Super Bowl 50

The funny thing about the liberalization of passing rules is it (arguably) hurt the sport by putting QBs in greater risk of injury. Figure every extra drop back is a risk of injury for both the QB and the WR (and defensive players as well) - the kind of high impact hits the league has tried to limit.

 

I have long felt that if they again allowed defenders to make contact deeper than five yards past the line of scrimmage, there would be many fewer megahits on receivers, especially slot guys like Welker and Edelman.

 

I'm scratching my brain and just cannot comprehend what kind of criteria was used to come up with these rankings. Surely it wasn't as simplistic as "passing yards," was it?

How can a QB who completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes, threw for 0 TDs and turned the ball over 3 times --- handing the opponent 15 points --- not be among the worst of the worst SB performances? And how could that performance be 12 spots ahead of Manning's mundane performance (that at least didn't give the opponents a single point)?

 

Because if Manning had of been on the other side, facing the Broncos defense he may have been killed.

Manning's the only reason Carolina stuck around.

Unless you are going with the Winners win theory.

 

But there is no formula you can use to quantify this. All you can go by is what the QBs DID in the games. Cam did little to help his team, did much to hurt his team. Manning did little to help his team, did little to hurt his team.

Do Terry Bradshaw's performances get knocked down a few pegs because, well, he didn't have to face that Steelers defense?

 

Peyton was awful and did plenty to hurt his team.

He was fortunate he had an all time defensive performance to make up for it.

 

This was Manning's worst game of the playoffs because he had two turnovers, and not doing that was his main positive in the other two games. I stand by my statement on Newton because dear God some losing QBs had horrific Super Bowls. Billy Kilmer in VII was 14 of 28 for 104 yards and three interceptions, to name one. Then there's poor David Woodley. His second pass of Super Bowl XVII was a 76-yard TD and he finished 4 of 14 for 97 yards. Joe Kapp, at least two of Elway's losses, Craig Morton twice and these are the ones I remember without going back to reference material. Newton played badly, but not as badly as many others.

 

Aquib Talib fined $26,000 for his conduct during the Super Bowl, but not suspended. Seems very light given that he admitted he grabbed Corey Brown's facemask on purpose because it was so close to the goal line that he knew the penalty would only cost his team a few yards.

Think maybe this is because the NFL figures that a suspension would draw more attention and a fine might go relatively unnoticed, thus drawing less attention to an ugly incident? I certainly can't back that theory up, but whatever the reason, the NFL once again failed to uphold it's commitment to player safety.

 

The Newton backlash isn't just a media creation. It started on social media the night of the Super Bowl, before most of the columnists were done with their columns about it.

 

Interesting that the rule changes that made QBs and WRs stand out are also the ones that put them at greater risk.

 

Wide receivers were getting lit up before the rules changes the Colts begged for. Daryl Stingley, Al Toon, and Chuck Cecil are evidence of how hard WRs were getting hit.

 

The point is that now there are more opportunities. Roman Gabriel led the NFL in passing attempts in '73 with 460. That would have topped only one team this year, the Vikings with 454. The Ravens led the league with almost 200 more attempts.