AMERICAN FOOTBALL: THE PITTSBURGH Steelers will face the surprising Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl after they claimed their respective conference crowns on Sunday.
The Steelers saw off the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 in Pittsburgh, while the Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 on their home field in Glendale.
Pittsburgh turned to their trademark defence to win as safety Troy Polamalu returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown late in the game to seal the victory.
Polamalu flew around the field making crunching stops, leapt over the line to squelch Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco’s fourth-and-one sneak and scored the final touchdown with that 40-yard interception return, his dreadlocks whipping the air.
“I was just running for my life,” Polamalu told reporters.
Ben Roethlisberger threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes and Jeff Reed kicked three field goals to send Pittsburgh to their seventh Super Bowl.
Roethlisberger finished 16-of- 133 for 255 yards and a touchdown for the Steelers.
A violent hit by safety Ryan Clark on Ravens running back Willis McGahee late in the fourth quarter brought the game to a sombre close.
McGahee, who scored both Baltimore touchdowns on short runs, was flattened by a high-speed, helmet-to-helmet collision that snapped his head back.
A cart and stretcher took McGahee away, but officials later said the player had significant neck pain, but was able to move his limbs.
Arizona completed one of the more improbable runs in NFL history with victory over Philadelphia.
Veteran quarterback Kurt Warner threw four touchdown passes as Arizona claimed their first league title since beating these same Eagles in 1947, ending the second-longest drought in North American sports history to advance to their first Super Bowl.
Warner’s fourth scoring pass of the day, an eight-yard toss to rookie running back Tim Hightower, proved the winner for Arizona, who squandered an 18-point half-time lead before rallying.
Warner finished 21-of-28 for 279 yards and zero interceptions to earn a trip to his third Super Bowl – and first since the 2001 season with the St Louis Rams.
