I am currently about halfway through the book you see to your left, "The Games That Changed the Game" by Ron Jaworski. It is a pretty good book, although Jaws does tend to get a bit technical and throw in a lot of X's and O's, but you can learn a lot about the game of football as it is played in the NFL, and he does have some interesting anecdotes.
Here is one thing that I learned: professional football coaches are smart people when it comes to their chosen profession. A LOT SMARTER that the average Joe that watches his favorite team from the couch or the stadium on a Sunday afternoon. The next time you hear some bozo calling a talk show (or writing in a blog) that Bruce Arians is an idiot and should be fired, be very sure that that caller (or blogger) hasn't the slightest clue as to what he is talking (or blogging) about.
For all of you Steelers fans out there, one of the games that Jaws focuses on is the 1974 AFC Championship game between the Steelers and Raiders at Oakland, the game that sent the Steelers to their first Super Bowl. He chooses this game because he credits Steelers defensive coordinator Bud Carson with creating and implementing what we know today as the "Cover 2" defense. Now I just read that entire chapter, and I still can't tell you what "Cover 2" is (see comment about how smart coaches are in previous paragraph), nor was I aware that Carson was the father of it. Learn something new every day! The chapter is a great read if for no other reason than to remind you of just how GOOD the Steelers of that era were.
As for tomorrow's games, I won't give a lot of analysis here, nor will I disparage the New York Jets. They have earned their spot in this game tomorrow. I will make my picks short and sweet:
Steelers over Jets
Packers over Bears
My reasons are simple. In a close game, which I believe these two will be (although if one game is going to be a blowout, it will be the Packers-Bears game), take the team with the better quarterback. Roethlisberger and Rodgers trump Sanchez and Cutler.
And could there be a better Old School match-up in the Super Bowl that Pittsburgh and Green Bay? I don't think so.
No comments:
Post a Comment