NFL 2010

Dude, this is really simple...

They don't hold meetings on this shit. Everybody and their mother by now is aware that the Packers are the prohibitive favorite to win the Super Bowl based on the betting lines. This includes everybody that watches ESPN, which is pretty much everybody that cares about sports at all. Mike Tomlin is a head coach. As a head coach, it's his job to motivate his team to play. He knows that he leads a group of prideful men that respond favorably to perceived slights. Therefore he uses the gift-wrapped slight of being underdogs in the point spread as a motivational ploy when he addresses the team. It's no different than when he said that the Panthers have the advantage going into their Thursday night game because the Panthers are a younger team and heal more quickly. You think the 30 somethings like James Farrior, James Harrison, Casey Hampton, Hines Ward, and Brett Keisel didn't want to 'prove' their own coach wrong, to meet that challenge? This has nothing to do with game plans and pre-game preparation and all that shit. The Jets were pretty fucking motivated by being given no chance by the media to beat the Patriots. Listen to any post-game interview to see if their being doubted played any role in their being fired up for that game.
 
Fine Fine DODS we get it. If you think a meaningless 2-3 point spread is going to turn the Steeler players into crazed Scottish madmen led by William Wallace with faces painted black and yellow (replacing cobalt-blue of course)...then all the power to them!:p
 
I really don't understand what is so hugely revelatory about the idea of athletes being motivated to meet challenges that somebody (real or imagined) says that they can't meet. It's the single oldest and most successful motivational ploy in the history of coaching. Athletes, like all human beings, are driven by the desire to prove doubters and critics wrong. Once again, it doesn't matter whether the criticism is valid or not, real or perceived. If it exists in the mind of the player, it is motivation. Here's yet another article to illustrate my point:

It remains to be seen whether Vegas oddsmakers did the Steelers a disservice by installing the Green Bay Packers as the favorites in Super Bowl XLV.

They certainly did coach Mike Tomlin a favor by setting the early line at three points.

That will serve as one of many rallying points for the Steelers as they prepare for a Super Bowl that pits two of the NFL's most storied franchises against one another Feb. 6 in Dallas.

"I feel like we're always underdogs, even when they've got us covering the point spread," veteran cornerback Ike Taylor said Monday after team meetings at Steelers headquarters.

The respect card is perhaps the most overplayed one in sports, but it has worked for the Steelers.

In 2008, they took exception to the notion that a brutal regular-season schedule would be their undoing.

They promptly went 12-4 and won three postseason games on the way to a sixth Super Bowl title.

This season, they noticed when some pundits picked them to finish no better than third in the AFC North because of an aging defense and an absentee quarterback for the first four games.

Now they are one victory away from winning a third Super Bowl title in six years.

"I kind of don't understand what everybody sees that we don't see," Taylor said. "We talk about the local media having us going 8-8."

Maybe Taylor and the Steelers should be thanking those who predicted they would finish no better than .500.

They have not played particularly well in recent years when there have been high expectations -- or at least higher than usual for a franchise whose players walk past six Lombardi Trophies on a regular basis.

Conversely, the Steelers have been at their best when few outside of the organization have given them a chance of making the kind of run that will extend this season into February.

The Steelers, however, aren't underdogs any more than Bill Gates is.

And Taylor even acknowledged that when talking about the us-versus-everybody-else mentality that the Steelers embraced this season.

"People don't like successful people, regardless of how you make it. Just the tradition we have here, the success we have here, I just feel that a lot of people don't want us to succeed," Taylor said. "They're getting tired of seeing the same people over and over again. I guess they want to see somebody new."

Looks like they'll have to wait at least one more year for that to happen.

Read more: No respect? Underdog status could benefit Steelers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_719672.html#ixzz1CAWdJoUX
Click to expand...
 
I was never really arguing the point of motivation...it was the level of it...the means of it. Whatever is used for motivation...its all good. Believe me, I remember seeing it 10-fold when the Pats were dbl digit 'dogs against the Rams (01'). In the end...if it makes for an intense, well played, entertaining Superbowl...then we should all be satisfied.
 
I think Coughlin should "Tuck" his head and kiss his own ass!

Also the Jets Cromartie still yapping away. His latest was a "i'll smash ur face in" twitter threat towards M. Hasselbeck. The QB previously jokingly said "Cromartie doesn't even know what the CBA stands for"? Rumors heard of Cromartie saying "CBA that= condom broke again!":lol:
 
I could care less about any of the hype or the lines or anything like that. I think the only thing that's gonna play into it advantage-wise is that it's in a dome. Rodgers is excellent inside and it plays to Green Bay's strengths. While Roethlisberger is definitely a great player (as much as I hate to admit it), I'd say Rodgers is a better passer, and that Green Bay's passing attack is better, having 4 big play threats at wide receiver.

It's going to come down to who makes the least mistakes and which quarterback plays the best. Pretty simple to me.
 
I think a teams perspective does alot to influence the play, but its never THE deciding factor unless one team is extreme in the negative attitude.
 
The Steelers wide receivers are faster than the Packers, so how exactly is dome = advantage Packers?
 
how you can argue that the Steelers Receiving is better than the Packers? That's clearly the Packers strong point, with everything else going to Steelers imho. Props to the GB running back though, Starks, from Univ of Buffalo! haha
 
You misunderstand. I said that Steelers receiving corps (Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, and Antonio Brown) are faster than the Packers' receivers, not better. Wallace is only in his second year and the other two are rookies. None of them are particularly polished, but what they do have is speed.
 
Speed is overrated for a receiver. Playing in a dome means the Packers' receivers can run more precise routes and work on gaining more YAC. The advantages are quite obvious, especially when considering the Packers' gameplan will probably consist of a lot of passing since no team runs well against the Steelers and the Steelers' secondary is vulnerable to the spread offense.
 
Dodens Grav said:
The Steelers wide receivers are faster than the Packers, so how exactly is dome = advantage Packers?
Click to expand...

Dodens Grav said:
You misunderstand. I said that Steelers receiving corps (Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, and Antonio Brown) are faster than the Packers' receivers, not better. Wallace is only in his second year and the other two are rookies. None of them are particularly polished, but what they do have is speed.
Click to expand...

You answered your own question. The Packers CB's are also very fast, so I'd give the advantage to Green Bay like I said before as Pit's speed will be neutralized somewhat by that.
 
The Steeleres CBs are very fast too and play to take away the big play and YAC, so, again, I don't see a notable advantage either way. Rodgers' game relies on the big play more than most "upper third" quarterbacks as well. Everybody is vulnerable to the spread offense and the Steelers use it too. There is no advantage.
 
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