The Packers Return to the Super Bowl

This is one of greatest Super Bowls to ever be played. Both teams have a rich history of winning championships. The Green Bay Packers have an NFL best 12 world championships (including 3 Super Bowls), while the Steelers have an NFL best 6 Super Bowl wins. There has never been a Super Bowl with this much history in it. No matter the outcome it will be an "instant classic."

It will be a very hard game for both teams but I believe that the Packers will come away with their 13th world championship. To be successful against the "steel curtain" defense of the Steelers will not be an easy task. I am tired of hearing everyone in the media say that Green Bay needs to spread the field and use their 5 wide receiver set. I think if the media is smart enough to figure this out, then so is Dick LeBeau. Green Bay just needs to play smart and aggressive.

The first thing that Green Bay needs to do is to win the field position battle. This is important because both teams have very good defenses and the team with the shorter field will have a huge advantage. I think this will be a game that is decided by 1 or 2 field goals. Obviously, it is easier to go 40 yards and kick a field goal than it is to go 60 yards. Field position will be a huge factor in deciding the winner.

The Packers will also need to keep the pressure on Ben Roethlisberger. Even though he is very hard to take down, it is much harder to find the open receiver with a linebacker hanging on to your back. If the Green Bay pass rush can consistently get in Roethlisberger's face I think he will be more likely to try to force the ball out, which will give the Packer secondary a chance to make a play on the ball. Green Bay has been thriving off turnovers during their historic playoff run and if they can continue to do this, I think the Packers will have a chance to win.

Another key factor for the Packers in this game is for them to just stay calm and execute their game plan. I know that Mike McCarthy can put a perfect game plan together when he is given 2 weeks to do so. Dom Capers (the Packers' defensive coordinator) can do the same thing. With these two master minds having two weeks to plan for one game, there is trouble for the opposing team, no matter who it is. With that being said, it is up to the players to keep their cool and just play football the best they can for one game.

Is this the game that will put Aaron Rodgers in the same class as Bart Starr and Brett Favre? Will Clay Matthews finally win a ring for his family name? Will the Packers finally be able to put all the Brett Favre talk behind them for good? Will this be the start of a new dynasty for the Packers rich history? Or will the 2010 Green Bay Packers just be the forgotten team that lost the Super Bowl?

Only time will tell. For me, I hope this is only the first of many rings for Aaron Rodgers. I have been a Packer fan for 10 years and I have never been happier to be a Packer fan than I have this year. No matter the outcome of the Super Bowl, this is by far the best team I have seen in Green Bay and I am proud to call myself a Packer fan.

My prediction: Packers 31 Steelers 27

Who is Sam Shields?

At the start of the season no one had ever heard of Sam Shields. Now, everybody knows who he is. He is the player that ended the Bears’ late fourth quarter drive, in the NFC championship game, with a huge interception. Shields already had an interception of Jay Cutler earlier in the game. His big plays in clutch time have helped get his name out there, but some people still might not know about enough him.

Sam Shields attended the University of Miami (FL). His first three seasons there he was a wide receiver. This helps explain his ability to go up and take the football from the receivers. At the start of his senior season at Miami, he was asked to switch over to defense to play cornerback. Many offensive players would put up a fight and not want to go over to defense, but Sam just did what was best for his team. During his senior season he recorded 41 tackles (ranking sixth on the team), had a forced fumble and fumble recovery, and he also contributed on special teams. Because of his transition to defense and his stellar performance, he was awarded the teams most improved player award his senior season. I think this shows that Sam just loves to play football and will do whatever it takes to help his team win. That is what the Green Bay Packers look for in a player.

The NFL draft was April 22-24, 2010; Sam’s name was not called. He kept his head up and stayed positive and on April 30 he got a call from the Packers. He was signed as an undrafted free agent. Little did the Packers’ organization know that he would be a key contributor on their path to the Super Bowl. He played in 14 of their 16 games this year and had 29 tackles and 2 interceptions. This isn’t a bad year coming from a rookie, but his best was yet to come. In just three playoff games he recorded 11 tackles and 2 key interceptions. During the NFC championship game, he became the only NFL rookie to have 2 interceptions, a sack, and a forced fumble in a playoff game. His best play of the game was definitely his interception in the last minute of the game to punch the Packers' ticket to the Super Bowl. Sam played his best during the very critical moments of that game. Without him, I don’t think the Packers would be heading to the Super Bowl.

Hopefully, there are more big plays to come from Sam during the Super Bowl. Who would have thought that the Packers would need big plays from someone who wasn’t even drafted to win the NFC championship. I am looking forward to watching Sam continue to make a name for himself during the Super Bowl and the rest of his Packer career.

Should Falcons Fans Be “Happy” We Lost to the NFC Champions?

In Atlanta, we pro sports fans have known nothing but misery punctuating by one solitary title in 149 combined seasons. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s own Mark Bradley wrote about the pro sports misery of our city before the weekend; by all means, hit the link and read the story if you can stomach it.

