That's a good thing because the 2009 season starts later this month.

NFL general managers and personnel folks will be gathering in Indianapolis for the annual combine, where players will be poked, prodded and processed.

General managers and their assistants have long been working on this year's draft prospects. They have examined prospects up close at the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine game.

Never mind all the time NFL personnel have spent traveling to college campuses.

Once the combine finishes, teams dive head-first into free agency. That includes rating and scouting other teams' potential free agents and a similar amount of time spent trying to re-sign their own players.

And then comes April.

Campus workout days and prospects coming into team headquarters for physicals and interviews.

And, finally, the draft - hours and hours over two days trying to get the guys you want.

A week after that, it's rookie minicamps; and then mandatory team minicamps; and then organized team activities.

And then a short break before training camp opens.

Five to six weeks of practices and exhibition games, 16 games in 17 weeks, four weeks of playoffs and a Super Bowl and we're right back to the first week of February.

The NFL is a billion-dollar business. Take a day off and you might miss something that gives you an edge.

Then again, sometimes it's pretty darn easy to figure out what gives you an edge.

Sunday's Super Bowl certainly offered ample evidence.

Impact players.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals were loaded with them. Should it be a surprise that they ended up being the last two teams playing?

Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald was nearly a nonfactor in the first half. In the second half, he was unstoppable.

He finished the postseason with a record 546 receiving yards, more than twice as many as runner-up Santonio Holmes, the Pittsburgh receiver who stole Fitzgerald's show and the Super Bowl most valuable player.

Cardinal quarterback Kurt Warner is an impact player, too. Receiver Anquan Boldin? Impact player.

On the winning side, the Steelers have their own impact players.

Certainly, Holmes proved himself worthy, and fellow receiver Hines Ward is definitely a star player, although he was somewhat limited by a knee injury on Sunday.

Running back Willie Parker and most definitely quarterback Ben Roethlisberger are both impact players. Even behind a suspect offensive line, Roethlisberger found ways to keep plays alive and make something out of nothing.

Look over the list of Super Bowl MVPs and it is laden with players who have made their mark in the league. Sure, every now and then a lesser-known player has a huge game and snares the award. But for the most part, Super Bowl MVPs are impact players on a consistent basis.

The past four years bear that out; Holmes was preceded by Eli Manning, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

And let's not forget about the defensive players for the Cardinals and Steelers.

So where does that leave the Green Bay Packers ? A little short right now.

Greg Jennings and Donald Driver are close but not quite on par with Fitzgerald. Aaron Rodgers has the potential to be a superstar. His first season as a starter was good, but he has to be better. Running back Ryan Grant showed glimpses of being an impact player in 2007 but not so much in 2008.

On defense, Nick Collins, Charles Woodson and Aaron Kampman qualify. Maybe Al Harris, too.

So the Super Bowl is over, but the 2009 season is about to begin. Packer general manager Ted Thompson's job will be to add impact players, particularly along the front seven.

New coordinator Dom Capers will be instituting a new 3-4 system. There's all this hope that Capers and his new assistants will make a big difference.

But the truth is this: Players are really the difference. Systems can help, but it's the players, not the system, that win championships.

The 2009 season is just beginning. And what happens in February, March, April and May will be what really determines what happens from September through January.

Send e-mail to rbraun@journalsentinel.com

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