Troy Polamalu wins by a hair!

Clay Matthews lost out by two votes to Troy Polamalu for the 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. I did not see this one coming. I thought Clay would win almost every vote, Troy did miss two games but hey, the real prize will be won on Sunday. Human nature tells us that Troy might lose his edge just a little while Clay apparently has more to prove. Not that they needed any more motivation but Matthews and his teammates just got some.

Troy received 17 votes, Clay 15, James Harrison (also a Steeler) 8, Julius Peppers (Bears) 6, his teammate Brian Urlacher 2, and the Ravens Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata both received 1 vote. Interesting to see how both of this years Superbowl teams have such dominating Defensive players. Pittsburgh has Troy and James while Green Bay has Clay and last years' Defensive Player of the Year, Charles Woodson. These four stars will be trying to stop two of the most elusive quarterbacks in the game in the biggest battle of all on Superbowl Sunday!

Now is the time for Troy Polamalu and Clay Matthews to take their competition to a new level in Dallas Cowboys stadium. They already are considered marketing adversaries, with Polamalu's jersey the top seller in the league, and both representing hair products.

Who will win superiority on Sunday?

Troy Polamalu has had a good run, known as one of the best players in the game now for several years.

Is it time for Clay Matthews to take over?

I think so!

Aaron Rodgers is right but it is time to quiet down!

This is the time of year when the media is just begging for a story to take and run with for Superbowl week. Surely the Packer and Steeler players have been warned about how everything will be blown out of proportion during Super Bowl week. When it comes to "off the field" stuff, you DON'T want to be the team being talked about. So what looks to be the story as Superbowl week begins? It might be the back and forth between Aaron Rodgers (leader of the Pack) and Nick Barnett (injured linebacker). I think if they keep talking, there will be a perceived feud between them.

Nick and the other 15 Packers on injured reserve wanted to be part of the team photo. The team leaders Charles Woodson and Aaron Rodgers talked to the coach and GM on their behalf to make sure this would happen. The issue was resolved and this could have ended the story. However, some reporter was able to get Aaron Rodgers to say more. What Rodgers said basically is that if you want to be in the team picture you should stick with the team. It seems that some players including Barnett and Jermichael Finley did not stick around to support the team after being placed on IR. They chose to rehab elsewhere. I feel like they should stay around and be as much a part of the team as possible but I wish Aaron Rodgers would just become quiet on this issue. Now Barnett and Finley are tweeting about this again. Their tweets are how this whole thing started first started.

My guess is that this will get portrayed all week as some feud between players. Perception is reality so the questions to these players will include this story, no doubt. I am sure they will say there is no feud but the Packers have made the first blunder of this Superbowl week and the Steelers would love to just fly under the radar. Seriously, you don't want to be the team that gets the most coverage, just the team that scores the most points. Aaron Rodgers made a little blunder here but hopefully will more than make up for it on Superbowl Sunday.