Tag: Peyton Manning

No Experience Required?

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super-bowl-li-patriots-patch-590x590On The 300s Podcast this week, we discussed whether or not previous Super Bowl experience would be a benefit for the Patriots heading into their Super Bowl LI matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. At first thought, I assumed previous Super Bowl experience would be a huge advantage for the Patriots.

The week leading up the Super Bowl is a gongshow. Media Day Opening Night is a just the beginning of a week full of distractions, and who blocks out distractions better than the Patriots? But Michael Salfino had an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, basically picking my assumption apart, piece by piece.

New England has 17 more players with Super Bowl experience (21) than the Falcons. In the last 40 Super Bowls, a team has held this advantage over its opponent 38 times. These teams are 16-22 in those games…

An edge at the game’s most important position didn’t matter either. Teams have had a QB with prior Super Bowl experience 19 times versus a team like the Falcons and Matt Ryan with none and are 9-10.

I stand corrected. Upon further reflection, this holds up pretty well over the last 15 years. Just off the top of my head, experience didn’t help the 2001 Rams, the 2007 Patriots, the 2009 Colts, the 2010 Steelers or the 2013 Broncos in the big game. It seems like Super Bowl veterans are just as liable to put up clunkers (Peyton Manning 2013) as Super Bowl first-timers (Cam Newton 2015).

The Super Bowl is such a colossal event that maybe no matter how many times you’ve been, each trip is its own adventure. We’ll see what events unfold this week, but I’m no longer under the impression that Brady’s six previous Super Bowl appearances give him the edge over Matt Ryan. I’d still take Brady over Ryan if I had my pick at QB but maybe Ryan and Atlanta’s blissful Super Bowl ignorance isn’t a shortcoming after all. Looking at the history of this game, maybe having no baggage is an advantage.

I Miss Peyton Manning (and his Playoff Woes)

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It’s Wild Card Weekend and, as usual, the Patriots have the weekend off. The Patriots have reached the playoffs 14 times in the Brady Era, and have received a first-round bye 11 times in the Brady Era. Peyton Manning wasn’t able to take this weekend off nearly as often, though.

Peyton Manning reached the playoffs 15 times in the 17 seasons he played, including each of his last 13 seasons. His teams received a first-round byes in eight of those seasons, meaning he made semi-regular appearances on Wild Car Weekend, unlike Brady.

Manning’s teams were 3-4 on Wild Card Weekend, and 3-5 after a first round bye. That adds up to nine one-and-dones, by far the most of any NFL quarterback. That means Manning’s teams only won a game in the playoffs 6 out of the 15 times he took them to the playoffs. His career playoff record stood at 11-13 before last year’s magical run gave him his second Super Bowl ring and a just-barely-over-.500 career postseason record of 14-13.

I must give Manning his due. He did knock down the Patriots more times than I care to remember in the playoffs. The Colts win in the 2006 AFC title game is still in my top five worst Boston sports moments. But I can give Manning his due, and still look back at some of his more memorable playoff losses.

[I’ve omitted the Foxborough Follies from this list for the sake of brevity, and because those are obviously well-remembered by Patriots fans.]

2002 Jets 41 – Colts 0. Not much else needs to be said about this playoff disaster. Manning had a dreadful night in Giants Stadium as the Colts lost to Chad Effing Penington. This loss put Peyton at 0-3 in the playoffs, and really started the “Peyton sucks in the playoffs” conversations in earnest.

2005 Down 3 to the Steelers with 1:20 to go, Peyton Manning took a sack on fourth down at his own 2-yard line. Looking to put the Colts away,  Jerome Bettis coughed it up and gave Peyton and the Colts one last shot. Peyton got the Colts into field-goal range, but Mike Vanderjagt couldn’t connect on a 46-yard attempt, and Pittsburgh held on to win this wild one. [As a side note, this was Vanderjagt’s last game as a Colt. That offseason, the Colts went out and got Adam Vinatieri. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.]

2007 Looking to defend their Super Bowl title, the Colts received a first-round bye and hosted the San Diego Chargers in the divisional round. The Colts led 24-21 in the fourth, but the Chargers took the lead late and Peyton Manning had to orchestrate another last-minute comeback. He led the Colts inside the 10, but couldn’t put it in the end zone thanks to pressure from Shawne Merriman (remember him?). The Colts would actually get the ball back one more time, but that drive also stalled out. This was also the last game to be played at the RCA Dome.

