Top 2 Points allowed Defenses - Non-factors

[Sez.EJ]

Defense had everything to do with Greenbay winning. Greenbay's D turned the ball over 2 times.. all 3 GB td's came immediately after turnovers.. Pissburghs lack of defensive pressure allowed Rogers to hit recievers in stride nearly the whole game. Rogers 1st TD came against a backup DB when the starter went out..again..defense was a huge factor. Greenbay won the battle of putting more pressure on Pigben making him uncomfortable in the pocket.. Rogers was great but Defense carries the day. It's all a matter of perspective.. balance is the key.. but if your D sucks.. your not going to win big games no matter how good your offense is.

[Brown Warrior]

Oh, absolutely defense matters... but I doubt that the Steelers just stopped being good on defense. They just got beat by a great quarterback, like the Jets got beat by a great quarterback in 2009 when Manning torched them in the AFC title game.

Minus those five ugly drops, a couple that could have gone yard, Rodgers treats the Steelers even worse than Manning treated the Jets. And if anybody is suggesting that those weren't great defenses? I'm missing something.

The Packers have a good defense. But the story is about Aaron Rodgers. He makes throws nobody else can make, puts the ball in those little windows teams like the Steelers allow.

[YtownBacker]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

Oh, absolutely defense matters... but I doubt that the Steelers just stopped being good on defense. They just got beat by a great quarterback, like the Jets got beat by a great quarterback in 2009 when Manning torched them in the AFC title game.

Minus those five ugly drops, a couple that could have gone yard, Rodgers treats the Steelers even worse than Manning treated the Jets. And if anybody is suggesting that those weren't great defenses? I'm missing something.

The Packers have a good defense. But the story is about Aaron Rodgers. He makes throws nobody else can make, puts the ball in those little windows teams like the Steelers allow.

Shep, the story is about Rogers because that is a sexy story. The story should be about the turnovers that got the ball away from the Pitts offense and allowed Rogers have more opportunities from good field positions.

Not saying Rogers wasn't great, but the defense helped him become the spotlight. Without that hit by Mathews I think Pitts wins. That was after the defense already got the team 14 points.

GB gave the league a blue print on how to beat the Steelers. It is putting pressure on Big Ben and making him make mistakes. No team is going to be successful a majority of the time going head to head against that defense. You can get some openings and get some shots but they punish people and take the running game away. Great QBs on a given day can take them down but not on a regular basis.

The best way to beat Pitts is by taking the run away and making Big Ben make mistakes by putting pressure on him and confusing him with coverages. It's not easy that way but GB don't win without those turnovers.

Again, not to take away form a great game by Rogers but the defense put him in position to make those plays.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

GB gave the league a blue print on how to beat the Steelers. It is putting pressure on Big Ben and making him make mistakes. No team is going to be successful a majority of the time going head to head against that defense. You can get some openings and get some shots but they punish people and take the running game away. Great QBs on a given day can take them down but not on a regular basis.

The best way to beat Pitts is by taking the run away and making Big Ben make mistakes by putting pressure on him and confusing him with coverages. It's not easy that way but GB don't win without those turnovers.

Again, not to take away form a great game by Rogers but the defense put him in position to make those plays.

Great points. and in fact it's how the Browns beat the Steelers at the end of Mangini's first season. UNless I blacked out. We didn't have Aaron Rodgers throwing perfect seam routes, and pin point throws. We confused the hell out of Ben and hit him many many times and let our wildcat running game score enough to make the difference.

Now, it's amazing that day that Pitt didn't try to run on us more. I am NOT saying we can do that every time. or any team can. But for that one game, the Browns found a away to get to Ben and force him into mistakes and the Steelers didn't adjust well.

[YtownBacker]

Originally Posted by golfer704u

Great points. and in fact it's how the Browns beat the Steelers at the end of Mangini's first season. UNless I blacked out. We didn't have Aaron Rodgers throwing perfect seam routes, and pin point throws. We confused the hell out of Ben and hit him many many times and let our wildcat running game score enough to make the difference.

Now, it's amazing that day that Pitt didn't try to run on us more. I am NOT saying we can do that every time. or any team can. But for that one game, the Browns found a away to get to Ben and force him into mistakes and the Steelers didn't adjust well.

If Ben has one major flaw it's holding onto the ball too long and trying to make plays when nothing is there. Also, he seems to get away from the run when it's working just for the sake of throwing the ball. Don't get me wrong, they are a good well balanced team but IMO attacking their defense (when they are healthy) isn't a winning formula.

