Super Bowl XLV: Packers, Steelers Will Play On NFL’s Biggest Stage

As we explained, there are lots and lots of mini-controversies that arise in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl because there is so much media attention. One of those was the Green Bay Packers team photo controversy with the players on injured reserve.

Here’s another controversy that may or may not be mini -- investigators are checking out a “suspicious package” near Cowboys Stadium.

Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey was already questionable for Super Bowl XLV, but his injury may be more serious than originally thought. Speculation has run rampant about Pouncey’s status, fueled by Chris Kemoeatu’s declaration that Pouncey would be unavailable for the Super Bowl on Wednesday, though he later back-tracked from the comments.

Now, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting Pouncy has a broken bone in his ankle to go along with high-ankle sprain he was originally diagnosed with. In the same report, the Post-Gazette said Pouncey has still been unable to practice and the ligament damage, not the broken bone, is the problem.

Pittsburgh Steelers DE Aaron Smith has been off the field since late October with a triceps injury and the team has opted not to place him on injured reserve hoping he would be able to return in a deep playoff run. Well, the Steelers are deep into the playoffs but it appears Smith won’t be playing.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Smith is unlikely to play in the 2011 Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers.

The 2011 Super Bowl is over a week away and we’re running through some of the key matchups in the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers. An important matchup for both sides will be Steelers WR Mike Wallace against the Packers secondary.

Wallace hasn’t put up many stats in the postseason but we’ve seen him play the last two years and we know he’s a significant threat. SB Nation’s Acme Packing Company has an excellent writeup on how the Packers match up.

The Green Bay Packers defeated the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship game and it was a “tough day for Bears fans”, President Obama said this week after his hometown Bears lost the game. Obama earlier in the week had picked the Bears to beat the Packers.

Obama was speaking in Wisconsin this week and started things off making light of his pick last week:

We’ve talked about some of the 2011 Super Bowl ticket prices before and, yeah, we’re going to talk about it again but the prices are just insane. Shortly after the game they were going for an average of $3,600 a pop with some suites going for as much as $73,000.

The prices have come down a little bit so now you can buy them for “only” $2,444.

Steelers rookie Maurkice Pouncey exited Pittsburgh’s AFC Championship victory over the New York Jets with an ankle injury that, at the time, looked pretty serious. Pouncey later told reporters that the injury won’t keep him out of the 2011 Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers.

Well....maybe it will. No one’s talking -- including Pouncey -- but reporters spotted him in a cast. Not a walking boot -- but a cast. He was also on crutches.

You know the old saying: defense wins championships. In Super Bowl XLV, the first- and second-ranked scoring defenses will be on display, setting up what many expect to be a low-scoring, defense-oriented affair. Though they attain the goal in different ways, both the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers have shown the ability to lock the opponent down throughout the 2010 season.

The Packers are strong against the pass, allowing 194.9 yards per game through the air, fifth-best in the NFL. The run defense, however, may be the weak point for Green Bay. The Packers have allowed 114.9 yards per game, ranked 18th in the league. Charged with stopping a Steelers offense that loves to pound the ball and utilize a smash-mouth style, can Green Bay come up big against the run? They’ve done it before in the playoffs, holding Matt Forte, Michael Turner and LeSean McCoy under 100 yards, with the most physical back, Turner, limited to just 39 yards on 10 carries.

On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers opened as 2.5-point favorites over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Throughout the playoffs, money came in hard on the Packers’ side, leaving Vegas little choice but to install Green Bay as favorites. Since then, Green Bay has seen a bit more action in early bets, evidenced by where the line has moved in the two days since it was posted.

As it stands now, the odds have Green Bay as a slightly bigger favorite, holding a three-point advantage in the Bodog.com books. Lines move for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which has to do with where the money is flowing. Point spreads are set to encourage equal betting and are fluid, moving one way or the other if the action becomes one-sided. In this case, it appears Green Bay is feeling the love early.

Interested in going to the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas, Texas? First, you better set up your airfare and hotel -- very few spots remain. Second, you better pony up over $3,000 for a ticket. And, third, you should get another $990 ready for a parking spot.

Indeed, the cost of the closest parking spot to Cowboys Stadium reaches a whopping $990, according to ParkWhiz.com. There are three entries for parking spots within 0.1 mile of the stadium ranging from $550 to $990. For a $400 difference they better wash my car during the game and rotate my tires.

