NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

No labor dispute, snowy Super Bowl destination nor personal disappointment in one’s team will dampen Super Bowl XLV from being one for the ages. While I’m picking the Packers, I think this is a close enough match-up that there are potential storylines where either team ends up getting rings.

What Green Bay has to do to win:
1. Finish with the pass rush. This one is totally obvious: Big Ben is difficult to bring down. Their best bet is to not go for pump fakes and hope they can tip the ball, sack him or that more Packers will help them. Their defense has gotten better since the last time they faced Ben Roethlisberger. That was the only game in 2009 in which any QB had over 500 yards passing (Roethlisberger with 503) but he did get sacked a whopping 5 times.
2. Get physical with the Pittsburgh wide receivers. Mike Wallace is by far the top target on the Steelers (502 more receiving yards than the next guy), but if Woodson, Williams, Shields and Bishop can take away the quick reads and short routes, it would go great distances to helping the pass rush out.
3. Score quick. If Pittsburgh is able to churn up from 20 to 20, it may seem like a victory to hold them to just a field goal or even get a turnover on some of those drives. However, it would be nice for a team that is well-suited for the spread and practices it regularly, to come out “no huddle” on at least one drive because even if the Packers defense is “bend not break”, long drives on defense limit the number of drives they give the Packers offense.
4. Play stout special teams. It will be difficult (maybe worsened by that scoreboard) for Green Bay punter Tim Masthay to replicate the virtuoso masterpiece he put on at the Championship Game (5 of his 8 punts landed inside the Bear 20). The Packers have been burned at times for big returns in the punting game. The Steelers have allowed an NFL-high five kick returns for touchdowns over the last two seasons.
5. Maintain excellent hands and catch radius in the secondary. Ben sometimes has a bad throw here or there. Make him suffer for it.

What Pittsburgh has to do to win:
1. Execute in the red zone, particularly on defense. In the Super Bowl, you gotta make every red zone trip count on offense, but you especially need to hold Green Bay to field goals or risk Ben needing to drop back behind a patchwork line and put the ball in the air a bunch of times. When you ask any quarterback to do that, the risk is high. The Steelers had a 48.9% touchdown rate in the red zone in the regular season and have been even better than that in the playoffs. They have scored touchdowns on 6 of their 8 red zone appearances.
2. Win the turnover battle. Mike Tomlin is 27-3 in regular and postseason when his team has the turnover edge. Given that this game is on turf – and Aaron Rodgers has the best QB rating indoors over his last 11 indoor games – they might need some equalizers in the form of fumbles, interceptions, safeties (ironically, Pittsburgh is the only team to give up two postseason safeties over the last three seasons) or a 4th down stop.
3. Create holes for Rashard Mendenhall. This is what makes this game so intriguing. On one side, you have a top 5 quarterback in Aaron Rodgers with the best receiving corps in football (since Cam Cameron doesn’t want to use his). On the other side, you have a potentially top 5, easily top 10 quarterback and a top 5 running back in Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall was invaluable last week against the Jets, helping them run off much of the first half’s clock. He has 3 rushing TDs in two career playoff games.
4. Protect Ben Roethlisberger. You would think this would be higher on the list, but Ben is the best in the NFL at escaping from pressure. It is crucial, though, because of the many ways that Dom Capers will blitz and the fact that if the offense goes back 6-10 yards on a sack, it could end a drive and give better field position to the Packers on their next drive.
5. Be disciplined in your assignments. Green Bay likes to come out in three-back sets, the inverted wishbone. They’ve also been using a lot of 5 receiver sets, “Big Five” as McCarthy calls it, since 2007. Because I think both Matt Flynn and Aaron Rodgers can execute this offense so well, getting hits on Rodgers to try to physically force him out of the game isn’t as important as making plays in general on defense.

It’s another story that is not a story. Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger and his O-Line went to a BBQ spot in Dallas on Tuesday night, and of course due to his past it became instant news.

Basically it’s the media trying to create something out of nothing, and Ben explained the story to the media in the video above. Just like the week of the Jets game, the media is trying hard to come up with something interesting outside of the lines for this game, and so far, this is the story they are trying to focus on. Ugh.

What started as a rumor on PFT last night has been confirmed today by the team: Jay Gruden will be the new offensive coordinator.

According to Hobson over at the team's site, Gruden will install a West Coast-based scheme similar to that run under former Bengal coaches Sam Wyche and Bruce Coslet, and will resemble those currently run in Philadelphia and Green Bay.

There's been no word out of Carson Palmer's camp as to whether or not he approves the move (or how it impacts his trade demands) but Gruden went out of his way to compliment Cincy's franchise signal caller.

"I think everyone is hopeful we can get a deal done where he comes back and he plays like Carson can play. He's one of the elite quarterbacks in the league and we have to keep it that way and keep him protected and have fun playing football and I think he will do that and if he wants to come back, we're going to make everything right for him." Gruden said.

Gruden's Orlando Tuskers team in the UFL made that league's championship game last year en route to averaging over 35 points per game, but it's clear he intends to to install a run-first offense. "We have to be a physical team up front. We're going to challenge our offensive line to be physical," Gruden said, "We're not going to spread out and go no-huddle every down and throw the ball 65 times a game. I intend on pounding the ball and being able to pound the ball."

That was obviously a prerequisite for Marvin Lewis, and should make Cedric Benson happy about a possible return to stripes.

Indications are that while Gruden will try to maintain some elements of what the offense "did well" (whatever that is) most of the playbook and all of the terminology will change. So I guess that "Value in Continuity" is out the window. This indicates to me that either Lewis didn't want to tip his hand to Bratkowski, or the team changed direction on that point after fan anger reached its fever pitch last week.

Either way, I for one am excited about the move. Gruden has the pedigree and a solid resume.

The NFL has selected Walt Anderson to referee the Super Bowl, handing the 15-year veteran official his second assignment in the league’s championship game.

Anderson was a line judge at the 2001 Super Bowl between Baltimore and the Giants. The other members of the officiating crew announced Thursday are umpire Chad Brown, head linesman Kent Payne, line judge John Hussey, field judge Doug Rosenbaum, side judge Mike Weatherford and back judge Scott Helverson.

The NFL awards spots in the Super Bowl to officials with at least five years experience who grade out the best over the season. Anderson was the ref the night of the famous “Tuck Rule” game between the Raiders and Patriots back in 2001 that saved the Pats and allowed them to tie and win a divisional playoff game and eventually win the Super Bowl that year.