Arizona Cardinals at Pittsburgh Steelers named ‘must-see’ matchup for 2015

The annual release of the NFL schedule is becoming more and more like a holiday.

That holiday happens Tuesday this year, meaning that Monday has sort of a “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” feel to it.

We know who all the opponents are on the Arizona Cardinals’ 2015 schedule — Tuesday’s release will just fill in the blanks of when those games will happen.

NFL.com’s Elliott Harrison has already come up with his list of “must-see matchups” for 2015, and the Cardinals’ road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers made the countdown of the top 15.

Harrison has it as the fourth-most anticipated game of the season.

I freaking love this game. These are two clubs that, sans injuries, probably would’ve gone much further than they did in last season’s playoffs. If you dig historical symmetry, then you can see the appeal of this matchup between the participants in one of the best Super Bowls ever. After all, let us not forget who Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator was for Super Bowl XLIII: you guessed it, current Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians. That contest featured Arizona’s explosive offense, behind Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald, pushing the ball against Dick LeBeau’s famed zone-blitz defense. Today, the Steelers provide the offensive juggernaut, while the Cards are more known for their D. Curious to see if Pittsburgh receiver Antonio Brown will school Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson at Heinz.

This will be just the second Arizona visit to Pittsburgh since the franchise relocated to the Valley in 1988. The first game happened in November of 2003 — a 28-15 Steelers’ win.

Tommy Maddox threw three touchdown passes in that contest, during which Pittsburgh built a 28-3 lead before two late scoring throws by Cardinals QB Jeff Blake.

In fact, this will be only the eighth meeting between the two teams since 1988. The Steelers have won four of the prior seven, including a 27-23 win at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa in 2009.

The only three games that ranked higher on Harrison’s list were Dallas at Green Bay, Seattle at Green Bay and New England at Dallas.