FanHouse BetweenTheLines

It's Super Bowl week, which means we get lots of stories about Kurt Warner's days as a grocery bagger and Santonio Holmes' days as a drug dealer.

There's a lot of reasons for those stories. It gives a human face to the game's stars, and it helps build interest in a game that will be watched by many people who watch only one football game a year.

But if you're a fan who has Football Outsiders bookmarked and see zone blitzes in your sleep, I'm right there with you. Here's your primer to FanHouse's analysis of Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII.

No greater authority than Mike Tomlin has admitted that the Steelers offensive line is the biggest question as the Steelers get ready for their seventh Super Bowl. Pittsburgh has an outstanding defense, a veteran quarterback and a solid group of receivers, but when it comes to the offensive line, the question is whether it could be one of the worst units to ever win Super Bowl rings.

Tomlin isn't going that far, but when asked about how the line has progressed this year, he didn't give them the standard coach-speak boilerplate about working hard and showing improvement every week:

"As far as I'm concerned, that's still the question as we sit here today," Tomlin answered.

After watching the Cardinals offensive line extensively during the season, I thought I had them figured out. Left tackle Mike Gandy was a solid, if unspectacular blocker. Guard Reggie Wells was very good, center Lyle Sendlein was a good tactician who could be overpowered, guard Deuce Lutui were solid enough and right tackle Levi Brown was a disaster. And that was when they were pass blocking, when it came to run blocking, they all struggled.

So what happens when the playoffs arrive? Gandy shut down John Abraham and dominated Julius Peppers. Brown has gone from slow-footed penalty magnet to a right tackle who eliminates his man, while the interior of the Cardinals line has been impenetrable. And in 95 pass attempts during the playoffs, Warner has only been sacked three times.

Every week during the season we focused on an aspect of line play with Between The Lines. So for the Super Bowl, we're focusing on all aspects of the battle of the line of scrimmage. Today, we look at the Steelers' defense.

There have been many times this postseason when Larry Fitzgerald, Kurt Warner and the Cardinals offense have looked unstoppable. On Sunday, we'll find out how true that is. There many matchups to watch, but it's safe to say that if the Cardinals can block the Steelers' pass rush, they likely will pull off the upset. If they can't, Pittsburgh will be bringing its sixth Super Bowl trophy back to the Steel City.

Warner has averaged 286 yards passing per game this season, but now he'll be facing a defense that has allowed more than 300 yards of total offense only twice in 18 games. Warner and an offense with three 1,000-yard receivers will be one of the Steelers' D's toughest tests, but this is not a defense that is untested.

Every week this season we've analyzed some aspect of line play for Between the Lines. So for the Super Bowl, we are analyzing all aspects of the battle at the line of scrimmage.

When you watch the Cardinals defense and try to discover tendencies, or pick out stars and weak spots, you can't help but get tripped up by one glaring problem -- if you go back and watch the Cardinals during the regular season, you feel like you're watching a different team than the one that cruised through the NFC playoffs.

Every week this season we've analyzed some aspect of line play for Between the Lines. So for the Super Bowl, we are analyzing all aspects of the battle at the line of scrimmage.

When you watch the Cardinals defense and try to discover tendencies, or pick out stars and weak spots, you can't help but get tripped up by one glaring problem -- if you go back and watch the Cardinals during the regular season, you feel like you're watching a different team than the one that cruised through the NFC playoffs.

In doing these Between The Lines posts, it's always interesting to see if mismatches jump out, or if there is a player that seems either underrated or overrated.

Normally it doesn't happen. The conventional wisdom on most teams is pretty accurate, and it's really hard to find a stud on the offensive or defensive line that hasn't been noticed at all. But as the Falcons get ready to play the Cardinals this weekend, there is a mismatch that jumps out from paying attention to the two team's lines: if the Falcons are wise with where they line up John Abraham, he could dominate this game.

There are a lot of factors to consider in Saturday's game: how will Matt Ryan react to his first playoff start, can the Cardinals slow down Michael Turner and is the Cardinals' triple-threat at receiver too much for the Falcons secondary, but as I see it, this game will first be decided by whether the Cardinals can block Abraham.

Every week we look at some aspect of line play around the league with our Between The Lines feature.

As the playoffs get closer and closer, the Panthers may supplant the Plaxico Burress-less Giants as the NFC's No. 1 seed. If they do, a lot of the credit will go to an offense that can run (with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart) and pass.

But an even bigger reason the Panthers are 6-1 over the past seven games is because they have finally gotten their starting offensive line playing together.

Early in the season, injuries wrecked the Panthers' line. First guard Travelle Wharton missed two games with a knee injury. Tackle Jordan Gross missed a game with a concussion. Then ankle injuries sidelined tackle Jeff Otah (four games) and center Ryan Kalil (four games). Because of all the injuries, right guard Keydrick Vincent is the only lineman to start all 14 games this season, and three different Panthers' substitutes have started a total of 11 games this year.

Every week we take a look at some aspect of line play around the league. Click the link for previous Between The Lines.

The last time the Cardinals won a division title, Jim Hart was throwing to Terry Metcalf and Mel Gray. In between there has been a franchise move, 30+ years of ineptness, one Jake Plummer-led playoff win and years of disappointments.

But here they are, having wrapped up a playoff spot with three weeks still to go in the season. It hasn't hurt that the Cardinals play in the NFC West, but Arizona has made some pretty clear steps forward, as they showed by beating Dallas and Miami earlier this season.

What impresses me is how the Cardinals went out and fixed the team's most glaring problem. Back in the Denny Green days, Arizona had a solid quarterback (Kurt Warner), a big money free agent tailback (Edgerrin James), two outstanding receivers (Anquan Boldon and Larry Fitzgerald), but they were hamstrung by an awful offensive line.

Every week we look at some aspect of line play. Click here to read past Between The Lines.

For the entire decade, there's been no question who is the best left tackle in the NFL. Just give the All-Pro award to Seattle's Walter Jones and move on.

Since 2001, Jones has headed to Hawaii at the end of the season as the NFC's Pro Bowl left tackle. He's been an All-Pro for six of the past seven years. If you're looking for the definition of a dominating left tackle, the standard for years has been Jones.

But if Jones doesn't make it back to Hawaii this year, he can blame Cowboys outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware for ruining his reputation. With a national TV audience on Thanksgiving Day, Ware beat Jones for a pair of sacks and an additional quarterback hurry. In addition to Ware's two sacks against Jones, he also recorded a tackle for a loss on a running play when Jones struggled to get any push on Ware. Greg Ellis got a quarterback hurry late in the game against Jones after Ware left the game with an injury. And Chris Canty beat Jones on a running play to make a tackle.