Nice game-day forecast for Cards: sunny, about 70
by Mark Faller on Jan. 26, 2009, under Sports
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner (right) follows center Lyle Sendlein on a quarterback sneak during practice Saturday in Tempe.
TAMPA – Here’s hoping the weather in Tampa Bay stays as chamber-of-commerce perfect for Super Bowl XLIII as it was Sunday.
That is not a given, based on previous Super Bowls played here. The past two – Giants-Bills in 1991 and Giants-Ravens in 2001 – saw weeks of weather in the 50s, cool breezes and dampness.
This week’s temps call for upper 70s into the middle of the week.
Isolated thunderstorms are supposed to cool things down Thursday and Friday, but it is supposed to be sunny again and pushing 70 by game day.
Now that sounds like an Arizona-friendly outlook.
Whipple weighs in
Mark Whipple has friends on both Super Bowl teams in Tampa.
He talks regularly with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He worked alongside the Cardinals’ Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm in Pittsburgh when the Steelers won the Super Bowl three years ago.
But don’t ask the former Phoenix Camelback High star quarterback to pick a winner.
“I don’t know,” Whipple said. “I keep going back and forth. It can go either way. I’d like to see a good game.”
Whipple got an up-close look at the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game when they beat Philadelphia 32-25. Whipple is an offensive assistant coach for the Eagles, who beat the Steelers 15-6 on Sept. 21.
Whipple said if the Cardinals play the way they did against the Eagles, “they’ll be tough to beat.”
“They played well against Carolina (the previous week), but I think they played a more complete game against us,” Whipple said. “Kurt (Warner) played really well. There’s great leadership there. They’ll have to run the ball a little bit, like they did against us.”
