Super Bowl Breakdown (from a Steeler's fan)

I thought my fellow cheese-heads might be interested in how one of my buddies, a die-hard Steeler fan, sees this match-up. I can't say I disagree much with his analysis except for the deeper spots on the Packers roster that I wouldn't expect him to know much about. Obviously the game will be decided by how these players match-up with their counterparts, but its a good starting point for conversation. Enjoy:

QB (Equal its about rings. When Aaron gets 2 then their equal stats dont mean anything. Pure talent wise Arod gets the nod but if it was all about talent and not teams and games and will other players would be in SB every year)

RB (Medenhall > Starks) I dont even see this as debatable. Granted yes starks has more yards then any RB in playoffs. He also didnt run agnst the ravens and jets.

WR (GB > PITT) Our WRs are good but their rookies except for ward and wallace. Wallace is prob one of the fastest wrs in the game a desean like player with less drama. GBs Wrs Jennings, Jones, Nelson, and Driver are probably the best core in FB.

TE (PITT > GB) H. Miller is masher pro bowl TE and he a great rb blocker.

K (GB > PITT) Mason Crosby is money.

Olines (GB > Pitt) W/ Pouncey its equal. It was just last year the GB had one of the worst lines in FB. Both QBS cover up crappy line play. Pitt one aganist Card with 32 ranked oline. That says a lot.

DEF:

Safety (Pomalu > whoever you have its about rings, exp, and what he brings he will be in the hall fame. Not even debatable.
Best of 2 safeties in the Game with Ed Reed.)
OLB 1 ( Harrison vs. Clay) Equivalent
OLB 2 (Woodley > GB) Probowls, Superbowls, and has most sacks this post season
NT (Hampton vs Raji) Raji is younger less proven ill say equal. Hamption is perenial probowler with Hlo Ngata of the ravens.
Coverage GB > PITT. Woodson, and that other new stud are great. Our weakness can be in the Pass D. Pomalu covers up for
a lot of our holes. McFadden aint hot, Gay is a great corner blitzer, Taylor is a very solid Corner.
DEs (PITT > GB) Kiesel, Hood

Favre

As the looming MNF showdown between the Packers and the Favre-led Vikings approaches, I'm having a hard time sorting out my feelings. The sadness is great within me. I rooted for the man every game since I was 12. And now I'm forced to cheer for his head to be served up on a platter. Its so wrong, I hardly have the words...

It doesn't get much worse for a football fan.

This is what football does to us...

Classic.

Brett, you're dead to me now.

I'm so disappointed, I can't find the words. This sums up my feelings as well as you can.

Sigh...

I hope he's happy, because we Packer fans lose regardless of how his time in purple turns out...

Mock This, Cont....

Uh.... not so much.

Mock This

OK. In honor of the NFL draft Saturday , I'm posting my Mock top-10. I'm not going to pretend any projections beyond that are worth anything, because they're not.

Feel free to mock my selections.

1. Detroit- M. Stafford (Full disclosure: they just signed him before I sat down to write this)
2. St. Louis- E. Monroe
3. Kansas City- A. Curry
4. Seattle- M. Sanchez
5. Cleveland- M. Crabtree
6. Cincinatti-J. Smith
7. Oakland- B. Raji
8. Jacksonville- J. Maclin
9. Green Bay- A. Smith (As a fan I'd like Orakpo here but Smith is a better pick under this scenario in my opinion. )
10. San Fran- B. Orakpo

If I get six right I'll be shocked.

Can you do better?

And the Football Fans Say....

Amen.

More games that count, perhaps as early as August 2011? That's exactly what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants.

There are several hurdles before the league can expand its regular season from 16 to 17 or 18 games. Among them is reaching a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union.

Still, Goodell hopes to present a proposal to the owners in May after the matter was discussed at length this week at the NFL Annual Meeting.

God bless 'im.

TO, looking for work, again...

I feel bad for Mr. Terrell Owens. The man is supremely talented and for that reason has been given multiple chances to reinvent himself. My theory is that he is an emotionally disturbed person with deep insecurity that is easily inflamed. I've seen a few news items on his upbringing and so on that make it a reasonable assumption. Once you get to the level he has gotten to, where people pay millions for your services and the media and your fans can't seem to get enough of you, it tends to stifle the environment needed for healing and emotional growth. So, we have a man-child. One that no one seems to be able to tolerate for very long. And it seems like his career may never recover:

A random survey of NFL teams Thursday, one day after the Cowboys released Terrell Owens, revealed next to no interest in the mercurial wide receiver. Ten receiver-needy teams were contacted, and these are the responses that filtered in throughout the day:

“Never,” from one team.

“T.O. leaves too much carnage wherever he plays,” from another.

