Packers vs. Steelers

[Richie3Jack]

Both conference championship games were very much alike, the winners jumped out to a lead and then held on to win.

The Packers looked like a well oiled machine in the first drive, but just couldn't score points afterward. I think they took the 3rd string QB too lightly and he surprised them.

Big Ben is a unique QB to me. He holds onto the ball too long and there's a lot of his game I don't think most coaches would like. But with that defense, he's just good enough to keep the Steelers in the game and pull off the dramatic. When you have a proven winner who wins dramatically, the fans are going to hold him as a legendary figure.

I think Mike McCarthey needs to start being thought of as a top 5 coach in the game. From a statistical standpoint, every team he has coached with the Packers has been very strong. They were this year as well despite a plethora of injuries. And with so many injuries, there's going to be a lot of feel good stories of players who weren't on the team and wound up getting called in and getting a Super Bowl ring.

The thing that probably concerns me about the Packers is while I like Dom Capers, he does use too much 3 man rushes for my tastes. Although he probably gets them to work more than any coach I've seen, which is probably why he's such a great D-Coordinator.

For the Steelers, I'm not sure how they'll handle Woodson and Matthews. I think they can contain Mendenhall and the Packers are better tacklers than the Jets are, so it will probably be harder for Roethlisberger to escape and make the big play.

I'll be rooting for the Packers here as I can't bear to see the Steelers win a Super Bowl in Dallas, but I also think the Packers will win here.







3JACK

[mchepp]

Personally I am a bit biased. I feel that Roethlisberger should have been suspended for the year for his criminal actions. A 4 game suspension was a slap on the wrist for some potentially serious crimes. It would rub me the wrong way to see the Steelers win the Super Bowl and Ben win the MVP. Just wrong in my opinion.

I am also still very bitter that the 49ers picked Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was an extremely accurate passer at Cal, I can remember in one came he completed something like 21 in a row. He showed a little of that in the first drive you mentioned. He should be a 49er, instead we have a bust in Alex Smith.

I would like to see the Packers win. Just so Roethlisberger doesn't. A bad reason I know. I will say I can make a strong argument for either team. The Packers D and wide receivers, the Steelers run defense will make Green Bay very one dimensional and if the Steelers can run the ball they are the favorites. Hard one to call.

Many people are making a big deal of the Pittsburgh center being out. The back-up being undersized and BJ Raji will be giving him a hard time. What are your thoughts on that?

[Richie3Jack]

You're certainly entitled to your opinions. I got sick and tired of hearing the press try to justify the NFL and the Eagles taking back Michael Vick this year. I think Vick paid his debt to society, but if somebody doesn't, that's their right. But I don't understand a collaberative effort to restore Vick's image. And quite frankly, there is NO doubt in my mind that if Vick was signed by the Cowboys, that collaborative effort would never exist. I swear, Andy Reid must have beastiality pics of the press or something.

As far as Roethlisberger goes, I stick up for the NFL on this one. The guy wasn't even arrested, so even 4-game suspension is hard to justify. Don't get me wrong, there's no doubt in my mind that he did something criminal. The girl in Georgia was dead set on pressing charges against him, but then she found out who Big Ben was and how the press and Steelers fans could blow this into something that would make her life miserable and she didn't want to deal with it.

But....he was never arrested. So it wasn't even a case of him 'out-lawyering' his way out of a conviction. I think that's hard to really justify a 1-year suspension.

As far as Rodgers goes, the knock on him was the system that Jeff Tedford has at Cal. They throw a lot of short side passes to make the QB's more effective, so scouts thought he couldn't make those throws you have to make in the pros. They were also concerned about his mechanics as well.

I always tell people that if there's one organization I would like my Cowboys to follow in terms of how they have recently ran the organization...it would be the Packers. They went from a HoF QB and got a replacement in Rodgers and did it seamlessly. Very, very hard to replace a HoF QB. That and the Packers keep developing new talent.

I think the Cowboys have some of that, but they just haven't had a D-Coordinator like Capers to really get their defense on a roll. Hopefully Rob Ryan changes all of that.











3JACK

[mchepp]

Thoughts on the game? I am pretty happy with the game. It went down to the last drive. The only trouble is now all the local news stations are running with the story of how the 49ers passed on Aaron Rodgers :-(