They don't make it easy. LeBeau and Capers are two great DCs.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

If Ben has one major flaw it's holding onto the ball too long and trying to make plays when nothing is there. Also, he seems to get away from the run when it's working just for the sake of throwing the ball. Don't get me wrong, they are a good well balanced team but IMO attacking their defense (when they are healthy) isn't a winning formula.

They don't make it easy. LeBeau and Capers are two great DCs.

Agreed.

[Sez.EJ]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

Shep, the story is about Rogers because that is a sexy story. The story should be about the turnovers that got the ball away from the Pitts offense and allowed Rogers have more opportunities from good field positions.

Not saying Rogers wasn't great, but the defense helped him become the spotlight. Without that hit by Mathews I think Pitts wins. That was after the defense already got the team 14 points.

GB gave the league a blue print on how to beat the Steelers. It is putting pressure on Big Ben and making him make mistakes. No team is going to be successful a majority of the time going head to head against that defense. You can get some openings and get some shots but they punish people and take the running game away. Great QBs on a given day can take them down but not on a regular basis.

The best way to beat Pitts is by taking the run away and making Big Ben make mistakes by putting pressure on him and confusing him with coverages. It's not easy that way but GB don't win without those turnovers.

Again, not to take away form a great game by Rogers but the defense put him in position to make those plays.

+1. Very well said. . Rogers was crazy accurate in the game. I don't mean to take anything away from the guy. but Defense was the key to them winning. Green Bay loses the game without the 3 turnovers..all 3 turned into TD's

[Greythan]

See, this is a toe-may-toe and toe-mah-toe thing.

The single biggest performance I saw in the super bowl was the passing game from Rodgers that directly put those TD's on the scoreboard.

Pittsburgh has turned the ball over before, but often held teams to no points or FG's. That's why they rated tops in points allowed. Rodgers changed all that.

So, yes the GB defense made some key plays to give the ball to Rodgers. However, the bigger story was Rodgers eating up the strength of the Pittsburgh team: its ability to keep teams from scoring TD's.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by Greythan

See, this is a toe-may-toe and toe-mah-toe thing.

The single biggest performance I saw in the super bowl was the passing game from Rodgers that directly put those TD's on the scoreboard.

Pittsburgh has turned the ball over before, but often held teams to no points or FG's. That's why they rated tops in points allowed. Rodgers changed all that.

So, yes the GB defense made some key plays to give the ball to Rodgers. However, the bigger story was Rodgers eating up the strength of the Pittsburgh team: its ability to keep teams from scoring TD's.

Green Bay's defense scored by itself that's the difference to me. What was the final score again? what happens without that TD return?

[Riceloft]

Originally Posted by golfer704u

Green Bay's defense scored by itself that's the difference to me. What was the final score again? what happens without that TD return?

With the way Green Bay's offense was playing, and where on the field that INT happened, I think the odds favor a GB TD either way.

[YtownBacker]

Originally Posted by Greythan

See, this is a toe-may-toe and toe-mah-toe thing.

The single biggest performance I saw in the super bowl was the passing game from Rodgers that directly put those TD's on the scoreboard.

Pittsburgh has turned the ball over before, but often held teams to no points or FG's. That's why they rated tops in points allowed. Rodgers changed all that.

So, yes the GB defense made some key plays to give the ball to Rodgers. However, the bigger story was Rodgers eating up the strength of the Pittsburgh team: its ability to keep teams from scoring TD's.

Not disputing that Rogers had a super game but those turnovers didn't just put GB in position to score but they also took opportunities away from Pitts to score and limited their running game that GB was having a hard time stopping.

All in all, it shows you have to be able to do it on both sides of the ball. Also, teams that turn the ball have a real good chance of losing. Turnovers kill.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

Not disputing that Rogers had a super game but those turnovers didn't just put GB in position to score but they also took opportunities away from Pitts to score and limited their running game that GB was having a hard time stopping.

All in all, it shows you have to be able to do it on both sides of the ball. Also, teams that turn the ball have a real good chance of losing. Turnovers kill.

Exactly.

To Grey. It's not Tomato vs Tomahto.

It's Tomato vs a great Spagetti Sauce....

We're saying it takes BOTH. Niether one is that much more important than the other. To me the story of the Super Bowl is that the Packers have built a superior football TEAM to the Steelers. Not which one single part was responsible.