Deep, Experienced Packers Good Bet to Repeat
Garry D. Howard - SportingNews.com
Feb 07, 2011
Depth.
That is the main reason the Green Bay Packers will be poised to repeat as Super Bowl champions next year.
After dispatching the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers with yet another postseason gem, stud quarterback Aaron Rodgers now has the ultimate playoff experience.
When you pass for 1,094 yards with nine touchdowns and just two interceptions in the playoffs, NFL teams will take notice.
If you can navigate your team on the road through a murderers' row of Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and then Pittsburgh, well, you have the touch.
And right now, Aaron Rodgers has it all … and a Super Bowl MVP.
Yet after losing 12 starters for a total of 86 games and 31 players for a mind-boggling total of 180 games, the Packers will only get stronger.
Running back Ryan Grant, tight end Jermichael Finley, tackle Mark Tauscher and linebacker Nick Barnett all return to the roster next year and their talent will catapult the Packers to yet another level.
The New England Patriots were the last team to repeat as Super Bowl champions, winning back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004.
With the return of that blue-chip talent, the Packers may very well be the next.
"We're looking to be back again next year," said Charles Woodson, who broke his collarbone in Super Bowl XLV. "I think we have the nucleus, as you say, and we most definitely have the quarterback.
"We're looking to be back again."
Indeed.
General manager Ted Thompson did a masterful job of filling the holes all over the place this season and that is one more reason the Packers are certainly the odds-on favorites next year.
"The experience that all these players have had, being forced to play this year, should bode well for increased depth," said Thompson.
After losing six games this past regular season by a total of just 20 points, the Packers have the talent, depth and, now, the experience to run the table yet again.
And if that isn't enough, Aaron Rodgers will take them the rest of way all by himself because …
He's that good; just ask Pittsburgh.
Sporting News NFL writer Vinnie Iyer contributed to this report.
----
Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion
Copyright 2011 by SportingNews.com
