The greatest show on earth is about to get even bigger as the Green Bay Packers take on the Pittsburgh Steelers live on BBC One in Super Bowl XLV on Sunday night.
One of the biggest crowds in Super Bowl history will be on hand as more than 100,000 fans pack into Dallas Cowboys Stadium in chilly North Texas to witness what promises to be an exciting showdown between two quarterbacks keen to write their name in the record books.
While the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Christina Aguilera, Maroon 5 and Keith Urban provide the entertainment that will make for breathtaking viewing on the world’s largest HD screen, Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers will take centre stage when it really matters.
Roethlisberger has led the Steelers to the Super Bowl for the third time in six seasons and he has the opportunity to join an elite group of quarterbacks who have won three Super Bowls.
If he were to lead Pittsburgh to victory over the Packers on Sunday, Big Ben would have earned the right to join the exhalted company of Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman and Tom Brady. Special kudos should go to Bradshaw and Montana, who won the big game four times each.
Roethlisberger has his detractors following some distasteful off-field behaviour this off-season. He was linked to a couple of sexual misconduct cases and while no criminal charges were filed, he was suspended for the first four games of 2010 by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Rodgers is gunning for his first Super Bowl ring but wants it just as badly as Roethlisberger, if not more. This is a guy who has finally emerged from Brett Favre’s shadow in Green Bay and has emphatically proven the Packers were right to go with the younger passer in 2008.
In terms of offering the complete package, I would argue that Rodgers is among the top two or three quarterbacks in the game right now. I would put him right up there with the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. I put him ahead of both guys last week in compiling my team of the year and did catch a bit of flak for that, but it is safe to say I am a big Rodgers fan.
Someone like Philadelphia’s Michael Vick may be more exciting to watch in terms of pure athletic ability, but he’s not half the quarterback that Rodgers is. I saw both of them go head-to-head in the wildcard round of the playoffs in January and while Vick took my breath away at times with his physical talent, it was Rodgers who looked more assured and more accomplished.
Blessed with a strong arm, accuracy, poise and enough athletic ability to be one of the most productive running quarterbacks in the NFL this season, Rodgers is pretty special.
The knock on him prior to this season – and it was a harsh one given he is still in the early stages of being an NFL starter – was that he had never won a playoff game and he also dropped a couple of big games in 2009 when his Packers took on the Favre-led Minnesota Vikings in emotional encounters.
But this is not a player who is going to melt under the intense spotlight of a Super Bowl. Rodgers has always held up his end of the deal for the Packers and I am struggling to recall a game Green Bay lost because of a poor performance by their quarterback.
In 47 career starts, Rodgers has posted a passer rating of 100 or above on 25 occasions and he is currently the highest-rated quarterback in NFL history (98.4). The statistics also show how effective he is in pressure situations. He led the NFL on third-down passing in 2010 and was the league’s top-ranked quarterback when other teams blitzed him.
Add in the fact that Rodgers is scarily efficient inside the opponent’s 20-yard line – where it is supposed to be harder to complete passes due to there being less space to operate – and I cannot foresee a situation that will make him freeze on Sunday.
Roethlisberger is not as pretty to watch as Rodgers and he will make mistakes along the way, but what is most impressive is that he steps up in a big way for the Steelers when they need him the most. And he doesn’t let mistakes that have occurred previously affect him in any way.
In the AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets, Roethlisberger was out of sorts in the second half – there is no disputing that fact as he only completed three passes in 30 minutes of play. But it is telling that two of those completions went for first downs on the final drive of the game, allowing the Steelers to run out the clock and advance to this Super Bowl.
Roethlisberger also happens to be very tough to bring down – which is pretty handy given that Pittsburgh’s offensive line can be very shaky indeed at times – and he extends plays like no other quarterback in the game.
Big Ben is at his best when he is playing what he likes to describe as “playground football” and that often allows his receivers as much as 10 seconds to get open downfield. Covering a receiver for that long on any given play is a tough shift for even the best defensive backs in the NFL.
There are lots of other factors that will determine who will win Super Bowl XLV on Sunday night and there are stars across the field. Greg Jennings and Donald Driver are playmaking wide receivers for the Packers, Rashard Mendenhall is an emerging power runner for the Steelers, and the top two defenders in the NFL in 2010 – Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu and Green Bay’s Clay Matthews – are sure to have an impact.
But I truly believe the NFL is more of a passing league than ever before and that makes the quarterback the most important man on the field.
Most of the recent Super Bowl winners – New Orleans, Pittsburgh, New York Giants, New England, Indianapolis – have been led by elite quarterbacks or guys who were in red-hot form (that’s you, Eli Manning).
So I think that makes the battles between Rodgers, Roethlisberger and their respective opposing defences the most crucial aspect of this Super Bowl.
The quarterback who has the best game on Sunday evening will be the winner. And as I backed him and his team from the preseason, I’m going to say Aaron Rodgers and his Packers team-mates will be celebrating at the end of what should be an exciting game.
Enjoy the Super Bowl.
Prediction: Green Bay Packers 28 Pittsburgh Steelers 24
What do you think TCI? Send your predictions in below and they will be read on Sports Watch.
