A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
The Super Bowl is always filled with great stories. Some are tales of great competition while others are of awful halftime shows and fans not getting a seat after paying hundreds of dollars. Super Bowl XLV was no exception.
One of the more compelling stories of this year’s Super Bowl revolved around Charles Woodson, who – despite have to leave the game with an injury – finally achieved what he always wanted to achieve: become a Super Bowl champion.
Charles Woodson was the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy – beating out none other than Peyton Manning to do it. He was picked #4 overall in the 1998 draft. He has been named to seven Pro Bowls, three All Pro First Teams, three All Pro Second Teams, and was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2009.
Yet, despite all of these accomplishments, I’ve always felt that Woodson has been one of the most underrated football players of my lifetime.
Perhaps it is completely illogical and totally contradictory to list such a bevy of accomplishments and then in the next sentence claim that Charles Woodson is underrated. Perhaps. I think it’s more a testament to just how great Charles Woodson is that, at least in the consciousness of fans, as interpreted by me, his consistent greatness has been underappreciated.
Anyway, lauding Charles Woodson for his career achievements was not the original purpose of this post (although perhaps it should be the purpose of a future post…). Rather, the purpose of this post is to highlight a great post-game speech by Woodson on Sunday after the NFC Championship Game.
[With the preseason finally concluding in the NFL, it seems as good a time as any to finish previewing the upcoming season, mainly the division of most importance to me: the NFC North. This week: The Green Bay Packers.
Previous previews: Detroit Lions. Chicago Bears. Minnesota Vikings.]
Way back in January, I remember watching the Wild Card playoff game between the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers alone in my house. I’m not sure exactly why I was alone, but there I was – just me and a stash of Leinenkugel’s Original beer.
I do not like Leinenkugel’s Original beer. That didn’t matter though after the Packers ended the first quarter with two turnovers, down 17-0. It also didn’t matter after a brief foray into a comeback that the Cardinals quickly shot down, as they went up 31-10 in the third.
No, at those points in the day, Leinie’s was my one and only true friend in this world. It might’ve been the only thing keeping my heart from punching its way out of my chest during the rest of that freaking game.
[Editor's note: This has been a week of new writers and today I'm pleased to introduce yet another new contributor to the site: Griffin Gotta, formerly the editor of the student newspaper at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Griffin will be covering the Packers and Bucks and get his MSF archive started with a peek inside the football-obsessed mind of a Packers fan.]
Despite what it may begin to feel like on your neighborhood ESPN Family of Everything, training camp is not the start of the NFL season in the football world.
Training camp, in my hometown of Green Bay at least, is millionaire grown men, spectacular athletes – if we forget Tyrone Davis from a few years back – stuffing themselves into dorm rooms like the ones I used to occupy (though they’re probably not attempting to sneak beer in via duffle bags), hunkering down, and getting re-acquainted with hitting one another, which one believes doesn’t take all that long.
There just isn’t much to say about it other than that. Sure, there are the position battles, the question marks, the rookies and the holdouts, but we don’t see too much of that. We see and read the daily results and ultimately what the coaches decide, then we get ready for the real stuff.
Featured in today’s link dump is MSF’s all-time favorite whipping boy: Braylon “Dropsie” Edwards, who is immortalized in a post by Major League Jerk doing what Braylon does best…dropping passes.
Also, Charles Woodson is named AP DOY, why the best dunkers in college basketball seem to come from the small conferences, and a link to poll where you can choose the best Conan O’Brien lookalike.
After the Green Bay Packers won seven of their final eight games this regular season, with their only loss coming on a last-second throw by Ben Roethlisberger, it’s no surprise to see them as a No. 5 seed preparing to face the Arizona Cardinals this weekend.
At the start of 2009, however, few pundits predicted that fate.
The Packers, their young and improving offense and still questionable defense were supposed to be at least a year or two away from contention. Yet, here they are at the end of the season playing as well as anyone in the league.
And as the defending NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals – the Packers’ first round opponent on Sunday – can testify, getting hot at the right time is what playoff success is all about.
Last night I had a very entertaining Twitter conversation with our good friend Robert Littal of Black Sports Online regarding who should be the NFL MVP in 2009.
Robert is a strong proponent of Titans’ running back Chris Johnson, and with good reason. Johnson had one of the most statistically impressive seasons of an any player at any position in NFL history.
I took a little bit of a different view, stating that Johnson’s position (RB) and his team’s record (8-8 and out of the playoffs) puts him at a reasonable disadvantage in comparison to quarterbacks, who play a much a tougher position, who have terrific individual seasons while leading their teams to 12-, 13-, 14-win seasons.
And we had three such quarterbacks this year, all of whom I rank ahead of CJ when it comes to the 2009 NFL MVP voting.
