Colts vs. Packers: Potential Super Bowl Preview?

August 26, 2010

Two of the top quarterbacks in the NFL will go head to head Thursday night as Peyton Manning and Indianapolis Colts take on Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay Packers. Rodgers has proven to be one of the best signal callers in the league after spending several years behind Brett Favre. Manning has been the face of the league for 12 years, and is expected to win every time he’s on the field. This will be an aerial assault as both of the top rated QB’s will play for at least the entire first half. At this point of the pre-season, teams are looking to get a true feel in regards to how they match-up to the rest of the league.

Manning has the confidence and ability to lead his team to another Super Bowl title. He’s been their twice, and is considered by many NFL experts to be the best quarterback of our time and possibly ever. It’s my opinion that he will need to get 1 or possibly 2 more Super Bowl wins to be put in the same class as Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, and Johnny Unitas. It’s even debatable that Manning may be the second best quarterback of the 21st Century as Tom Brady has 2 more Championships, and has been far more competitive in the playoffs. Either way, Manning is an elite player that has tremendous drive and passion for the game.

The Indianapolis offensive attack is loaded once again as all of their leaders in rushing and receiving are back for the 2010 season. The running game is led by Joseph Addai with Donald Brown being used as a solid back-up. Addai’s yards per carry weren’t very impressive (3.8 ypr), but he does more than enough to keep opposing defenses respect as he rushed for 10 touchdowns last year. While Manning can make any receiver look good, he is fortunate to have a trio of wide-outs that compliment his passing game with incredible athleticism and route running. Reggie Wayne is one of the top-5 receivers in the league, but much of his success last year was due to defenses paying a lot of attention to Pierre Garson and Austin Collie. The kicker for this offense is that Manning also has the luxury of throwing to perhaps the best tight end in the league. Dallas Clark caught 100 passes for 1106 yards in 2010. His 10 touchdowns tied Wayne for team high, and his chemistry with Manning is uncanny. Expect much of the same this season offensively from the Colts as they push defenses around with a well balanced attack.

Green Bay has made huge strides over the last few seasons under Rodgers, and will do so again this year. I believe that Rodgers is capable of being the leagues MVP. Why not? He has a 1200+ yard back in Ryan Grant, 2 top flight receivers in Greg Jennings and Donald Driver and a tremendous 3rd year tight end in Jermichael Finley. Rodgers elusiveness allows him and his receivers more time to make plays. This has been a huge key for the Packers offense.

Rodgers has improved steadily through the last 2 seasons. After falling in the draft in 2005, it was thought by football analysts that he wouldn’t be good enough to lead a team. Now that many NFL picks for 2010 have the Packers finishing with 10-11 wins, it seems as though he’s proven them wrong. His phenomenal 2009 season included passing for 4434 yards, 30 TD’s to just 7 interceptions, a 64.7 completion percentage and a quarterback rating of 103.2. He has become a fantasy league owners dream, and will be as good if not better this season.

This may not be as exciting as a regular season game, but there is no question that both of these squads will be playing all out as they try to get fine tuned for the regular season. Check out this match-up between 2 of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under NFL

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