NFL Conference Championship Residuum: Closing Thoughts on This Weekends Games
__________________________________________________________________________The NFC/AFC Championship games have ended with the possibility of a defensive Superbowl out of the window along with The Jets’ season. The season of quarterbacks, passing yards, roughing the passer, and protecting the signal-caller, post-catastrophic Tom Brady injury, will culminate in a battle of the two best quarterbacks this season.
The always underwhelming hype of another Superbowl will have its time and its place, but with yet another intriguing playoff weekend coming to a close, the ubiquitous storylines from Conference Championship weekend take precedent.
Peyton Manning is THE guy. Rings be damned. Try to convince a 49er fan that Dan Marino was a better quarterback than Joe Montana, and it will smugly remind you of the increasingly irrelevent fact that Montana has more rings. Fast forward to the here and now, walk up to a Patriots fan and try to convince him or her that Peyton Manning is a better quarterback than Tom Brady. The response could surprise you.
Peyton Manning is close to being in a class of his own.
With Peyton Manning’s majestic performance this past weekend, where it took him one half to crack the code to a Jets Defense that Tom Brady barely figured out in two games, it almost doesn’t matter whether or not he A. Wins a ring come The Superbowl and B. Ends up with more rings than Brady. Simply watching how one man has hoisted an entire team on his back through audibles and hot routes should be enough to convince anyone that not only does it not get better than Peyton Manning, it probably never will.
Manning threw for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns against a defense that has stayed nasty despite the league getting all quarterbacky n’ shit. He’s the only player in The NFL who seemed to have benefited from two uncharacteristically quick-scoring drives from The Jets as he was able to devour real-time game film instantaneously and come up with a solution. Manning’s performance told me something I’ve known for since using reason to evaluate quarterbacks as opposed to those big shiny footballs they give out in between a talking baby and and a likable Clydesdale designed to inspire you to get hammered grab a cool, refreshing, Bud Light: Rings are for teams. Talent is for quarterbacks. Look at Tom Brady in his finest hour, and the man has his hands on his head as if he can not believe what he’s just done in winning a Superbowl. Go look at any of Peyton’s career-defining moments, and it is you who is left in disbelief. Long story short, Peyton Manning is unbelievable.
Favre’s costly pick gives us all another offseason drama we can really sink our dentures into. Weird. Just weird. Never have I seen one man’s legacy rest on the spiral of an errant throw like I did when Brett Lorenzo Favre decided to commit, what Troy Aikman correctly described as, a ‘cardinal sin’ for any quarterback by making a throw across his body while on the run.
Brett Favre, in the midst of having the best season of his career at age 40, seemed to be well on his way to yet another critic-killing moment. Clinching a Superbowl berth on one leg would have transcended his already insurmountable legend to the same realm as Lockness. A Superbowl win would give rise to the school of thought that Brett Favre finished his career as perhaps one of the top three or four quarterbacks of all time. Better than Marino. Better than Elway. And a better quarterback than Joe Montana. However one errant throw into the hands of a New Orleans Saint derailed Favre’s would-be revised legacy, and brought it back to to the same exact place it was – A. Halfway through his career. B. When he first became Broadway Brett and C. When he first became The Purple “Evil” Brett.
www.brettfavre.com
/High risk, high reward.
/Gunslinger.
/He’ll make ya love him, then kick you right in the stomach. Or in the nuts, is more analogous to your pain as a Vikings homer or John Madden.
With one throw, revisionist history that would have likely told the incorrect tale of how The Packers made a mistake on letting go of Favre (have ya seen Aaron Roders play lately?), now turns into the slightly more accurate yet still unfair tale of how Brett Favre just can’t be trusted in a big spot with the game on the line. Sure The Vikings committed more turnovers than American Idol. Sure The Viking’s offensive line line may have had a hand in producing horrific lasting images of an American icon, similar to Randy “The Ram” Robinson who seemed to be working his last wrestling match in spite of a heart attack, as Favre was being scraped off of the turf every other play. But that’s not a story. That’s not the story.