2012 New team, same result. Peyton’s first trip to the playoffs with the Broncos ended the same way so many of his previous trips did. Much of this loss can be pinned on the Broncos defense, but this Peyton Manning Playoff Meltdown receives special mention because of how excruciating this loss was. The Ravens trailed the Broncos 35-28 in the final minute. That’s when Joe Flacco connected with Jacoby Jones for a 70-yard touchdown with 31 seconds remaining. The Ravens would go on to win the game in overtime, and defeat the Patriots the next week en route to winning Super Bowl XLVII.

 

With Andy Dalton and the Bengals sitting the playoffs out this year, no other quarterback playing in the playoffs this year immediately comes to mind when thinking of another quarterback to carry on the legacy of Peyton Manning Playoff Meltdowns. With backup quarterbacks all over the place in the AFC, though, this should still be a fun (and sloppy) Wild Card Weekend to watch.

Bill Belichick Sneaky Rips the NFL for Rule Changes Designed to Stop Ty Law

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So Mike Reiss had a great article today with what Bill Belichick had to say about Ty Law and his Hall of Fame candidacy. I have to point out some of the excellent nuggets of Bill subtly ripping the league once again.

“Asked if he felt Law was among the best at his position for a period of time, Belichick said Thursday morning, “He’s pretty good. When they start … I don’t want to say changing the rules, but changing the rules because of the way he plays, there’s probably something to be said for that.”

I think what he means to say is when Bill Polian bitched and moaned to the league and the Competition Committee (which Polian is on) because Ty Law and the Patriots dismantled the Colts. Ty Law just dominated receivers, mugged them and absolutely disrupted everything that murderous (allegedly) psycho Marvin Harrison, Peyton Manning and crew tried to do.

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That 03 AFC Championship Game Ty Law and the Pats beat the Colts 24-14. That defense set up shop in Peyton’s head and baited him into FOUR interceptions (3 from Ty Law alone). Like 2 weeks off winning the MVP, Peyton had one of his patented meltdowns. So Polian said enough is enough and petitioned the league to CHANGE THE FRIGGIN RULES.

“Belichick was referencing how the NFL made a point of emphasis against illegal contact in 2004. “I know they didn’t ‘change them’ change them, but we all know what happened,” he said.”

Oh we know Bill, we know. Luckily Ty Law’s game was more than just jamming receivers though, hence the HOF candidacy.

Opportunity for Jimmy Garoppolo Could Have Huge Payoff for the Patriots

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Yahoo Sports – Jimmy Garoppolo finds himself in a good situation. He can prepare all offseason as if he’ll be the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback for the first four games of the season, thanks to Tom Brady’s deflate-gate suspension…Think about Brock Osweiler, who was looking at the possibility of going into free agency with almost no regular-season snaps on tape. But Peyton Manning got hurt, Osweiler showed enough in seven starts with the Denver Broncos last season to get a $72 million deal from the Houston Texans, and now he’s their starter.

It’s tough to admit, but the whole Deflategate witch hunt may end up being a good thing for the Patriots. Regardless of all the other shit, it’s looking more and more likely Tom Brady is going to miss 4 games. It’s unlikely that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to play well enough for Belichick and the Patriots to give Brady the Drew Bledsoe treatment, but that’s why this may pay off even better for the Pats. Most people kind of scratched their head when the Pats took Garoppolo in the 2nd round back in 2014. For one, it was the highest Belichick had ever drafted a QB with the Patriots and two, it seemed a year too early.

We all know the Brady decline is going to come eventually, but it doesn’t seem like we’re quite there yet. So the Pats wasted a draft pick right? That may have been true if NFL head coaches didn’t get borderline aroused about young QB’s with potential. I mean look at all the absolute scrubs that have swindled huge contracts from teams based on nothing but potential and limited snaps. If you don’t have a great QB in this league it’s damn hard to be successful so coaches and GMs are willing to roll the dice continuously hoping to strike gold. That’s how guys like Matt Cassel, Matt Schaub, Matt Flynn and most recently Brock Osweiler have landed mega deals with virtually no real playing experience.

Which brings me back to Belichick, this guy is always five steps ahead of the rest of the league. Sure he couldn’t have known Brady would get suspended and give Jimmy G a 4 game audition as trade bait, but we all know TB12 ain’t retiring any time soon. So the Garoppolo pick was definitely made with the ulterior motive of flipping him for even more draft capital. If Garoppolo comes in and plays well, you could very easily get a 1st round pick for a young, promising QB who’s spent the past few years being groomed by the best coach and QB in the game. Jimmy gets paid, Belichick gets TWO 1st round picks in 2017 (giving Gooddell the finger in the process), Brady continues doing Brady things and we start this process over again with Jacoby Brissett, who is more likely on the track to eventual Patriots starter down the line.

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