Super Bowl XLV: Green Bay Packers 31 – Pittsburgh Steelers 25
-It may seem a little silly to break down a game that everyone and their grandmother, excluding the 400 fans kicked out of their seats, watched live a week ago. But silliness abounds here at the Hill, so hit it!
-It has also taken me a week to come down off my emotional high and clear my head after my Packers just WON THE FUCKING SUPER BOWL!!!
-Let's start with the game-changing play. With Nick Collins' first quarter house call, teams with a pick six in the Super Bowl move to 11-0, including 6-0 in the last decade and 3-0 in the last three Super Bowls.
-I'll stick to the other singular standout moments. Game-winning play: "It's time." The Packers had just a four point lead when Kevin Greene's protégé, Clay Matthews, forced a Rashard Mendenhall fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter. This led to the decisive Green Bay touchdown; the Packers' 28 points ended up more than the Steelers could muster.
-Then after a Steelers touchdown and two point conversion, the Packers got the ball with seven and a half minutes left in the game, clinging to a three point lead. Seven minutes is a lot of time to drain off the clock for a team with no running game to speak of, so the Packers were going to have to air it out, drive the ball, and score to put the game out of the surging Steelers' reach for good. Aaron Rodgers and company were up to the task, manufacturing a Mason Crosby field goal for the dagger. (Ever the perfectionist, Rodgers was quite disappointed with himself after the game for not scoring a touchdown there.) The key play on that Packer possession, what we can call the potential game-saving play, was a Rodgers-to-Greg Jennings 31-yard strike on a 3rd and 10 early in the drive.
-Aside from the one touchdown catch, Mike Wallace never beat the Packers deep. Either Sam Shields and Tramon Williams were in his hip pocket all night or the Steelers didn't have the right gameplan. I can't tell you how many bubble screens and short crosses the Steelers ran for Wallace, but it seemed like a lot, too much even. You use the short routes to get your main weapon going, get him into the flow of the game, but at some point you have to let him run. Wallace's game is speed; he doesn't have the quickness to turn short passes into long gains. If you would've told me before the game that Wallace would have nine catches and the Packers would win, I'd have punched you in the face. But that's exactly what did happen as Wallace's 9.9 yard per catch average was not enough to make the Packers pay.
-21 of Green Bay's 31 points were scored off three Steeler turnovers. Conversely, Green Bay turned the ball over a grand total of 0 times. Moral of the story: take care of the ball, Pittsburgh.
-Let's also look at Adam's top priority in The Pick and compare quarterbacks. Rodgers finished with a 61.5% completion percentage, going 24/39 for 304 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. His passer rating was 111.5. On the other side, Ben Roethlisberger went 62.5% on his completions, 25/40 for 263 yards, two touchdowns, two crucial interceptions, and had a 77.4 passer rating.
-This term gets over-used, but this game was a microcosm of the Green Bay season overall. The Packers have a been a team marred by injuries all year, but they always overcame. This game was no different as veteran leaders on either side of the ball, both Charles Woodson and Donald Driver missed the entire second half. That gave Green Bay's deep bench the opportunity to shine as has so often been the case. Though he had some big drops, Jordy Nelson came through big time when coverage rolled Jennings' way. Nelson finished with 9 catches–he easily could have had about four more–for 140 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Woodson was a cornerback in name only. He played all over the field and made quarterbacks' lives hell in coverage and on the blitz. That's why I give props to the trio of Jarrett Bush, Pat Lee, who came in when both Woodson and Shields went down for a time, and outside linebacker Frank Zombo. Bush had one of two first quarter interceptions that led to Packer points. He also had a second half pressure on Roethlisberger that was eerily Woodson-like. Though Lee didn't make any standout plays, he never got burned for a big gain, which is all one can ask out of a backup cornerback coming in for two injured starters. Zombo was in Roethlisberger's face all night and recorded the Packers' only sack. Plus, I just love saying, "Zombo."
-Okay, can we draft now?
--from Eric
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