Tweet
Narrow 2009 loss at Pittsburgh still harrowing to Capers, Green Bay
by Don Banks
Read more: [url="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/01/26/nfl.insider/index.html#ixzz1CDDKrOOv"]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z1CDDKrOOv[/url]
by Don Banks
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Dispatches from Lambeau Field, where the Packers on Wednesday started stepping up their preparation for next week's trip to Dallas and Super Bowl XLV ...
• The Roethlisberger Horror Picture Show is getting a lot of repeat viewings here this week within the Packers team complex. You remember that scary flick: Pittsburgh 37, Green Bay 36, in Week 15 of 2009, with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throwing for a career-high 503 yards and the game-winning 19-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace as time expired. Pittsburgh rolled up 537 yards of total offense that day against Green Bay, and Big Ben became just the 10th quarterback since 1950 to crack 500 yards in a game, setting a team record in the process.
It's a wonder the Packers defense and coordinator Dom Capers didn't burn the game video, but instead it's getting plenty of play because it represents the last time Green Bay and Pittsburgh squared off against one another.
"Oh, yeah, it was embarrassing,'' Packers defensive end Ryan Pickett said Wednesday. "To give up the kind of yards we gave up against Pittsburgh last year, we definitely are motivated. The tape wasn't easy to watch. They did everything they pretty much wanted on us. They just moved the ball up and down the field on us. It is kind of hard to watch.''
The Packers scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, remarkably mounting four different comebacks from deficits of at least six points, and taking a 36-30 lead with 2:06 to play. But the Green Bay defense couldn't hold on for the last play of the game, and Wallace's touchdown was reminiscent of the Super Bowl-winning Roethlisberger-to-Santonio Holmes pass against Arizona 10 months earlier. The loss snapped Green Bay's five-game winning streak and the win ended the Steelers' five-game losing streak. The Packers didn't lose again until the first round of the playoffs, when they dropped that 51-45 overtime thriller at Arizona.
"It was a tough game,'' Packers guard Josh Sitton said of the defeat in Pittsburgh. "It was a tough loss for us. And really it was kind of like all the games we lost this year. Last-second losses. Losing by a point or three points. You know, it's one of the games you've got to finish. There's a couple of drives that we could have put the game away on offense and obviously the last drive for the defense -- it's all about the finish. I think down the stretch this year we've learned how to finish those games. We've had a few of those close games, including the playoff games, so I think we've learned how to finish better.''
The Packers and Steelers combined for more than 900 yards passing in that game, and the lead changed hands four times in the final eight minutes. But it's not too likely we'll see a repeat of that type of defensive carnage. Pittsburgh and Green Bay ranked 1-2 in scoring defense this season, with the Steelers (14.5 ppg) giving up more than 24 points just once (39 in a loss to New England), and the Packers (15.0 ppg) allowing more than 24 just twice (26 to Detroit and 31 to New England).
• It's easier said than done, of course, but the Packers are putting all kinds of focus on the importance of tackling Roethlisberger in the Super Bowl, and not letting him do his extend-the-play thing all night long. The Packers sacked Big Ben five times in that 2009 meeting, but according to Capers, they got their hands on him but missed plenty of other opportunities.
"We had five sacks and a legitimate chance at five other sacks,'' Capers said. "But it was just basically him being Ben, you know, where we missed him or we hit him and came off of him. And a couple of the times, he launched a ball up the field for big plays against us. We gave up by far the most big plays there than we did of any game last season?''
But as it turns out, sacking Roethlisberger is lot like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Because how can you?
"It's like trying to tackle a lineman back there,'' Capers said. "He's like a fullback back there playing quarterback. I think you've got to try to hit him between the knees and the chest. If you get up high on him, you probably aren't going to get him down.''
Said Pickett: "He breaks more tackles than any running back I've seen. It's tough to bring him down once you get past the offensive line. Obviously not many people have the answer to how you get him down. That's why he's been to, what, three Super Bowls the last six years? It's no easy answer. When you get your opportunity, you have to try to tackle him, but that's not easy.''
Roethlisberger takes some of the aggression out of a team's pass rush, because he's so adept at shaking off tacklers that some defenders almost tip-toe up to him, thereby losing some of the head of steam needed to bring him down. They wind up just bouncing off Roethlisberger.
"When you get your shot, you can't just go full speed and reckless,'' Packers cornerback Charles Woodson said. "You've got to kind of break down and be ready to move either way with (him). So you've got to come with some sort of controlled aggression, once you get to the quarterback. And when you get your hands on him, you can't let go. He's gotta go down.''
