And so we come to SUPERBOWL XLV.. The centrepiece and grand finale to a thrilling season of pigskin-throwing. Let's get one thing straight: I'm excited. Extremely excited. Salivating, in fact. My keyboard is somewhat slippery...
When the teams for the championship round were decided I knew there was only one match-up for me, and that is indeed the match-up we find out ourselves looking at for this monday morning: the Green Bay Packers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.
THE UNEDUCATED ANALYSIS
Essentially this game boils down to this: the Packers have an astonishing array of offensive weapons, and the Steelers have an iron wall defensive unit that has won Superbowls in recent seasons. Offense versus Defense. The Irresistible Force versus the Immovable Object.
Both teams played terrific first halves last week only to let their opponents claw their way back into the contest. Green Bay in particular should be concerned with the way they let Chicago's third-string QB dictate terms and make plays late in the NFC Championship. Pittsburgh's first half in the AFC Championship was as good a half of football as I have seen all year. It was an utter and complete domination of a Jets team who were riding high after knocking out the hot favourite Patriots, and proof that the Steelers have a Superbowl-winning offense as well as a defense. However, they too let their opponents back in, and the Jets almost obliged by stealing the game.
PREDICTION
It's a tough one to predict. It seems, on the face of it, to be a very even contest. My gut says Steelers. The bookmakers say Green Bay, with them leading betting favouritsm at $1.71, with the Steelers sitting at the ASTONISHING price of $2.17 (Sportingbet). That is great value for the Steelers, especially given their Superbowl experience.
So the match (AKA bold predictions that are pretty much guesses): I'll take the Steelers in a close one. A low-scoring first half followed by a more offensively-dominated second half. I predict the team losing at half-time will win in the end, and I believe the difference between the two teams will come down to a couple of big defensive plays. For Green Bay, possibly Clay Matthews tearing through the defense and hitting Big Ben with a couple of hearty and vigourous SACKS. And for Pittsburgh, Troy Polumalu sniffing out a big interception with the game on the line.
Go forth, drink American beverages, gamble with semi-recklessness, eat footstuffs that will clog your arteries, and celebrate all that is ludicriously American on a monday morning. It's probably the only monday of the year you will do such things, so do it well.
EPIC!
