One could point to many factors for the Steelers' demise last night... some point to the amount of penalties the Steelers accumulated, but I point to the turnovers. Anytime a team turns the ball over four times (one for a touchdown) it is going to be extremely difficult to win the game. Think about it. The game ended as a one-possession game. The Steelers had four total turnovers, one for 7 points for the Packers. It would be extremely difficult to see the Packers winning this game had it not been for Steeler mistakes.
For the most part, my prediction wasn't too far off. In fact, a lot of what I said was going to happen did. The Packers were unable to run the football, and were forced to become one-dimensional, riding on the arm of Aaron Rodgers. The Packers called 45 pass plays to their 11 run plays, passing the ball an outrageous 80% of their offensive snaps. Luckily for them, Rodgers proved his elite status, leading the Packers offense to just enough points against the dominating Steelers to give them the win. Congratulations, Aaron, you have proved (at least to me) that you deserve to be in the same conversation as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. More importantly for you however, you have finally, once and for all, overcame the huge shadow cast over you from Brett Favre. I salute you.
As for the Steelers, turnovers aside, they played also exactly how I envisioned them. Like I said two weeks ago, even without Pouncey, the Steelers would be able to get off some nice runs and move the ball down the field. The big problem the Steelers faced, however, was falling behind 14-0 after the Roethlisberger pick 6 in the 1st half. That really has to shake your gameplan, especially when you take into consideration the Super Bowl "curse" that no team has ever came back from more than 10-point deficit to win the Super Bowl. The Steelers defense also played just as well as I thought they would - allowing the Packers to only 24 offensive points (excluding Nick Collins' pick six). I mean, if you exclude that pick six, the final would have been Steelers 25, Packers 24. Not so far off from my original prediction of 24-21.
The thing that really surprised and amazed me, however, was not the flashy turnovers from the Packers defense. They have been doing that all season and I perfectly expected them to make plays in this game. What surprised me was that even down two defensive players in the first half including arguably their largest defensive playmaker in Charles Woodson, they were able to hold to their resiliency they showed all season to win the game. It was almost fitting for the Packers to win despite injuries in the Super Bowl, as they have been doing it all season. Could you imagine how scary the Packers would have been had they not had those 13 players chilling on IR? ... Yeah, that's scary. We may find out next season.
Overall, it was a spectacular Super Bowl. Even though the Steelers never led, the mommentum shifted back and forth the entire game and there was never a time that I was not on my heels. And ultimately, my team won. I'll take it.
Final Prediction Accuracy: 127-79 (61.65%)
Two weeks ago, I asked my readers "Who will win Super Bowl XLV?" between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers?
Turns out that the game was as unpredictable as I told you last week... the poll was split right down the middle. 50% of my readers picked Green Bay, and the other 50% picked Pittsburgh. Of course, the Green Bay crowd got it right (and I was not among them), but there was no bad guess there as we saw last night.
My next poll is "Was the Super Bowl's Black Eyed Peas halftime show the worst piece of crap you ever saw?" between Yes because I'm smart or No because I like stupid stuff that isn't music? Vote on the right-hand side of my blog!
Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers on winning Super Bowl XLV! It was a great game. The Packers had an outstanding season, one in which they never trailed in a game by more than seven points.
ReplyDelete