Where to start?
Well I wrote in the preview and the toxic article that you can not turn the ball over, especially in the Super Bowl. So sad to boil it down to that right up front but the Packers turned all 3 turnovers into 21 points. The first Ben Roethlisberger interception his arm was hit after an allowed pressure by Chris Kemoeatu. The second one he forced I thought. Hard to pin everything on him as he was the main reason they also stayed in the game.
Not getting that first fumbled punt was big.
Losing Emmanuel Sanders early hurt a bit, but was not the difference. It looked like Flozell Adams and Bryant McFadden might have been lost early as well, but they both returned.
Aaron Rodgers made the throws when he had to and the blitz did not get there as often as it should of. He got the ball out quick and his receivers did not help him a few times with drops. In the end though, he made enough good plays with his arm. Donald Driver was a big loss for them as well.
The Steelers really caught huge breaks when defensive backs Charles Woodson and Sam Shields went out for a while. Shields returned, but the Packers were vulnerable against the run then. They were running good and looked in control of the game, even though they were behind, until Rashard Mendenhall fumbled. That really was the killer as it resulted in a touchdown and was a huge swing after the Steelers battled back.
The safeties just seemed a little off and late tonight giving help and the secondary gave up 6 plays of 20 yards or more. They were not on the details of wrapping up as quick as usual either it seemed.
Keyaron Fox and Ryan Mundy had big special teams penalties and Kemoeatu also chipped in another stupid penalty that was uncalled for. The Steelers caught a break on the facemask call on the Antonio Brown punt return.
For the most part I thought the offensive line played well, but the tape will not lie. Doug Legursky was not great, but serviceable. Jonathan Scott also was serviceable again at left tackle I thought. Adams also played well on Clay Matthews it seemed.
You knew the Packers would not run on the defense, but had to try just enough for balance. It is not what they do anyways. Holding James Starks to 52 yards was just a moral victory.
The defense needed to force a turnover and they didn\’t. Only a few chances on some tipped passes, but really they were never close. Just one could have made a big difference.
Special teams I thought played well. The long field goal miss was to be expected as Shaun Suisham was trying to kick it to Houston. I did not like the decision to try it, I thought they should of tried to punt and flip the field. It ended up not hurting them really.
A few of the Roethlisberger misses were big. A few passes were a little hot and he might have missed Mike Wallace on a deep one.
We knew Anthony Madison might be picked on. He was not the only liability though plus Rodgers made some great throws on some great coverage.
Outside of the fumble, I thought all the backs played well. It was a shame they had to abandon the run late after the fumble as the running game was good enough had they taken the lead and needed to kill the clock late. It was not to be.
I loved the trick play on the 2 point conversion. That has been in the bag a while.
Over all I thought once again the play calling was great. The screens to Wallace set up the touchdown to him over the top.
James Harrison was almost getting there and the defense could have had a 6 sack night that would have likely made a big difference on a few 1st down conversions.
I will add more to this, but the turnovers were easy points and the offense was going uphill all night. The defense did what they could do, but Rodgers was damn good. The Steelers after everything still had the ball with one drive and plenty of clock left to win it, but didn\’t.
