And I've got this 'good good' feeling that were gonna see more of them.
quote:Originally posted by CAPackFan95:
Weird stat of the year.
Detroit outscored us head to head 33-31.
That Lion team is going to be a huge PITA. They're close and their D-Line is nasty. Interesting that Suh said the toughest OL he faced was Sitton on the Packers.
If Stafford stays healthy, the Lions have a shot at winning the division in 2011. They need some pass defense as in DB's.
Today was the first day it has started to sink in. Yes the Green Bay Packers are YOUR World Champions!!!
Reasons I see:
The last SB win was preceded by a NFCC game loss, several years of playoff losses and when it came, it seemed like we had climbed the mountain. We had half a decade invested in those players and it had been a lifetime since SBII. This year, we did the mountain in 6 games, not six years.
The game ended on an incomplete pass. Not a big sack. Not a jarring tackle. Not a TD. The Steelers went out with a whimper.
I always saw the game as a coin flip. Easy to see a dozen plays that could have gone the other way. We could have won going away or been down 10 in the fourth. Not a coronation, but hard fought, white knuckle game.
More injuries. What Woodson and Shields left on consecutive plays, I thought we were toast. Kudos to Capers and the D.
For the last decade with "he who will not be named" at QB, it was always going to come down to one play, which we would not make and the other team would. It conditioned us to expect fatal flaws exposed at game's end.
This wasn't our year. It was in August, but not in October. We didn't dominate the division (4-2 with a loss to Detroit and no division championship.) That was goal #2 (after dominating at home, going 7-1, which is goal #1). A deep run (goal #3), while possible, seemed like something for next year.
This is a flawed team by historical standards. Crappy running game. Gives up too many rushing yards. Plays better in domes than on the frozen tundra. But the metrics have changed. The three teams with the fewest rushes SB history have all been in the last three years. Subtract those by QBs and the numbers are positively anemic. The NFL has become more Arena-esque.
It is also more situational - run this week if you like the match ups, go aerial circus the next if that will get you the win. That means you need 15 players on offense and defense and those 30 all need to be solid enough to handle the matchups. This puts a premium on deep teams and penalizes those who think they are a player away (Vikings). So who was the hero? Pickett? Nelson? Tramon? Shields? Zombo? Starks? ARod had a great game and MM put the team in his hands, but a dozen defensive players stepped up at the end. This was more of a team win than we saw in the past, where we rose or fell on one players performance.
The last SB win was preceded by a NFCC game loss, several years of playoff losses and when it came, it seemed like we had climbed the mountain. We had half a decade invested in those players and it had been a lifetime since SBII. This year, we did the mountain in 6 games, not six years.
The game ended on an incomplete pass. Not a big sack. Not a jarring tackle. Not a TD. The Steelers went out with a whimper.
I always saw the game as a coin flip. Easy to see a dozen plays that could have gone the other way. We could have won going away or been down 10 in the fourth. Not a coronation, but hard fought, white knuckle game.
More injuries. What Woodson and Shields left on consecutive plays, I thought we were toast. Kudos to Capers and the D.
For the last decade with "he who will not be named" at QB, it was always going to come down to one play, which we would not make and the other team would. It conditioned us to expect fatal flaws exposed at game's end.
This wasn't our year. It was in August, but not in October. We didn't dominate the division (4-2 with a loss to Detroit and no division championship.) That was goal #2 (after dominating at home, going 7-1, which is goal #1). A deep run (goal #3), while possible, seemed like something for next year.
This is a flawed team by historical standards. Crappy running game. Gives up too many rushing yards. Plays better in domes than on the frozen tundra. But the metrics have changed. The three teams with the fewest rushes SB history have all been in the last three years. Subtract those by QBs and the numbers are positively anemic. The NFL has become more Arena-esque.
It is also more situational - run this week if you like the match ups, go aerial circus the next if that will get you the win. That means you need 15 players on offense and defense and those 30 all need to be solid enough to handle the matchups. This puts a premium on deep teams and penalizes those who think they are a player away (Vikings). So who was the hero? Pickett? Nelson? Tramon? Shields? Zombo? Starks? ARod had a great game and MM put the team in his hands, but a dozen defensive players stepped up at the end. This was more of a team win than we saw in the past, where we rose or fell on one players performance.
