NFL Season 2010

[Danimal]

Never thought I would be happy about a Packer victory.

There is justice in the universe.

[Lancer]

I guess that Brett Favre decision worked out LOL

[pk500]

I thought that montage in the 2nd qtr about Big Ben's issues was pretty classless by FOX and the NFL. Why did they have to show that in the Super Bowl?? Lot of people watch the SB who normally don't watch football. I can see them all googling to get more info. Why keep trashing the guy.

Because it's part of the story and because, as you stated, there are millions of Americans for whom this is the only NFL game they watch all year.

It's called context. Kudos to FOX for airing that. ESPN never would have done that, as it's in the athlete deification business.

[XXXIV]

ESPN never would have done that, as it's in the athlete deification business.

Why ya have to go ruining the fun mentioning those pigs?

ESPN = human s*** for gutless pigs.

[pk500]

Turnovers and a shoddy secondary killed the Steelers. I'm ambivalent about both teams, but deep down I'm somewhat pleased the Packers won for the same reason to which Danimal hinted.

[Brando70]

Hate to see the Cheeseheads win a title, but they played a very good game and gave us an entertaining Super Bowl. Rodgers was terrific and their defense did a nice job forcing those turnovers.

[pk500]

ESPN never would have done that, as it's in the athlete deification business.

Why ya have to go ruining the fun mentioning those pigs?

ESPN = human s*** for gutless pigs.

You know why ESPN is happy the Packers won tonight's game? SportsCenter and NFL Live anchors can mention their two favorite words in the universe when talking about Rodgers' great job exorcising the ghost of a certain former Packer.

BRETT. FAVRE.

According to ESPN, Aaron Rodgers won't be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. He'll be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback who replaced BRETT FAVRE. He'll be the quarterback who has as many Super Bowl rings as BRETT FAVRE.

[Lancer]

Well Fox just s*** on Farve, that was nice to see.

Reminded us Rodgers has 1 SB MVP, Brett doesn't

[10spro]

Houray! I am turning my French Chardonnay into Champagne and cashing in. One of the better SB in the last few years.

Despite being the MVP, I don't think A. Rodgers had his best game on in comparison to his last 3-4 performances but he connected enough passes at the right time to win the big prize. There were a lot of dropped passes from the WR's but he also threw a few passes that were late and inaccurate.

PIT despite the turnovers hanged in until the very end and that's a testament of a very good team. Until the last INT, no one could say that GB had the game under wraps.There was mutual respect among both teams and none of the trash talking garbage.

Congrats to M. McCarthy and his staff, they overcame a lot of adversity this season, they lost Woodson early in the game but everyone pulled hard for this win.

I enjoyed the game a lot.

[XXXIV]

I enjoyed the game a lot.

BINGO!

Not close to the best game ever but kept me entertained from start to finish.

[Zeppo]

Despite being the MVP, I don't think A. Rodgers had his best game on in comparison to his last 3-4 performances but he connected enough passes at the right time to win the big prize. There were a lot of dropped passes from the WR's but he also threw a few passes that were late and inaccurate.

I could not disagree more. He made great throws the entire ball game and only made maybe one poor decision with the football, if that. After that one badly inaccurate throw in the third quarter that was high and behind, he was absolutely brilliant throwing the football. Down the stretch he was throwing perfect darts. With Driver out, with the drops, none of that mattered; he was great and deserved the car. At least that's the was i saw it through the cloudy lens of beer and wiskey and tasty jambalaya!

[vader29]

Although I am sad, overall it was a good game. Congrats to the Packers.

[Leebo33]

Congrats Packers fans, you deserved it. I'm surprisingly not pissed, at least the Steelers had a final shot at winning, which is more than they deserved.

Yeah. I'm not that upset. Packers have the best fans in the NFC and they'll enjoy it. The Steelers had no business making it this far with an offensive line of backups and having to use 4 QBs. Great job by Tomlin.

[10spro]

Despite being the MVP, I don't think A. Rodgers had his best game on in comparison to his last 3-4 performances but he connected enough passes at the right time to win the big prize. There were a lot of dropped passes from the WR's but he also threw a few passes that were late and inaccurate.

I could not disagree more. He made great throws the entire ball game and only made maybe one poor decision with the football, if that. After that one badly inaccurate throw in the third quarter that was high and behind, he was absolutely brilliant throwing the football. Down the stretch he was throwing perfect darts. With Driver out, with the drops, none of that mattered; he was great and deserved the car. At least that's the was i saw it through the cloudy lens of beer and wiskey and tasty jambalaya!

