No fan can ever be sure how a game will end up, but at least going into it this year’s Super Bowl is perhaps the all-time classic matchup of hard core, old style, rock’em, sock’em National Football League play.
Two of the most storied franchises in the NFL will hit it off in Dallas—perhaps only the Chicago Bears and New York Giants have the same level of history as these two clubs.
The Steelers have won the most Super Bowls ever, while the Packers have the most overall championships in pro football history.
Both teams play hard, tough, physical football, and are symbolic of what postseason play has come to be.
They come from cities that are rock solid in terms of values and hard work, and in no way are suggestive of anything cool or chic.
People know that the Lombardi Trophy is what the winner of this game gets to claim, but sometimes one forgets that the trophy is actually named after a real person, in this case the legendary coach whose Packers teams won the first two Super Bowl games.
I remember watching how Green Bay dismantled the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I when the Chiefs were a dominant American Football League team, following it up the next year with a pasting of the Oakland Raiders.
But pro football is about constant adjustments and the AFL adjusted quickly with wins by the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings in the next two championship games, bringing parity to the Super Bowl and to the pro football merger itself.
The Steelers of course had a woeful pro history until the “Immaculate Reception” catch by Franco Harris to defeat the Raiders and advance to a championship game loss at Miami—but that catch established the foundation for Pittsburgh’s now illustrious pro football history.
When the Packers played their first season it was 1921 and the NFL was in its second year of play. They finished 3-2-1 in a ramshackle 21-team league that featured teams playing as many games as 12 and as few as one—the Tonawanda Kardex (I do not know where Tonawanda is, and I don’t know what a Kardex is, either), but they played one game and lost it in 1921.
There was no championship game played in those days, they just finished the season and moved on.
The Pittsburgh Steelers began play in 1933, when the NFL was actually taking shape as the league we would recognize today. That was the first year of two divisions, and Pittsburgh finished last in the five-team Eastern Division with a 3-6-2 record while the Packers finished third in the West with a 5-7-1 mark.
Gone by this time were teams such as the Louisville Colonels, Hammond Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Columbus Tigers, Racine Tornadoes, Dayton Triangles, Akron Indians, Milwaukee Badgers, and Hartford Blues, with just as many forgotten teams left off this list as actually noted. Suffice it to say early pro football was a very tough but rag tag assortment of teams and players that came and went as quickly as the day’s receipts were tallied and split out of the cigar box.
The great and legendary (he was both) Art Rooney, whom I am proud to say I had the great fortune to meet in the earliest years of my career, eventually purchased the Steelers after a particularly good day at the horse races.
The team that was purchased with racing winnings had very rough beginnings, failing to make the playoffs in the first 39 years of its existence—imagine, 39 straight years out of the playoffs, and now they are renowned as royalty, and there is no mosre respected ownership in the NFL. Art’s son Dan not only is the primary owner within the family structure bur serves as the American ambassador to Ireland.
The Packers had claimed 11 NFL championships before the Steelers ever made their first playoff appearance.
But the Steelers, as we all know, have been a dominant team since then.
No two franchises have a hold on any more history than do these two, and Super Bowl Sunday will be a legitimate, genuine throwback clash worthy of the NFL’s beginnings.
This year’s Super Bowl is a throwback to that era of legendary teams and legendary players as well.
Tags: Super Bowl XLV
Bowers plays against weaker ACC Defenses too.
If a Defensive player has big #s in the SEC,it’s against big time Defenses,not trying to knock Bowers tho.
Well gotta go take a shower bro,Bronc on!
D-lineman all the way for our pick. We can’t afford not to. Fairley, Bowers, or Darius all the way.
It would be so much easier to figure out who we pick if the QB Luck was coming out. Carolina would seem to pick him, then we could pick anyone we really wanted. But, that’s not happening, so we have to try and figure out who Carolina wants to pick.
All the drafts that have us picking a CB is just stupid. We have an immediate need for d-linemen more than CB, especially if we resign Champ, which we really need to do. I think that our front 7 would look good with this alignment:
DE: Dumervil
DT: Fairley/Darius
DT: Bannan/Fields
DE: Ayers
RLB: Hagan/DJ (If we draft an MLB)
MLB: Matthews (I hope)/DJ
LLB: Woodyard/another LB we draft
A rough draft mock, but it looks pretty good if we get a good DT and if we get the LB Matthews from Oregon. The best 2 picks of our draft, probably.
Bay,
I finally got a chance to reply to one of your posts from this morning about Dareus. And if you ask me, he wouldn’t be a stretch at #2 at all. I think the only reason he’s dropped on most boards is because guys like Fairley and Bowers have been generating a lot of hype and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. But I’ve watched Dareus closely for most of the past two seasons and there hasn’t even been a slight dropoff in his play during that time. It’s just that all the attention the other guys are getting are making people forget about Dareus. In my opinion he is a much safer bet than either Bowers or Fairely. Bowers came out of nowhere this year and Fairley has a questionable work ethic at best. Dareus on the other hand has stayed consistent and kept his mouth shut. I think he’d be an awesome pick.
