This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Arlington, Texas
The Green Bay Packers do not belong in Super Bowl XLV.
Instead of riding buses over the icy roads of Dallas-Fort Worth to Cowboys Stadium for Media Day, the Packers should have spent Tuesday someplace warm — like Green Bay, or anywhere NFL players go after a long, trying season.
After all the injuries the Packers suffered this season, there's no way they should have made the playoffs, to say nothing of winning three postseason games on the road and advancing to Sunday's meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For that reason, a lot of NFL players and coaches should be cheering against Green Bay. If the Packers win a championship with six of their Opening Day starters on injured reserve, nobody in this league will ever be able to use injuries as an excuse or even a justifiable reason for a poor season.
Coach Mike McCarthy, general manager Ted Thompson and the Packers' scouting department deserve huge credit for keeping this thing together, finding and developing players in a culture that makes them ready to play when needed.
"It's a testament to the overall program and how [McCarthy] runs the team," said John Rushing, who joined the Green Bay staff in 2009 after six years as a Utah State assistant. "It's awesome how guys step right in and when someone else gets hurt, just because it's the system. Everybody's ready at any given time."
Not only did the Packers lose a bunch of key players, they lost them early in the season. Of the six departed starters, none appeared in more than six games. That list includes running back Ryan Grant, safety Morgan Burnett, offensive tackle Mark Tauscher, tight end Jermichael Finley and linebacker Brad Jones. What's more, nine backups were permanently sidelined by the end of the regular season, including veteran linebacker Brady Poppinga of BYU, who underwent knee surgery.
The Packers created some controversy by not having the injured players arrive at the Super Bowl until Thursday, meaning they would miss the team picture taken Tuesday, before making arrangements for another photo. The original plan obviously was misguided, but the team could be forgiven, considering the way the players' absences have gone unnoticed as the Packers keep winning.
"A lot of guys have done a great job of getting plugged in and assuming the role and getting the job done," said Korey Hall, a fullback from Boise State. "The coaching staff does a great job of preparing everybody the same."
The fill-ins have been impressive. Fourth-year linebacker Desmond Bishop replaced Barnett and started the last 12 regular-season games, ranking second on the team with 121 tackles. Rookie tackle Bryan Buluga took over for Tauscher, and James Starks rushed for 123 yards in a playoff win over Philadelphia after himself becoming healthy and taking Grant's spot in the backfield only in Week 13.
If there's a symbol of this Packer season, it is Starks. He missed all of his senior season at Buffalo with a shoulder injury, then was drafted in the sixth round, only to sustain a hamstring injury early in training camp.
The team placed him on the "physically unable to perform" list, enabling him to be activated at some point. That finally happened in December, when he rushed for 73 yards against San Francisco. "I was just anxious to get out there and hit somebody else," he said Tuesday. "I'd been playing against my teammates for so long."
Somehow, he was prepared to take on the rest of the NFL. And the Packers have just kept winning, all the way to frozen Texas.