Favre had another heartbreaking loss in the playoffs.
The story remains about Brett Favre. Always has been, and it always will be in the hallway leading to the green room, that’s filled with backstage groupies, otherwise known as mainstream American sports. 4 will continue to be the story even if he retires, as his last few offseason soap operas have instilled perpetual doubt concerning the finality of a Brett Favre decision. Favre Watch 2010, yet another example of how The NFL seems to be a ratings giant no matter what time of the year it is, will now commence fresh off of yet another De Ja Vu Brett Favre blunder late in the season, and all this drama and history-impacted talk of legacy could have been avoided had it not been for one errant throw. Weird. Just weird.
Congratulations are in order. Mean Spiritedness aside, The Saints are STILL Overrated. One of my favorite terms and or concepts I consider when deciding whether or not I want to put my money on a team is ‘Turnover-influenced blowout’. The Saints’ 5 forced turnovers, kicking their postseason-leading number up to an alarming +6 in two games, did not result in a blowout. Multiple turnovers usually result in blowouts. When they don’t the winning team has some splainin’ to do. That’s why you’re hearing all these Monday morning debates as to whether or not The Saints were a better team or whether or not The Saints ‘won’ or The Vikings lost.
Here’s a formula that has been proven correct through the test of time. When asked whether or not team X won or team Y lost, the answer is always ‘Team Y lost’. When you feel the need to ask whether or not Team X was the better team despite the fact that it won, the answer is always NO. Team Y was the better team. And when asked how many Superbowls The Colts have been to? Well, that’s kind of a trick question. You’d have to specify which Colts we’re talking about whether it be The Baltimore Purist Colts, lead by the pre-Charger Johnny Unitas who nobody under the age of 30 remembers, or The ‘Let’s get the shit out of here while everybody’s sleeping‘ Colts who we’ve come to know and love today.
But I digress.
We’ve been doubting The Saints all year and let us come find out that they show us up like Favre did The Packers two times this year. Although alarming signs concerning The Saint’s Statistics still linger, and whether or not they will do The NOLA in come February or wait til next season to rear their ugly heads has yet to be decided (*EARLY TIP, Bet against The Saints out of the jump next year no matter who they play), and while we will not give away our Superbowl pick against the spread just yet, here’s a hint: It probably won’t be The Saints.
The Big Nasty Athletic Dept. scrapes up its dignity late. Who gives a shit if we’re wrong about the fucking Saints. Are we so quick to forget amongst all the drunken celebration, that’s okay for one night in addition to Mardi Gras and Thursdays if you live in New Orleans, that The Saints didn’t even cover that 3.5. We went 2-0 Against The Spread this week, and are 4-2 in our last six. You can have your partying and likely future Superbowl consolation prize (also called The George Halas Trophy), but we’ll take cash, the spread, and the chips. Bitches.
Other things you had better find interesting…
Peyton Manning told Rex Ryan to shut his mouth. Even if he didn’t address Rex directly, he so did. He SO did!
Darrelle Revis may be eligible to file a claim for theft as it appears Charles Woodson stole his Defensive MVP Trophy. But I still like Charlie better. I’m a Packer fan.
I used to complain how the camera never panned on Brett’s wife during crisis. It did last night.
Mark Sanchez is no Joe Namath. He’s better. And, really, who isn’t? If one correct guarantee makes you a great player then I’d take Sheed over Wilt Chamberlain any day. Yeeeaaright.
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Tags: Brett Favre Retirement, Favre's final interception, NFL, NFL Playoffs, NFL Playoffs 2010, Peyton Manning, Peyton Manning Superbowl Rings, Why I hate The Saints
Comments (1)
[...] I sipped the kool aid. After quote “setting my heat-seeking missiles” on The Saints and The Colts during the postseason, I suffered the old egg on the face when both teams ended up in The Superbowl and I was left to choose between the lesser of two evils. Were The Saints overvalued, or was Manning still a playoff choke artist? [...]