I can't complain too much about the Packers season, besides the not making the Super Bowl fact. I've seen the green and gold make many a short run in the playoffs in my fandom. Let's face it, as a fan, even a Yankee fan, your team is going to lose the big one more often than win it. (That doens't mean I don't root hard for the Yanks to finish dead last every year.)
I think the blowout loss to the 49ers in the playoffs showed what we need to fix in terms of defense. Scheming was a major issue as well as front four pressure. Where did B.J. Raji go this year? He was on the field but mostly invisible in terms of impact. We definitely need a stronger presence there next season.
And as always, are we ever going to find a running game!? Dorsey Levens or Edgar Bennett now, years past their careers, would be better than what we've had over the past couple seasons. Our running back situation was a catastrophe from the start this season and never really improved. I can only imagine how unstoppable A-Rod could be with a running game.
The last area would be the WR core. It's sad to see Donald Driver go, but man did he give us some good years. 14 years, all in the green and gold. Greg Jennings is also most likely gone as a FA, but I don't think that hurts us all that much. James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and Randall Cobb have been groomed up as a solid group of receivers and we still have Jermichael Finley at the TE position. I'm sure the team will try and find another Cobb or Nelson in the draft, and hopefully they will fit in well to an already strong receiving core.
As for the Super Bowl, it feels like a toss-up. My main question is can the Ravens' old legs on D keep with the 49ers for 4 quarters?
I'm going to pick the Ravens (let's say 28-24) just because I want to wake up on Monday and not have to here about how magical, awesome, and revolutionary the pistol offense is for the next 7 months until the 2013 season starts. The pistol is great if your QB is 24, but at some point you're gonna have old legs behind the line. At that point, you need a guy that just knows how to read a D and get the job done delivering the ball around the field.
I think what would make the Super Bowl really interesting would be if Kaepernick gets off to a bad start. I mean a bad start. What if he has 3 interceptions before halftime and the Niners are down by 14? Would Jim Harbaugh pull him for Smith? That would be an interesting plot, as I think we've run the course on the Harbowl and Ray Lewis storylines over 2 straight weeks of pregame coverage.
Here's to what will hopefully be a watchable game!
-Mike
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