NFL playoff thread

When did Peyton Manning beat the Gators? How about never?
He was riding that rap before he ever took an NFL snap.

http://www.lostlettermen.com/feature-peyton-mannings-lone-resume-blemish-beating-florida/

 

Here's a crazy statistical blip that is getting some run out here as an omen -- the 49ers, despite an overall record of 12-4-1, have not won three games in a row at any point this season. WWLWWLWWTWWLWWLWW?

 

Predictions?

OK . . .

49ers and Patriots. Patriots win it all.

Manning's 2003-07:

168 TDs, 53 picks. 49 scores in 2004.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MannPe00.htm

Brady's 2003-07:

151 scores, 60 picks, 50 scores in 2007.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BradTo00.htm

Career: Peyton 436 and 209, Brady 334 and 123. Brady never more than 14 picks, Manning surpassed that seven times, albeit in an offense predicated on his arm.

The reason there are no further numbers in this post is due to laziness on my part. You can peruse their pages yourself, if you wish. Might be fascinating to look at their individual numbers (since wins don't seem to matter) when they have pro bowl skill players around them.

That last point is why Elway is the greatest I've seen. While it can be said that Montana, Manning and Brady turned players into Pro Bowlers (and that is a fair statement), Elway won without such individuals until Shanahan and Davis came to town. Of course, Elway's numbers weren't really eye-popping, except that whole "Most career wins by a QB" number he held for some time. He and Montana are ahead of the pack due to the whole playoff clutch thing. If being playoff clutch is defined as late game-winning drives then Brady was clutch early, but hasn't really been in recent playoffs, for whatever reason.

If wins and losses matter, of course. Not sure if they do.

I guess I would go Elway, Montana, Brady, Manning, Favre in my lifetime. Manning has another 0-1 playoff, he's right there with Favre.

Yes, indeed.

Point was, he's never been a big-game guy.

It's not knock on Brady that he played for a team with a better coach and a wiser approach to personnel. Their Super Bowls weren't won signing a boatload of free agents.

 

Tom Brady's first Super Bowl team will go down as one of the least talented champions ever. The leading rusher was Antowain Smith; the leading receiver was Troy Brown; they had a great cornerback in Ty Law and some other nice defensive players (including Seymour as a rookie) but nobody who is going to be knocking on Canton's door.

 

Montana, Brady, Elway, Manning, Favre.

If Brady wins the SB this year, I'd be fine moving him up. Regardless, his evolution has been one of the most fascinating things about the NFL in the thirty-plus years I've been following it.

 

Apparently your blue font detector needs a bt of adjusting.

 

Tom Brady is this generation's Joe Montana.

Peyton Manning is this generation's Dan Marino.

Aaron Rodgers is this generation's Bernie Kosar.

Drew Brees is this generation's Dan Fouts.

Tony Romo is this generation's Todd Blackledge.

 

I'm not sure how much credit I'd give Moore for those Colts offenses. Before that, he ran some awful offenses in Pittsburgh in the '80s. He was one of the series of offensive coordinators to flop there because they simply couldn't find a decent quarterback.

 

Maybe the blue font should go in blue font.

Even Manning Tebow could handle that.

 

The 2006 Patriots, which came within a hair of winning that AFC title game, were absolute garbage. Wideouts were 35-year-old Troy Brown and Reche Caldwell. Two nothing tight ends. Dillon rushed for 812 yards and was out of football the next year. No Vinitieri, no Deion Branch, who held out all year. Seau broke his arm in Week 11 and didn't play in the playoffs.

Manning never played with a dogshit team like that, and Brady still damn near beat him. Oddly that game is really Manning's best moment as a professional, coming back from 21-3 after throwing two INTs early. But that, for me, has always been one of Brady's most impressive seasons. I feel like, after he dragged that team around all year, he finally said to management: Get me some fucking playmakers. Enough of this shit. So they went out and got Moss.

I'll say this for Brady's late-career playoff shortcomings. He's one ridiculous helmet catch and one kind-of-drop by Welker away from having five rings. Yeah, they lost to the Jets the year he threw only four picks, and yeah the Ravens curb stomped him in 2009 when he was playing with broken ribs. But just the fact that he got to five Super Bowls is ridiculous. And he's likely to get to six.

 

None of that is relevant.

 

The rest are all interesting comparisons, but this one could not be more obscene.