We’re back!
Two hundred and fifteen days. That was the last time a football player took to the turf and played a real, competitive, live game. It’s one of the longest off seasons in sports, and despite the wait being marred by lockouts, holdouts and injuries; what a game to come back to.
The Packers need no hype. They were predicted to win the Super Bowl last year and they delivered. They did it despite seven starters on injured reserve including starting RB Ryan Grant and electric TE Jermichael Finley. This year they get them back and they add depth.
Facing the Packers in Lambeau? Drew Brees and the Saints…did someone say shootout? The Saints won the Super Bowl the year before the Pack, and while last season wasn’t terrible for them, they failed to win their division and were booted from the playoffs by the first team in NFL history to win a division with a losing record.
The storylines in this game are numerous, but the most interesting to me is the running backs of both teams. Last season the Packers’ rushing attack was lead by Brandon Jackson. He’s now a Brown, and has gone the way of Grant being placed on IR Saturday. He became expendable after failing to shine as a starter and with the rise of James Starks and some useful showings from Alex Green. A big story out of Green Bay was the possibility Grant was going to be released, are Starks and Green that good, or is Grant just not at the level he had been before the injuries? My fantasy team really hopes Grant can regain from previous seasons, but it’s looking ever likely the Pack will be starting a new running back in 2011.
The Saints have had a similar problem at back, except where the Pack lost a starter; the Saints lost every running back but pre-season long shot to make the team Chris Ivory. They drafted Mark Ingram, traded away Reggie Bush, added ex-charger Sproles and will be looking to pound the tackles with more power this year. Returning from an injury-fatigued season is starter Pierre Thomas. His effectiveness is another question mark for this team – is he an elite back, or just a player who has the odd good game? Can he be ridden to the Super Bowl and will he fight off newly acquired Sproles’ shot to start? I’m excited to see either way. I feel this team is brimming with talent and explosiveness out of the backfield.
Despite the interest at halfback, we know that we’ve all come to watch Rodgers and Brees go head to head in a game that scoring could combine into the eighties or nineties. The Saints have won three of the previous four Including a high scoring 2008 playoff game where New Orleans put 51 points up on the board. This is a different team from that one however and in 37 games Dom Capers (the Green Bay defensive co-ordinator) has only allowed five 300-yard passing games. In the end, that’s what this game will come down to; who can pause the other. Whose defence is better; Green Bay wins that debate, no contest. Ingram and Sproles add an ex-factor that the Saints sorely need, and will need, to win…but the Packers are just too strong in more areas.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if New Orleans took this one – I just feel that their D just wont halt the Green Bay O as much as the Packers D will stop the New Orleans O.
Saints 27 – Packers 33 is my call, but don’t be surprised if the Saints take it at the last minute by a point or three. Anyway this game goes though it will be a high-powered exciting affair that I, for one, cannot wait for.