• The Roethlisberger Horror Picture Show is getting a lot of repeat viewings here this week within the Packers team complex. You remember that scary flick: Pittsburgh 37, Green Bay 36, in Week 15 of 2009, with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throwing for a career-high 503 yards and the game-winning 19-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace as time expired. Pittsburgh rolled up 537 yards of total offense that day against Green Bay, and Big Ben became just the 10th quarterback since 1950 to crack 500 yards in a game, setting a team record in the process.
It's a wonder the Packers defense and coordinator Dom Capers didn't burn the game video, but instead it's getting plenty of play because it represents the last time Green Bay and Pittsburgh squared off against one another.
"Oh, yeah, it was embarrassing,'' Packers defensive end Ryan Pickett said Wednesday. "To give up the kind of yards we gave up against Pittsburgh last year, we definitely are motivated. The tape wasn't easy to watch. They did everything they pretty much wanted on us. They just moved the ball up and down the field on us. It is kind of hard to watch.''
The Packers scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, remarkably mounting four different comebacks from deficits of at least six points, and taking a 36-30 lead with 2:06 to play. But the Green Bay defense couldn't hold on for the last play of the game, and Wallace's touchdown was reminiscent of the Super Bowl-winning Roethlisberger-to-Santonio Holmes pass against Arizona 10 months earlier. The loss snapped Green Bay's five-game winning streak and the win ended the Steelers' five-game losing streak. The Packers didn't lose again until the first round of the playoffs, when they dropped that 51-45 overtime thriller at Arizona.
"It was a tough game,'' Packers guard Josh Sitton said of the defeat in Pittsburgh. "It was a tough loss for us. And really it was kind of like all the games we lost this year. Last-second losses. Losing by a point or three points. You know, it's one of the games you've got to finish. There's a couple of drives that we could have put the game away on offense and obviously the last drive for the defense -- it's all about the finish. I think down the stretch this year we've learned how to finish those games. We've had a few of those close games, including the playoff games, so I think we've learned how to finish better.''
The Packers and Steelers combined for more than 900 yards passing in that game, and the lead changed hands four times in the final eight minutes. But it's not too likely we'll see a repeat of that type of defensive carnage. Pittsburgh and Green Bay ranked 1-2 in scoring defense this season, with the Steelers (14.5 ppg) giving up more than 24 points just once (39 in a loss to New England), and the Packers (15.0 ppg) allowing more than 24 just twice (26 to Detroit and 31 to New England).
• It's easier said than done, of course, but the Packers are putting all kinds of focus on the importance of tackling Roethlisberger in the Super Bowl, and not letting him do his extend-the-play thing all night long. The Packers sacked Big Ben five times in that 2009 meeting, but according to Capers, they got their hands on him but missed plenty of other opportunities.
"We had five sacks and a legitimate chance at five other sacks,'' Capers said. "But it was just basically him being Ben, you know, where we missed him or we hit him and came off of him. And a couple of the times, he launched a ball up the field for big plays against us. We gave up by far the most big plays there than we did of any game last season?''
But as it turns out, sacking Roethlisberger is lot like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Because how can you?
"It's like trying to tackle a lineman back there,'' Capers said. "He's like a fullback back there playing quarterback. I think you've got to try to hit him between the knees and the chest. If you get up high on him, you probably aren't going to get him down.''
Said Pickett: "He breaks more tackles than any running back I've seen. It's tough to bring him down once you get past the offensive line. Obviously not many people have the answer to how you get him down. That's why he's been to, what, three Super Bowls the last six years? It's no easy answer. When you get your opportunity, you have to try to tackle him, but that's not easy.''
Roethlisberger takes some of the aggression out of a team's pass rush, because he's so adept at shaking off tacklers that some defenders almost tip-toe up to him, thereby losing some of the head of steam needed to bring him down. They wind up just bouncing off Roethlisberger.
"When you get your shot, you can't just go full speed and reckless,'' Packers cornerback Charles Woodson said. "You've got to kind of break down and be ready to move either way with (him). So you've got to come with some sort of controlled aggression, once you get to the quarterback. And when you get your hands on him, you can't let go. He's gotta go down.''
Read more: [url="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/01/26/nfl.insider/index.html#ixzz1CDDKrOOv"]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z1CDDKrOOv[/url]
Comment