And the most damning comment came from another receiver-needy team, in which one executive compared Owens to Barry Bonds and how people in this league “don’t want (jerks). He could wind up sitting out the same way Barry did.”

Forget about a big-money deal. It appears Owens will be fortunate to simply get a deal.

Now Dallas is willing to have $9.675 million count against its salary cap for Owens not to be there. That is as damning as any words any executive issued Thursday.

Ouch.

Good luck, TO.

The Zebras Have Feelings Too...

Sometimes they get it right.

From Peter King:

I think the nicest story I've heard in the wake of the Super Bowl came in the officials' locker room after the game. Vice president of officiating Mike Pereira entered the locker room to find field judge Greg Gautreaux crying, and they were tears of joy and relief. Seems that Gautreaux, the man who made the immediate and correct call on the touchdown catch by Santonio Holmes by seeing Holmes get both feet down in fair territory while possessing the ball as his body hit the ground, was petrified that the biggest call of his life, a call he had to make in a millisecond, might be wrong. But it wasn't. It was perfectly correct. "That's a call that will define your career,'' Pereira told Gautreaux.

Favre

(Brett Favre and his wife after what I consider to be his best game ever, December 22 2003, on Monday Night Football, the day after losing his father.)

Brett Favre retired again this last week, and I believe its the end this time. I've been a Favre fan as long as I've liked football. I've never seen a season he wasn't a part of and until this year, I had never seen a Packer game he didn't play in. I have always been a Packer fan, but Brett had always been there. I wasn't sure if my love for the team would wain in his absence. It didn't, but I expected less of them.

His retirement is bitter-sweet for me. Its an end of a great era in pro-football. As a Packer fan I don't think I'll ever see a greater Packer player. So for that, I'm sad. I am also happy because I didn't want to see him continue to get old and abused physically and in the press.

I though i should write something in memoriam of his great career, but I don't think I have the words. His play spoke for itself. He wasn't flawless, but his flaws seemed to endear you to him more. He won more than any other QB ever, but his losses seem to tell you more about him. I hope we treasured our time as fans of his. I did.

Happy trails to the GOAT...

Correction

Ok, so I was wrong about them winning. But if you watched that game, you saw why I picked them to win. They have a lot more heart and talent than the world-at-large is aware of. My heart broke for them. They played a flawless game except for the last play of the first half which cost them 10 points (at best) and the title. As a football fan though, I was very entertained. I hope the Big Game can be that good every year.

I have no love for the Steelers. They get enough love from everyone else, they don't need me....

Super Bowl Champ?

You heard it here first! In these playoffs I am 7-3 picking games. I'm good at it.

If you would have told me a month ago I'd be making this pick, I would have laughed at you. But I know inspired ball when I see it, and Arizona is playing inspired ball.

2008 Super Bowl Champion Arizona Cardinals.

What a wonderful game....

NFL Stories, Ctd.

There are fans, and then there is this guy. I stand in awe of his devotion and his hutspah...

NFL Stories

The NFL has a great ad campaign called Super ad. I have collected a few for your enjoyment:

My Favorite: Tony Gonzalez. Best prank ever.

Close Second:
Jake Delhomme. Cool breeze...

Tony Wragge, from Home Depot to the NFL.

The Catch

In my football-watching career I've seen a lot of great catches, but this may top them all.

Pro Bowl

The Pro Bowl is being moved:

Look for this to be the last year the Pro Bowl is played the week after the
Super Bowl. As I reported on NBC last night, the league likely will announce in
the next few weeks the moving of the game to the weekend before the Super Bowl
-- either on Saturday night, Sunday, or Monday night, depending on network
preference -- as part of the pre-Super Bowl buildup. In addition, I look for the
league to play more than half of future Pro Bowls on the mainland instead of
Honolulu, mostly at the same site of the Super Bowl to maximize attention and
focus on an all-star game that has become totally irrelevant. Next season the
Super Bowl is in Miami. I expect the rotation to begin then, with the Pro Bowl
quite possibly at Dolphins Stadium either eight, seven or six days before the
Super Bowl.

I am, for the most part, in favor of this idea. the NFL is the
greatest of american professional sports and yet its all-star game has
consistently been the worst. something needed to change, hopefully this will
give the game more juice. my only problem is that if it is before the super
bowl, then the players of the two participating teams won't play in the pro bowl
since they'll have a big game to prepare for. you might say " well, playing in
the super bowl is a good enough prize" and you'd be right. but there are two
problems with that: 1) a good portion of the players in the pro bowl are likely
to come from those two teams since they are the best. the game will be robbed of
some of its star power. and 2) its a big deal for the players to get to play in
it. its a bonus for all the hard work they put in. some even have contract
bonuses built in if they make the team.

i hope they find ways to get around the problems....