Rodgers vs. Roethlisberger: The Chance to make NFL History

When Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger are warming up for Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, neither one of them may realize the potential each one holds in their multi-million dollar right arms. Both athletes have the unique opportunity to achieve legendary status for legendary franchises.

Of the few quarterback with the skill set, even fewer are fortunate enough to land on franchises as historic as these two. The Packers have been at it since the beginning, clanking heads with the Bears since 1921. The Steelers were there shortly after in 1933, and became the NFL’s first Super Bowl era dynasty in the ‘70’s. The franchises’ roots run deeper, as do their fans’ devotion, than other franchises. One needs to look no further than Rodgers’ predecessor, Brett Favre, to see what a championship for the right franchise can do to advance one’s legendary status. Favre may as well have had his name legally changed to “NFL Legend Brett Favre,” it’s been uttered so many times by ESPN. 

When it comes to championships, history matters. Eli Manning's championship will always carry more clout than Brad Johnson’s even though they had similar stats in their Super Bowl seasons. That’s because the phrase, “Super Bowl Champion New York Giant (founded in 1925)” has more importance to Joe Footballfan than “Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneer (established 1976).” Sorry Brad.

It’s a matter of style

Outside of the luck to be drafted by two premier franchises, the quarterbacks

 have such similar styles and can be so dominant that we could be looking at a Super Bowl shootout for the ages. Both are uber-competitive athletes that will lift his team on its shoulders and carry them to victory. Both are surprisingly mobile, arguably the second and third best scrambling QBs in the league, respectively. Rodgers is like Big Ben’s smoother little brother, darting around the pressure with surprising agility, while Roethlisberger throws defenders around like he is the tight end he was in high school. Roethlisberger may look awkward and ugly out there at times, but damn is he effective.

It is, in fact, their mobility that separates them from the two men widely regarded as the best quarterbacks in the league: Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Manning and Brady are fantastic, there’s no denying that. However, the game plan to beat them is always simple: Get consistent pressure and knock them around. Not all teams can execute this strategy, but the ones that can will beat them more often that not. Rodgers and Roethlisberger can beat the rush; neither seems to mind getting knocked around, and both adopt a “if I can walk I can play” mentality.  

At their best, they can shred even the best defenses, as they proved in 2009. In their only head-to-head matchup (a 37-36 Steelers’ victory), the two QBs combined for 915 total yards and seven touchdowns. The game didn’t end until the last play when Roethlisberger rifled one into Mike Wallace in the corner of the end zone for the game-winning score. Both were going against top ten defenses with Defensive Players of the Year winners (James Harrison in ’08, Charles Woodson in ’09). Even if you’ve seen the highlight 1000 times, watch it again. It can't hurt. 

Two great QBs, two different paths

For two quarterbacks whose style is so similar, they can’t have had more different starts to their careers. Roethlisberger is the poster boy for early success. Expected to be a bit of a project coming out college, he was starting for the Steelers by the second game of his rookie year. Relying mostly on dominant defense and a strong running game, he helped the Steelers go 15-1 and reach the AFC championship game. A year later, he was the NFL’s youngest Super Bowl winning quarterback in history.

Conversely, Rodgers had to bide his time behind Favre, making seven brief appearances in his first three seasons. Again, the antithesis to Roethlisberger’s career, Rodgers threw for over 4000 yards and had 28 touchdowns (with only 13 interceptions), but the team wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs. He’s done more of the same ever since, as his stats have been incredible. The team around him has gotten better, and he led the Packers to a playoff appearance last year, and now the Super Bowl.

For Rodgers, this championship is about exceeding the greatness of Brett Favre in Green Bay. He will have won a Super Bowl for the Packers in just three seasons as a starter, two years quicker than Favre, with a lot fewer interceptions along the way.

For Roethlisberger, nothing erases controversy like winning. Ask Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning, both of whom have recovered their reputations and marketability after similar allegations. (In the case of Manning, his allegations were barely covered in the media, but it happened.) Roethlisberger’s third Super Bowl would also match him ring-for-ring with Brady while being five years younger, setting him up to be the greatest winner of the current generation.

Both of these teams have an enormous amount of talent on both sides of the ball, so it is as likely we could be looking at a 17-14 final score as another 37-36 shootout. One thing seems certain, though: The quarterback with the ball in his hands last is going to be bringing home the Lombardi Tropy, and an important piece of NFL history.  

NBA Season Exceeding expectations

At the halfway point, the NBA’s most hyped season in history has exceeded expectations

Part 1:

A brief and painful history

As LeBron James’ one hour, self-aggrandizing “Decision” special mercifully concluded with the announcement that James would finally leave his Ohio comfort zone and “take his talents to South Beach”, no one could predict the positive effect this would have on the rest of the NBA. For all the fans that persevered through the deformed, thugged out brand of basketball of the 1990’s, then through the doldrums of the post-Jordan years, your wait is finally over. The NBA is back, reaching a peak not seen since Michal was battling Magic and Larry for NBA supremacy.

