ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jordy Nelson walked an unlikely path from Kansas farm boy to Super Bowl hero.
Nelson walked on as a safety at Kansas State in 2003. He became a starting receiver as a redshirt sophomore but when he reached the NFL with Green Bay in 2008, Nelson returned to semi-afterthought status with just six touchdown catches during his first three seasons. Speedy Greg Jennings, veteran Donald Driver and streaky James Jones are all ahead of Nelson on the Packers' depth chart.
But on Sunday night, the baby-faced kid with the crew cut on a team chock full of long-haired stars was the game's No. 1 receiver. Nelson opened the scoring with a 29-yard touchdown grab from quarterback Aaron Rodgers and went on to catch nine passes for 140 yards as the Packers held off the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to win Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium.
"This is unbelievable," Nelson said. "You always dream big. I guarantee you there's kids all over the country playing in their backyard emulating somebody making the game-winning catch in the Super Bowl. It's such a long shot, I can't believe it.
"I just take it year by year, doing what the coaches ask. I owe a lot of things to a lot of people. Hopefully, I'll see a bunch of (these) highlights someday down the road and realize it's me."
Nelson's huge game against the Steelers' top-rated defense gave him 21 catches, 286 yards and two touchdowns in the four-game run through the playoffs after he had caught a respectable but hardly awe-inspiring 45 passes for 582 yards and two scores during the season.
"I can't say enough about young Jordy Nelson," said Jennings, who had two touchdown catches of his own from MVP Rodgers against the Steelers. "He's been making plays for us all year. We tell him he's going to be that guy because he's going to be underrated, (defenders) are going to look at him and think that they can take advantage of him.
"He was able to take advantage of the matchups that we saw that he would be able to expose for us. (Steelers cornerback Bryant) McFadden is kinda slow out of his breaks. With Ike (Taylor) following myself, whoever was the No. 3 receiver was gonna have McFadden. We were pretty much gonna exploit that matchup and it just happened to be Jordy."The Packers -- who lost Driver late in the first half with a high ankle sprain -- owe a big piece of their first Lombardi Trophy in 14 years to the 25-year-old Nelson, who held his postgame interview session with year-old son Royal on his lap, feeling pretty regal.
"Jordy stepped up when probably no one expected him to do it to fill my shoes," Driver said. "He's a playmaker and when you're a playmaker and you get your opportunity, you've got to make the best of it."
On his touchdown, Nelson evaded a bump from linebacker James Farrior at the line and then beat nickel cornerback William Gay on the right side of the end zone.
"I should have been on the guy; I should have been on him the whole way," Farrior lamented.
"Pittsburgh's a great defense," said Nelson, whose parents' sports bar in Manhattan, Kan., was surely rocking during and after the game. "Their front seven's hard to do anything on.
"We felt our best matchups were on the outside. It's all about opportunities. When we get four or five of us out there, we feel confident. ... We feel there's hardly any DBs can match up with us one-on-one, let alone four-on-four or five-on-five. That's just how defenses are made. That's a mismatch all the way around the board."
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