Keith Fredrick 8/13
Keith Fredrick
CARDINALS vs. STEELERS
PICK: ARIZONA +3
This is, of course, a Super Bowl rematch, and will be the sixth such opening week preseason rematch of this decade. Interestingly, of the previous five, four of them came after very competitive Super Bowls, and in those four cases the team that lost the Super Bowl is 3-1 SU in the first preseason game. Those teams are 1-1-2 ATS, but all were chalk, and of course the Cardinals are dogs here, so the 3-1 is the more meaningful number. That NFL mini-system aside, Cards have other things going for them as well, most notably an honest to goodness battle for the #2 QB job between Brian St Pierre and Matt Leinart. Both will play a lot, and both know they need to do well. On the other hand the Steelers QB rotation consists of Dennis Dixon and Mike Reilly after Big Ben and Charlie Batch, and much prefer Leinart and St Pierre. One more personnel note is that the Cards will have a decidedly Pittsburgh flair late in the game with Tyler Palko (QB) and Rowland-Smith (RB) playing back on their home stomping grounds. Finally a word about the coaches, and as such it is notable that Tomlin has "led" him team to a 2-0 record in preseason openers he really had no choice to win those two games, as Sean Payton came right and said prior to the 2007 opener that he did not care about winning, and last year Tomlin beat Andy Reid, one of the worst Week One coaches in the NFL, and even then the Eagles had a 19-9 FD edge. Just not convinced Tomlin cares, but Whisenhunt will - especially back in Pittsburgh - and the Cards did win both preseason road games last year. Take the points in this one.
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