The Green Bay Packers arrived in Dallas today and what happens between now and Sunday may play as much into the outcome of the game as all the game planning in the world will. Can the young and inexperienced Packers handle all the pressure that will be put on them by the media and clock on the wall that only inches it’s way to kickoff?
The Pittsburgh Steelers have 25 players on their roster with Super Bowl experience compared to the Packers three. The Packers already have taken heat for the team photo fiasco that has headlined the coverage so far. Even the Steelers are laughing, as LaMarr Woodley Tweeted “LOL, that would never happen on our team.”
I do admit though the Packers need to zip it! Number one, what it is about Nick Barnett and Jermichael Finley that they can’t keep their mouthes shut? I have had about enough of both of them. Barnett is old and Desmond Bishop has replaced him, so only a backup job remains for him. Finley is a China doll in the same mold as the Lions’ Matthew Stafford, one hit and he’s out. Just shut up and help the team get you a ring already!
Certainly PhotoGate will be a topic of media day tomorrow so I would hope head coach Mike McCarthy gave them the answers to use in his lay-down of the law to the team about the expectations he has for them this week. Better not be any EugeneRobinson’s on this team.
I think how the Packers handle tomorrow will give us a better bead on how they are approaching the biggest game of their careers. I hope the players are themselves but I hope they all have the same message in the end – it’s all about winning the game. That fine line of enjoying the experience while still focusing on the game plan and doing the work you need to do is a tough one to find. McCarthy has done a great job in the playoffs of finding it and needs to do it one more time for the Packers to win.
My first take on the game has me worried about the Steelers’ experience. That and the ability to stop the Steelers’ offense are my initial concerns. This is really a great matchup, almost identical defenses with great quarterbacks on offense. The Steelers have the edge at running back based purely on experience, but James Starks’ emergence in the playoffs evens that out a little.
One minute I think it will be a low scoring game and the next I think it will be a shootout. Common sense says a low scoring game because you have the two best defenses in the league in that department. I just wonder if playing against that defense in practice every day might mean we could be heading to a another 37-36 type game like the last time the two teams met.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings, hopefully no more controversy. Talk to you then.