Super Bowl XLV injury update: Pittsburgh Steelers & Green Bay Packers

Any NFL Betting fan knows that one of the biggest contributing factors to a team’s performance is health – specifically which players are out of the lineup with injuries, and which players are playing hurt.

And at no time, in no game, are injuries a bigger factor than the Super Bowl.

Heading into Super Bowl XLV on Sunday, both the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers have some injury concerns.

For the Packers, wide receiver Donald Driver is nursing a quadriceps injury, but the team said Friday he will play in Super Bowl XLV on Sunday against the Steelers.

Driver has been battling the injury all week. He was put on the Packers’ injury report Thursday, leading to speculation he wouldn’t play in Dallas. But Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Friday that while Driver was being held out of Friday’s practice as a precaution, he expects the veteran receiver to play Sunday.

For the Steelers, there has been a lot of speculation about starting center Maurkice Pouncey’s availability for the Super Bowl.

Pouncey suffered a high left ankle sprain in the Steelers’ 24-19 win over the New York Jets in the AFC championship, and has been seen on crutches and wearing a walking boot on his left foot.

But Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Friday he expects Pouncey back at center on Sunday. Pouncey’s ankle sprain is a Grade II+, in other words, almost a complete tear of at least one of the major ligaments in the ankle. If this was a regular season game and not Super Sunday, there’s little doubt he would be out.

Green Bay Packers Will Win Its Forth Super Bowl Title

Most people don’t know this, but the “G” on the Packers helmet does NOT stand for Green Bay. It stands for Greatness.

Come this Sunday in Dallas, Texas in the House-that-Jerry-built, The Pack and its legion of Cheeseheads are going to be able to stand proud with their storied franchises’ fourth Super Bowl victory, this time over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Here are five reasons why:

Aaron Rodgers: the Green Bay quarterback is simply the hottest pivot in the NFL since the mid-way point of the season, and no defense can handle the fast balls that Rodgers has been throwing into the smallest of holes. Add to that the fact that Rodgers is deadly indoors, and I just can’t see the Pack scoring less than 30 points, which Big Ben Roethlisberger will not be able to match against the blitzkrieg that is the Packers defense.

Going Deep: Troy Polamalu and weak side safety Bryant McFadden will struggle at handling the deep balls that will be coming their way. Polamalu may be the defensive player of the year in the National Football League, but that is based on the first 14 weeks. Since he re-injured his Achilles tendon, he’s not been the same player, and you can see he’s just not been the impact player in both games vs the New York Jets and the Baltimore Ravens. McFadden is also banged up and will be seeing a lot of the big weak-side receiver James Jones.

Four and Five Wideout sets: With Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jones and Jordy Nelson, the Packers have the ability to really stretch the Steelers defense, and take away their strength: stopping the run. You will see Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy go to the pass early and often, and forsake trying to run into the brick wall that is the Pittsburgh run D.

Steelers struggle against Elite QBs: twice this year, the Steelers have played elite quarterbacks: Tom Brady of the Patriots, and Drew Brees of New Orleans. They are 0-2 in those two games. Make no mistake about it, Rodgers is an elite pivot and will be able to read, and react, firing off bullets when the Steelers come blitzing with their two outstanding linebackers, James Harrison and Lemarr Woodley.

Steelers O-Line Struggles: starting center Mike Pouncey will not be playing, and both tackles are backups, with the Steelers losing its left tackle at the start of the year, and the other in November. The Packers will be able to get pressure without having to send more than five players, allowing them to take away many of the deep seam patterns that Roethisberger like to throw at, getting big chunks. The key is to bring down Big Ben when they can, as the 6’5”, 245lb quarterback is a load, and buys more time for his receivers to get open.

Final Score: Green Bay 30 Pittsburgh 24

Green Bay Packers Super Bowl History

Going back to the team’s first season in 1919, the Green Bay Packers have won 12 NFL championships (more than any other team in the NFL). Those championships include nine titles before the Super Bowl era and three Super Bowl wins.

Green Bay won the first three championships simply by finishing first in the league, in 1929, 1930 and 1931, and has won six since the NFL’s playoff system was established in 1933, but before the first Super Bowl in 1967 – in 1936, 1939, 1944, 1961, 1962, and 1965.

When Green Bay faces the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6 in Dallas, it will be the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl appearance. The Packers have won three of the four Super Bowls they’ve appeared in.

Fittingly, Green Bay won the first-ever Super Bowl when the legendary Vince Lombardi’s Packers beat Hank Stram’s Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 on Jan. 15, 1967. Interestingly, the game was played before a far-from sellout crowd, as 61,946 fans turned up at Los Angeles’ 100,000-seat Memorial Coliseum.

Green Bay’s next two Super Bowl wins came over the Oakland Raiders the next season in 1967, a 33-14 win, and against the New England Patriots in 1996, with Brett Favre leading the Packers to a 35-21 victory.

Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears: NFC Championship Game

They’ve been battling on the gridiron for 90 years and this Sunday the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears will clash once more, this time with the NFC Championship on the line.

This will be the 182nd meeting between the teams when the Packers and Bears collide at Soldier Field (3 pm ET, FOX).

Last Saturday, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers put on a passing clinic to lead the Packers to a 48-21 blow out win over the favored Atlanta Falcons 48-21 in an NFC divisional playoff game at the Georgia Dome. The Packers covered the 1–point spread as underdogs and the score went over the total of 44.

The Bears jumped out to a 28-0 lead over the Seattle Seahawks then had to hang on for a 35-24 win in the other NFC matchup. They covered the 10.5–point spread as favorites and the score went over the total of 43.5.

Head-to-head, Green Bay and Chicago are 5-5 SU and ATS in the past 10 meetings. They split the season series with Chicago winning the first meeting 20-17 on Sept. 27, and Green Bay winning the last meeting 10-3 in the season finale on Jan. 2.

Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles NFC Wildcard Sunday

Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles NFC Wildcard Sunday: Make no doubt about it, this game boils down to one position: the quarterback. Both teams have high octane QBs, with the Packers led by big-armed Aaron Rodgers and the Eagles by the fleet-footed Michael Vick. Rodgers is as good as it gets at the pivot position, with only Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as his peers. However, Vick is such a wild card in this game, and is arguably the best athlete at the most important position in the game. He has rounded into a very accurate thrower and can take off and run for a first down in a blink of an eye, so the Packers top-ranked defense, led by Linebacker Clay Matthews, will not be able to just pin its ears back and attack.

On offence, the Packers have a throw-first mentality, and not many do it better than Rodgers, who tossed 28 touchdowns this year. In the only meeting between the two teams this year, the Pack won 27-20 in Philadelphia. However, Kevin Kolb started that game and struggled, as the Packers jumped out to a 20-3 lead. With Vick under the centre, the Eagles fought back and almost tied the game with the ball on the Green Bay half of the field in the final minute, but failed to convert on 4th and 1.

But ultimately, the whole game should boil down to Vick. If he is able to move around the pocket, buy some time, make a few first downs, and consistently hit his receivers down the field, it will make for a long day for the Green Bay defenders. This is something Vick has shown he can do. However, if Vick is static in the pocket, and is erratic with his throws, then the Pack will move on.