Today: Oct 07, 2024

Strap on the belt Rodgers, you earned it

Pete Paguaga, Sports Editor-
What else could you, as a fan, have asked for from this game?  A one-possession game with less than two minutes left.  Big Ben Roethlisberger, who had already led his team to a comeback victory with two minutes left against the Arizona Cardinals a mere two seasons ago, couldn’t deliver on the final drive.
On fourth down with five yards to go, and the game on the line, Mike Wallace wasn’t able to haul in a Roethlisberger pass, even though there might have been contact, and the chances for a Steelers victory ended with that play.  Rodgers knelt on the ball two times and the first ever Super Bowl Champions, brought the Lombardi Trophy back where it belonged, to Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Right off the bat it looked like the Packers would be taking home the Lombardi Trophy as they led 14-0 after the first quarter.  But Big Ben and the Steelers fought back, cutting their deficit to only 11 points at halftime.  Even though the Steelers outscored the Packers in the second half, it wasn’t enough.
Aaron Rodgers played like the quarterback that Packers General Manager Ted Thompson thought he would be, when he decided to let Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre go.  He proved all of the naysayers wrong and led the sixth seeded Packers to a Super Bowl Championship.
The Packers played to their strengths only running the ball 13 times the whole game, leaving the Steel Curtain’s run defense in shambles.  They threw the ball 39 times and let their best player, Rodgers, take over the game.
Whether or not Troy Polamalu was 100 percent healthy or not, might be the reason it seemed as if Rodgers was just having a good ole time picking the Steelers’ pass defense apart.  Rodgers didn’t turn the ball over once the entire game, and never once did a Packers fan jump out of his chair and say “oh no” when the ball left Rodger’s hand.
With all the injuries the Packers faced all year, losing their starting running back, Ryan Grant in week one, starting tight end Jermichael Finley and starting middle linebacker Nick Barnett, the Packers weren’t phased.  They even lost their number two receiver and leader in the clubhouse Donald Driver and former defensive player of the year Charles Woodson during the Super Bowl, but they kept on playing their game.
They didn’t sit around and feel sorry for themselves, they went out and won football games.  That is what made them successful this season, they had depth.  Their backups were ready to play when their numbers were called.  That is what takes teams from good to great.  Strap on that belt Rodgers, you and your teammates deserve it.  In the wise words of coaching great Vince Lombardi, “teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn’t do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another,” and indeed these Packers do.

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