Inside NFL Matchup

TAMPA, Fla. -- The best Super Bowl pregame show on TV comes on at the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM ET on Super Bowl Sunday, but it's worth getting up early (or setting the DVR) to see ESPN's NFL Matchup, the show that goes beyond highlights and analyzes the game with the same tape that coaches use. Today I watched the taping of the Matchup show that will air Sunday, and it was an Xs and Os education.

Matchup analysts Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge are known for their long hours of film study, and they both came away from watching Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner saying the key to Arizona's ability to move the ball will be how he deals with the Pittsburgh blitz.

"He's excellent at it," Hoge said of Warner's blitz recognition. "That's what the Steelers are most concerned about.

Jaworski spent a day at the NFL Films headquarters with his old Eagles coach Dick Vermeil, who coached Warner in St. Louis. Jaws said the Steelers will have to do a better job of getting to Warner than the Eagles did in the NFC Championship game.

"You can blitz Kurt Warner, but you better be very careful," Jaworski said.

Jaworski said Warner's greatest challenge on Sunday will be to take the strength of safety Troy Polamalu at moving around the field and turn it into a weakness by making Polamalu go where the Cardinals want him to be. Hoge said Polamalu has the best range of any safety he's ever seen.

Jaworski said a big part of the way the Cardinals will attack the Steelers' secondary is by moving Larry Fitzgerald around, and particularly by hitting him on screen passes. Jaworski pointed out that Fitzgerald had 10 catches for 120 yards when the Cardinals played the Steelers in 2007. Matchup host Sal Paolantonio added that the Steelers will have no answer for Fitzgerald's ability to out-leap defensive backs and pluck the ball out of the air.

When the Steelers have the ball, Hoge said they'll have to account for safety Adrian Wilson, who frequently lines up as an eighth man in the box to stop the run. One tape breakdown analyzed the way the Steelers might use Willie Parker against the Cardinals' eight-man fronts.

Hoge added that the Steelers should try to target Cardinals safety Antrel Rolle, noting that he has a tendency to jump routes and try to make plays. Hoge thinks the Steelers should try to exploit that aggressiveness.

After the taping (which ended with both analysts picking the Steelers to win), I asked Hoge and Jaworski to name an overlooked player they thought could have a big impact on Sunday. Hoge named Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel, who is a versatile enough player that he can stand up as a linebacker as well as play in the interior of the line.

Jaworski named Steelers tight end Heath Miller, saying he could be a huge target for Ben Roethlisberger in the red zone. Jaworski thinks that Wilson has become a player similar to Cowboys safety Roy Williams, in that he's still good against the run but struggles in coverage, and he thinks if the Steelers can isolate Miller on Wilson in man coverage, that's a matchup the Steelers will love.

Those are the kinds of nuggets you get on Matchup, a show, I like everything about except the time it airs. Next season, let's hope the ESPN programming department puts it on at an hour when people will watch.