With James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and Derrick Rose leading the way, the star power alone could have carried this season to its highest ratings ever. In spite of all the nine-figure salaries, chest-thumping, and ear curdling war screams, we are seeing the most complete brand of team basketball, mixed with a talent pool so deep it would make the Mariana Trench jealous, that every night fans are seeing overtime finishes and back-and-forth shootouts. And ironically, it’s the man who nearly brought the NBA crumbling who has brought it to its current peak.

You see, regardless of what you think of the man, Pat Riley knows how to win. And for whatever reason, in the 90’s Riles thought it best to unleash men better suited to be NFL tight ends on the rest of the basketball world with his Knicks and Heat teams. Of course what this led to was countless 82-79, foul-plagued finishes. Only the great Michael Jordan could rise (quite literally, I might add) above this brand of thug ball and keep the NBA watchable. Once he retired (and yes I’m referring to his last game with the Bulls as his retirement; we should all have his Wizards days deleted from our memories) we were forced to watch thug ball. Teams who did not deploy this brand of basketball attempted to create their own pseudo-Jordan systems, of watching their best player pound the ball for 20 seconds of the shot clock before chucking up some god-awful thing known as a shot (see: Carter, Vince). The problem with that: there’s only one Jordan. No one else can choose when to go one-on-five and come out the victor.

Alas, fans were forced to endure back-to-back finals appearances by the New Jersey Nets, they of the Jason Kidd-Kerry Kittles-Keith Van Horn-Kenyon Martin-Todd MacCulloch, starting five. Would this starting five even be able to beat today’s Washington Wizards, currently sitting comfortably as the 12 seed in the east, in a seven game series? Check out the Wizards’ roster. It is, sadly, debatable.

Ok fans, sorry for that painful history lesson. The point here is, with Riles’ destruction of a middling roster and replacement of one with two of the three best players in the league, plus a top-15 player in Chris Bosh, he made every NBA President/GM step his game up, too. With that thought in mind, it’s not too soon to look at what matchups fans should be hoping for come playoff time…

Part 2:The Beasts of the East

With all due respect to New York and Atlanta, the east is a four-team race…

 Being that we live in the world of instant gratification, the NBA world balked at Miami’s potential for greatness when they stumbled to a 9-8 start. This was foolish. Chemistry matters, even for a team with an astronomical amount of talent. They have found it, and it will only continue to get better. Chalmers continues to improve and mesh with the big three, and should unseat Carlos Arroyo as the starting point guard shortly; or at least get the bulk of the minutes. He’s a good on-the-ball-defender, has good handles, can hit the three, and has the potential to be a deadly clutch shooter, as he proved with his rainbow over Derrick Rose in the NCAA championship game. Mike Miller is their most important role player, and his game has yet to mesh with the team, since he missed all of the preseason and didn’t rejoin the team until Dec. 20^th. Ten games in, he is averaging only 12.5 minutes per game, compare to the 32.5 he has averaged for the rest of his nine-year professional career. I expect to see him at full productivity by March, giving this team another scoring option and their best three-point shooter, two much needed elements for this team to reach its full potential. I don’t think they’ll win the finals this year. But I expect them to win the next two at least.

 The Celtics got the best big man of our generation in Shaquille O’Neal, and added former all-star Jermaine O’Neal just for good measure. With Kendrick Perkins set to come back from injury soon, they will have three more than capable seven footers to throw at Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, or anyone else’s big men they face deep in the playoffs/Finals. Kevin Garnett has proven last year was not the beginning of the end, just the first year he had to shake the rust off of his surgically repaired right knee. With Ray Allen and KG the team has two of the best-conditioned 30-plus year-olds in the league, and should continue to be a force for years. Even the notoriously chubby (for the level of player he is, at least) Paul Pierce has slimmed down noticeably. When this team was constructed, they were given a three-year championship window. I give them at least two more elite years after this season.

The Orlando Magic finally admitted their mistake in letting Hedo Turkoglu walk by bringing him back, as well jettisoning the eternally disappointing Vince Carter/Rashard Lewis combo. Turkoglu stepped in like he was never gone, and Carter’s replacement, Jason Richardson, gives them everything Vince was supposed to do (athleticism and three point shooting), and improves on his weaknesses (defense and toughness). Orlando finally realized that what made them dangerous was the matchup problems Turkoglu created. He is a 6’10” playmaker who can hit 3s all day and has a knack for the clutch shot. His brand of play would not work for any other team in the NBA, but for this squad, he is special. The team is so deep they now have Gilbert Arenas, he of the 63-point game, off of their bench. There is no other way of putting it, this team is STACKED.  