I really have no idea why I’m such a big fan of the guy but the eye test tells me he will be the most comfortable of the three main DL prospects stepping into the NFL next year.
Like I said, that’s just my take, but I’m a huge Dareus fan.
88,bro I been preaching Dareus too,look at the last page!
Fairley or Dareus!…….no Bowers for me!
*Offenses.
Wow man I was looking through your posts on Dareus on the last page but I stopped half way because there were about 30 of them. LOL. But yeah man I agree 100%. I really wouldn’t take the mocks too seriously. Those are always wrong on most picks and I truly believe a lot of the Bowers/Fairley hype is overrated. Dareus has been dominating for a couple years straight but everyone has forgotten because Bowers had a great year and Fairley was nasty in the National Championship. But mark my words, with Dareus it’s not an all of the sudden thing. He’s just plain solid and consistent.
Yeah I remember the BCS last year,he knocked McCoy outta the game with a THUD! and he had a 6 pick too!remember all the hype about Mt. Cody,and then Dareus took the BCS Defensive MVP!!!
He might not have had 11 sacks like Fairley ,but he had 5 sacks in like 10 games,Fairley played in 14 games I think.
Dareus is solid,I’ve seen him play.
*pick 6
BFE, I didn`t know that was Dareus who knocked out Colt McCoy out of the 2009 Bowl Game. I remember the play. I watched that game. We have three months to gab about Fairley, Dareus, Bowers, or Peterson. Repeats, repeats, repeats. It`s fun though. Exciting to know who we might pick up.
Like I posted earlier I’d take either guy to build a Defense around!
strand,a loooooong 3 months to argue who we want,lol.
Oh ya, that game was the BCS Game in 2009. Forgot which Bowl it was. LOL
Ya poor McCoy, LOL. And those stats don’t bother me at all. Fairley’s strength is the inside pass rush. Dareus’ strength is stopping the run, so his stats will never be as glamorous. But if we want to go back to the basics with running the ball on O and stopping the run on D, then Dareus fits that description much better than either Bowers or Fairley.
Plus if that Fairley line about not wanting to play in snow is true, I’m not so sure I’d want him. We need the kind of guy who’s willing to play in snow, rain, a tornado, a firestorm, an earthquake, on the moon, on the sun…anywhere, any conditions. And to me that guy is Dareus.
LMAO! It`s like a woman anticipating the three months she has left until she finally gives birth. It`s like, lets get this over with already. I want to get this over with now. LMAO AGAIN!!
How I would describe the three big DL prospects:
Bowers: extremely talented, but a bit inconsistent.
Fairley: extremely talented, but a bit of a diva.
Dareus: extremely talented, but just a pure football player, plain and simple.
If I haven’t made myself clear, Dareus is my guy, haha.
Now all you have to do is convince Elway,Fox,and Xman,LOL.
I’ll take either one,I was worried we wouldn’t get the inside guy I wanted,now there are 2 inside guys Fairley and Dareus,Carolina can’t draft both,LOL.
I just think if we go back to a 4-3 Doom and Ayers will play DE,so we need a solid DT!
88, I love it bro! Thats poetry! Hilarious!
Some people create mock drafts, I create mock haikus and mock sonnets, LOL.
I mentioned earlier since Paea DT got his ACL torn he will drop from the 1st round,might be a great pick up for a team willing to risk a 2nd or 3rd round pick on an injured player.He has great potential!
And we know a thing or two about drafting injured players!
Is it a complete tear, and doe`s he need surgery?
Yeah we drafted Thomas 1st round and Decker 3rd round,both were hurt!
I know, I couldn’t believe McD did that. But I actually didn’t have that much of a problem with it because I think both guys have great potential, especially Decker. Thomas seems like Mr. Glass to me. Hopefully he can stay healthy in the future.
still waiting on the M.R.I.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CDoQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfldraftscout.com%2Fratings%2Fdsprofile.php%3Fpyid%3D83921%26draftyear%3D2011%26genpos%3DDT&rct=j&q=stephen%20paea%20oregon%20state&ei=SKw_TbiLMMnVgQfo4OWwAw&usg=AFQjCNEaoaX9m1fS7r95xw0HWFNzsGFcCA&cad=rja
Still wished we woulda drafted Pouncey instead of Thomas.
Cool. Cool.
Ya, Pouncey would have been amazing! I’m still rooting for Thomas though, I think he’s a nice kid.
And believe it or not I have faith in JD Walton as our center. He was inconsistent last year but he was a rookie after all. I think he can be pretty good down the road.
They have him rated as the 3rd DT after Fairley or Dareus,might be worth taking a chance on him,with a 2nd or 3rd round pick?