It hasn't sunken in for me just yet. I found myself the other day looking at the roster and thinking about this team being a player or 2 from being a contender. I had to remind myself that they just won it all.
I would strongly disagree that this team was flawed from a statistical perspective.
They were 9th in the league in total offense (yards) and 5th in the league in total defense (yards). They were 2nd in the league in points allowed.
GB was 9th in the league at 3rd down converted and 3rd down allowed- percentage overall.
They were 2nd in the league in turnover differential at +10.
What's interesting about the rushing yards is that 5 playoff teams finished in the bottom third in rushing yards per game. Indy, Chicago, GB, Seattle, and New Orleans all made the playoffs with GB and Chicago advancing the furthest. Pittsburgh was 11th overall- pretty good but not spectacular.
Oh, and Rodgers finished the playoffs with the highest QB rating of any of the guys playing that position.
They were 9th in the league in total offense (yards) and 5th in the league in total defense (yards). They were 2nd in the league in points allowed.
GB was 9th in the league at 3rd down converted and 3rd down allowed- percentage overall.
They were 2nd in the league in turnover differential at +10.
What's interesting about the rushing yards is that 5 playoff teams finished in the bottom third in rushing yards per game. Indy, Chicago, GB, Seattle, and New Orleans all made the playoffs with GB and Chicago advancing the furthest. Pittsburgh was 11th overall- pretty good but not spectacular.
Oh, and Rodgers finished the playoffs with the highest QB rating of any of the guys playing that position.
quote:I had the same feeling heading into that last Pittsburgh possession- here we go again. But, just like they have all year, the defense finished the job. Such a great feeling to have faith in the defensive unit getting it done!
That is by far and away the biggest difference between last year and this year. Last year it seemed the D found ways to lose in the clutch but this year they find ways to win those. It is SUCH a treat to have a D like that, that can step up in crunch time and hold an offense from scoring on the last posession. I should have had more faith in them on that last drive because like he said above, the D had been coming up with game sealers throughout the endof the season and post season.
quote:Originally posted by DH13:quote:I had the same feeling heading into that last Pittsburgh possession- here we go again. But, just like they have all year, the defense finished the job. Such a great feeling to have faith in the defensive unit getting it done!
That is by far and away the biggest difference between last year and this year. Last year it seemed the D found ways to lose in the clutch but this year they find ways to win those. It is SUCH a treat to have a D like that, that can step up in crunch time and hold an offense from scoring on the last posession. I should have had more faith in them on that last drive because like he said above, the D had been coming up with game sealers throughout the endof the season and post season.
I was confident the Packers would hold off Pitts at the end. Just thought it would be further down the field in Packers territory. Somewhere around the 5 with 5 seconds to go. Then their last attempt would fail and I would go into cardiac arrest.
But as it was, I was very surprised to see how Pitts fell apart on their last three attempts at mid-field.
Take away the 18 penalty game at Chicago and this team was light years ahead on that compared to last year.
Agree on Detroit being a dangerous team
If they can get OL and DB help there is no reason that team can't compete for a playoff spot in 2011.
They have a really good core group of young players- Pettigrew, Suh, Calvin Johnson, Stafford, Logan (return guy), Delmas, and Best. They have a few good veterans mixed in like Scheffler, Vanden Bosch, etc.
Defensively they were 6th in the league with 44 sacks. They allowed 23 PPG, but that was a little deceiving because they allowed 35 and 45 to Dallas and New England. After those games to finish the year they only allowed about 16-17PPG.
If they can get OL and DB help there is no reason that team can't compete for a playoff spot in 2011.
They have a really good core group of young players- Pettigrew, Suh, Calvin Johnson, Stafford, Logan (return guy), Delmas, and Best. They have a few good veterans mixed in like Scheffler, Vanden Bosch, etc.
Defensively they were 6th in the league with 44 sacks. They allowed 23 PPG, but that was a little deceiving because they allowed 35 and 45 to Dallas and New England. After those games to finish the year they only allowed about 16-17PPG.