Posts tagged Charles Woodson
Super Bowl XLV – It’s Prediction Time!
Feb 3rd
It’s a long time since training camps last year, when many (but by no means all!) of the teams though they could go all the way.
Back in August, we took a look at how we thought the divisions might play out. And… well, we were pretty much wrong across the board. In fact in some divisions we got the predictions exactly the opposite way to how it turned out. What can we say? It’s been that sort of season.
Super Bowl Rings
We’ve had some good turnaround stories this season, like the Rams and the Bucs who were both pushing for post-season places going into the final weeks. We’ve had the pre-season optimism of teams like the Redskins and Cowboys be beaten away by the realities of the season. We’ve had coaches fired, replaced, out of contract and just not as good as they should have been. We’ve had players go through bitterly disappointing seasons or moments and we’ve had the same number of triumphs. We had a good game between two not-so-good teams at Wembley.
All teams have overcome adversity and injuries during the long and gruelling season but two teams are left. The Green Bay Packers from the NFC and the Pittsburgh Steelers from the AFC.
The Packers are one of those teams who looked like they were struggling, but have hung in there throughout the season and with a great win in week 16 (against the rival Bears!) booked themselves into the play-offs at the last possible moment.
Rodgers Scrambles
They had big injuries, like losing Ryan Grant for the season in week 1, successive losses in overtime to the lightweight Redskins and Dolphins. Rodgers was concussed and at times they didn’t like championship worthy. But they’ve be playing great football for a while now and their last few games have certainly been championship ball.
The Steelers, as we all know, started the season without their starting quarterback. They traded away a Super Bowl MVP and it looked like the defence was losing a step. For most of the season they were neck and neck with the Ravens but were able to book a first-round bye with their strong showing as the season drew to an end.
Both coaches, Mike McCarthy and Mike Tomlin have both done incredibly jobs this year.
In the past few weeks we’ve looked at both teams in some depth, so we’re not going to do that again. Instead, let’s take a look at each element of the game and see how has the edge. No, it’s not a novel approach. But it works. More >
NFL 2010 NFC Championship
Jan 18th
Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears
Sunday 23rd, 8:00pm UK Time
When these teams both from the same division there is a lot of history and many stories to draw on. It also means that they know each other very well and this one will mean even more than you’d imagine a Conference Championship will.
These two teams have only met once before in the post-season and that was back in December 1941 (7 days after the attack on Pearl Harbour). But with 182 previous meetings between these teams, this is the NFL’s longest rivalry. Chicago currently leads the series 92–83–6, but Green Bay have had the edge in recent meetings.
Soldier Field
Let’s take a quick look at the last two years: More >
NFL 2010 Divisional Weekend: Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons
Jan 11th
When Tramon Williams jogged casually out of the end zone, looking for someone to celebrate his game winning interception last week against the Eagles, he didn’t know the play was still going. When he finally went to the ground (and was covered immediately by team-mates) to end the play he’d put Michael Vick and the Eagles out of the play-offs. The Pack’s reward is another rematch, in the shape of a trip to take on the Atlanta Falcons for a place in the Conference Championship.
Matt Ryan Drops Back
Ranked #1 and having looked good right across the season, the Falcons were the class of the NFC. Going 7-1 at home and 6-2 on the road, they set the bar high for everyone else to follow. And yet when you look purely at the stat tables, you wonder how they did it. They rank 16th in both offence and defence. When you look at the wins, you see that at home they were in close games but away they frequently blew out their opponents. They did have a favourable schedule, but they made the most of these games.
More >
Charles Woodson donates $2,000,000 to a Children’s Hospital
Nov 28th
So maybe I’m feeling soppy, maybe this has been adequately covered already, but I couldn’t help be impressed on hearing that shutdown corner Woodson had donated a sizable sum of money to a newly opened children’s hospital. In a sport that can receive so much negative press it’s easy to forget how much good a lot of players do in their charity and community works and this is a fine example of that.
We all know what a danger he is on the field, but it appears that away from it he’s not just a good guy he’s one of the best. And for that, Charles, we at Mac Talks NLF salute you and wish you well… though not against our teams.
Source: nfl.com
Image Credit: joshsocks1982