The Pats players all thought they had it? I'm stunned. I'm referring to how you can't understand how close that call was. Your 'case closed' and 'dumb enough' are just hyperbole regarding something that most everyone else can see both sides of. But really, that's not my main point. The call was a bad decision for the reasons I listed. None of the percentages all the stat crunchers are trying to pull out have changed that.
There isn't another side to it. But for whatever reason, most fans would rather have their teeth pulled than blame the officials for a loss. Happens all the time. "We had other chances... if..." Combine that with general anti-Pats sentiment and a general desire to attack Belichick for an unconventional decision, and you have the perfect storm for the call to be overlooked. He had possession of the ball clearly touching the 30.
I am not anti Pats. And you might have to consider that some people are way too willing to point at the refs. There was very much another side to it, no matter how much you don't want to believe it. I can very much see how the official can make that call (and believe me, I fully believe there are some horrible calls in the NFL). Regardless...would have been nice to have a challenge, eh? In any case, it never should have come to it.
AP or Chris Johnson? Some media folks are calling Johnson the best Running back in the game right now.
Peterson is not the best until he stops putting it on the ground. Johnson is the quickest, shiftiest. Just insane breakaway speed. Right now though, I think Maurice Jones-Drew is top notch.
So you've got an all-timer at QB, and an all world WR. You decide to make the big stones call and you don't use your best assets ????? Run play action on the dive, hard slant your receivers on the right side , one of them is going to be open.
I think you have to take manning over brady just on stats. They are about the same age except manning has 20000 more yds and 150 more touch downs. It is like saying jeter is better than arod. It might be true in the playoffs, but you can't just ignore the numbers when they aren't even close.
I think so as well. Jeter = World Series advantage vs. A-Rod = Regular Season numbers. Manning's 9 years of 4000+ yds. = A-Rod's 8 years of 40 or more Home Runs Manning's career QB rating = A-Rod's career Slugging Percentage Jeter's postseason clutch performances = Giselle's Husband's postseason clutch performances Manning's playoff shortcomings in the AFC playoffs = A-Rod's un-MVP-like performances in the AL playoffs, except for a couple of odd years (but to be fair as some may contend, that one was attributed to either a poor defense or poor pitching).
Welker was actually breaking more open than Faulk was, but the problem was Freeney got a terrific rush and if Brady had held it a split second later, he was done. I don't think playaction works there because the Colts know that if you're going to risk the game on that play, it's going to be in Brady's hands.
Manning/Brady isn't a level comparison, though. In baseball, you can make those comparisons because both players are getting a similar numbers of at-bats against similar pitchers and, overall, comparable situations. In football, it wasn't really until 2006 and 2007 that Brady had the offensive weapons surrounding him comparable to Manning with James/Harrison/Wayne. It's only been the past 3-4 years that the Patriots became a true offensive juggernaut and opened up the offense (to where he could post big numbers). To start the decade, Brady's hallmark was efficiency, the intermediate game with the likes of Antowain Smith, David Givens, an aging Troy Brown, etc. and winning with defense. Also, Manning started playing in 1998. Brady's first full season is 2002. Of course career cumulative numbers are going to favor the guy with five more full seasons (right now).
