They say that the NFL is an imitation league. When the rest of the teams see what works -- what wins a championship -- they all try to pick it up and duplicate it.
So you can expect the NFL shortly to be filled with head coaches named Mike, mobile quarterbacks who are solid passers but able to extend plays with their feet, and 3-4 defenses.
Well, perhaps the first of those similarities between the NFC Champion Packers and the AFC Champion Steelers will not breed much imitation. The other two details of these eerily similar squads, however, may become the aspirations of every other team in the league.
“They've got a really awesome defense,” Don Banks quotes Steeler safety Troy Polamalu as saying. “The fact is you could switch half our players with half their players and we could both run the exact same defense. I guarantee you that we could swap safeties and run the exact same defense. You could definitely swap anyone on our defense and still play.”
Banks continues:
With Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers and Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau being friends, former co-Pittsburgh coaches in the early '90s and proponents of the same 3-4 scheme, Polamalu is not exaggerating. The soft-spoken eighth-year veteran said while he wouldn't trade the Steelers' set of starting linebackers for anyone else's, facing Green Bay is a little like playing an opponent that's a mirror image of the Steelers.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/01/28/troy-polamalu/index.html#ixzz1CcxnXPuz
The nearly identical defenses is perhaps the greatest wild card in this year’s Super Bowl. The Steelers and Packers play the same scheme, boast the same kinds of explosive playmakers on that side of the ball, and were ranked #1 and #2 in points allowed this season, respectively. But the mere fact that they are both great defenses is not the issue -- it is the degree to which both offenses begin with such a familiarity advantage.
What Rodgers and Roethlisberger will encounter on the field next Sunday will look just like what they see every week in practice. And each team’s defensive coaching staff will be able to tell the offensive guys everything they could want to know about what they’ll be facing.
Ironically, neither Super Bowl contender is noted for its special teams play. That doesn’t mean, of course, that some blocked punt, missed field goal, or return for a touchdown won’t prove to be the deciding factor -- it’s just not the focus of any of the pregame analysis. Instead, all the talk is about two stingy and similar defenses, and two mobile quarterbacks who are hard to defend.
The chief difference between the two teams seems to be differing areas of offensive prowess -- the Steelers are a great running team, while the Packers boast an explosive passing offense. And after the final gun on Sunday, then the rest of the teams around the league will know which one they should try to be.
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