In case you missed it, during the awards ceremony after the game, Clay Matthews brought a heavyweight championship wrestling belt up to Aaron Rodgers on the podium. Rodgers was a big wrestling fan growing up and when he runs for a TD he always goes to his waist and pretends that he has a championship belt on.

Here’s a pic:

At last year’s Super Bowl, Yardbarker asked athletes and celebrities to spell “Roethlisberger” and many failed miserably. Believe it or not, many athletes and celebs struggled more this year with the name “Polamalu.”

Yikes. Check out the video below.

Phil Simms admitted on Saturday that he had a heated exchange with ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard at the NFL Experience exhibit in Dallas. Apparently the altercation stemmed from a comment Howard made prior to the Tennessee-LSU game on October 2 when he said, “You will see three of the worst quarterbacks in the SEC in that game.”

Why the comment struck a nerve with Simms is because his son Matt was one of those three quarterbacks. He just finished his junior year at Tennessee and apparently ol’ dad didn’t appreciate what Howard had to say.

USA Today has the rest of the details:

On Saturday, Phil Simms confronted Howard about the comments.

“Desmond and I were having a private conversation that became heated,” Simms said in a statement released by CBS. “But at no time was there ever a chance of any physical confrontation, or that I felt the police officer assigned to me by the event planners for my appearance needed to separate the two of us.”

Howard, who was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXI with the Green Bay Packers, said on his Twitter account that Simms threatened to throw a punch.

At NFL-Xperience and Phil Simms just threatened 2 hit me b/c I said his son was 1 of the worse QBs in the SEC. I told him “LET’S GO!”

I am DEAD serious about the Phil Simms thing. We all thought he was joking, but he kept going and said he wanted 2 take a swing at me!!

It ended w/police stepping in between so I could continue my appearance w/fans.

Later Saturday, Howard issued a statement of his own through ESPN.

“I was at a public signing for a sponsor when Phil approached me to express anger over on-air analysis I made months ago about his son, Tennessee QB Matt Simms. During the conversation, Phil made a reference to hitting me and security and sponsor representatives soon stepped in. It was an unfortunate incident and I’m moving on.”

I’ve had the opportunity to interview Phil Simms twice here at The Scores Report and he was a pleasure to speak with both times. He’s honest, funny, positive and he knows the game of football.

He also knows that it’s other media members’ jobs to share their opinion when they’re in front of the camera or behind the computer. Others may have found a more delicate way to say what Howard did, but in the end he was just sharing his opinion. That’s what he’s paid to do and Simms can’t take it personal. He knows better than anyone that the media doesn’t always have kind words to share about players and quite frankly, that they’re not always right either. (In fact, we’re/they’re wrong way more times than we’re right.)

Simms is fortunate to have a couple of sons that were/are good enough to play at the college and/or pro level and everybody (including Phil himself) needs to roll with the punches (no pun intended). And hey listen, I get it – he’s a parent first. It can’t be easy to listen to someone criticize your child. But in the end, criticism is just part of the business – a business that Simms knows very well.

Even the most feared pass-rushers in the NFL can learn a thing or two about their performance from a scientific standpoint. DeMarcus Ware (pictured above with NFL prospect Cameron Heyward) has made a living feasting on quarterbacks but that doesn’t mean he stops learning off the field. At the Super Bowl this year in Dallas, DeMarcus paired with Gatorade in order to work with their scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI). He was given the opportunity to learn about his specific sports’ nutrition routine, so that he can fuel maximum performance on the field. The Scores Report was fortunate enough to catch up with DeMarcus while he was at the GSSI, so he could fill us in on what the process was like and what he learned from his testing. We also asked him for his take on Wade Phillips, on what the Cowboys need to do to reach the Super Bowl next year and on the rising success of the 3-4 defense. Of course, we couldn’t let him go without getting his Super Bowl pick as well.

DeMarcus Ware: Hello?

The Scores Report: Hey DeMarcus! How are you, man?

DW: Good! How are you?

TSR: Doing well. So you’re in Dallas?

DW: Yes sir.

TSR: You having fun or what?

DW: Yeah, I’m having a great time at radio row.

TSR: Good stuff. Talk to me about Gatorade and what you’re doing with them for the Super Bowl.

