The biggest and set to be the best

Below is my column for the Ireland's Saturday Night in advance of Super Bowl XL. Like any sensible pundit I'm not committing to print who I think will win, but here in the blogosphere I can offer up this view - Seahawks by 7....

SUPER BOWL XL kicks off in Sunday night in what is set to be a all-American feast of football and entertainment – and it could be one of the best finals the NFL has seen.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are aiming to be the first team to win a Super Bowl as a Wild Card play-off qualifier.

The Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren is aiming to be the first coach to win Super Bowl with different teams.

Add into that a stellar array of players, mini-stories, and emotion, the fact that the Rolling Stones are the half-time entertainment almost pales into insignificance.

It could be a story of running backs. The Seahawks Shaun Alexander has been
one of the best backs of the season, but few noticed him racking up the yards on the west coast.

Then there is Jerome ‘The Bus’ Bettis, coming back to where he played college football in what will be his last game. But it is Willie Parker who has been the unsung star of the Steeler’s rush attack.

Quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck of Seattle and Ben Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh are both stars with points to prove. Hasselbeck wants to show everyone that he is more than the man who was Brett Favre’s stunt double at Green Bay; while Roethlisberger aims to be one of the youngest ever to lift aloft the Vince Lombardi trophy.

But with all these offensive stars both teams field defences that are resolute and built upon having depth and, at times, unique schemes to stifle and frustrate.

The battle to win this Super Bowl in Detroit lies with the offensive lines. The line that protects their QB, opens the right lanes at the right time for the rush, and the line that concedes the fewest penalties will decide who lifts Super Bowl XL.

With Mike Holmgren a coach with his heart in offence, his line holding out will be the decisive factor, meaning the Seahawks should just about edge this game. But with such emotion and so many sub-plots it would be a brave pundit who would claim to forsee the result.

In the early hours of Sunday morning viewers in almost 250 countries will know which team can claim the Extra Large Super Bowl.