Unless the bubbles are blurring my vision, no one is saying that he's not deserving of the MVP award. But going back to the games in PHI, ATL and the first half in CHI his performance was absolutely outstanding not to mention the last couple of games that got GB into the playoffs race. He was very good tonight but was even better in some of the games that I mentioned which shows what a fine QB he's turning out to be. But at the same time, I think Jordy Nelson despite the drops, deserves some recognition as he made some big plays and helped his team to moved up the chains.

[toonarmy]

National Anthem = F (Pay someone 6 figures, should at least get the lyrics right)
Pregame/intros = C (blah, so-so)
Commercials = D (Only a few were memorable at all)
Halftime show = C- (Usher needed to move his mouth more to make the lip-synching more convincing; BEP were flat)
Attendance record = F- (turning away ticket-holding fans because seats are not ready? really?; glad Jackass Jones did not see his stadium set the record)
Game = A (entertaining stuff as far as Superbowls go; I don't dislike either team, so I was watching just to enjoy)

Overall grade = B+ (Game itself carries far more weight than the other categories)


How Tomlin got so overlooked for Coach of the Year with all of the issues he had to deal with this year is beyond me. The man can flat-out coach and get players to respond. Both coaches tonight, in fact, did a great job this year and deserved to end up in the final game.

[Teal]

Yep, Omar Epps-er, I mean, Tomlin deserves alot of credit. Did a heckuva job.

I don't watch very much pro ball, but I always tune in to the Super Bowl, and this one didn't disappoint. Of course, a stomach full of gumbo, local microbrew, and a couple of Mike's Hard didn't hurt, either...

[Brando70]

Despite being the MVP, I don't think A. Rodgers had his best game on in comparison to his last 3-4 performances but he connected enough passes at the right time to win the big prize. There were a lot of dropped passes from the WR's but he also threw a few passes that were late and inaccurate.

I could not disagree more. He made great throws the entire ball game and only made maybe one poor decision with the football, if that. After that one badly inaccurate throw in the third quarter that was high and behind, he was absolutely brilliant throwing the football. Down the stretch he was throwing perfect darts. With Driver out, with the drops, none of that mattered; he was great and deserved the car. At least that's the was i saw it through the cloudy lens of beer and wiskey and tasty jambalaya!

I agree, Zeppo. If his receivers had held onto the ball he would have pushed 400 yards. He looked much sharper than he did against the Bears, where he was pretty average after the opening drive. There was no player that meant more to either team tonight.

[Jackdog]

Sorry db. This is for the guy that talked the most s*** all week yet was missing in action last night.