The Knicks are fun to watch, but shouldn’t prove to be anything more than a very entertaining first round loser to one of the big four: Miami, Orlando, Boston, or Chicago, pending how the seeding turns out, unless they can somehow get their hands on Carmello. With their scoring ability, they could get hot and knock out one of the top four teams, but I doubt it.

The Bulls are the true wild card here. No one knows how good they could be, because we have seen Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer together for a total of nine games. Together they average 22 rebounds per game, and would create a difficult matchup for Miami down low. They boast a legitimate superstar and clutch performer in Derrick Rose, and with Luol Deng at small forward have a more than capable scorer and defender. They have questions at the shooting guard spot, with Keith Bogans still getting the starts, though his minutes continue to decrease and he is more of a token starter than anything. Ronnie Brewer has proven to be a quality starter for a legitimate playoff team in Utah, and has continued to adjust to Tom Thibedeau’s system well, after missing all the preseason and the start of the regular season. Kyle Korver has seemed to regain his touch after ditching knee sleeves he had been donning for weeks, and his three-point shooting will be key for this team, especially in the playoffs as he is their only true three-point shooter. Unlike other elite teams such as Dallas and Miami, the Bulls have proven they have plenty of depth, as they continue to win games, now without both Boozer AND Noah.

NBA fans should be praying for this dream matchup in the playoffs: Bulls vs. Celtics in the ultimate big brother-little brother matchup, and Miami-Orlando in a rivalry that was born the moment Miami leapfrogged them (as well as the rest of the league) in NBA finals predictions. Orlando and their back to back Eastern Conference finals appearances, including the finals loss to the Lakers, took more disrespect than the others seemed to, being as that they are separated by just four hours on the Reagan Turnpike. Both series should prove to be seven game bloodbaths, with Miami and Boston pulling it out, and then engaging in their own seven game duel to get to the NBA finals. Boston should take that matchup, giving KG and crew their last, best chance at cementing their legacy. Another ring for KG would give more ammunition in his case for best power forward of his generation, against Tim Duncan and his four rings. And of course, one more for Shaq would simultaneously re-tie him with Kobe Bryant for most of the generation and put him one up on Duncan. It’s all about legacy for these future hall-of-famers, and you’ve got to respect that.

Part 3:

Who Wins the Wild Wild West?

The smart money is for LA to be the last team standing in the west, battling for their third straight title. However, the smart money was on LA to win their fourth straight in 2003, and for the self-titled dream team (when Shaq and Kobe teamed with Gary Payton and Karl Malone) to take out the Pistons in ’04. Are the Lakers coasting, or are there some legitimate consistency issues on this team? Ron Artest has looked just as out of sync in the triangle as ever, but he did hit the game-clinching shot in game 7 last year, so maybe that’s just RonRon’s way.  After getting early MVP buzz Pau Gasol has gone back to over-deferring to Kobe too often, and has struggled to find consistent chemistry with Bynum. Can these issues be resolved, at least enough to scrap by for another banner? Probably so, but we will find out in May. Until then, there are several teams that can and will challenge for western conference supremacy.

Fittingly, the team that presents the biggest challenge to Kobe and Phil is the team that gave them the most trouble during their last dynasty and the years in between-the Spurs. With Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili returning from nagging injuries and having career years, the pressure if off Duncan, now 34 years old, to have to put up 25 and 12 every night. Gregg Popovich has re-made his team to better fit the times, which are much more run n gone than they were when Duncan was racking up NBA Finals MVPs. With arguably the NBA’s most explosive backcourt, the Spurs have literally run out to the best and most consistent start in basketball—at 37-6. The still impressive Duncan does his thing down low, with the big and athletic DeJuan Blair doing the dirty work alongside the Big Fundamental. George Hill and Matt Bonner lead a core of role players that will look to carve out niches a la Bowen and Horry come playoff time.

Dallas brought in Tyson Chandler, giving them easily their best big man in the Dirk Nowitzki era, and along with more than capable backup Brendan Haywood, have shored up the Achilles’ heel that had plagued the team for years. Caron Butler is far from irreplaceable, but he was meshing very well with this team as a third option offensively, to go with his predictably sound defensive and rebounding efforts. Butler believes he could return for the playoffs—he suffered this same injury in high school and returned in four-and-a-half months—but regardless DeShawn Stevenson has picked it up as of late to help pick up the slack. Look for Shawn Marion to pick his scoring up, as well. Don’t expect any Sunsian statistics, but a bump up closer to 15 ppg in the second half of the season is not out of the question.