The St. Louis Rams host the Green Bay Packers Sunday in their home opener. The Rams are winless through two weeks, losing 28-0 to Seattle, and 9-7 to Washington. The Packers are 1-1 following a 21-15 win over Chicago, and a 31-24 loss to Cincinnati.
Here is the TV and odds info for this weekend’s game:
There may be more Packers fans at the Edward Jones Dome than Rams fans with thousands of Packers faithful traveling to see their team. Couple that with disappointed Rams season ticket holders selling their seats, and you’ve got another version of “Lambeau South,” as the Dome was referred to two years ago when Green Bay came to town and left with a lopsided victory.
If the Rams expect to stay close and have a chance to win at the end, they must do these three things.
Where did the high-powered offense go?
Where is this vaunted Packers defense?
For the second straight week, the Green Bay offense was inconsistent. The defense, which bailed the Packers out against Chicago, couldn’t stop the run in their 31-24 loss to Cincinnati Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field.
Bears castoff Cedric Benson looked like a Pro Bowler while gashing the Packers defense for 141 yards on 29 carries. It was pretty clear the Packers still have some issues against the run, and they’re still without first-round pick B.J. Raji, who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury.
The Bengals were also 9-of-14 on third down conversions as the Packers defense even allowed a third-and-34 conversion late in the second quarter.
Instead of punting from its own end zone, Cincinnati then had the ball near midfield. One play later Chad Ochocinco burnt Jarrett Bush for a 44-yard gain. That led to a controversial touchdown for Carson Palmer on a quarterback sneak.
The official who initially signaled for the touchdown had his vision of the play obstructed by Ochocinco. Although replays appeared to show that not only that the ball did not break the plain, but Palmer also fumbled as he raised the ball up over the heap of bodies.
Referee Ed Hochuli called it a touchdown, the first of two crucial mistakes he made. The second came in the game’s waning seconds.
With the Packers trailing 31-24 with 10 seconds remaining, Donald Driver caught his sixth pass over the middle at the Cincinnati 10. The Packers rushed to the line, and the ball was snapped with a second remaining, and before a pair of Bengals were able to get back on their side of the line of scrimmage. A flag was thrown, and the assumption was for offsides.
Instead, Hochuli’s crew ruled that tight end Jermichael Finley was not set and moved early.
Hochuli’s explanation was that time expired before the ball was snapped, which was false, but “even if the ball was snapped before time expired, there was a false start on the play, which requires a 10-second runoff. The game is over.”
The loss overshadowed a stellar performance from Charles Woodson, who picked off Palmer twice, returning one for a touchdown to give Green Bay a 21-14 lead in the second. He also led the team with nine tackles, seemingly being the only defensive player to show up to play.
Backup defensive backs Aaron Rouse and Jarrett Bush were both forced into more playing time because of injuries to starting safeties Atari Bigby and Nick Collins, who left early in the second quarter.
As poorly as the Packers played on defense, the offensive line was worse. Green Bay (1-1) managed just 89 rushing yards – 43 of which came on four Aaron Rodgers scrambles, and Rodgers was sacked six times. Five of those sacks came from Cincinnati defensive end Antwan Odom, who now has seven sacks in two games.
Odom abused the Packers line, especially after tackle Chad Clifton was carted off the field with an ankle injury. Whether he was lined up over Allen Barbre or Daryn Colledge, Odom was in Rodgers’ face the entire game.
Not helping Rodgers were the receivers, who dropped six passes as Rodgers finished 21-of-39 for 261 yards and a three-yard touchdown toss to Driver in the first. Driver led the Packers with six catches for 99 yards, but Greg Jennings was held without a catch.
The Driver score tied the game at 7-7 after the Bengals (1-1) scored on their opening possession. Palmer and Benson easily led them downfield, averaging 10 yards per play before a 5-yard touchdown pass to Laveranues Coles.
Woodson’s first interception set up a four-yard touchdown run from Ryan Grant, who struggled to find holes for the second straight week. He finished with 46 yards on 14 carries, a 3.3-yard average, and a crucial fumble that led to Cincinnati’s go-ahead score in the third.
The Packers special teams also struggled, giving up punt returns of 60 and 32 from rookie Quan Cosby that both led to scores. Mason Crosby also badly missed a 55-yard field goal.
Both teams played sloppy football. Cincinnati was flagged 13 times for 100 yards while the Packers had 11 penalties for 76 yards.
The Packers were a nine-point favorite, but the linemen were flat on both sides of the ball. With the St. Louis Rams and Steven Jackson next on the schedule, if the Packers don’t figure out how to stop the run, they could fall victim to another disappointing upset.
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* – Mike McCarthy photo credit: The Red Zone Report
