, and then faced the San Diego Chargers last week in a not-so-physical matchup.

On the flipside, the Ravens duked it out with the Tennessee Titans.

The Ravens vs Steelers matchup will be a blood and guts game but as the sportsbook odds indicate, with the Steelers holding an edge in home-field advantage and in freshness, it’s hard not to side with them. I expect them to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XLIII.