A common refrain amongst many an Atlanta sports fan after losing in the postseason of whatever sport is going on is, “Well, at least we lost to the ____ Champion,” and I have to wonder, is saying that a kind of graciousness, or simply a loser’s way of comforting him or herself? I ask that question because God knows as a Godforsaken Atlanta pro sports fan, I’ve uttered that pitiful phrase more than once.

Is it better knowing my team lost to the NFC Champion and possible Super Bowl winner? No. Excuse me, I mean HELL NO! My team lost, and it didn’t just lose, it lost in the worst way possible: being blown out while being coached play-not-to-lose Martyball. It’s like losing twice when you lose and don’t even try to be aggressive; try to play-to-win. And I know what I’m talking about when I speak of painful post-season losing in Atlanta. I sat through two excruciating one-goal losses by the Thrashers to the Rangers in the Thrashers only NHL playoff appearance so far in their blighted history. The atmosphere was electric in Phillips Arena; the only thing close to how it felt to be there for those two, oh-so-close losses was the atmosphere in Sanford Stadium for the original Blackout against Auburn (if you have to ask, you don’t know, so don’t worry about what made it so special). All of that atmosphere and fan pride couldn't save the Thrashers from the pox of being an Atlanta pro sports team in the playoffs.

As a Braves fan, my team has lost to the World Series Champion or eventual World Series Champion seven times. SEVEN TIMES. So does it "ease my pain," voice in the Iowa Cornfields? Again: HELL NO! In fact, it makes my pain worse, as it should all Atlanta Braves fans. The fact that the Braves went to 15 postseasons and only came away with one title should be considered the greatest choke job in the history of professional sports. And those teams had talent. They were loaded with talent, especially on the pitching staff. Unfortunately, they were saddled with the worst postseason manager in baseball history, whose inexcusable lack of tactical ability led to many a head-scratching, heart-rending post-season loss. Of those seven times losing to the eventual Series Champ, the Braves inarguably lost to a team that was LESS TALENTED than they three times. They also lost playoff series to another seven teams, and were the more talented team in ALL of those series. Even though they actually won a title, the Braves are by far the biggest postseason chokers of all time, more so than the Buffalo Bills, who were hopelessly outmatched and lucky to be there in three of their four Super Bowls. So thanks, Bobby Cox, for picking your nose on the bench as your team lost TEN times in fIfteen post-seasons to teams less talented than your own (only winning the one time).

At this point, I should talk about the Hawks and the Flames postseason woes too, but I really, honestly do not care. The Flames were before my time, went to the NHL playoffs six-straight years and never won a series. The Hawks, in over 50 years in Atlanta have never advanced past the second round of the NBA playoffs. That’s just an unfortunately weird happenstance. Or yet another cursed Atlanta pro sports franchise.

In the Falcons’ last five playoff exits, they’ve lost to a Super Bowl Champion (Broncos), three NFC Champions (Eagles, Cardinals and Packers), and an NFC Championship Game participant (Eagles). In those losses, they lost to an arguably worse team only once (the Cardinals), and no, none of those “facts” provide a salve for my Atlanta pro sports post-season wounds. When an Atlanta pro sports fans utters the line, “At least we lost to…” it is not Southern Graciousness, for which we are justly famous. No, that phrase is the song of a beaten-down loser, who is psychologically incapable of absorbing yet another post-season failure by any team, whether they were favored in the game or not.

The Falcons lost. They were blown out because the Falcons’ coaching staff trotted out a ridiculously vanilla, play-not-to-lose, Martyball game-plan on offense AND defense. They were at home and were favored. It’s not supposed to be an “easy” thing for the fan base to “get over.”

There is one disturbing trend developing between these Falcons and the Braves of the 1990’s and early 2000’s: poor coaching/managing in the postseason. In a city where teams and coaches are held accountable (more so than they are in Atlanta) like New York, Boston, or Chicago, there is no way Bobby Cox keeps his job after losing the 1996 World Series to a far less talented Yankees team after being up 2 games to 0. But because this is Atlanta, he did, and the media never held him accountable for the Braves mind-boggling post-season meltdowns, even though he was the only variable that never changed in fifteen post-season appearances. Cox was a terrible post-season manager because he refused to change, refused to adapt, refused to evolve. He kept on doing the same things, making the same mistakes, over and over again, but expecting a different result each time.

Einstein said doing just that is the definition of insanity.

Mike Smith is now 0-2 in the playoffs. He and his team were favored in both games. Will Mike Smith make the same mistakes over and over again, as Bobby Cox did? Will Mike Smith refuse to change his approach, evolve his out-dated football philosophy, adapt to the modern era of NFL Football? As a follower of the Falcons, I can only hope that he, unlike Cox, learn from his mistakes.

Please let me know in the comments section: Is it okay to believe that losing to the eventual champion or league champion is okay, or is it the song of the loser?

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