Given the Steelers thrive on their balanced attack, the nod for out-and-out receiving prowess has to go to Green Bay, who are, if nothing else, an aerial unit.
Greg Jennings and Donald Driver provide Aaron Rodgers with two of the very best deep threats in the league. They are tall, rangy, speedy, and possess sticky hands – perfect weapons in a game that could be decided or saved by a last-minute Hail Mary drive.
Although most of a team’s passing success can be attributed to the play and composure – especially in big games – of the Quarterback, every so often a great passer and a great pass-catcher come together to create something special. A good receiver can make a difference on his own, but it will be limited by the positions his QB puts him in. With Rodgers and Jennings, the Packers have a combo to rival the modern day tandems of Brady and Welker, Schaub and Johnson, Rivers and Jackson, and past master-duos such as Aikman and Irvine, Montana and Rice, and Warner and Fitzgerald.
What the Packers don’t want to do – as I believe the Jets did – is underestimate the consistency and toughness of the Pittsburgh pass-catchers. When the Jets kicked the ball away in the fourth quarter, allowing Pittsburgh the chance to drive down the field and run out the clock, they neglected to factor that the team they were facing is one of the best in short yardage situations. Hines Ward is a machine over the middle. He can catch and muscle with the best of them and is a good bet to hold on to the football even when snatching in traffic.
The Pittsburgh receivers are good additions to a ground and pound kind of game that has been given the youthful injection it needed by Rashard Mendenhall after the departure of Super Bowl record-setter, Willie Parker. Tomorrow we’ll look into the position of Running Back in more depth,
Pick up THE HARE newspaper at Night and Day, Bar Centro, Font or Tiger Lounge in Manchester town centre, or the Oakwood in Glossop.
E-mail theharenewspaper@hotmail.co.uk with questions, comments or contributory pieces.
No comments:
Post a Comment