It’s been three weeks since the NFL season concluded in the Super Bowl, and the same amount of time since my last post on this blog, which was a correct prediction of the Packers winning the big game. So the season is over and the only headlines being made by the NFL involve labor negotiations, which most fans have no interest in, other than having the expectation that the millionaires and billionaires on each side settle their differences and play ball next season. With pro football now on the shelf, at least until the draft in April, here are some thoughts to tie up loose ends on the 2010 season, and the local team, the Buffalo Bills:

The Packers accomplished their goal the hard way, winning on the road as a wild card team all the way to Dallas. It isn’t that big a surprise that they are champs, however, since they were the choice of a lot of experts to contend for the title early in the year. The surprising thing is that they won after suffering a rash of injuries to key players, including RB Ryan Grant and star tight end Jermichael Finley, one of QB Aaron Rodgers’ key targets. The Super Bowl win is a testament to their coach, Mike McCarthy, and his staff. I like the Packers and how they do things – it’s the old school way. McCarthy is a no-nonsense football coach, a guy who is a throwback to coaches in the 1960s and ’70s. He isn’t interested in being the star of the show, he just keeps his focus on getting his team to do things the right way. Green Bay’s upper management deserves credit for managing the team the old-fashioned way also, being patient with McCarthy as he molded this championship team. That molding process included making the drastic move of cutting ties with Brett Favre and turning the quarterback duties over to Rodgers. That move could have been disastrous to McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson, and they took tons of heat for doing it, but it worked out well in the end because they had a plan, stuck to their guns, and were all on the same page when it came to how this franchise was going to progress into the future. That future now includes a Lombardi Trophy and looks even brighter with all the injured players returning next year. Rodgers’ development is another “old school” phenomenon. He was developed the old school way, by sitting on the bench behind Favre and learning, the way it used to be done in the NFL before impatient owners started drafting golden boy QBs and demanding instant success from them. Another great story in the Packers’ win is the emergence of James Starks, the unheralded rookie running back from Niagara Falls and the University of Buffalo. In my post predicting the Packers’ win in the Super Bowl, I mentioned that Green Bay would be successful if Starks just continued to do what he’d done throughout the playoffs – give them just enough of a ground game to keep the Steeler defense honest while Rodgers attacked them with the passing game. He did exactly that, rushing for 52 yards on 11 carries and picking up key first downs. Starks didn’t do anything fantastic in any of the playoff games, but he was steady and consistent. Actually that consistent play landed him at the top of the heap when it came to rushing yardage gained in the playoffs. He has positioned himself to take on an expanded role in his team’s plans next season.

Some closing thoughts on the Bills and how things shape up going into the 2011 season:

Here is my assessment of DE Marcus Stroud in the Bills’ season-ending report card post:

“Marcus Stroud – he has probably played his last game as a Bill. The one lasting memory I have of him is chasing Ben Roethlisberger, not the most fleet QB around, on a scramble and looking very old and slow while doing it.”

Stroud was released by the Bills recently, as was LB Pierre Woods, who I assessed as a “stop-gap player brought in due to injuries who probably wouldn’t be back.” Stroud’s release is no surprise. His days as a dominant defensive player are long past and the team needs to get younger, quicker and more physical along the defensive front next season. The move also gives Stroud a chance to hook up with another team. I like the move of bringing in Dave Wannstedt as assistant head coach. I never liked him as a head coach but his experience coordinating defenses should really help the Bills improve on the side of the ball where they need the most help. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. now has the Bills using the third overall draft pick on Auburn QB Cam Newton. I’m hoping the team is floating that information out there to try to trade the pick for some extra choices. They need to use most, if not all, of their top picks on impact defensive players.

