Super Bowl 45 Preview

Hello friends! Tomorrow night the biggest football game in the history of Western civilization will be played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas and I ain't talking about Tiddly Winks kids no it's Super Bowl 45 and without further adu here is my complete preview of this big game! But first a little history lesson for you guys! The last time these 2 teams met which was in Week 15 of the 2009 season was in my opinion the best regular season game of 2009 and 1 of the greatest regular season games of all time it was that good! That game featured 4 lead changes in the final 8 minutes of the 4th quarter! Both teams combined for 973 total yards of offense! Neither team had a turnover and Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger went 29-46 for 503 yards and 3 TD's while Packers QB Aaron Rodgers went 26-48 for 383 yards and 3 TD's of his own in perhaps the greatest aerial display in NFL history! Now on to the biggie tomorrow night shall we?

Super Bowl 45: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers

Overall Offense

The Steelers offense ranked 14th in yards per game averaging 345.3 yards per game while they ranked 12th in points per game averaging 23.4 points per game! The Packers offense ranked 9th in yards per game averaging 358.1 yards per game while ranking 10th in points per game averaging 24.2 points per game!

Advantage: Packers

Overall Defense

The Steelers defense ranked 2nd in total yards allowed by holding opponents to an average of 276.8 yards per game while ranking 1st in fewest points allowed by holding opponents to an average of 14.5 points per game! The Packers defense ranked 5th in total yards allowed by holding opponents to an average of 309.1 yards per game while ranking 2nd in fewest points allowed by holding opponents to an average of an even 15 points per game marking the 1st time since 1982 that the 2 top scoring defenses will be meeting in the Super Bowl!

Advantage: Steelers (Slightly)

Quarterbacks

No QB has been hotter right now than Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has ever since coming back from that concussion he suffered against the Detroit Lions back in December and although he had a rather mediocre game against the Chicago Bears in the NFC title game Rodgers has still been the hot hand and a win in Super Bowl 45 will finally get him out of Brett Favre's shadow once and for all because if he doesn't win this game he will remain in Mr. Favre's shadow until he does win 1! On the other hand Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is a proven playoff QB with a 10-2 career postseason record with 2 Super Bowl wins! A win will put Big Ben in a very exclusive club and that very exclusive club is the QB's with 3 or more Super Bowl wins which includes the likes of Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana who have 4 Super Bowl wins along with Troy Aikman and Tom Brady who have 3 Super Bowl wins of their own! Uh yeah not bad! Anyways both QB's are great but right now I have to give the slight advantage to the hotter hand!

Advantage: Packers (Slightly)

Running Backs

At the start of the season the Packers had a very good RB in Ryan Grant who has been a Fantasy darling over the last couple of years. That is until he went down with a season ending injury. Enter Brandon Jackson who is just as good as Grant is. That is until he went down with a season ending injury of his own. So now enter James Starks and Starks put up a 123 yard performance in the Packers Wildcard win over the Philadelphia Eagles and has also been fairly decent in the Divisional win over the top seeded Atlanta Falcons and the NFC title game win over their hated rivals the Chicago Bears. Over on the other side you have a stud RB in Rashard Mendenhall who ran for over 100 yards against a very good NY Jets defense in the AFC title game!

Advantage: Steelers

Wide Receivers

Now for the position that in my mind will determine this game offensively! The Steelers have wiley veteran Hines Ward, big play threat Mike Wallace, Mr. Reliable TE Heath Miller, and Antonio Brown the hero of Pittsburgh's Divisional win over their hated rivals the Baltimore Ravens! While the Packers are led by the wiley veteran in search of his 1st Super Bowl ring Donald Driver, big play threat Greg Jennings, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and TE Donald Lee! To be quite honest this is the toughest matchup to call because both of these receiving cores are capable of making the big plays! In the 2009 game Mike Wallace had the big game because he made 2 spectacular plays in that game on the 1st play of the game and the final play of the game! To be honest I really can't give 1 team a clear cut advantage because both receiving cores are too good! So with that I have to consider this a toss-up!

Advantage: Toss-Up

Defense

Now to the side of the ball that both teams thrive in! The Steelers are led by Defensive Player of The Year Troy Polamalu, 2008 Defensive Player of The Year James Harrison, Ike Taylor, Lamarr Woodley, Lawrence Timmons, the bearded wonder Brett Keisel, and Ryan Clark just to name a few! While the Packers are led by Defensive Player of The Year runner-up Clay Matthews, 2009 Defensive Player of The Year Charles Woodson, AJ Hawk, INT machine Tramond Williams, Nick Collins, and of course BIG BJ Raji who sealed Green Bay's NFC title game victory over Chicago with a pick 6 late in the 4th quarter! As I mentioned earlier this marks the 1st time since 1982 that the NFL's top 2 scoring defenses are meeting in the Super Bowl! Also in this game we're going to have the last 3 winners of the Defensive Player of The Year award (Harrison, Woodson, and Polamalu) and the runner-up to this year's award (Matthews) that is how good both of these defenses really are! In fact both of these D's are so good I can't give a clear cut advantage to 1 team! So with that we have yet another toss-up!

Advantage: Toss-Up

Prediction

OK after all of those X's and O's it's now time to pick a winner and while I would love nothing more than to see another offensive explosion like the last time these 2 teams met 2 years ago I think that this will be a more defensive oriented Super Bowl and whose ever defense blinks first will lose the game in my opinion! The Steelers will be without their outstanding rookie center out of Florida Markice Pouncey due to an ankle injury that he suffered in the AFC title game against the Jets and the Steelers will also be without defensive stud Aaron Smith while the Packers will be without RB's Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson along with stud TE Jermichael Finley! Over the last couple of years the hotter team entering the Super Bowl has gone on to win the Super Bowl and I fully expect that trend to continue as I like the Green Bay Packers to win Super Bowl 45 in a very close, hard-hitting, competitive game from start to finish 17-14!

Winners: Green Bay Packers (17-14)

Final Thought

Overall I am very much looking forward to this Super Bowl matchup and just like the last 3 Super Bowls I expect this Super Bowl to be a very fun and entertaining game from start to finish and allow me to go on the record here friends if this game should go to overtime as most people think it will then I would have to consider this Super Bowl the greatest of all time! Will it be the greatest Super Bowl of all time Maybe. Are these 2 teams capable of making it the greatest Super Bowl of all time Yes! Will it be just as good as the last 3 Super Bowls have been Yes! But make no mistake about it friends when you have 2 of the NFL's greatest franchises, 2 of the NFL's premier quarterbacks, 2 of the NFL's most dangerous receiving cores, 2 of the NFL's best defenses, and a billion dollar palace as the site then it will truly be a recipe for the greatest Super Bowl of all time!

Please leave me a comment with your thoughts and/or your prediction for this Super Bowl and don't forget to tune into FOX tomorrow night at 6PM ET as Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will have the call for Super Bowl 45 and I will be back next Saturday night with my predictions for the TNA Against All Odds PPV so with that you know the routine everybody thumbs up talk to ya later! YEAH! Enjoy the Super Bowl everyone!