Unlike the eastern conference, there is no clear divide between the top four teams and the other playoff contenders. Rather, I’d like to think the top three are set, but there will be a battle to get that spot of home court advantage for the first round. And the nominees are (drumroll please)…

4A) The New Orleans Hornets: They have a superstar at point guard in Chris Paul, an effective young shooting guard combination in Marco Belinelli and Marcus Thornton, a player who had a big part in Kobe’s first post-Shaq championship in Trevor Ariza, a former all-star with plenty of game in David West at power forward, and solid all-around player in Emeka Okafor at center. While both are very good players, it is the West/Okafor combination that will prove to be their downfall. At 6’8” and 6’9” respectively, they are just too small to compete with teams with multiple legitimate seven footers to throw at them. The Lakers have it with Bynum, Gasol, and Odom and Dallas has it with Nowitzki, Chandler, and Haywood. San Antonio has Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner, as well as DeJuan Blair, who may not be 7 feet tall, but is about 5 feet wide. I don’t think they have the offensive playmakers outside of CP3 to overcome this deficiency and put a real scare in the big boys.

4B) The Oklahoma City Thunder: Yes, I know I’m not original in liking this team to make a run at winning the West. I know they were the trendy pick to make a step up. While with Jeff Green—in his own right an all-star caliber small forward—stuck playing the 4, this team may have more size issues than the Hornets. Serge Ibaka has shown flashes of becoming a force down low, but needs to show more consistency to truly be a factor. However, with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, I do believe this team has the offensive firepower, quickness, and athleticism to take out one of the top three teams and make it to the Western Conference finals. Not saying they’ll do it, but I like their chances more than New Orleans’ or anyone else’s.

The Nuggets can’t be expected to keep Carmello through February, and if they do, expect a listless, LeBronsian performance from him as he contemplates who he would rather be making this playoff run with the next year. The Blazers are too small, too slow, and most of all, too broken to truly compete.

 How it should all break down:

The Lakers will most likely turn it on when they need to, taking six or seven games to defeat opponents it should take only four or five. That is until the western conference championship. Whoever survives the war of Texas in the second round will force the Lakers to bust out their A game in the Western Conference finals.  On paper, the Mavs have the best chance of taking out the Lakers. They have the desire, the size, the defense, and with Dirk and Jason Terry leading the way, the offensive firepower to do it. You never know when this team could choke in the playoffs, but they seem looser as a team than they’ve been in the past. They didn’t panic when Dirk got hurt (my favorite injury of all-time only because it resulted in Dirk’s AHHHHH TAKE ZAT VITH YOU!!!! war scream as a commentator), or they had the subsequent losing streak. They seem calm, cool, and collected enough to put a scare into Kobe and Phil.

*Shocking storyline to keep an eye on*

The Clippers: Can they be 2007’s Golden State?

LA’s other team started out 1-13, but since have pulled to within 6.5 games of the 8^th seeded Portland Trail Blazers. Vinny Del Negro has pulled teams out of early season doldrums before; his Bulls were notorious slow starters but made the playoffs in both of his seasons. When you look at the Clippers, on paper they may have a roster that matches up as well as anyone’s out west with the Lakers. Baron Davis has reclaimed “B. Diddy” status with his play of late. He always shows up in the playoffs, and was outstanding leading the Warriors’ upset of the top-seeded Mavericks in ’07. Eric Gordon’s game has taken off this season, as being an integral part of the USA World Championship team has proven to be instrumental in his development. At small forward promising rookie Al-Fariq Aminu and reliable veteran Ryan Gomes split minutes effectively, and are big and athletic enough to give Artest problems. The Clips have two legit seven footers at center in Chris Kaman and the uber-athletic DeAndre Jordan to throw at Gasol and Bynum. And Blake Griffin. Every time I see this kid play he does something that amazes me. He is what LeBron James should be down low. He dropped 47 points, and he’s not even supposed to know how to play at this level yet. He hits threes when he takes them—5 for 9 on the year— and his handles seem to improve every time he touches the ball. He is the league’s next 30ppg scorer and could average 15 rpg with it. We haven’t even seen a glimmer of what he will become a shot blocker. The only thing that can stop his top-five player in the game status from coming is a major injury. Knock on wood, fans. Three times.

Legacies. Pride. Old school big three vs. new school big three. Underdogs and buzzer beaters. Four three-peats, and rubber matches. Shaq vs. Kobe and Shaq vs. Kobe vs. Duncan. These are all reasons why this season’s playoffs will be the best ever. Fans should see the third and final showdown to settle it all between the Lakers and Celtics, between Kobe and Shaq. And if they don’t? Kobe vs. The Big Three in Miami won’t be bad either. The regular season has just been a taste. And we as fans are hungry for more. But first, the all-star break and most importantly, the dunk contest. Do your thing Blake. Enjoy the show.  

P.S. Sorry I wrote a book on my first blog. My opinions were long overdue for the internet...