It was unfortunate that one of these two teams had to lose. To see two teams decimated by injuries fight it out like this without missing a beat was simply a testament to the players, coaches and administrations of both franchises. Watching Driver, Woodson and Shields go down in the 1st half, only to see the Packers hang on to win was a metaphor for their season.
This is a team sport, but Aaron Rodgers carried a load in Dallas. Aikman criticized McCarthy for abandoning the run in his gameplan, but Rodgers handled the responsibility with aplomb. At the end of the game, 7:30 seconds remaining and the Pack up by 3, there was McCarthy/Rodgers throwing the ball and attacking. YES!!! Playing to win. We love it, we salute it, and we praise it as loudly as we possibly can. No, the Pack offense was not able to get the TD to put the game out of reach, but they take off 5 1/2 minutes in Q4, score 3 pts to require a TD by the Steelers, take out the 2 minute warning timeout, leave Pittsburgh with a field to travel AND ONLY ONE POSSESSION TO DO IT. The Packers defense had enough rest during that offensive drive of their teammates and it was not a total coincidence they were able to win the game before the Steelers could even cross midfield.
The Packers were the better team. If Rodgers gets a little more help from Nelson, Swain and Jones, this game is not close. If the Secondary (+Driver) does not go down before the end of the Half, it is probably 21-3 going into Q3 and the Steelers never are able to get back into it. Even with all of that, the Packers never relinquished tempo and still won.
There was only one major problem with both teams this game, a major flaw- WHERE WERE THE RB SCREENS AND FLARES BY BOTH TEAMS? Mendenhall in particular could have been used on the dump off pass. That was a missed opportunity by the Steelers, but also for the Packers too against Blitzburgh.
The pregame here noted that the Steeler OL was vulnerable and could cause turnovers. The hit to Roethlisberger by Howard Green led to a floater which was picked off and run back by Collins for a TD. Incredibly, teams that give up a defensive TD are 0-11 in the Super Bowl.
Congrats to the Green Bay Packers, Super Bowl XLV Champions.
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