Packers win Super Bowl, beat Steelers 31-25

ARLINGTON, Texas – Aaron Rodgers at long last casts his own shadow.
All it took was a Super Bowl victory for the Green Bay Packers.
Capping one of the greatest postseasons for any quarterback, Rodgers led the Pack to their first NFL championship in 14 years Sunday, 31-25 over the Pittsburgh Steelers. They reclaimed the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for their legendary coach who won the first two Super Bowls and is making his own star turn in New York in the play named after him.
Rodgers, the game's MVP, thrilled his legion of Cheesehead fans with a spectacular six-game string that should finally erase the bitterness of the Brett Favre separation in Green Bay. After sitting for three long years before Favre left in 2008, Rodgers is now equal with Favre in Super Bowl wins, and he extended the Packers' record of NFL titles to 13, nine before the Super Bowl era.
"You can stop it now," veteran receiver Donald Driver said. "Aaron's proved that he's one of the best, if not the best, quarterback in this game today."
You could say it means this: Forget Lombardi on Broadway, Green Bay has the newest Super Bowl hit.
The favored Packers managed to overcome key injuries, building a 21-3 lead, then hung on to become only the second No. 6 seed to win the championship. Coincidentally, the 2005 Steelers were the other.
"Wow! It's a great day to be great, baby," said Greg Jennings, who caught two of Rodgers' three touchdown passes.
Rodgers threw for 304 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown to Jordy Nelson, who had nine catches for 140 yards to make up for three big drops. Rodgers found Jennings, normally his favorite target, for 21- and 8-yard scores.
"We've been a team that's overcome adversity all year," Jennings said, who noted injuries to Charles Woodson and Driver. "Our head captain goes down, emotional in the locker room. Our No. 1 receiver goes down, more emotions are going, flying in the locker room. But we find a way to bottle it up and exert it all out here on the field."
Woodson was in so much pain from a broken left collarbone that he could barely address the team at halftime in the locker room.
Few teams have been as resourceful as these Packers, who couldn't wait to touch the trophy honoring their greatest coach — and their title. Several of them kissed it as Cowboys great Roger Staubach, walked through a line of green and gold, and up to the massive stage on the 50-yard line with the silver prize that is headed back to the NFL's smallest city.
"That is where it belongs," linebacker A.J. Hawk said. "As long as the Packers have lived, it's going to be great to bring that back."
Rodgers took the Packers to two late-season victories just to make the playoffs as a wild card. Then he guided them to wins at Philadelphia, Atlanta and archrival Chicago before his biggest achievement — against a Pittsburgh team ranked second in defense.
They barely survived a sensational rally by the Steelers, who still own the most Super Bowl rings — six in eight tries. But Pittsburgh failed to get its third championship in six years, despite several valiant efforts by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger's season began with a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. It ended with Roethlisberger standing on the sideline, his head down, hands on his hips, feeling something he never experienced: defeat in a Super Bowl.
"I feel like I let the city of Pittsburgh down, the fans, my coaches and my teammates and it's not a good feeling," said Roethlisberger, who later buried his head in a towel and wept.
Not even a decidedly black-and-gold crowd, with Terrible Towels swirling throughout the $1.2 billion stadium, could make a difference for the mistake-prone Steelers, who had three turnovers to none for Green Bay. Their two biggest defensive stars — Defensive Player of the Year safety Troy Polamalu and outside linebacker James Harrison — were virtually invisible. The offense didn't seem to miss outstanding rookie center Maurkice Pouncey, who was out with an ankle injury, but Roethlisberger only occasionally made key plays until the second half.
The biggest plays were left to Rodgers, Nick Collins with a 37-yard interception return for a TD, Jennings, Nelson, and the rest of the guys in green and gold. In the end, they gave coach Mike McCarthy his first Super Bowl victory against the team he rooted for while growing up in Pittsburgh. Besides Lombardi, Mike Holmgren won a title in 1997 with Favre.
McCarthy was so certain of victory he fitted the players for championship rings on Saturday night — a move sure to go down in Super Bowl lore.
"That was just a vote of confidence for us," Woodson said. "Get fitted for your ring. I don't know when we'll get them, but it'll fit."
Woodson saw the Steelers, who rallied from a 21-7 halftime hole against Baltimore three weeks ago, show the same resilience. A 37-yard catch and run by Antwaan Randle El — an almost forgotten figure during his return season with just 22 receptions — sparked a quick 77-yard drive. Hines Ward, the 2006 Super Bowl MVP, had 39 yards on three catches during the series, including an 8-yard TD when he completely fooled Jarrett Bush.
A quick defensive stop and a 50-yard drive to Rashard Mendenhall's 8-yard touchdown run made it 21-17. But with coach Mike Tomlin's team driving for perhaps its first lead of the game, Mendenhall was stripped at the Green Bay 33 by Clay Matthews — one of the few plays the All-Pro linebacker made. The Packers recovered, and Rodgers hit Jennings for 8 yards and the winning points.
Pittsburgh's last score was on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace and a brilliant pitchout by Roethlisberger to Randle El for a 2-point conversion, making it 28-25 with 7:34 left.
Mason Crosby added a 23-yard field goal for the Packers and the Steelers had no more comebacks in them like the one Roethlisberger staged to win the Super Bowl two years ago. He missed on his last three passes in the final moments.
"You play to be world champions," Matthews said, "and that's what we are today."
The game capped an interesting weather week in Dallas for the teams and fans alike.
Snow and ice caused traffic snarls, canceled flights and caused injuries to six people when it fell from the roof of the stadium. Sunny skies and milder temperatures returned Sunday, but issues arose with seats at the game.
A total of 1,250 temporary seats were considered unsafe hours before kickoff. Even while the teams were warming up on the field, workers were trying to fix the problems — many involving seats carrying pricetags of $800 and up.
About 400 people with tickets couldn't be seated inside the stadium and the league offered refunds of triple the ticket price.
At least the Packers and Steelers put on a terrific show after Christina Aguilera botched the lyrics to the national anthem.
Rodgers hit Nelson in stride with a long pass on Green Bay's first series, but the wideout let it slide through his hands. The Pack had discovered something, though, and went back to that play for the first touchdown. Nelson beat William Gay and held on for a 7-0 lead; the Packers have scored first in all five Super Bowl appearances.
Just 24 seconds later, they were ahead by 14. Throwing from his end zone, Roethlisberger's arm was hit by backup nose tackle Howard Green. The ball fluttered to the Pittsburgh 37, where Collins settled under it, then scooted down the right sideline and dived into the end zone for the 13th interception return for a score. Teams doing so are now 11-0 in Super Bowls.
Needing to get busy or get buried, Pittsburgh put together a 13-play drive to Shaun Suisham's 33-yard field goal. Then, after moving well again, Mike Wallace's pass was stolen from his hands by Bush at the Pittsburgh 46.
Rodgers coolly completed passes to Jennings and Nelson, James Starks ran for 12 yards as Polamalu whiffed on a tackle, then Jennings reached high and slightly behind to snag a 21-yarder over Polamalu for a 21-3 edge.
"I had some opportunities to make some plays," Polamalu said. "I was just off a step here or there."

