Aftre giving us packers fans a bit of a fright it has been announced that AJ Hawk will remain Packer after all and has now signed a new long term deal. Probably a bit of salary cap manipulation here, however the Packers were lucky no team came in with a crazy offer for him. Now all we need is the CBA to get sorted so we can concentrate on the forthcoming draft.
Much to our surprise the Green Bay Packers have released linebacker A.J. Hawk and the only reason we can think is that he was due to pick up a well deserved $10 million in 2011. This seems a bit of a scant reward for his efforts in bringing the Superbowl back to Green Bay in 2010, and like all Packers fans we are hoping that the management can sort something out as with him and Clay Matthews the Green Bay defense was starting to look quite formidable. This is decision is probably influenced by the current Labour dispute so if and when this is sorted there may be a resigning party.
A.J. was drafted fifth overall in 2006, and had 111 tackles and 3 interceptions in 2010.
The Packers have also cut tight end Donald Lee and safety Derrick Martin.
Not the classic we had hoped for but in what was still an entertaining Super Bowl the Green Bay Packers just edged out the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to take the Vince Lombardi Trophy back to its spiritual home for the first time since Super Bowl 31 way back in 1996.
We expected defenses to figure strongly here and surprisingly enough it was the beaten up Packers defense who too the honours forcing 3 turnovers all of which led to Touch downs. At one stage it looked like a blow out in the making as Green bay went 21-3 up, however the Steelers have shown they are nothing if not tenacious and like Packers fans everywhere we were fearing the worst when the 3rd quarter fight back came. At 21-17 the game looke anyones and Pittsburgh looked the more likely to score as Rodgers not helped by a string of tropped passes struggled to get any offence going.
Still commeth the moment cometh the man and with Pittsburgh driving at the Packers 33 yard line and looking likely to take the lead up stepped Clay Matthews to force a third turn over which proved to be pivotal. Matthews has ben one of the less sung heroes of the Packers season and although this ws probably one of his quietest games his efforts stopped Pittsburgh in their tracks. A few plays latter Rodgers hit Jennings for 8 yards to put them 28-17 up.
Pittsburgh were not done and in their next possession Ben Roethlisberger drove down the field and the resulting touch down and 2 point conversion left the scores delecately balanced at 28-25 with 7.34 to play.
Rodgers who played virtually all of the game out of the Shotgun was sacked on the first play of their next possession and then faced a crucial 3rd and 10 at his own 25. Things looked bleak but he somehow found a pass when needed hitting G.Jenning down the middle for 31 yards. A couple of runs and another nice pass finall gave the Packers the chance to seal the game, however they had to settle for a field goal leaving them with a 6 point lead and 2 minutes on the clock.
Roethlisberger managed a 1st down but then on 4th and 5 he failed to get the ball to Wallace allowing Green Bay to run out the clock to collect the trophy.
So its the Packers who were no 6 seed in the NFC who are crowned champions in a final which will not go down as a classic but one that finally showed that you dont need to run the ball to win the big one.
Arron Rodgers was MVP and the official attendance has been listed at 103,219, although its not clear if this included the thousands who coughed up $200 a piece to watch the final on the big screen in the car park!
Brett Favre has indicated that he is leaving the game for good this time by filing retirement papers with the league. Although this is only a procedure and its not the first set he has put in, this time it looks like he is giving up for real.
This action not only starts the clock ticking towards him picking up his NFL pension (not that he needs the money), but more importantly for potential election to the Hall of Fame.
Sadly his 20 year career ended on a big low as he finished with only 11 touchdowns in 13 games. Admittedly he was not helped by the turbulent off field shenanigans at the Vikings and by the lack of wide receivers, however a career-low 69.9 passer rating (the third-worst in the NFL) and 19 interceptions are not the stats he will want to be remembered by.
Although most of his success came at the Green Bay Packers he also enjoyed a winning season at the NY Jets and a great 2009 season with the Vikings where he took them to the NFC Championship game, where they were unlucky losers to the eventual Superbowl champions the New Orleans Saints.
With his all-time record 297 straight regular-season starts and a host of other records which will be hard to beat, he looks a near certainty for the Hall of Fame sooner rather than latter.
All we can say is thanks for the memories Brett and enjoy your well earned retirement.
The Green Bay Packers lost back to back OT games on Sunday night as Miami left Lambeau with a 23-20 win which they just about deserve. Once again the Packers struggled to stamp their authority on the game and with injuries mounting their position as NFC North favourites looks somewhat precarious. They struggled to run the ball against the resolute Dolphins and with Miami controlling the clock thanks to their own successful ground game it always looked likely they would win.
The Packers entertain the Vikings next week and if they drop this one they will find themselves neck and neck with them at 3-3 which will be very disappointing considering how well they started.
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