                                        Green Bay rookie RB James Starks

Super Bowl XLV should be a classic game, being played between two of the National Football League’s premier franchises – the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers. To top it off, the teams will square off in Dallas owner Jerry Jones’ new billion dollar palace in front of over 100,000 fans and millions of television viewers. It will most likely set a new record for most fans attending the game, and with such a classic matchup may break TV ratings records also. The Pittsburgh Steelers have to be considered the favorite to win, regardless of what the oddsmakers say. They are the model NFL franchise. The consistency in how the team is operated is amazing. They have been owned by the Rooney family since the beginning. They were a losing franchise throughout the 1960s, but since 1970 have shown the rest of the NFL how it’s done. They’ve had only 3 head coaches in the 41 years since Chuck Noll turned the franchise around – Noll, Bill Cowher and the current coach, Mike Tomlin – and all 3 have won Super Bowls. When it comes to hiring minority head coaches, the Steelers are head and shoulders above the rest of the league. The rule directing teams to at least interview a minority candidate is called the Rooney Rule, since it was proposed by Steeler president Dan Rooney. While all the other teams give token interviews to minority candidates, then go ahead and recycle the same old coaches, when it came time to replace the retiring Cowher, the Steelers took the process seriously, and wound up hiring Tomlin, possibly the best young coach in the NFL who is on the verge of winning his second NFL title. It’s a little known fact that in 1957, the Steelers also hired the first African American assistant coach in history when they named Lowell Perry their receivers coach after his playing career was cut short by a serious injury. Of course, none of this has anything to do with how they’ll play on Sunday, but the fact is they are the most professionally-run franchise in the NFL and they haven’t won six Super Bowl titles, more than any other franchise, by accident. They know how to get it done. Then there are the Packers, another storied NFL franchise. They have had success under Curley Lambeau, Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren. Overall, they have won twice as many titles as the Steelers, 6 under Lambeau, 5 under Lombardi and one more for Holmgren for a total of 12. Their success spans nine decades, with a lot of mediocre football played in between the championship eras. They are clearly a team with a winning tradition, and current coach Mike McCarthy has done a great job of guiding them back to the top. The Packers are unique in that they are a small market team that is community-owned. Their general manager, Ted Thompson, deserves a lot of credit for the team reaching the Super Bowl also. He took the heat for dumping Brett Favre a few years ago and making the decision to go ahead and turn the team over to Aaron Rodgers. That decision looks pretty good at this point.

As for this Sunday’s game, I believe, even though the Steelers have much more championship experience on their roster, that the Packers will win. Green Bay, in my estimation, has the perfect offense to attack the vaunted Steeler defense. The Packers don’t run the ball that often, which isn’t a problem in this game since it’s almost impossible to run on the Steeler defense anyway. Green Bay will spread the defense out by using a lot of 4 and 5 receiver sets, with Rodgers beating the blitz with quick passes. Pittsburgh is vulnerable in the secondary if Green Bay’s line can pick up the Steeler blitzers and give Rodgers the extra seconds he’ll need to find open receivers. Rookie running back James Starks, the Niagara Falls and University of Buffalo product, will be a key player in the game. If he accomplishes what he has so far in the playoffs – picking up valuable yards on the ground when the Pack DOES run the ball to keep the defense honest – then Green Bay will win. Starks will also have the tough job of blitz pickup in the backfield – trying to sort out who is coming from where and getting over quickly enough to pick up the blitzers. Green Bay’s defense is good enough to handle Pittsburgh’s offense also. The Steelers run the ball with Rashard Mendenhall very effectively, and the Packers can be vulnerable to a power running game. Green Bay could be in trouble if the Steelers play a ball control game designed to control the clock and keep Rodgers off the field. The Packers’ defensive coaches have got to figure out ways to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s patchwork offensive line, that has lost starters all year long and will likely be missing their best player – rookie center Maurkice Pouncey – on Sunday. The player protecting Ben Roethlisberger’s blind side on Sunday, at left tackle, will be Jonathon Scott, who was one of many players shuffled in and out of the lineup on Buffalo’s oft-injured line in 2009. There have to be strategic ways to match Scott up with Pro Bowl linebacker Clay Matthews and cause Big Ben problems.

I feel the Packers will maintain drives and not allow Pittsburgh to play keepaway with a power ground game, and will win the game by more than a field goal. Green Bay 27, Pittsburgh 17.