Soak that in GT.

[HipE]

Congrats Packers fans, you deserved it. I'm surprisingly not pissed, at least the Steelers had a final shot at winning, which is more than they deserved.

Yeah. I'm not that upset. Packers have the best fans in the NFC and they'll enjoy it. The Steelers had no business making it this far with an offensive line of backups and having to use 4 QBs. Great job by Tomlin.

I was really impressed with the offensive line last night, they might have been the best of all of the Steelers units on either side of the ball. Ben had more time to sit in the pocket than about any game I can remember recently, and the run blocking was great as well. I'm really happy that the Pouncey injury didn't have a big effect on the game. Special teams were pretty good as well. I realize they missed a field goal, but the kicker did consistently put the ball deep in the endzone on kickoffs, and they returned the ball well and punted well.

I thought the secondary really let the team down again. It seemed like they had good pressure on Rodgers most of the night, and almost all of their stops were the result of dropped passes by open receivers or bad throws, not because the defensive backs made a play. I guess I should just credit Rodgers quick release and accurate downfield passing for that though.

Even though the Steelers really hurt themselves with the turnovers (or I should say the Packers hurt the Steelers by forcing them), I do feel like Green Bay was clearly the better team. Like you, I'm proud that the Steelers made it as far as they did and had a chance to win. I didn't expect anything from this season, so to make it to a Super Bowl is a great surprise, and Tomlin impressed me even more than he did when they won the Super Bowl with him. I think the future is still bright for the Steelers.

Kind of weird how much this loss paralleled the loss to the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX. Fall down big early, make it closer right before half, dominate the third quarter and have a chance to take the lead in the fourth, only to have a huge turnover lead to a touchdown for the opponent at the end. At least this one was to a classy Green Bay team rather than the Irvin-Haley-Deion Cowboys.

[XXXIV]

Despite being the MVP, I don't think A. Rodgers had his best game on in comparison to his last 3-4 performances but he connected enough passes at the right time to win the big prize. There were a lot of dropped passes from the WR's but he also threw a few passes that were late and inaccurate.

I could not disagree more. He made great throws the entire ball game and only made maybe one poor decision with the football, if that. After that one badly inaccurate throw in the third quarter that was high and behind, he was absolutely brilliant throwing the football. Down the stretch he was throwing perfect darts. With Driver out, with the drops, none of that mattered; he was great and deserved the car. At least that's the was i saw it through the cloudy lens of beer and wiskey and tasty jambalaya!

I agree, Zeppo. If his receivers had held onto the ball he would have pushed 400 yards. He looked much sharper than he did against the Bears, where he was pretty average after the opening drive. There was no player that meant more to either team tonight.

I will third that. Too many drops.

Before the game and even before the fourth quarter I thought he might get happy feet and start gagging a bit like he did against the Bears. He proved me wrong in a big way with a couple of great passes to drive his team to the score that proved to be the game winner. I was impresssed. A VERY deserving MVP that was earned in crunch time.

Again I enjoyed the game. The Pack did deserve the win as they did not make the mistakes.

Gratz again Packer, Lombardi, cheese head nation.

[matthewk]

Wow.

That was a great game to watch. I think I got cramps from every muscle in my body being tensed up the entire 2nd half. While it would have more relaxing to see the game continue on like it did during the first quarter, I am glad we got a classic game and not a blowout. I figured this would be a close one, and this was very memorible.

I'm going to savor and apprciate this more than the one back in '96. At that time I didn't really realize just how hard it is for a team to win one, much less multiple titles. At the time in 1996, we thought we'd be winning at least 2-3 of these while...that other QB...was around. People are already throwing around the D word. We said that back in '96 and it took until now to get another one.

