I needed some mental floss to clear out all the stupid factoids
America's biggest party spotlights its two most storied franchises (and most annoying fan bases - excepting perhaps the Cowboys and Jets). Between them - the Steelers and Packers played in 11
of the last 44 Super Bowls - a full 25% and won 9 (over 20%). After tomorrow that will be 10 wins in 45 Super Bowls. Amazingly - for as much success as these teams have had - they have never played each other in the playoffs. (If you want to win a bar bet - ask who was the last team to beat Vince Lombardi. Answer - a 4-9-1 Pittsburgh team. Green Bay had locked up a playoff spot an was playing their second and third stringers).
And these two versions are no flukes. They got here the old fashioned way - with their defenses. Pittsburgh had the number 2 defense this year while Green Bay finished fifth. The offenses were very good but not great as the Steelers were number 14th in yards per game and Green Bay 9th.
of the last 44 Super Bowls - a full 25% and won 9 (over 20%). After tomorrow that will be 10 wins in 45 Super Bowls. Amazingly - for as much success as these teams have had - they have never played each other in the playoffs. (If you want to win a bar bet - ask who was the last team to beat Vince Lombardi. Answer - a 4-9-1 Pittsburgh team. Green Bay had locked up a playoff spot an was playing their second and third stringers).
And these two versions are no flukes. They got here the old fashioned way - with their defenses. Pittsburgh had the number 2 defense this year while Green Bay finished fifth. The offenses were very good but not great as the Steelers were number 14th in yards per game and Green Bay 9th.
Making a pick on this game has not been easy. My initial reaction was to take the Pittsburgh as the game seemed a toss up so why not take the points (by the way - its the first time the NFC has been favored in 9 years). Also, with these defenses I leaned towards the under. Further analyses just muddied an already muddled mind. I must have changed my mind a couple of dozen times over the past two weeks. Here are some of the factoids I wrestled
with: ·
with: ·
- Green Bay is fantastic in domes - the last two playoff games they played inside they scored 48 on Atlanta (drats) and 45 on Arizona.
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Green Bay's running game was anemic (finishing 24th) until the James Starks started lighting it up during he playoffs. Can he give Green Bay the balance they need against a Pittsburgh defense (number 1 against the run) that has not allowed a 100 yd runner in 50 straight games.
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Pittsburgh passing defense ranked 12th in yards allowed but it was against subpar passing teams. Over the last nine games they have only faced one team ranked higher than 15th on passing. Green Bay is going to be one stiff test - especially of their running game is stuffed.
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Meanwhile, Green Bay finished fifth in passing defense while facing 8 teams in the top half of the league over
their last 13 games.
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Injuries can play a major role in the game. Pittsburgh's all pro center Maurkice Pouncey is questionable. His replacement Doug Legursky has been serviceable but mishandled a snap at the goal line against the Jets costing the Steelers a safety. Green Bay's BJ Raji maybe more than he can handle. The last time a starting center missed the Super Bowl - Oakland's Barret Robbins went AWOL on a drinking binge in Tijuana. Tampa Bay crushed the Raiders 48-21.
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Refs can influence a game too. The referee for the game is Walt Anderson - who has been known to call a tight game and lots of pass interferences. Tough to get the under with ticky tacky stuff being called. Add to that - Pittsburgh offense line lead the league with 35 holding penalties on the year while Green Bay had only 14.
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Then again - special teams can blow up an under too - but neither Pittsburgh or Green Bay has scored a TD on a punt return. Pittsburgh did score a TD on a KR this year while Green Bay was goose egged in this category too.
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Perhaps the most amazing stat about Green Bay is that they never trailed by more than seven points - something that has not happened during the Super Bowl era. - Even before the game begins you can bet on how long Christina Aguilera will take to sing the National Anthem. Based on her performance during the NBA finals the line was set at 1:54. Of course she did a 1:13 at age 11 to open a Pirates game. I'll pass
How many times will the show Jerry Jones during the game - I like the under of 2.5
But I also like the over of 3 for how many times they will mention Brett Farve.
Each kicker in the game has a 1.5 over/under on FGs scored and 7.5 total points scored. Since I like the defenses and the over I'll go with all four overs.
Speaking of kickers - you can get 10/1 on a punter hitting the Jumbotron.
For Nick there is - total goals in the Chelsea Liverpool game getting 0.5 versus the total number of FGs by the Packers and Steelers.
They have one for Woz too - total goals in the Caps/Pens game getting 3.5 versus the total number of punts by the Packers and Steelers
For the rest of us Spartan fans there is - total number of points, rebounds and assists by Kalin Lucas straight up against the number of completions by Roethlisberger.
And to keep your interest throughout the game you can bet on the color of the Gatorade. Blue is 10/1; clear/water is 7/2; Green 6/1; Orange 7/4; Red 5/1 and Yellow 8/5. What the hell - its the Packers so I'll go with Green at 6/1. So enjoy the game - it's should be a dandy. I will be kicking back some Tullamore Dew so I'll be enjoying the game no matter what happens.
So after weighing all the facts I did a double 180 - no wait that would be a 360 and I would be right back where I started. My head is beginning to hurt
I decided to do two 180's completely going against my initial thoughts and ending up taking Green Bay -2.5 and Over 44.5. In the end I am an NFC guy at heart so I took the Packers and I like Aaron Rodgers on a
fast track to put up points.
Of course, no Super Bowl would be complete without prop bets and advertisements (you can even do prop bets on the advertisements)
Some of my favorite prop bets are (no mega bets on the props - just putting down some walking around money to make things fun):