Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Superbowl 41 Final Thought
This Super Bowl just didn't do it for me. The whole world was watching, the game was in Miami, and I won a fair chunk of change but the game just didn't do it for me. The Rain ruined the game for me, and the ball control offense the Colts ran ruined it for me. How long did the Bears have the ball? The Bears were doubled in yardage and many of their yards came on that long Thomas Jones run. If you took away the Jones run and the Hester return, the Bears did nothing on offense. Their defense got run over and they gave up a lot of short passes as well.
I saw some analysis on how the Bears were keeping their safeties extra deep to take away the deep ball for Indy, but the rain is a natural 12th man to help that. Manning just took what the defense gave him and ate up the Bears with a run game and dink and dunk throws underneath. Especially with the wet balls and playing surface, I am sure that Manning didn't mind working on his short game.
Manning 100% deserves the MVP. The people that are complaining that the RB's deserve the MVP really don't understand football. The same people bitching that Addai or Rhodes should have won MVP are the same people that said the Colts were going to be screwed when Edge James left as a free agent. Those same people were saying that Peyton would be "screwed when Edge took his 2,000 yards of total offense with him". Don't people understand that Dominic Rhodes is an average back in a very, VERY good system? Not only do those Colts run the stretch run play well, but Peyton calls it to the correct side, and in correct situations. When opposing safeties are not only out of the box, but they are 18 yards off the ball, it gives the running back a MUCH more favorable situation. People say that a good running back is the Quarterbacks best friend, but in this situation MANNING is his running backs best friend.
Edge left Indy with his 2,000 yards of total offense, but how well did he play in Arizona? The point of the matter is that Manning truly makes the players around him better. He is the "point guard" of that Indy offense that carefully reads the defense and puts his skilled position players in a position to win. Now there is no doubt in my mind that if the Bears had blitzed Manning to death that Reggie Wayne or Marvin Harrison would have put up the big numbers. Manning is like an Iguana that just adapts to what the defense gives him.
Not only was Manning like an Iguana that adapts to what teams give him, he was like a damn Snake that sucked the life out of the Bears. If Manning's offense is so efficient that it marches down the field and keeps the defense on the field, it keeps his Colts Defense and special teams off the field. It seemed like the Colts had the ball the whole game as Mannings offense was just sucking the life out of the Bears.
The Colts special teams were horrible. They were the first team to ever give up a kick return touchdown on the opening play of the Super Bowl. After that they mixed in squib kicks but it seemed like the Bears were starting from the 35, 40 or even 50 yard line on every possession. That is NOT good for your teams field position. The Colts were not a very well rounded team. They had horrible special teams, a bad defense, but a very good offense. You don't historically see teams as unbalanced as the Colts winning the big one.
Coach Manning really is a special guy that takes care of everything. I was reading the Peter King article that pointed out that Peyton Manning made sure he had 54 balls broken in that he felt comfortable with. The new balls have a certain coat of wax on them that makes them slippery and harder to throw or catch. Manning had the ball boys bring him the balls after practice one day to make sure they were ok. Manning vetoed about half of the balls and he had a crew of people helping break the balls in until he accepted every last one of them. Now how many other players do you think check all the potential game balls before each game? Do you think Mike Vick is instructing his ball boys to break the balls in or do you think he just shows up and tries to " make plays"?
Peyton's preparation is outstanding. If you took Manning off the Colts they are about a 4-12 team, but with him they win the Super Bowl. Not only did the Colts win the Super Bowl, but they were playing a ball control offense that kept their shoddy defense and special teams off the field.
I'm not some huge Peyton fan, but I am glad he won his ring so that now he doesn't have that negative media breathing down his throat after every loss. Manning is one of the best quarterbacks ever but we always have to listen to how he isn't " clutch. Now my question is if New England beats the Colts next year in the playoffs, will those poop head writers still call Manning a choke artist?
Last year we saw Bill Cower finally get his ring. This year we saw Peyton earn his ring ( and Tony Dungy was along for the ride), could we see Donovan or Martyball earn the ring next year, or will somebody like Tom Brady just add to his collection?
