Green Bay was in control from start to finish, save for a few moments where you looked at the score and said to yourself "how is the game possibly this close?" in the second half. Dropped passes and defensive lapses aside, the Packers made all of the big plays and wrapped up a special season with their 13th NFL championship. Aaron Rodgers was crowned WWE Champion, err, Super Bowl MVP and it was much deserved.
I don't want to talk about the game itself, rather the state of the NFL (potential lockout aside) and how this game was a reflection of what the National Football League really has become. The Packers, already playing the Super Bowl with a string of injuries, lost one of their top receivers (Donald Driver) and their top cornerback (Charles Woodson) in the first half of the game, but didn't skip a beat on either side of the ball. No Driver, no problem. Rodgers found his third and fourth receivers for a combined 14 completions, against the best defense in the NFL!
Rodgers is one of the league's best quarterbacks, it's no longer any sort of secret, but with the newer rules against making contact with a receiver, as well as the rules to protect the quarterback, the NFL has turned into a complete passing league. I know that I'm just stating the obvious with that last statement, but heading into the Super Bowl I was on the Steelers bandwagon just like a good portion of the experts. We loved the toughness, the determination to run the ball, the lack of mistakes, the punishing defense...that's not the team that showed up Sunday night, but it may not have even mattered if they did.
The Steelers were +17 on turnovers this past season, good for second in the NFL, they were -3 in Super Bowl XLV. Roethlisberger was picked off twice (one was returned for a touchdown), and Rashard Mendenhall lost a fumble, while the Packers offense played mistake free. The Steelers did run the ball 26 times, but the team that won was the team that had success throwing the ball, and that was the Packers. It's not like the Steelers didn't try to attack the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year-less Packers, they didn't have any choice as they were playing catch-up from the first quarter on, but the vertical game isn't what the 2010 Steelers success was based on and that was ultimately exposed.
Watching this game I sort of felt like I do when I watch good hitting overpower good pitching. It's one of these myths that I've been led to believe in all of my years of sports fandom, great defense always beats great offense. A healthy Celtics team stops the LeBrons and Kobes. The unstoppable pass rush of the Giants ultimately beats the bullying offense of the Patriots. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling will pitch five times in a seven game series and you better believe it'll be enough to beat the unbeatable Yankees. The last couple of weeks I didn't want to buy into the idea of Aaron Rodgers carving up this historically brilliant Steelers D, well pour me a glass of Kool-Aid cause I see clearly now.
Let's look at the last few seasons/Super Bowls. In 2009 Drew Brees led the league in QB Rating and TD Passes, the Saints won and Brees was named SB MVP. In 2008, the Steelers opened up their passing game and won the Super Bowl on a perfectly executed bullet to the corner of the endzone, the receiver that caught that ball was named MVP and all of a sudden Roethlisberger is one of the leagues elite. In 2007 the Patriots stormed through the league as their quarterback and top receiver shattered NFL records, sure, they lost the big game, but it took a freak-helmet catch to put them under. 2006, Colts, Peyton Manning, enough said. To further prove my point, a quarterback threw for 4,000-plus yards in a season 15 times from the 2001-2005 seasons, we had 33 instances from 2006-2010.
Brees, Brady, Manning, even Roethlisberger, and now Rodgers. This is your list of NFL elite. Fantasy Football aside, you probably won't hear a running-backs name crack the top-five these days. Remember when your best players were Larry Johnson, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Shaun Alexander? Not anymore.
With the lifespan of your average running back decreasing every year, as well as the amount of RB's per team getting carries increasing, you can throw Jared Mintz in your backfield as long as you have an Aaron Rodgers taking the snaps. This Packers team is young and is staying in tact, with the Patriots rebuilt, Brees and Matt Ryan in the NFC South, the potential for the Chargers to find a real coach to win with Phil Rivers, and the existence of Peyton Manning, exceptional quarterbacks are dominating this league like it's the early 90's, and there really is no end in sight.
Is it exciting? Well, yes. Does it kind of stink that the NFL changed its rules to benefit a certain position in order to make the game more exciting? No, all of the professional sports leagues make changes to make their game more enjoyable and fan friendly. Would you rather have seen a 7-3 slugfest where James Starks was handed the ball 30 times? While I support the running game as it involves more offensive strategy and bigger, crunchier tackles, who doesn't love to see tight spiral after tight spiral aired out? Who doesn't grow up dreaming of making the big throw to get your team the big win?
I'm accepting the league for what it's worth (again, potential lockout aside) and am going to have to move forward with the passing equals winning trend. Your Super Bowl XLV champs ran the ball 13 times. R.I.P. smash mouth football, welcome to Aaron Rodgers shadow Mr. Brett Favre. Thanks for the memories NFL, let's make some new ones ASAP.
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