Yeah but Walton is nowhere near as athletic as Pouncey,but under the zoneblocking scheme we will see how Walton does,I think he’ll be a good Center,but Pouncey is already a great one,ProBowl his 1st year!
Thomas has great potential tho,just hope he stays healthy,and earns his pay!
If it`s a half a tear, I say go for it. Get him in a later round. I feel bad for the young man.
I think Thomas and Walton will be fine. Thomas doe`s need to stay healthy though. I`m sure he will.
Yeah I feel bad for the poor guy too,but like a bunch of hungry wolves,teams will be salivating to see who can get him with a lower pick!
That’s the NFL.
Yeah BFE, I’m just saying a rookie center making the Pro Bowl is a really rare thing. So yes, Pouncey is amazing no doubt about it. But most of the all-time great centers went through growing pains for a year or two because it’s the hardest position to play on the line mentally coming into the NFL. So they all usually have some ups and downs early on. That’s why I think Walton will actually be very good one day. At least I hope so!
You know I was thinking,since Thomas played for Georgia Tech in college,and they ran the ball most of the time,he should be great at run blocking as a WR.We will need his experience to help our running game and his great down the field speed,along with Lloyd,we should have a potent Offense,IMO.
Ya BFE, last year all the draft experts said Thomas was the best blocking receiver in the draft! We saw a little bit of it this year but not much since we didn’t run the ball much. But I think he will be a big part of our running game now.
Just like Eddie Mac
Man I can’t wait to see Tebow getting the reps with the A team this spring,knowing he’s gonna be our starting QB,I bet he is stoked beyond belief,and Damn sure ready for the challenge,It’s great to be a Bronco fan and actually have something to look forward to,it’s been a while!
Elway,A new coaching staff,the draft,Doom getting healthy,4-3 Defense,zoneblocking Offense,man things are looking UP!!!!
spaces.spaces.spaces???????
Yeah Eddie Mac was fearless over the middle,never seen anybody like him,Stokely reminded me of him,glad to see him have a good playoff game.
Stoked about how Stokely did in the playoffs.
I was just wondering how are LBs will do in a 4-3,Doom and Ayers may go back to DE.
That leaves DJ,Haggan,Woodyard,Hunter,Mays,but we need a MLB in the draft,like Greg Jones or Clay Matthews little bro!
I’d hate to make it sound even worse, but Woodyard is a FA and Hunter will go back to DE in the 4-3, his natural position. That actually leaves just DJ, Haggan and Mays. So LB is definitely something we need to address. I say sign James Anderson the ex-panther, then draft either Jones or Matthews like you said. That would almost solve that problem completely.
Yea, I say if the Panthers get Fairley then we trade a couple of picks back to number 3-5 and pick up an extra second. Dareus will still be there and we can pick him up and obtain an extra pick. If we do that, and get a 2nd for Orton, then we would have 4 second round draft picks! That would give us the chance to draft Rudolph, Greg Jones, Matthews, Paea. Haha, wouldn’t that be an extremely nice second round. We could also draft Ahmad Black there or that other safety and pick up a second round corner…
That would be amazing to have a 1st round pick and 4 2nd round picks!!! We could easily have a top 10 defense with those guys right there!
I still think Bowers is the best, it just seems like we have no need for a DE with both Doom and Ayers on the roster. But don’t count Bowers out, He is Julius Peppers Jr and we all know who drafted Peppers, yup Fox. And when did he draft Peppers? The year he became the HC in his first draft. TRB out..
Also regarding the speed, you can watch videos of Fairley and Dareus and I can say by just watching that Fairley is quicker than Dareus. Fairley looks to have more acceleration and seems to not get worn down so easily than Dareus. I guess we can really debate about it whenever the combine gets here and we can have all the official stats to look at.
1nOnlyTRB…
Also like some of us have said, we should sign Johnson from Carolina who had 11.5 sacks last year and is only 24 and that would put the need for a DE for Carolina in even greater jeopardy. They would HAVE to draft DE then and they would most likely draft Bowers.
It’s good to know a coach finally picked us over another team:
Allen also interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles after meeting with Fox on Friday in Charlotte, N.C. After considering offers from the Eagles and Broncos, and talking it over with his wife, Allen said he felt the Broncos provided a “great situation” that was a “better fit.”
Thanks for all the inputs about Dareus last night, two months ago I thought we should go Fairley or Dareus right along with BFE, and then the “hype” started going the Bowers way some, but going back to the 43 means we’ll have Doom and Ayers on the outside so the position of need now is much more in the middle, so Fairley or Dareus or vice versa would be the way to go. Final answer! LOL.
Bottom line is looking at it this way is a terrific way to go since there is no need to worry about who the Panthers will pick since we have two options, I like it very much.
BTW, DC Allen played at safety at Texas AM. Texas roots abound in football…