NFL

Too close to call. Tie goes to the team that’s been there and done that. Steelers get a seventh trophy.

If the steelers get to Rodgers early, that might just be enough for them to dictate the game. With the spread being just under 3 points @Bobby it might just be too close to call. Still I think the Pack are just too damn hot.

Aaron Rodgers is actually cold. And that’s bad news going against the Steelers defense, which is never cold. He better come out firing. In a knock-down drag out contest the Steelers win. If they can turn it into a shootout the Pack win.

-Pouncey being out might be huge, though. How has the Steelers’ running game been?-

I think that Pouncey is more of a loss for the Steelers pass protection than run blocking. BR’ been sacked, what, 8 times in two playoff games? Mendenhall has rushed for, I think, 46 yards against the Ravens and 121 yards against the Jets.

Richard Dent has been elected to the Hall of Fame:

Primetime, Faulk, and Shannon Sharpe got selected too! This is a great class. Standards are getting pretty high though. None of the receivers made it in. If you don’t have a Super Bowl ring your chances are getting slimmer. Can’t say I disagree with that, unless your statistics and impact on the game are so immense that they can’t be denied (see for example Tony Gonzalez).

I think Brown was the best of that group of receivers. He had a better combination of dominant seasons in his prime and consistent productivity over a long career. That he’s a top five all-time punt returner is a nice bonus.

Curtis Martin>Marshall Faulk

It’s about time Richard Dent, Super Bowl XX MVP and “Super Bowl Shuffle” rapper, got elected. Congratulations, Sackman!

P.S. Regarding the above photograph of Da Bears sacking Joe Theismann: say what you will about Joe, but he had guts being the last quarterback in the NFL to sport a single bar facemask.

He still should’ve went to a cage style face mask against Da Bears, though.

As for the HOF class overall, I must ask: where is Art Monk? Three Super Bowl rings, several times he went to the Pro Bowl, All-1980s team, a then-record 106 receptions in ’86, 16 years in the league—why no bust in Canton?

Also, what about the late Jerry Smith, who held the record for most TDs by a tight end for, oh, more than 25 years (withstanding the likes of Ozzie Newsome, Kellen Winslow Senior, Todd Christensen, et al), until Shannon Sharpe broke it? (The shameful thing was commentators could barely mention Jerry’s name as Shannon was chasing the record—at least Art Monk still gets mentioned reasonably often, but Jerry does not—hmmm, wonder why THAT is so?).

Super Bowl XLV: I reckon the Steelers have the edge. Also, as a bears fan, I want to see the Packers get beaten up. I know predictions mean squat, but for the fun of it, I’m going to say Steelers by 5-7 points.

Enjoy the big game, gridiron fans!

Mark, the TE and WR positions are changing so much that it’s likely any oldheads are going to get in anymore. If Art and Cris Carter don’t get in next year, it’s unlikely thattheyll get in at all unless they luck into a weak class.

No cheerleaders! "we don’t need eye candy " How commendable…:)

I wish this guy was calling the game today:

- If Art and Cris Carter don’t get in next year, it’s unlikely thattheyll get in at all unless they luck into a weak class-

Monk’s been in since 2008, so that’s that. Carter to me is the third best receiver out of he, Tim Brown, and Andre Reed. He was remarkably consistent possession received, but was never a truly dominant receiver, even at his peak. He caught a lot of touchdown passes every year, but he only led the league in receptions once, and never finished higher than seventh in receiving yards.

-hmmm, wonder why THAT is so?).-

I’ll go ahead and say what Mark is implying: Jerry Smith is not in the Hall because he was gay, and because he died of AIDS. The NFL culture, and that of American football in general, is Stone Age in a lot of regards, and its homophobia is one of them.

Dent was, career against career, after Reggie White and Bruce Smith (in that order) the third greatest DE I ever saw play.

What about Charles Haley?

Good player on some great teams. Really a LB/DE hybrid, though. Outstanding pass rusher, but he really doesn’t have a legitimate case for the Hall without the the phrase “five rings,” and he was a generally creepy dude who’s not going to get much sympathy from voters. From Jeff Pealman’s book :

“Haley would stroll up to an unsuspecting (49er) teammate, whip out his phallus, and repeatedly stroke it in his face. Players initially laughed it off . . . But Haley refused to stop. He would jerk off in the locker room, in the trainer’s room. He’d wrap his hand around his penis, turn toward a Joe Montana or John Taylor, and bellow, ‘You know you wanna suck this!’”

”Charles used to beat off in meetings while talking graphically about other players’ wives. It got to the point of ejaculation.”

A freak, and not the good kind, and not as good as White, Smith, Dent, Strahan, Kevin Greene, Lawrence Taylor, Chris Doleman, John Randle, Derrick Thomas, Clyde Simmons, or a few others . . . but he’ll get in because of the rings.

Pretty boring Super Bowl.

Looks like Mendenhall is starting to get rolling.

[edit] . . . and then he fumbles literally two seconds after I typed that!

Can the Packers take some time off the clock, though?

The people’s champ is now officially the people’s champ! There’s a new star in the NFL. Congrats to the Pack. It was a great season. I’ll be looking forward to the next one. Until then…(all my serious football junkies, get ready for the draft!)

How will ESPN tie this Super Bowl victory to Brett Favre?

Turnovers. The song remains the same.

