Super Bowl 50

One highly respected poster correctly diagrammed this play some 12 pages ago.

 

I can't help but wonder if Dalton doesn't get hurt, do the Bengals beat the Broncos in that Monday night game and take the No. 1 seed? How different does the post-season turn out?

 

The Bengals lose their first game, like always.

 

Maybe, maybe not. But the Broncos fall to a wild card and have to play three road games to get to the Super Bowl.

 

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, how many times are we going to play that game? What if Bledsoe never suffers a severed/lacerated kidney, does Brady even ever become a starting QB in the NFL? Or does he follow the plight of Spurrier or Hanratty? Or even that of Matt Cassel?

What if in 1988 49ers never made that miraculous comeback against the Eagles and they lose? 49ers may not win the division and never go on to win the 3rd SB and they become just a Bronco type SB winner, but not a dynasty?

Broncos won. That's all that matters.

 

Brady would have been the starter by 2002 at the latest if Bledsoe didn't get hurt. Belichick didn't like him.

 

That makes me feel better.

 

You do realize there is a hell of a lot of difference between Brady and those guys, especially Hanratty, right?

I do agree with your overall point. Injuries are part of the game. I don't think the Broncos get by the Steelers if Antonio Brown plays, but that is just as irrelevant as Dalton's injury. He didn't play.

You could go back through many injuries this season. What if the Patriots' receivers stay healthy and they take the top seed? Hell, some people thing Manning's injury helped the Broncos because he came back rested and seemed to adjust better to the system after the time on the sideline.

 

This is a really bad example for the point you're trying to make.

Spurrier, Cassell and Hanratty were given tons of opportunities to start, they just weren't that good when they got them. Whereas Brady seized his first opportunity and never looked back. Main difference between Brady and that group is that he's simply a much better QB. It's not just due to some fortuitous break.

And even if Bledsoe hadn't had that lacerated kidney, he was still a declining QB who would've soon had some other injury or been benched. Brady's opportunity was coming regardless.

 

Found this screengrab of the fumble interesting (pulled from TBL):



Looking at that, it is amazing Cam wasn't the one to come up with the ball. He was the only player with a clear path to the ball that wasn't otherwise engaged with another player. I know Ware ultimately dove in and got the first hand on the ball, but it really does look like Cam should have brought it in.

Ok, now I'm done talking about this play.

 

TyWebb, that is an interesting look, but I think we'd need to see the video. Ware got there FAST -- is he in reality disengaged from that blocker and launching toward the ball? I don't know. Maybe.

However, what that does show is what a lost cause the game was at that point -- if Newton falls on the ball, the Panthers are looking at fourth-and-16, and a total drive of 82 more yards on a day when they only went more than 52 yards once.