Comments and questions are always welcome to FootballChrisL@Gmail.com I plan on doing a "current events" segment this off-season on news and notes, Football 101 chalk talk, as well as NFL futures wagers.
I saw some analysis on how the Bears were keeping their safeties extra deep to take away the deep ball for Indy, but the rain is a natural 12th man to help that. Manning just took what the defense gave him and ate up the Bears with a run game and dink and dunk throws underneath. Especially with the wet balls and playing surface, I am sure that Manning didn't mind working on his short game.
Manning 100% deserves the MVP. The people that are complaining that the RB's deserve the MVP really don't understand football. The same people bitching that Addai or Rhodes should have won MVP are the same people that said the Colts were going to be screwed when Edge James left as a free agent. Those same people were saying that Peyton would be "screwed when Edge took his 2,000 yards of total offense with him". Don't people understand that Dominic Rhodes is an average back in a very, VERY good system? Not only do those Colts run the stretch run play well, but Peyton calls it to the correct side, and in correct situations. When opposing safeties are not only out of the box, but they are 18 yards off the ball, it gives the running back a MUCH more favorable situation. People say that a good running back is the Quarterbacks best friend, but in this situation MANNING is his running backs best friend.
Edge left Indy with his 2,000 yards of total offense, but how well did he play in Arizona? The point of the matter is that Manning truly makes the players around him better. He is the "point guard" of that Indy offense that carefully reads the defense and puts his skilled position players in a position to win. Now there is no doubt in my mind that if the Bears had blitzed Manning to death that Reggie Wayne or Marvin Harrison would have put up the big numbers. Manning is like an Iguana that just adapts to what the defense gives him.
Not only was Manning like an Iguana that adapts to what teams give him, he was like a damn Snake that sucked the life out of the Bears. If Manning's offense is so efficient that it marches down the field and keeps the defense on the field, it keeps his Colts Defense and special teams off the field. It seemed like the Colts had the ball the whole game as Mannings offense was just sucking the life out of the Bears.
The Colts special teams were horrible. They were the first team to ever give up a kick return touchdown on the opening play of the Super Bowl. After that they mixed in squib kicks but it seemed like the Bears were starting from the 35, 40 or even 50 yard line on every possession. That is NOT good for your teams field position. The Colts were not a very well rounded team. They had horrible special teams, a bad defense, but a very good offense. You don't historically see teams as unbalanced as the Colts winning the big one.
Coach Manning really is a special guy that takes care of everything. I was reading the Peter King article that pointed out that Peyton Manning made sure he had 54 balls broken in that he felt comfortable with. The new balls have a certain coat of wax on them that makes them slippery and harder to throw or catch. Manning had the ball boys bring him the balls after practice one day to make sure they were ok. Manning vetoed about half of the balls and he had a crew of people helping break the balls in until he accepted every last one of them. Now how many other players do you think check all the potential game balls before each game? Do you think Mike Vick is instructing his ball boys to break the balls in or do you think he just shows up and tries to " make plays"?
Peyton's preparation is outstanding. If you took Manning off the Colts they are about a 4-12 team, but with him they win the Super Bowl. Not only did the Colts win the Super Bowl, but they were playing a ball control offense that kept their shoddy defense and special teams off the field.
I'm not some huge Peyton fan, but I am glad he won his ring so that now he doesn't have that negative media breathing down his throat after every loss. Manning is one of the best quarterbacks ever but we always have to listen to how he isn't " clutch. Now my question is if New England beats the Colts next year in the playoffs, will those poop head writers still call Manning a choke artist?
Last year we saw Bill Cower finally get his ring. This year we saw Peyton earn his ring ( and Tony Dungy was along for the ride), could we see Donovan or Martyball earn the ring next year, or will somebody like Tom Brady just add to his collection?
Comments and questions are always welcome to FootballChrisL@Gmail.com I plan on doing a "current events" segment this off-season on news and notes, Football 101 chalk talk, as well as NFL futures wagers.
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