But great game. The snow melts just in time (and starts again tonight). Of course Dallas will get another one (I’m predicting Superbowl 50), and hopefully they’ll have some of the egregious logistical issues resolved by then.

Dear God that rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was excruciatingly bad and not just because she got the words wrong

Super Bowl XLV was a great game, despite Pittsburgh never having a lead. I never felt the Steelers were out of it, even when they were down 18 points. 52-yard field goals are generally not a good idea when you are sending in an unproven kicker to make the attempt. Pooch punt the ball and trust your defensive unit to make a great play. Amazingly undisciplined play considering this was a Super Bowl—so many 15 yard penalties for silly, silly things. Injuries on both sides so things evened out. I didn’t bother with either “America The Beautiful” or the U.S. national anthem. Get some singers who can actually sing, not chirp. Crack Eyed Peas—whose choice was this? Joe Theismann did colour on the version of the audio I heard and did a rather fine job. I don’t see the Pack dominating in the sense of a dynasty as the players are either getting old or shall be lured elsewhere as free agents. Of course, Aaron Rodgers shall be there for quite a few years—is it too early to make Favre versus Rodgers comparisons? The Steelers, I feel, shall continue to roll for quite some time. The Rooney family has their team running like a well-oiled machine.

Are you crazy? The Pack have one of the youngest teams in the league. They might be running the NFC for years to come.

I thought it was a good game, but yes. Same old story indeed. You lose the turnover battle you lose the game. Steelers had a bunch of giveaways, the Pack had none. End of story.

Corrections from the above:

Art Monk had 106 catches in 1984. He was inducted into the HOF in 2008. It took him such a long time, I think I just lost track. But he should have been inducted much earlier.

Benny Friedman (New York Giants) was inducted several years ago—he was the first quarterback to pass for 20 touchdowns in a single season (1929). It would be many years before 20 touchdowns in a season became commonplace. I mention Benny because I feel if there is hope for 1920s players, there is hope for Jerry Smith.

Benny campaigned tirelessly for his induction into the HOF until his passing in 1982. However, it seems as if few individuals are campaigning for Jerry Smith. Maybe Dave Kopay is doing so, I’m not certain. He’d be one of very few.

Jerry’s bisexuality was confirmed by former teammate Dave Kopay after Jerry’s passing in 1986. Jerry himself acknowledged his bisexuality (albeit under a psuedonym) in print many years earlier. But that makes no difference in the eyes of the National Football League and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It’s about time the National Football League got serious about its image and stopped ducking the issue. The current commissioner is an absolute joker. Tinkering around with the rules of a perfectly great game, allowing the league to continue as a vessel for ultra-conservative political rhetoric, yet doing nothing to acknowledge the “gay” issue—Stone Age is right. Maybe sexuality and sports don’t mix, but neither do sexual discrimination and sports.

It also boggles the mind to think handgun violence and cruelty to animals (hey, Michael Vick, how are your pets?) are seen as forgivable sins in the NFL, but (shock, horror!) homosexual conduct is not.

So Michael Vick comes back to the NFL and is showered with awards for good play despite his jailbird past. Meanwhile, Jerry Smith still can’t get a (posthumous) pass to Canton, simply because he liked to play both sides of the ball.

One of the few things NOT ultra-conservative about the NFL is their ridiculous Affirmative Action policy. It’s illogical and inconsistent. Just like their shameful ducking of the Jerry Smith issue. There is a “gentlemen’s agreement” to avoid such topics and not speak of Jerry unless absolutely necessary. With EVERY other record being chased, the record holder is mentioned. Jerry Smith wasn’t mentioned until after the record (most career TDs by a tight end) was broken by Shannon Sharpe and we all know why not.

Jerry Smith’s career stats compiled over 13 seasons from 1965-1977:

Receptions: 421

Yards: 5,496

Average Yds Per Rec: 13.1

Touchdowns: 60

These numbers are exceptional by the standards of the day, recorded on 14 game schedules, plus it was more than 25 years until Jerry’s TD record was broken. I just hope Dave Kopay lives long enough to see Jerry inducted into the HOF, maybe even do the honours himself. Not for the sake of making Jerry a hero, but simply because the HOF should be about acknowledging the best of the best.

(Fortunately, Jerry was recognised by his own team as one of Washington’s 70 All-Time Best in 2002).

Matt said, “Can the Packers take some time off the clock, though?”

Their failure to eat up the clock kept the Steelers in the game until the very end, imo. What surprised me was that they didn’t try to run more or at least focus on less aggressive passing attack (i.e. the three to four receivers running various slants). If the Steelers came back and won, McCarthy’s play calling would have been a significant contributor to this.

Can’t run against the Steelers. But you can pass against them, clearly. If they came back and won it would have been because of another amazing magical play from Big Ben, not because of faulty play-calling. That would have stung pretty hard to lose a Super Bowl in the last second to a team that had 3 giveaways to no takeaways.

Well, you definitely can’t run against the Steelers, if you don’t try to run the ball. The play calling not only seemed predictable, but the calls didn’t seem to be made with the objectives of moving the chains and eating up the clock. They just seemed like they were trying to score every time they had the ball. This approach kept the Steelers in the game until the very end.

Maybe, but it’s a moot point. Because that approach also won a championship for them! I’d say that’s vindication enough.

The Packers can’t run the ball regardless, even against lesser defenses.