Steelers & Packers to the SUPER BOWL!

 

Greetings Rubes!

Well, since the combatants for the Super Bowl have been determined, I felt it behooved me to make a few comments:

GO STEELERS!! OH YES!!  WEEEE'VE GOT A FEELIN',....PITTSBURGH'S GOIN' TO THE SUPER BOWL.....WEEEEEE'VE GOT A FEELIN'.....PITTSBURGH'S GOIN' TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!   Ahem,....anyway, mass props to both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers on advancing to Super Bowl 45.  Interestingly enough, it's cool that so much Super Bowl historic bling will be meeting up in Dallas, which has its own storied history.   Jerry Jones....eat your heart out.  I would also like to make mention that my bud Skoger and I have been waiting for this match-up for, oh I'd say, about 30 years, so good luck buddy!   (But not too much luck)

But let's get down to it.  And opposed to the typical Packer fans who, when the Vikes were steamrolling the NFL last year, came up with  genius comments from cheddar-nation such as:...".....uh,..yeah the Vi-Queens got lucky".  Brilliant.  Well, even as a Vikes fan and a Packer hater I will give proper credit where credit is due:  the Packers deserve this one.  They had to beat Philly, Atlanta, and Chicago, all on the road, and I will give mass props where mass props are due, and that is the case here.  Even though Packers QB Aaron Rogers got cooled off a bit against Chicago, he's playing brilliant football and the Pack rode that horse to the Super Bowl.  Kudos.

And let me add this:  The Chicago Bears proved me wrong.  I called them frauds sometime back, and to be perfectly honest,..I still think they're frauds, but by-God they bucked up, played solid-D, Jay Cutler stopped throwing interceptions at Brett Favre rates, and they won the division.  I still don't think they're that particularly talented, but they did what they had to do and got as far as the NFC title game. I must give mass props.

Anyway, let's take a closer look.  The Pack aren't necessarily a finesse team, but they're not nearly as physical as the Steelers.   And yes, I'm a Steelers homer, but think about this....this was the 15th time the Steelers have played in the AFC Conference Championship in the Super Bowl era, 8 wins and 7 losses......15 shots in 45 years......that's incredible.   Mass props to the (and to quote Howard Cosell)...."the Steelers organization and the Rooney family,...they're the best there is....in all the world".  Well said Howard.

Anyway,...regarding "strategery" (thanks for that word George W. Bush), both teams play a 3-4 defense, so there won't be any surprises there.  The Steelers have a better defense, but not by much.  Both teams get after the quarterback and have good secondaries, but I'd give the secondary edge to the Pack.  S Troy Polamalu is All-World, and CBs Ike Taylor and Bryant McFadden are okay, and each have 2 Super Bowl rings to show for it, but they're not as good as Packer CBs Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams, as far as sheer cover-corner-ness goes.  By the way,...I don't know if anyone has noticed, but Packers CB Tramon Williams is already/or will be a star.  I love that guy.  The Pack have a better offense, stat-wise, but a far worse running game, so we'll see how that one plays out.  The Pack have a well renowned receiving core, but if I went into a Super Bowl with Steelers WRs Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, Antwaan Randle-El, and rookies Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown,....I'm feeling pretty comfy with that.  I think the offensive lines are a push,..although it certainly doesn't help that Steelers Pro Bowl C Maurkice Pouncey got hurt against the Jets.....this hurts.   I would be very surprised to see something called "James Starks" have mass success running the ball against the Steelers, but you never know.  I'm more worried about Rogers getting on one of those "rolls" he's been on,...and marching up and down the field.  I think both teams have mediocre offensive lines, but they do okay with what they're asked to do.  Rogers has been on fire, but Big Ben has two rings to show for his work.  My guess, hope, wish, prayer,??......

Steelers 27, Packers 16.

 

Well, the State of Hockey still resides in the State of Mediocrity, but the Wild have been playing better as of late.  They're still languishing back in 10th place in the Western Conference standings, but they're only a handful of points away from the 4th spot in the always tight Western conference race.  The Wild's problem isn't effort, or coaching, or speed or whatever.....it's that they lack top-tier talent.  This is a nice team...D Brent Burns is going to his first All-Star game,...C Mikko Koivu is widely recognized as a top-flight center, but when your top goal-scorers are Burns and grinder Cal Clutterbuck,...it's going to be hard to make the playoffs, much less win a playoff series, unless they end up riding a mass-hot goalie down the stretch!

The Wolves...well...

 

I should also say something about the Timberwolves.  Record-wise.....they're terrible.  And they're playing crapily like the youngest team in the league, which they are.  But the product is watchable.  Even as the losses pile up,...I'm enjoying watching this.  They're only a couple wins better than they were a year ago at this time, but the quality of play is miles better.  In fact, they've developed this crappy habit of leading for most of, if not all of 3 quarters, only to die off down the stretch and lose in the 4th quarter.  The culprit for the losses is easy:  They're just awful defensively.  It's really striking to watch this team for an entire game and note how many easy dunks, layups and bunnies this team gives up on a nightly basis.  Not to mention the wide-open 3-pointers this team gives up.  Ugh!  That, and the guard play has been massively disappointing to me.   Forwards Kevin Love and Michael Beasley have been great.  Darko at center, has been okay, but Like Ridnour at point guard has been very average, PG Jonny Flynn can't even beat out Ridnour, although he's coming off of injury, and the shooting guard spot has been....well,...spotty.  Corey Brewer is the best defensive player we have, but is streaky at best.  Martell Webster is also coming off injury and has been sporadic at best, and rookie Wesley Johnson has been,.....well,...a very smooth erratic rookie.  When watching this team,.....close your eyes....and envision this team being run by Uber-rookie Ricky Rubio.....THEN we'll see what this team is made of.

Final words of the season for the Viks...

I suppose I should mention the Vikings and their slow, painful, demise in 2010.  Goodbye Brad Childress and mass props to former Defensive Coordinator Lezlie Frazier on attaining the Head Coaching position.  He's a quality guy, and I look forward to seeing what his vision of the Vikings should be.  There are still mass questions regarding this team.  From the impending lockout, to the 20-plus free agents, this team will look very different next year.  I'll say this:  Pecking order as follows:  Sign WR Sidney Rice (he's great, but also hurt for 3 of his 4 years here....transition him and sign him to a 1-year deal),...sign K Ryan Longwell (max-consistency),...sign LB Chad Greenway to a multi-year deal.  That done,...the big question mark regards the draft.  Most "experts are saying the Vikings should go after a QB with the 12th pick, but I'm not so sure.  I'm very intrigued with QB Joe Webb.  He didn't come in a dominate or anything, but led a spirated win, late in the year, over a playoff-bound Eagles team, and the one thing I noticed, is that he didn't look overmatched.  He's got all the physical tools, but he didn't look like he was in over his head, like Tarvaris Jackson (who I've supported) did.  I'm not sure if this is the year to go after a Jake Locker (or whoever) because we could really use some help elsewhere, and maybe we should use Webb as our "developmental" quarterback?  Time will tell.....