DW: You know, everybody always thinks about sports drinks as something that just quenches your thirst. But they’ve taken it to the next level and they’ve gotten this lab to where it’s built for nutrition, fitness and really helping you with your performance. Gatorade has pre-drinks, post-drinks and you know, drinks in between workouts that helps you with peek performance.

TSR: I had the opportunity to speak with Maurice Jones-Drew last year about the Gatorade science lab and he loved his experience. Have you been able to jump on the treadmill or done anything like that yet?

Read the rest of this entry »

Pundits are great. They’re usually knowledgeable and objective. But no one knows a teams like its fans. True fans have watched all 19 games from start to finish and know their team’s ins and outs better than anyone. Informed fans are cautiously optimistic or appropriately pessimistic because they’ve seen their team at its best, and at its worst.

So with that in mind, here are a few things that this die-hard Packer fan is worried about…

1. That Mike McCarthy will play too conservatively with a lead.
We’ve all seen it. The Packers get up by 10 or 14 points in the second or third quarter and Mike McCarthy changes his game plan to try to kill the clock with his running game. Only the Packers can’t line up in the I-formation and run it up the middle with consistent success. I think the Steelers’ vaunted rush defense is actually a blessing in disguise for Green Bay because McCarthy knows he can’t run the ball down Pittsburgh’s throat. While most teams set up the pass with the run, Green Bay will need to set up the run with the pass. The Packers fare pretty well when they spread the defense out and run draws or inside handoffs out of the shotgun, and Brandon Jackson and James Starks could catch the Steelers off guard once or twice and break off a 15-yard run.

Sometimes McCarthy will take his shots downfield with a lead, but it’s usually a deep pass that has a low success rate. What’s wrong with a 20-yard post route that moves the chains and gets the team into field goal range?

2. That the Packers won’t be able to stop Rashard Mendenhall.
The Steelers offensive line is banged up, but Mendenhall scored twice against the Ravens and rattled off 121 rushing yards against a pretty good Jets defense. The Packers have been susceptible to the run all season, but have masked problems in that area with an outstanding pass defense, and teams haven’t been able (or haven’t been willing) to commit to a run-oriented attack.

The last time the Packers were in the Super Bowl, Terrell Davis rushed for 157 yards and three TDs as the underdog Broncos controlled the ball and the tempo. Packer fans do not want to see a repeat performance by an opposing running back.

3. That the Packers won’t play a clean game.
Penalties, turnovers and special teams. These are the areas of a football game that can swing the outcome even if a team dominates both offensively and defensively. And these are the areas where the Packers sometimes struggle. Whether it’s James Jones’ untimely fumble against the Bears in Week 3, the 17 combined penalties in losses against the Redskins and Falcons, or the many problems of the Green Bay special teams, Packer Nation will be holding its collective breath when the ball hits the turf, when the yellow flags fly or when the opponent is setting up a return. If the Packers can play a clean game in these areas, they have a great shot at winning the Super Bowl.

4. That the O-line won’t be able to protect Aaron Rodgers.
It was just last season that the Packers led the league in sacks allowed (51). This was a combination of two things: 1) the Packers’ O-line was getting beat at the point of attack and 2) Rodgers was holding the ball too long. Over the past year, the Packers have improved in these areas, but against a great pass-rushing team like the Steelers, protecting the QB is no gimme. Had the Falcons been able to wrap Rodgers up, that game in Atlanta could have gone very differently. The Steelers are going to throw all sorts of blitz packages to try to rattle Rodgers and his fairly young offensive line, and everyone needs to hold up to the pressure.

5. That the receivers can’t hold onto the ball.
Drops have been a problem this season, but the game is indoors so the weather won’t be a factor. Concentration is key. James Jones, Greg Jennings…even Donald Driver have all had key drops this season, and one nightmare scenario has Rodgers finding the open guy on a game-changing third down only to have the receiver drop the ball. It’s so deflating to see the ball bounce off of a receivers hands. The Packer wideouts need to come up big on Sunday if the Packers are going to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

6. That the Packers won’t be able to bring Big Ben down.
We’ve all seen Ben Roethlisberger extend plays with his incredible strength in the pocket and use that extra time to find an open man downfield. The Packer secondary is great, but DBs can only cover for so long, so it’s crucial that the Green Bay front seven find a way to bring Big Ben down when they get a free shot at him.