Heath Evans doesn’t get it either. Like most New England football fans, the Patriots fullback shakes his head when he looks up and sees the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl. Is this really the same team that lost 47-7 to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium a month ago?

“I’m not quite sure how they’re doing it,” Evans said when asked about the Cardinals, one of the unlikeliest teams ever to reach the Super Bowl. “One school of thought says that they shut it down when they faced us because they already knew they were going to the playoffs. The other is that they met a team that was ready to play. They were definitely outcoached that afternoon, which can happen to any coaching staff. We just had their number that day.”

But since that afternoon, the Cardinals have had the number of every opponent they’ve come across. They’ve won their last four since their blowout loss to the Patriots — including a 32-25 win over the heavily-favored Eagles in the NFC Championship — and as a result, they’ll meet the Steelers Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa.

“They’ve shown a lot of resilience,” Evans said of the Cardinals. “They can score a lot of points against a tough defense. The Eagles are probably the toughest team to prepare for, with all the blitzes and schemes they can show on defense. But the Cardinals have shown me a lot. If I were a betting man, I would have bet against them after the first week of the playoffs.

“But now, I’m scared to tell anyone to put their money against them.”

The Patriots are just one of five teams — a group that includes Washington, Dallas, the New York Giants and Philadelphia — that played both Arizona and Pittsburgh this season. New England finished 1-1 against the conference champions. They had no problem with the Cardinals, delivering a 47-7 beat down at Gillette on Dec. 21. Back on Nov. 30 at Gillette, New England had one good half against the Steelers, going into the locker room tied at 10. The second half was a far different story, as Pittsburgh outscored the Patriots 23-0 down the stretch, thanks in large part to five second-half takeaways.

“In 2007, they had a strong defense, but we were playing at such a high level most weeks, it didn’t matter who we were playing,” Evans said when asked about the Steelers. “This year, we turned the ball over too much to do anything against them. You always have the typical excuses for when you lose a game, but they were the ones who were causing the turnovers.

“There’s a blessing and a curse when you face the Steelers — on 1st and 2nd down, you know where they’re going to line up. You just have to try and smack them in the mouth and try and stop them. Most of the time, they just out-physical their opponent. That’s certainly what they did to us.”

The New England fullback says that while the usual suspects will play large roles in the outcome of Sunday’s contest, the game will likely hinge on the ability of a few key players to come up big on the game’s biggest stage. On Pittsburgh’s side of the ball, Evans says the play of inside linebackers James Farrior and Larry Foote, as well as nose tackle Casey Hampton, will be key. Arizona’s recent ability to run the ball has opened up its passing game — after a subpar regular-season where he had just 514 rushing yards, Edgerrin James has a league-high 203 ground yards in the postseason.

But if Farrior, Foote and Hampton can successfully clog up the middle, it could be a difficult afternoon for the Cardinals’ offense.

“The way I’ve been coached, I believe that if you can make a team one dimensional, you’ve got a great chance at winning,” Evans said of the Pittsburgh defense, which allowed just 80.3 rushing yards per game, the second-best total in the league. “And so Casey Hampton, Farrior and Foote, if they can play a stellar game and shut down the run, I think Pittsburgh can force you into a lot of mistakes, because their defensive backfield is very good. When they start getting pressure off the edge, you are in trouble.”

On the other side of things, Evans said the Arizona defense will go as far as safety Adrian Wilson can take them. The two-time Pro Bowler, who had a pair of sacks in the NFC Championship win over Philadelphia, is the key to the Cardinals’ defensive success.

“He probably doesn’t get the publicity that he should because of the East Coast bias, but Adrian Wilson definitely deserves it,” Evans said. “He’s not a household name like Troy Polamalu or Rodney Harrison or Ed Reed, but in the blitz game and the run game, he can make a difference, down in and down out. It will be key for Arizona to get pressure, and he will be the guy.”

In the end, Evans — a self-described “AFC diehard” — was impressed enough by Arizona’s performance against Philadelphia to say that the Cardinals have enough to pull the upset Sunday in Tampa.

“That Philly defense has frustrated me more often than not, and to see the Arizona be able to see them handle the schemes and blitzes, that was impressive. I really doubted they would do that,” Evans said. “It always goes back to … you have a hard time believing that they are in the Super Bowl, but they are, and they earned the right. If I was a betting man, I would go with Arizona.”