The 2011 Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers will be played at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Jerry World, as it’s called, has a retractable roof on the top of it -- no, not like the one in Minnesota -- and it will be closed for the Super Bowl, the NFL announced.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said (via Dallas Morning News) the decision to leave the roof closed was a decision made well in advance of the 2011 Super Bowl so that they could focus on other logistics.

I bet you didn’t think you’d learn where the Super Bowl balls come from, did you? Well, you will.

The footballs for Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers will come from an Ohio plant which started producing the balls shortly after the Super Bowl teams were known. Each ball must have each team name and the Super Bowl XLV logo and the plant will get half of them to the Steelers and Packers by Tuesday.

The Green Bay Packers Super Bowl schedule created by head coach Mike McCarthy isn’t something that they came up with overnight. McCarthy actually started the schedule back in 2007 when the Packers were in the conference championship game. They didn’t win that but McCarthy’s Super Bowl scheduled stayed filed away.

With the Packers beating the Chicago Bears on Sunday and earning a Super Bowl berth, it’s now useful again. McCarthy says, as most coaches do, the goal is to keep it as normal as possible.

Tickets for the 2011 Super Bowl are expensive. Very expensive. CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that the average price on StubHub for a ticket to the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers is averaging $3,678.

This game features two of the most storied teams in NFL history so everything from ticket prices to TV ratings will likely be super-sized. Both Pittsburgh and Green Bay have two of the best traveling fan bases so there will be plenty of ticket competition in Dallas.

It should be interesting to see where Vegas sets the over/under on Aguilera’s version of the Anthem. It’ll probably be somewhere right at two minutes.

The 2011 Super Bowl is set with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Steelers beat the New York Jets in the AFC Championship game to get here while the Packers took down the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship game.

The game will take place on February 6th at 6:30 p.m. (ET). It will be televised on FOX and the announcers will be Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. The location is Dallas, Texas at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. This will be the first Super Bowl in the Cowboys new stadium.

The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers are two of the NFL’s most storied franchises. A matchup between the two, however, is a rarity. Due to the way the NFL puts together the schedule each year, the two rarely share the field, with long gaps between games. The matchup provides intrigue in Super Bowl 45 and gives fans a chance to see these two battle in the NFL’s biggest game for the first time.

Here’s a look at how the meetings between the Steelers and Packers over the last 50 years.

The Pittsburgh Steelers scored on their first drive in the AFC Championship game against the New York Jets but it came at a price. Center Maurkice Pouncey went down with what appeared to be a severe ankle injury and was carted off the field.

It was called a high-ankle sprain which could keep someone out for anywhere from a few days to a two months. The good news is that Pouncey told reporters following the game he plans to play in Super Bowl XLV against the Green Bay Packers in two weeks.

It took a while, but the Green Bay Packers became a gamblers’ favorite during the 2011 NFL playoffs. After playing the underdog role to perfection in the wildcard round against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Packers saw a shift in the odds as money began to move towards them more in each round. It ended with Green Bay being favored on the road in Chicago and continued in the early Super Bowl odds, where the Packers are favored by nearly a field goal.

Here’s a look at the odds for Green Bay’s playoff games.

The odds for the 2011 Super Bowl are already rolling in as sports books began posting soon after the Pittsburgh Steelers polished off the New York Jets to book a trip to Dallas. The Steelers will meet the Green Bay Packers, winners of the NFC Championship, in Super Bowl 45 on Feb. 6 in the NFL’s penultimate event. As expected, the line is close, with the over/under set low, as well.

The Las Vegas Hilton was first to post, installing the Packers as a two-point favorite. ESPN’s Chad Millman tweeted the line almost immediately after the AFC Championship. Shortly thereafter, the online books posted, favoring the Packers by 2.5.

It’s official: the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers will meet with a Super Bowl on the line.

The Packers and Steelers each won their respective conference’s championship game on Sunday to claim a Super Bowl berth.

The 2011 Super Bowl will take place on the NFL’s biggest stage.

That’s because, thanks to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, this Super Bowl will aspire to prove that everything really is bigger in Texas. Jones has spun this Super Bowl as a reason the $1.2 billion investment into Cowboys Stadium will have been worth it, and Jones wants this to be the best-attended Super Bowl in NFL history.