- Glad to see Woodson & Driver get a ring, but sad they got hurt. That pretty much symbolized the entier season. 2 more starters go down, but they manage to find a way to survive and win.
- I know it's big stage and all, but how does a veteran entertainer on the level of Christina botch the National Anthem? All you had to do is sing a 2 minute song. You had plenty of time to reherse this. Instead we get botched lines and a bunch 1 and 2 syllable words turned into unending warbling.
- Haltime show was mixed. Loved seeing Slash, but Fergie overdid the Axl impersonation. I also really hated the Autotune, if that's what it was. If you can't sing, then don't. Stop trying to sound like something you're not.
- Best haltime ads were Faith Hill (not for her, but the message the guy sent), Mini Darth Vader, and Doritos (one with the guy sucking the guys finger) ones. The rest were pretty boring.

[Jackdog]

Wow.

That was a great game to watch. I think I got cramps from every muscle in my body being tensed up the entire 2nd half. While it would have more relaxing to see the game continue on like it did during the first quarter, I am glad we got a classic game and not a blowout. I figured this would be a close one, and this was very memorible.

I'm going to savor and apprciate this more than the one back in '96. At that time I didn't really realize just how hard it is for a team to win one, much less multiple titles. At the time in 1996, we thought we'd be winning at least 2-3 of these while...that other QB...was around. People are already throwing around the D word. We said that back in '96 and it took until now to get another one.

- Glad to see Woodson & Driver get a ring, but sad they got hurt. That pretty much symbolized the entier season. 2 more starters go down, but they manage to find a way to survive and win.
- I know it's big stage and all, but how does a veteran entertainer on the level of Christina botch the National Anthem? All you had to do is sing a 2 minute song. You had plenty of time to reherse this. Instead we get botched lines and a bunch 1 and 2 syllable words turned into unending warbling.
- Haltime show was mixed. Loved seeing Slash, but Fergie overdid the Axl impersonation. I also really hated the Autotune, if that's what it was. If you can't sing, then don't. Stop trying to sound like something you're not.
- Best haltime ads were Faith Hill (not for her, but the message the guy sent), Mini Darth Vader, and Doritos (one with the guy sucking the guys finger) ones. The rest were pretty boring.

I agree with everything in this post except for the Doritos commercial. No man would let anyone get that close,let alone suck his finger unless they shared DNA. Don't even get me started about him ripping off another guys pants and sniffing them. I threw up a wing.

It's a great day to be a Packer fan!

[pk500]

Memo to Christina Aguilera: THIS is how the national anthem should be performed.



I've never heard a better rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" than this one by Branford Marsalis and Bruce Hornsby, which they performed at the 1991 NBA All-Star Game and the game in which Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record.

So elegant. So stirring. My eyes still well with tears every time I hear it.

[wco81]

Steelers secondary is not really suited to pressing. Especially with the heavy blitzing, they're going to try to keep WRs in front of them.

In the last meeting between these teams, Steelers blitzed like 35 times and sacked Rodgers only once. After the Atlanta game, they started comparing Rodgers to Rothlisberger, how he can extend plays, is a playmaker. But Rodgers with that quick release hits the timing patterns well, so he's not going to try to extend plays when blitzers are bearing down on him.

Steelers did mix it up, dropping guys like Woodley back into coverage. But Rodgers was hitting some tight windows, like the first TD to Jennings, Clark almost got a hand on the pass.

On the other side of the ball, loss of Sanders hurt, though Ward picked up the slack and Randal El made a couple of catches. Surprised they didn't use Miller more in the passing game though. That bomb out of the end zone, which got intercepted for a TD, was a strange call, maybe hoping to catch the Packers by surprise.

[Leebo33]

On the other side of the ball, loss of Sanders hurt, though Ward picked up the slack and Randal El made a couple of catches. Surprised they didn't use Miller more in the passing game though.

I was just going to post about Miller. Right or wrong strategically, the reason why the offensive line seemed to hold up is that the Steelers had Miller and/or Johnson stay in and pass block quite frequently to make up for the combined loss of Pouncey, Starks, Colon, etc. I'm proud of they way the O-line played but it took a receiver out and that's why it seemed like the Packers coverage was everywhere. They had less receivers to cover (and they were excellent covering those that did and making tackles).

The Packers were clearly a better team this year and they look like they are built to be perennial contenders. With most of the offense locked in long term and relatively young (Wallace, Brown, and Sanders should only get better) the Steelers should be able to stay competitive for the next few years if they can draft some decent young DBs. They need a real steal like the Patriots got last year in the draft.